spaddock
New member
So the day had finally come when I'd go for my 46. I hadn't hiked since the end of August because of an injury and I was hoping my fitness wouldn't have suffered too badly. With five people, my dog, and all the gear we jammed into my Subaru and headed down from Ottawa at 5:10am.
I had hoped to get on the trail by 9:00, however we signed in and started on the trail at 9:45. Hiking back in the dark would be nothing new for this group. I was pretty happy that my dog could accompany us on this trip. This would be his 2nd peak and he's always a ball of energy which is pretty inspiring as you go. Everybody we met fell in love with the pooch, who looked more like a mountain goat on this day.
The going was slower than I had hoped but we kept making our way over The Brothers. I loved the first part of this hike, with all the open vistas. It was partly cloudy but the high peaks were visisble all around us especially Giant early on.
By 1:30 we were pretty hungry and stopped for lunch. Then we started out for the final push. At the Y junction I opted for my crampons. The final .3 miles was pretty steep and icey and I was starting to think about actually finishing. Over the past year I had thought about it quite a bit, and how I would feel. I thought I'd be a little emotional but when the moment finally came I didn't feel that way at all. I was happy I was able to complete the journey, and really happy that my wife could join me too. The coolest part is that on a day that was mostly overcast the blue sky came out strong for the summit. The views were magnificent. Big Slide has a great perspective of the high peaks. Throughout my journey I had always considered getting a view a bonus. Many of the peaks were overcast, rainy, foggy, all sorts of weather, but that just made the clear days even sweeter. We snapped a few pictures and since darkness would be setting in soon decided to head down.
The original plan was to hike back over The Brothers, but since it was 3:00 we decided to go down into the valley to get the steep part out of the way before dusk. The plan was a good one, and although it was longer was the safe choice. The last 3 miles seemed to take forever, they always do, but visions of burgers were dancing through our heads, keeping us going. We signed out at 7:45 very happy to have completed the day.
The journey of the ADK 46 will be something I remember for the rest of my life. Through it I got to meet a lot of cool people. The VFTT community definitely helped along the way with all the useful trail condition reports, gear discussions, and the "Trips" section where I was able to find Winter hiking partners every weekend. Thank you VFTT, and thank you Darren.
-Shayne
I had hoped to get on the trail by 9:00, however we signed in and started on the trail at 9:45. Hiking back in the dark would be nothing new for this group. I was pretty happy that my dog could accompany us on this trip. This would be his 2nd peak and he's always a ball of energy which is pretty inspiring as you go. Everybody we met fell in love with the pooch, who looked more like a mountain goat on this day.
The going was slower than I had hoped but we kept making our way over The Brothers. I loved the first part of this hike, with all the open vistas. It was partly cloudy but the high peaks were visisble all around us especially Giant early on.
By 1:30 we were pretty hungry and stopped for lunch. Then we started out for the final push. At the Y junction I opted for my crampons. The final .3 miles was pretty steep and icey and I was starting to think about actually finishing. Over the past year I had thought about it quite a bit, and how I would feel. I thought I'd be a little emotional but when the moment finally came I didn't feel that way at all. I was happy I was able to complete the journey, and really happy that my wife could join me too. The coolest part is that on a day that was mostly overcast the blue sky came out strong for the summit. The views were magnificent. Big Slide has a great perspective of the high peaks. Throughout my journey I had always considered getting a view a bonus. Many of the peaks were overcast, rainy, foggy, all sorts of weather, but that just made the clear days even sweeter. We snapped a few pictures and since darkness would be setting in soon decided to head down.
The original plan was to hike back over The Brothers, but since it was 3:00 we decided to go down into the valley to get the steep part out of the way before dusk. The plan was a good one, and although it was longer was the safe choice. The last 3 miles seemed to take forever, they always do, but visions of burgers were dancing through our heads, keeping us going. We signed out at 7:45 very happy to have completed the day.
The journey of the ADK 46 will be something I remember for the rest of my life. Through it I got to meet a lot of cool people. The VFTT community definitely helped along the way with all the useful trail condition reports, gear discussions, and the "Trips" section where I was able to find Winter hiking partners every weekend. Thank you VFTT, and thank you Darren.
-Shayne
