Pete_Hickey
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I was scheduled for a climb of Marcy with the head ADK trails guy, and head summit steward at 9:00 AM Friday morning, but had to work Thursday. Supposed to meet them at ADK Loj at 9:00 am. Normally it would be easy, but my car was already at the Loj without me. Fortunately I had a bicycle.
So, 4:00PM thursday, and 160 miles to do in the next 17 hours. FOrtunately, I was able to hitch a ride in a car for about 50 miles, so by 5:30PM, I just had 110 miles to cycle to get to the base of Marcy.
Border crossing is always fun on a bicycle. "Any Alcohol, Tobacco, or firearms?" "No, sir, just granola & gorp.... And no beef." And I was in the US of A, at the Akwasasne reservation, with the cheap gas, although it didn't do me much good.
Kind of hot and humid as I headed toward St Regis Falls. I was figuring on doing 60 miles Thursday night, then getting up at 3:45 and doing another 50 miles. I had planned on sleeping near the St Regis River where it crossed the 495. I got there as it was getting dark, stopped, and noticed that the area was filled with fisherpeople. Wouldn'T be a great place for sleeping, so I refilled my water bottles with St. Regis. River water, and continued on down the raod.
Several more miles, and I stopped, carried the bike up a hill, sat down smoked a cigarette, and thought about cooking my supper. All of the sudden, zillions of mosquitos came out, poking their probosci in me and sucking my blood. Know how it is when you're hot and sweaty and the mosquitos just love you. So bad, that I gave up on having supper, set up my tent and went to sleep.
Now, I have to tell you about my alarm clock. I have no problem waking up at 5:00AM, but 3:45 is a bit tough without something to help. Usually I use the alarm on my watch, but as luck would have it, the battery was running low, and it didn't beep. Before leaving, I looked around, and the only alarm clock I could find, was an 8" high wooden mantle clock, so I brought that along.
Unfortunately, I'm not used to analog clocks, and I missed setting the alarm by an hour. I woke up at 4:45, realized I was late, and hopped on the bicycle to do the 50 miles to the Loj. It would be a bit slower than the day before, because there were a lot more hills.
By 6:00AM it was fairly hot, and when I got to the loj at 9:00AM, and went in to ask for Wes, they wondered why I was so wet. Most people don't look all sweaty until quite a bit later in the day.
So hear I was, already dehydrated, and just starting to climb Marcy. And the climb would be with two very fast hikers.
A beautiful hot day as we did a slow run to Marcy Dam, stopped for a bit of foot taping, then set a steady fast pace, and went non-stop until the plateau, where I refilled my water bottles.
Another 15-20 minutes and we were on the summit, where we met Len, who had come over from Gray. I sat down, and drank half my bottle, before I noticed that there were a few critters still kicking and swimming in the water. Either I didn't put enough iodine, or these larger things were imune.
After a bit of rest, Wes, Krista, Len & I walked several routes toward Gray, mapping out the alpine vegitation, trying to decide on a route that would do the least amount of damage to the fragile plants. There sure were a lot of them, all in bloom. I wish I knew more about them, but that's why we had Krista along with us.
So, after talking, walking, and planning, we were back on the summit of Marcy, where we watched a state helicopter below us, as it flew through the pass between Skylight & Marcy, then over the FLowed Lands, then through Avalanche Pass.
A bunch more photos of plants were taken, then we headed down, at a moderate clip, making it down in 2.5 hours.
Interesting to me was the effect of a 50 mile bike ride before the climb. Granted, Marcy isn't that tough of a climb, but it was still a decent workout. The starting off dehydrated was one of the tougher parts. That and then, when I was on the summit, coming to the realization that my lunch was back in my bicycle.
So, 4:00PM thursday, and 160 miles to do in the next 17 hours. FOrtunately, I was able to hitch a ride in a car for about 50 miles, so by 5:30PM, I just had 110 miles to cycle to get to the base of Marcy.
Border crossing is always fun on a bicycle. "Any Alcohol, Tobacco, or firearms?" "No, sir, just granola & gorp.... And no beef." And I was in the US of A, at the Akwasasne reservation, with the cheap gas, although it didn't do me much good.
Kind of hot and humid as I headed toward St Regis Falls. I was figuring on doing 60 miles Thursday night, then getting up at 3:45 and doing another 50 miles. I had planned on sleeping near the St Regis River where it crossed the 495. I got there as it was getting dark, stopped, and noticed that the area was filled with fisherpeople. Wouldn'T be a great place for sleeping, so I refilled my water bottles with St. Regis. River water, and continued on down the raod.
Several more miles, and I stopped, carried the bike up a hill, sat down smoked a cigarette, and thought about cooking my supper. All of the sudden, zillions of mosquitos came out, poking their probosci in me and sucking my blood. Know how it is when you're hot and sweaty and the mosquitos just love you. So bad, that I gave up on having supper, set up my tent and went to sleep.
Now, I have to tell you about my alarm clock. I have no problem waking up at 5:00AM, but 3:45 is a bit tough without something to help. Usually I use the alarm on my watch, but as luck would have it, the battery was running low, and it didn't beep. Before leaving, I looked around, and the only alarm clock I could find, was an 8" high wooden mantle clock, so I brought that along.
Unfortunately, I'm not used to analog clocks, and I missed setting the alarm by an hour. I woke up at 4:45, realized I was late, and hopped on the bicycle to do the 50 miles to the Loj. It would be a bit slower than the day before, because there were a lot more hills.
By 6:00AM it was fairly hot, and when I got to the loj at 9:00AM, and went in to ask for Wes, they wondered why I was so wet. Most people don't look all sweaty until quite a bit later in the day.
So hear I was, already dehydrated, and just starting to climb Marcy. And the climb would be with two very fast hikers.
A beautiful hot day as we did a slow run to Marcy Dam, stopped for a bit of foot taping, then set a steady fast pace, and went non-stop until the plateau, where I refilled my water bottles.
Another 15-20 minutes and we were on the summit, where we met Len, who had come over from Gray. I sat down, and drank half my bottle, before I noticed that there were a few critters still kicking and swimming in the water. Either I didn't put enough iodine, or these larger things were imune.
After a bit of rest, Wes, Krista, Len & I walked several routes toward Gray, mapping out the alpine vegitation, trying to decide on a route that would do the least amount of damage to the fragile plants. There sure were a lot of them, all in bloom. I wish I knew more about them, but that's why we had Krista along with us.
So, after talking, walking, and planning, we were back on the summit of Marcy, where we watched a state helicopter below us, as it flew through the pass between Skylight & Marcy, then over the FLowed Lands, then through Avalanche Pass.
A bunch more photos of plants were taken, then we headed down, at a moderate clip, making it down in 2.5 hours.
Interesting to me was the effect of a 50 mile bike ride before the climb. Granted, Marcy isn't that tough of a climb, but it was still a decent workout. The starting off dehydrated was one of the tougher parts. That and then, when I was on the summit, coming to the realization that my lunch was back in my bicycle.
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