I've mentioned a couple of times on here that I came down with a nasty case of ehrlichiosis over this past summer. It really did a number on me. As such, I went a record 182 days without climbing a mountain. My last was Waumbeck back in July just as the severe symptoms were beginning.
Last night I decided that, even though I'm still sore and lethargic, it was time to get outside again. I opted for an easy climb: Mt. Prospect in here CT. I've climbed Prospect many times. It's not a big mountain and the vast majority of people that climb it probably do so while crossing it on the AT, but I've always liked it. It has a great viewpoint on its western slope, so I was hoping to make my way there and shoot another sunset to commemorate my return to not spending all of my time sitting down.
It was hard. It was harder than the Bonds traverse I did just before getting sick. It was harder than any of the Presidential peaks I've climbed (mind you I've never tackled Washington from Huntington, but I digress. ) My joints were in agony pretty much the whole way. But I made it.
Sadly, I missed sunset by about 20 minutes since I was so slow, but I did catch the tail end of what looked like a storm over the Hudson.
It made me wish I had an ND for the lens I used. Those clouds were whipping and it would have made for some good cloud motion shots.
It seems that it's going to take a long time for me to rehabilitate, but it feels good to officially be back in the game. For a while I questioned whether I'd even be able to make it up a slope again. Now I know I can make it. It's just not going to be pretty for a while. I don't usually post TRs, but I saw some humor in the fact that this trip up all 1,461' of Mt. Prospect is quite possibly the most physically difficult climb I've done.
And for anybody planning on heading into the area, I'd plan trips that stay above 1,000' until another storm. Below that there was nothing but ice and mud. It made for pretty poor footing on the way down.
Last night I decided that, even though I'm still sore and lethargic, it was time to get outside again. I opted for an easy climb: Mt. Prospect in here CT. I've climbed Prospect many times. It's not a big mountain and the vast majority of people that climb it probably do so while crossing it on the AT, but I've always liked it. It has a great viewpoint on its western slope, so I was hoping to make my way there and shoot another sunset to commemorate my return to not spending all of my time sitting down.
It was hard. It was harder than the Bonds traverse I did just before getting sick. It was harder than any of the Presidential peaks I've climbed (mind you I've never tackled Washington from Huntington, but I digress. ) My joints were in agony pretty much the whole way. But I made it.
Sadly, I missed sunset by about 20 minutes since I was so slow, but I did catch the tail end of what looked like a storm over the Hudson.
It made me wish I had an ND for the lens I used. Those clouds were whipping and it would have made for some good cloud motion shots.
It seems that it's going to take a long time for me to rehabilitate, but it feels good to officially be back in the game. For a while I questioned whether I'd even be able to make it up a slope again. Now I know I can make it. It's just not going to be pretty for a while. I don't usually post TRs, but I saw some humor in the fact that this trip up all 1,461' of Mt. Prospect is quite possibly the most physically difficult climb I've done.
And for anybody planning on heading into the area, I'd plan trips that stay above 1,000' until another storm. Below that there was nothing but ice and mud. It made for pretty poor footing on the way down.