masshysteria
Member
Kids are great!
Last Wednesday, my son Tommy (who's 12) and I got up at 4:00 AM,and drove for 5 hours to the Coreys trailhead. I thought he would sleep for most of the ride, but he didn't, he was too excited about climbing Seymour Mnt.. He's already climbed Giant, Haystack, and Colden.
After a quick stop at the Mountaineer to buy him short gaiters, we drove through Lake Placid. He was amazed at the ski jump and the Price Chopper with the log siding. After just recently watching the movie,"The Miracle", I showed him where the actual game took place. He was amazed, you would think we had just driven through Beverly Hills or something!
Of course now he wants to come back and ride the bobsled at Mnt. Hovenburg, take the elevator to the top of the ski jump, and play miniature golf at the little course in Lake Placid.
It was 11:00 before we started hiking up the Blueberry Trail. The five miles to the Ward Brook leanto took till 1:30, but he was still just as gung-ho about climbing Seymour. The bottom of the herd path wasn't bad at all, but when we got to the slide area, that changed real quick. The mud, the slippery rocks, the fallen trees, the MUD! I thought for sure he would ask to turn around, but he didn't. Just the occasional;" how much farther?"
When we reached the top of the northeast ridge, he thought we were at the summit. But then he ran into that wall we've all hit, the dreaded false summit. We could see the true summit through the trees, so he pushed on another 10 minutes until reaching the top. He spent the 45 minutes while I rested on the top, taking pictures, asking what this is and that is, where did we start from, etc..
It was 5:00 by the time we started down, and 6:30 when we reached WBLT. Being a 2 1/2 hr walk back to the truck, it would be 9:00 by then and dark. But then we had to set the tent up at the campsites near Stony Creek, make dinner, which wouldn't be till almost 10:30. His pace started to slow down.
So I told him that we would drive into Tupper Lake, find a MacDonalds or Burger King and have dinner there. Man, did the pace pick up then!
So here I am driving through TL, looking for a burger joint. Nothin'! So I proceeded to Long Lake, where I guaranteed him we would find something. Well, Long lake doesn't have anything like that. The gentleman at Stewarts laughed when I asked him if there was a MacDonalds in LL. He then informed me that there was a MacD's in Tupper Lake, but I probably didn't go by it. Great! So we ate day-old hotdogs from Stewarts at 11:00 at night, and guzzled down a quart of chocolate milk each.
Tommy was covered in mud and he was beat. So we ended up sleeping in the truck at the NP trailhead on 28N in Newcomb.
I got up the next morning knowing for sure that my son would NEVER want to hike another ADK mountain in his life! I had ruined him! But lo and behold, he told me that he had the best time yesterday, and that the most favorite part of the day was climbing through the muddy steepness of the Seymour slide. Go figure. We were going to climb Couchsacraga that day, but we decided not to. His feet hurt because his boots were getting a little small for him, so we decided to head home. Kids grow too quick! Not just physically either.
I am so proud of my son! He showed me a toughness of mind and body that it takes to climb some of these hills. Like he told me, "I just climbed a mountain that most people wouldn't even try, and some people can't!" That makes him very special in my book! But heck, he was already special, he's my son, and I love him so very much!
Last Wednesday, my son Tommy (who's 12) and I got up at 4:00 AM,and drove for 5 hours to the Coreys trailhead. I thought he would sleep for most of the ride, but he didn't, he was too excited about climbing Seymour Mnt.. He's already climbed Giant, Haystack, and Colden.
After a quick stop at the Mountaineer to buy him short gaiters, we drove through Lake Placid. He was amazed at the ski jump and the Price Chopper with the log siding. After just recently watching the movie,"The Miracle", I showed him where the actual game took place. He was amazed, you would think we had just driven through Beverly Hills or something!
Of course now he wants to come back and ride the bobsled at Mnt. Hovenburg, take the elevator to the top of the ski jump, and play miniature golf at the little course in Lake Placid.
It was 11:00 before we started hiking up the Blueberry Trail. The five miles to the Ward Brook leanto took till 1:30, but he was still just as gung-ho about climbing Seymour. The bottom of the herd path wasn't bad at all, but when we got to the slide area, that changed real quick. The mud, the slippery rocks, the fallen trees, the MUD! I thought for sure he would ask to turn around, but he didn't. Just the occasional;" how much farther?"
When we reached the top of the northeast ridge, he thought we were at the summit. But then he ran into that wall we've all hit, the dreaded false summit. We could see the true summit through the trees, so he pushed on another 10 minutes until reaching the top. He spent the 45 minutes while I rested on the top, taking pictures, asking what this is and that is, where did we start from, etc..
It was 5:00 by the time we started down, and 6:30 when we reached WBLT. Being a 2 1/2 hr walk back to the truck, it would be 9:00 by then and dark. But then we had to set the tent up at the campsites near Stony Creek, make dinner, which wouldn't be till almost 10:30. His pace started to slow down.
So I told him that we would drive into Tupper Lake, find a MacDonalds or Burger King and have dinner there. Man, did the pace pick up then!
So here I am driving through TL, looking for a burger joint. Nothin'! So I proceeded to Long Lake, where I guaranteed him we would find something. Well, Long lake doesn't have anything like that. The gentleman at Stewarts laughed when I asked him if there was a MacDonalds in LL. He then informed me that there was a MacD's in Tupper Lake, but I probably didn't go by it. Great! So we ate day-old hotdogs from Stewarts at 11:00 at night, and guzzled down a quart of chocolate milk each.
Tommy was covered in mud and he was beat. So we ended up sleeping in the truck at the NP trailhead on 28N in Newcomb.
I got up the next morning knowing for sure that my son would NEVER want to hike another ADK mountain in his life! I had ruined him! But lo and behold, he told me that he had the best time yesterday, and that the most favorite part of the day was climbing through the muddy steepness of the Seymour slide. Go figure. We were going to climb Couchsacraga that day, but we decided not to. His feet hurt because his boots were getting a little small for him, so we decided to head home. Kids grow too quick! Not just physically either.
I am so proud of my son! He showed me a toughness of mind and body that it takes to climb some of these hills. Like he told me, "I just climbed a mountain that most people wouldn't even try, and some people can't!" That makes him very special in my book! But heck, he was already special, he's my son, and I love him so very much!
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