This was it, the first hike of spring. It felt more like summer, with temperatures near or over 70.
Josh, Greg, Adam, Kim, Mary (samsonite) and I started around 12:30 at the Clay Meadows trail head. Kim and Mary struggled to keep up with Josh and Adam. Kim gave up after awhile, but Mary burned herself out early, and suffered during the rest of the hike.
I love the waterfall off of this trail. That's probably why I take the same picture of it everything I hike here. Those falls, and a wall of ice clinging to a wall of rock and to memories of winter glory, were the only side trips we took off the main trail. It was bizarre, wonderfully so, to stand next to a 20 foot high wall of ice in shorts.
This hike has to be over 3 miles long. It's 2.7 to the leanto sign, which promises just .5 to the leanto. I know you reading this have done the math, and 2.7+.5 IS over 3 miles. But I mean way over 3 miles. Even thought I settled into my pace and enjoyed the hike, it seemed really long.
Those were the thoughts I penned in my trail journal back in April. Here are some from my perspective several months later.
You never know when they happen until they are gone. Weekends with nothing to do where you don't have to drastically re-arrange your life because you want to spend a day out doors. After this hike, there were promises of many more to come. Everyone seemed happy to be out, exercising. Once the novelty of a warm spring wears off, however, everyone goes back to their life of weekends wasted doing everyday life. If I sound bitter, I am. I probably have more control over my life now than I will until I retire, and I still long for the trail on my weekends while I do other things. They are very useful things, but they are not what I really want to do.
There was one point on this hike where I just wanted to keep going. If I had a tent and someone willing to pick me up after a day or so, I would have. Hanging out on top of this mountain, on a clear, warm day seems like paradise today, and was then. I am desperately in need of something more substantial than a day hike to fill this desire.
Anyway, back to the narrative and our handful of hiking heroes. I wrote nothing about the top in my journal. Given, I've been there several times, but some notes should be penned.
After the sign pointing our way up to the leanto on a spur trail, I found myself in the lead with Adam. This is when I could have gone forever. We slipped our way along some ice, and pushed on, leaving everyone else to their own pace. Greg and Mary slipped behind, but not too far.
The final push was fueled by a desire to be done- I think everyone believed it to be shorter than it was- and an expectation of the view. I am always take with how dry the trail seems. Even after a good winter and spring showers, there is still the overwhelming sense we are in the high desert and water would be more than welcome to the trees and grasses at the top.
It was just nice to be outside. That's how everyone felt at the top. The view taken in at length by all, Mary and Kim headed back down. The fellas seemed to just want to bask in the novel feel of being outside and not freezing. At least that's how I felt. We split into pairs, Adam and I examined the field off to the right of the leanto. As we came back, Greg and Josh headed out there. The leanto, I found, had been adopted by the ADK Mtn. Club. This pleased me enormously. I love these mountains, and I love that someone is taking care of them.
On the way back down, Josh and Adam shot off. Greg and I had a good talk, something we haven't done in a while. After the junction, we started worrying that the girls might have misread the signs. In one direction was the Rt. 9 N trailhead at the top of the trail circuit. The other lead to Clay Meadows. We had reason to worry. After all, both ways lead to Rt. 9N, but one was way, I mean WAY, farther and about 5 miles more north than our cars were. Greg was pretty worried. I was too, because I didn't have the energy to go after them, if it turned out to be true. My legs were shaking as it was.
We caught up with Kim and Mary eventually. The sign had given them pause, but they remembered the Clay Meadow's name and had balked at the mileage to the other trailhead. From here, Kim and I walked together, and Mary and Greg fell behind. We met a strange lady just hitting the trail at near sunset. She asked us if anyone else was on the trail, and how we liked it. She had a walking stick and headphones. At first I thought she might be a ranger or caretaker, and she may well have been. Even so, I thought it was foolish for anyone to just be starting out at that time.
One of my favorite parts of hiking is the dinner afterwards. This one was shockingly expensive, but good nonetheless. We met up with Kendall at the John Barleycorn in Lake George. There was one waitress in the whole place. She was running everything, the bar, the tables, and I dare say cooking too. Given her responsibilities, service was pretty good, but the evening meal was kind of anti-climatic. Next week would more than make up for it.
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