A Sort-of Race

Can you see that there's been a "race" theme in our lives recently? : ) The Triple Cities Runner's Club hosts an annual Red Dress Run event each June. It's just as it sounds--put on a red dress and run in it. It's a minimum $5 donation per person and all the money goes to the Crime Victim's Assistance Center. You're not given a race number, you're not officially timed, you don't get a t-shirt, but it's a fun event and the money goes to a good cause. Half of the fun is showing up and seeing what others are wearing. Some people go all out. It's hilarious to see some of the men in dresses!
Last year was the first time I'd run a Red Dress Run. I found my dress at Salvation Army for a steal. I wore it with red & black striped tights, had black gloves and a feather boa, and put on a bunch of make-up. I had a great time--even with my sprained ankle. Our friends Mike and Jeff also ran so it was fun to see friends dressed up too.
I headed back to The Salvation Army a couple weeks ago to see what they had and I found another steal. The dress was too big, but it didn't much matter. Since it was hot out and the color didn't match my tights, so I opted not to wear them. Instead, I decorated with a couple skull tattoos (fake of course). I wore a belt to glam it up a little and just went with basic bright red lipstick. I knew Jeff & Mike weren't going to be running, so I was a little bummed to go by myself. Paul came to support me and watch, but he won't run in the event himself. Boo! He picked me up from work and we headed over and once there ran into our friend Jen Gow who was also running. It was fun to see her. And, our friend (Paul's co-worker) Paul McCabe was there too--all dressed up in red. I took a photo with Jen, but Paul wasn't keen on having his outfit on film. : )
Since this has been my rest week in my run plan, I figured I'd take it easy. Wednesday was actually my day off, but I couldn't pass up the RDR! But, knowing me, it's nearly impossible for me not to try hard...and off I went. The course is VERY hilly--uphill nearly the whole first mile. My time wasn't stellar the first mile, but it was faster than I'd planned. The second mile was even faster--thanks to some downhill sections. I was nearing the finish and was smacked with a very painful side cramp. I tried to push through it for a strong finish, but I couldn't. It was horrible. I dug my hang into my side, but it would not relent. I had to stop. I walked, pushed in on my side, groaned, was upset, and made myself jog very slowly : ( to the finish line. Severely disappointed to say the least. I don't know what causes these cramps. I've read many things about them in hopes that I can pinpoint what triggers them in me. They truly are debilitating. And, my GPS watch told me that the course wasn't a true 5k. It was slightly shorter. Boo! Oh well. My time was still good--too fast for a rest day really. Paul saw the time on my watch and said, "I thought you were going to take it easy!" I smiled and said, "So did I!" : ) I can't help it--I'm a competitor at heart.

The Jen & Jen Show

Here We All Come

There We Go!

Am I Done?

Inspiration

More Inspiration : ) Arrrrrrrrr!

One More Race

Every year the YMCA hosts a Corporate Challenge. Local businesses can participate in several challenges. Employees can run a 5k, do a predicted mile (predict a time, then walk or run without a watch), be in a mile relay, or for the management types, be in the Executive Mile. Each race gives points for finish order and the point is to get the most points to win.
Paul has participated in the Corporate Challenge for many years and usually competes in the predicted mile and the 3 person mile relay. Last year he was disappointed in how the mile relay went. So this year, he decided he wanted to run his own race and chose to run the 5k instead.
In the weeks leading up to the race he trained hard. The day of the race came and he was ready to get it over with!
We met at Broome Community College about an hour before the race started. The weather had been rainy nearly all day but was holding off at the moment. I brought my umbrella just in case though! He warmed up and stretched and before we knew it, it was time to go! Not long after the start, the rain started coming down. I more or less knew the course they would be running so I positioned myself where I could see Paul and try to get some photos. I tried to take photos while staying dry at the same time! I mostly succeeded...wet feet were inevitable though! But heck, I was way drier than he was. It was pouring by the race finish. He crossed the finish line with a great time and I was very proud of him. He doesn't like racing the longer distances so this was another super accomplishment! He took 2nd place in his company and received a $25 gift certificate to Dick's Sporting Goods! : )
He was tired and soaked so we decided we'd take off instead of staying for the other events. I was glad I was able to cheer him on for another Corporate Challenge! Oh and as usual, Lockheed won the overall award for the large division company...shocker! LOL


Corporate Challenge 2009

A Different Kind of Race

Each year the town of Smithville Flats has Smithville Day which is a town celebration. There is a big chicken bbq, parade, music, food, fun, and a 5k race. Our friend Tim is the race director. I first learned about the race from Paul back in 2007. We both ran it that year. But last year and this year it is too close to the Raymond Corporate Challenge, so instead of Paul running, he volunteers.
I wasn't sure I was going to feel up to running it this year since I've been marathon training. I ran my 16 mile long run on Thursday and the race was Saturday morning--not exactly a lot of recovery time. I didn't impose any time constraints on myself and just figured I'd run it to support Tim and try to use that as my recovery run. Yeah, right!
The field started out very quickly. I was surprised at how fast everyone left the line. I tried to remind myself to take it easy and looked at my GPS watch (cool new toy) and saw my pace was fast. I slowed down a bit but kept hauling. The hill to the turn around point is always a killer, but I got to see Paul at the turn around since that's where he was volunteering. From there it was mostly downhill to the finish. I didn't run it all out, but did have a surge of energy at the end and passed one person right at the finish. I grabbed one of the famous cookies (chocolate chip) and scarfed it down (nice recovery food, yum) and walked around a bit before heading out on a cool down jog. Paul came back down after everyone had come through and Tim and the others began putting the results together. We waited for the trophy ceremony and the raffle to follow.
I was in a new age group this year and I figured it would be pretty competitive. As it turns out, I took second place in my age group. It was a surprise and I was proud of my effort and in fact it was a personal best 5k time for me. I was pleased, but still wished I could have run faster. Never happy I guess!
As the raffle began, Paul and I mentioned how we hadn't ever won anything in previous years. It wasn't long after that that my race number was called! I examined the prize table and decided on a $5.00 coupon to Genegantslet Ice Cream Barn. They have the greatest frozen custard in the area. It was a no-brainer! Paul and I left Smithville Flats and headed toward home, stopping for ice cream of course! I usually get the custard, but raspberry sorbet won out instead. It was tasty too!
We headed home and both took a nap and lazed around much of the afternoon. I really felt good considering I'd run a lot this past week. It's nice to take it easy though! Photos are below. More to follow when Tim uploads them on the website.


Smithville Flats 5K

Off to the Races

I've been a NASCAR fan for about 20 years or so. Part of it stems from the fact that my grandpa, uncle, and dad were race car drivers back in their day. While they each raced various types of cars, they were mostly sprint car drivers (open wheel cars). I can remember being at the racetrack watching my dad race and then sleeping in the back of the truck afterwards. After a while, it got too expensive so we sold the race car, boo! Anyway, I think I got into NASCAR at about age 10 or so and back then was a Dale Earnhardt fan. I probably supported him because others around me did and I was "new" into the sport. I waxed and waned and eventually Rusty Wallace became my driver of choice. For my 16th birthday, my parents surprised me with a secret trip to Phoenix to watch the race. It was the best gift! I was so excited!
While in the military, I went to several races at the premier racetrack--Talladega. In fact, we saw the last race Dale Earnhardt won before he died. The track is amazingly fast and it's a great time. I also went to a race at the Kansas Speedway, and had been talking to Paul about going to a race out here but we never came through on it.
A few weeks ago, I checked the schedule to see where they were going to be. I honestly haven't been following it as closely as I used to. When I saw they were heading to Pocono June 7th, I asked Paul if he was interested in going. He said he was so we decided to look into tickets. Tickets were available, but we were concerned about the weather. It's a tough time of year in the northeast with unpredictable weather. We continued to look at forecasts and didn't wind up buying tickets until late Saturday night!
Sunday morning I went for my run and after we hit the road. It didn't take us long to get down there, maybe a little over an hour & a half or so. We hit traffic going into the track, but we'd left plenty of time for that just in case. We walked in the gates and saw they were confiscating the spray can type sunscreen bottles. We'd left that kind home fortunately. But we heard people complaining and moaning. Oh bother! We headed for the merchandise trailers because I wanted to buy a hat for the race. My driver of choice these days is "Smoke" otherwise known as Tony Stewart. We stopped at his trailer first, but I wasn't that thrilled with the hat choices. We stopped by Dale Jr's trailer, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, and still nothing. We saw another Smoke trailer, so we went there and they had several I liked. But how to choose! I finally picked a cool gray hat with a skull on it. It says Smoke across the front. Simple but awesome. Nice!
From there we grabbed a pretzel and a beer and made our way to our seats. I couldn't believe how low we were. This was both good and bad. For these races you like to be high. Pocono is a big track (2.5 miles). You want to be high enough so you can see across the racetrack to the other side. The problem is when you purchase tickets online, you can't always know how high up you are in relation to everything. It didn't help that Pocono's website wasn't the best either.
Anyway, we were only 10 rows from the fence. That means we were WAY low! There was a grandstand on the infield directly across from us so with that in the way AND being that low, there was no chance of seeing across. Interesting enough, I didn't get too bent out of shape about it. : )
We listened to God Bless America and the Star Spangled Banner and were thrilled to see a C-5 Galaxy fly over! Yay! "What's that sound, cadets?" "The sound of freedom, sir!" : ) Cool cool!
Drivers were introduced and rode past the grandstands in Humvees. We were so close that when a lady in front of us yelled,"Kasey!" at Kasey Kahne, he turned around and waved!
Since qualifying was rained out on Friday, they went by the current point standings to determine starting order. That meant Smoke was on the pole, awesome! They lined up and were warming up when my dad sent me a text saying Smoke was in a back up car. That meant he was starting dead last! Noooo! I later learned that he'd crashed his primary car in practice on Saturday. When that happens and you have to go to a back up car, you have to also start in the back. Bummer!
So, it was a Jeff Gordon & Jimmie Johnson show up front at the start of the race. Jimmie led for quite a while it seemed. There was a caution early when Denny Hamlin had some sort of problem. I watched as Smoke started to make his way through the field.
We were directly across from the entrance to pit road and specifically Jimmie Johnson's pit. We had great views of everyone entering pit road and could see Jimmie's pit stops fairly well. Hard to believe they can do all they do in 13 seconds!
The race fell into Carl Edwards' lap and he dominated for a long time. There weren't any major crashes all day. A few guys smacked the wall and each other. Michael Waltrip had problems getting into the pits. He lost it on the way in and he lost it in the pits. Not sure what his major malfunction was on the day. That's unusual.
It was getting down to the wire and Smoke made his way into the top 10. A caution came out for light rain and they pitted. Smoke got out of the pits first, yes! The problem was that most likely they would still have to pit one more time. As the laps counted down, guys started coming in. Two guys still hadn't come in: Jimmie Johnson & Smoke. I couldn't figure out what was going on. I couldn't imagine they had enough fuel to make it. Each time Smoke drove by I was dumbfounded that he hadn't pitted. I watched him pass a lapped car and several laps later I saw the lapped car pass him back. To me that meant he was easing the gas--not flat footing it. As it turns out, that was exactly what he was doing. It definitely paid off as the checkers flew for him! Yayyyyyy! How exciting for my driver to win!! Jimmie Johnson had been around 3rd place, but he did wind up running out of fuel and finished 7th instead.
Smoke took a victory lap, did some awesome burnouts, and we made a mad dash for the parking lot. It didn't take us too long to get out and were back on the open road heading for home. We stopped for a meal and made it home where we called my mom and dad to get all the details. Because it's so loud, we wore earplugs so you can't hear the announcers or really know what's going on. I can usually piece things together, but some things you just can't figure out. Lots of people rent scanners to listen to in car happenings and we talked about doing that, but we didn't want to spend the money nor have to return the unit after the race and risk getting caught up in traffic. Maybe next time, who knows.
I'm posting photos and videos that we took. It was a good time and it was fun to be back at a racetrack. : )

For photos & videos, click here

White Mountain Hut Trip

Last year Paul, his coworker Rick, and I made two trips to New Hampshire's White Mountains. Rick is working on hiking the 48 4,000 footers so Paul and I tagged along since we enjoy hiking. The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) has backcountry huts established in various places in the Whites. These huts have bunk rooms, a kitchen, common area, bathroom (pit toilet), etc. They offer a dry place and shelter to those passing through or offer overnight accommodations for paying clients. The huts have two "seasons". Full service is more expensive and includes your bunk as well as dinner and breakfast. Self service includes your accommodations, but no food. You do have full use of the kitchen though--for utensils, pots, pans, water, etc.
The first trip last year we did was hiking the Presidential Traverse. We stayed in two huts: Madison and Lake of the Clouds. I had been in Lake of the Clouds hut previously when Kate and I hiked Mt. Washington. While we didn't stay in a hut on our second trip, we did stop into two other huts: Greenleaf and Mizpah Springs. They were all fairly updated and while rustic, were clean and nice.
So, when Rick asked if we were interested in another hut trip, Paul made reservations and we just waited until it was time to go. I picked Paul up from work Friday afternoon and we saw Rick and Sandy getting into their car so we popped over to verify where we were meeting the next morning. Sandy (Rick's girlfriend) was heading up too, but wasn't hiking with us. Anyway, we hit the road for the long 6+ hour drive.
We grabbed Moe's in Albany for dinner and got up to NH sometime after 10. We found the road for the trailhead, paid our parking fee, and drove down to the trailhead where we would come out on Sunday.
The next morning Rick and Sandy came to pick us up and we headed to our starting trailhead. The weather looked ok though rain was on its way. We had about 9 miles to cover on Saturday before reaching the hut.
The beginning of the hike was nice and soft with lots of pine needles cushioning the way. Soon though, the typical rough White Mountain terrain showed itself and the rocky trail became more difficult. There was still snow in some places and that made things a little slippery. I post-holed once all the way to my hip and had to have help getting out!
At some point, Rick picked up a rock (photo in the slideshow below) that was marble or quartz or something. For whatever reason, I decided to make it my little pet. I carried the rock for a while and then I found another one. I picked it up too. So, I had two rocks I was carrying, one big, one small. Neither Paul or Rick had seen me pick up the second one, so when we stopped for a drink break, they noted that there was a new addition and probably thought I was nuts for carrying these rocks. : )
We made it to the trail junction to Garfield and started on our way up. There was quite a bit of snow here and it was steep too. I slipped and whacked my shin. Man that hurts! Up we went until we reached the summit of Garfield. It was windy! Wow, the power of the wind is amazing. We were getting blown around up top. There was a group of 3 and a group of 2 who had passed us earlier. We sat at the base of what used to be a fire tower to protect ourselves from the wind. We took photos and could see the hut way off in the distance. I left the big rock on the summit and took a photo of it before we started on our way back down the slippery, steep trail to the junction.
Off toward the hut and the weather continued to deteriorate. We were fortunate in that it hadn't started raining, but the wind was fierce. We arrived at the hut, went inside to check in, and dropped our backs. We took out whatever wasn't needed and went back out to run up Galehead since it was right there. It was a quick .5 to the summit of Galehead and unfortunately the treed-in summit didn't give us the spectacular views we're used to in the Whites. Still, it was another summit! There was a decent outlook on the way though, so we stopped on our way back down. I didn't go too far out because the wind was so strong. Paul grabbed some photos and back down to the hut we went.
The website had indicated the hut was full. That meant that all 38 bunks would be occupied. Drat! It gets crowded and noisy when full. What a surprise it was when the caretaker told us that the groups staying there would all be able to have their own bunk room. Not sure where the disconnect was in full/not full, but the 3 of us had our own room all to ourselves.
Rick bought us some hot chocolate which was a nice treat. I changed clothes and climbed in my sleeping bag for a while. While it wasn't terribly cold, I had gotten a little chilly, so I wanted to warm up a bit. Soon, we went to the kitchen to boil water for our freeze dried meals. We had some dinner and lounged around before hitting the sack early. I had my earplugs, but didn't put them in because I thought it would be quiet enough. There were two problems with that logic. One: A group of hikers in the common room were fairly loud (could it have been because of the wine they brought with them?) Two: The windmill (generator) on the roof was going nuts because of the wind. Oh yeah, and either Rick or Paul was snoring... : ) Finally the caretaker turned off the generator at lights out and the others went to bed, but I was still having trouble. Rick got up in the night and that woke up Paul, so it made it easy for me to grab my earplugs. After that it was pretty much lights out. Welllll, until I woke up burning hot! I was chilly when I went to bed, so I put the chemical hand-wamers in between sock layers. I woke up feeling as though I was on fire! I had to take off the second pair of socks with the hand-warmer and remove my fleece top as well! Then it was a return to dreamland until I felt Paul waking me up. But I just went to sleep! Rats! It was rainy outside and I was so cozy in my sleeping bag!
The plan had been to hike South & North Twin Mountains that morning. The problem was that we couldn't go out the way we wanted because of a road closure. That meant if we did the Twins, we'd have to backtrack, adding more miles to our day. I had told Paul that I wasn't up to hiking the Twins and that I would stay in the hut until he and Rick returned if that's the decision they made. We left it up to Rick, but he decided we'd just hike out since it was rainy and we weren't sure of conditions getting up the Twins. He asked the caretaker about the Gale River Trail (the one we'd take to get out) since we hadn't read up on it prior. We had planned on using the other trail so we didn't have much info on this new one. Apparently we'd have some stream crossings to deal with and maybe a steep section, but other than that, it was fairly moderate she said.
We packed up and headed out and the rain had stopped. It seemed to be clearing off in the distance, but the decision was made to hike out. I took my time because of the wet rocks and we continued going down until we arrived at the first stream crossing. River crossing, actually! With all the rain, the water was moving quite swiftly and I was a little nervous! Now I was regretting convincing Paul and I to leave our sandals behind...We sucked it up, and into the water we went. Paul held my hand and we both used trekking poles. The water was cold and over knee deep on me. The current was fast, dizzying, and strong. It was hard to cross. I couldn't have done it on my own. Rick crossed and Paul held a pole and hand out to him. I captured his crossing on digital film (below). Paul and I took off our boots to dump out the water and we squeezed the water out of our socks. Squish squish squish we went, well, except for Rick who DID have sandals! Lucky! : )
We knew via GPS we had one or two more crossings and soon enough we made it to another one. Again, in we went, but this time the water was mid-thigh on me. I slipped a little and felt Rick grab my pack to steady me. We made it across and were very relieved to have done so. At least I was! We didn't bother draining our boots this time.
We made good time the rest of the way and I looked forward to dry, warm clothes! We drove into Littleton and met up with Sandy, grabbed a coffee at Dunkin', bid farewell to R&S, then Paul and I went across the street to the diner to have a meal. Full, we hopped in the car for the long drive home.
It's always good coming home after being out on the road. We made homemade french bread pizzas for dinner and enjoyed sitting on the sofa before hitting the sack early! Another difficult, interesting, time in the Whites. I'm sure there will be more adventures to come in those mountains! : )

Check out the hut system:
http://www.outdoors.org/lodging/huts/huts-map.cfm



Garfield & Galehead-16-17 May 2009

Grand Island Half Marathon

I probably mentioned at one point that after all the winter hiking we'd done, my running had suffered. After winter, I started to get back into running and my friend Summer asked me to run a half marathon with her. I agreed and started training about ten weeks ago. When we saw Summer in California last month, she asked if I'd registered for the race yet and I said I hadn't. Unfortunately, they were overwhelmed with entries and had to close registration! Bummer!
I figured I wouldn't let my training go to waste and I began looking for other races. I wasn't having much luck finding a race around the same time as my training would taper. I kept looking and looking until finally I found one that sounded perfect.
So, after enjoying a low mileage taper week, Paul and I headed up to Grand Island, NY (near Niagara Falls) Friday May 1. We opted to sleep in the car, as usual, and believe it or not, I slept fairly well. It got a little chilly, but the noise didn't even bother me that much. Thankfully I remembered my ear plugs! : )
We went to sleep with rain but awoke to sunny blue skies. We grabbed a bagel at the rest stop Tim Horton's and headed toward the park where the race was to be held. I think we were among the first to arrive! The race was set to start at 10am and we got there at 8 or so. There were people getting things organized and whatnot, but we decided to sit in the car for a while!
We walked down and picked up my packet and went back to the car. I was a little chilly. We hung out in the car, I hydrated, and kept counting down. I went out and ran my warm up, stretched some, used my lung trainer (in hopes of preventing a side cramp) and we made our way to the start line.
I was nervous! I had set a time goal for myself of 2 hours. I HAD to finish under 2 hours or else I was going to be very upset. This was my 5th half marathon and I'd never run any of them under 2 hours. So, I had a lot of pressure on myself. Paul was confident that I could do it. I thought I could do it too, but was concerned about side cramps. They've been literally cramping my style for a while now and I've been getting frustrated because I can't determine the cause. And not only that, but often I can't get them to stop and am either forced to slow down or to stop completely.
Paul left to go watch the start and I tried to gear up for the long race ahead. Before I knew it, we were off. I purposely ran the first mile slow. Sometimes I can get out of the gate too fast and ultimately that's not what you want. I did a good job of taking mile 1 easy and after that I picked up the pace.
There was a road parallel to the one we were running on which allowed Paul to drive down and see me at various points along the course. It was great because he motivated me, gave me high fives, and took photos. The course was flat with maybe a couple VERY slight hills. It was somewhat breezy and cool, but great conditions to run in.
I was cruising along until about mile 6 or so when I developed a side cramp. It came on slowly, but progressed until I had to dig my hand into my side. I slowed my pace and kept pushing in every once in a while and was upset that I had to slow down but was thankful I hadn't had to stop. I made it to the turn-around point and was well under pace. That was a good thing, but I didn't know what was yet to come in terms of the cramp. I kept running and eventually would only have to dig into my side every once in a while. I picked up the pace again, but had to keep it slower than before to keep the cramp at bay.
I had been running just behind three older men for a while when they broke up and eventually one joined up with me. And when I say joined, I mean joined. He stayed right at my elbow for probably 2 or 3 miles. If I tried to break away, he'd speed up and stay with me. With about 2 miles to go, he finally made a break. I couldn't stay with him because I didn't want to make a move that soon.
At the 12 mile mark, I decided to turn on the heat. I was getting excited because I knew I was going to make my goal. I pushed hard toward the finish and was able to pass about 3 or 4 people on my way across the finish line. My watch time said 1:55:58 and my official chip time was 1:56:07. I was pretty stoked!
Through the gate and they cut the chip off my shoe and hung a SILVER medal around my neck. The medals were gold, silver, and bronze depending on your finish time. I had quite a bit of nausea after the finish and wasn't feeling very good. Paul greeted me with a big hug and we walked around for a bit to try to calm my stomach.
We decided to walk, stretch, and hit the road because my stomach wasn't going to tolerate the food items available, so we headed off to Anderson's Frozen Custard for lunch. I wasn't sure what sounded good, but once there, a veggie burger, fries, and a frozen custard settled quite well! Yum!
And, after that it was a long drive home. I appreciated the fact that Paul drove the entire way home. We stopped a couple times to stretch out, get gas, etc. It was nice to get out of the car because I was getting pretty stiff! I was sore and tired, but I felt a great deal of accomplishment! It was a great race!

At the start

My good luck and possibly true heritage

Running

More Running

Finished!


Paul & Black Raspberry


Jen & Vanilla/Chocolate

Paul's Birthday!

Last Tuesday was Paul's birthday! Luckily I had the day off from work so I could get a nice birthday meal together for him. I baked him a cake, made scalloped potatoes, oven roasted green beans, and together we tag teamed a rib eye steak. He seemed to enjoy the meal and loved the tools he received too! I think it was a good birthday!

Steak, scalloped potatoes, & green beans!

White cake, raspberry filling, chocolate buttercream frosting

Presents!

Home Sweet California Home

Our trip to California was fantastic! It was an early flight out of Albany, but we landed in SF just before 11am so we had the whole day ahead of us. We left the airport via BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and went into the city to meet up with Summer & Liz. As we got to the hotel room, they were coming out to go downstairs to meet Kristi (another girl from nursing school). All together it was Paul, myself, Liz, Kristi, Summer, and Brian (Summer's boyfriend). Summer & B were passing through SF on their way from New Zealand/SE Asia to NYC. Kristi lives in SF now with her fiance', Liz flew in just to see Summer (and us!) and of course we were just visiting. It was perfect how the timing was well, perfect!
We couldn't get a cab all together because there were too many of us, so Paul and I started walking and it was a LONG time before we finally got a cab. We went to Joe's Cable Car Restaurant which we'd seen on The Food Network. They're famous for grinding their own meat for hamburgers. The food was ok...just ok. They forgot my fries and they don't allow you to "share" a meal. If you do, they charge you $6. I felt bad since it had been my suggestion that we go there. Oh well.
Kristi had to leave to go to work so we said goodbye to her and the five of us took a very expensive cab ride to the Golden Gate Bridge. We got out and waited for two of Brian's friends to arrive and then we walked across! It was such a beautiful day. It was an enjoyable walk and we loved soaking up the sun! I think Paul was fascinated by the bridge itself--the engineering aspect of course. It really is quite remarkable.
After our walk, we decided we'd say goodbye and head for home. We had a lengthy trip to get to San Jose via public transportation, so we left to attempt to find a cab. That proved difficult. We walked and we walked and we walked some more. We were really tired by the time we finally tracked down a cab. The cab ride back to the hotel (to get our bags) was frightening! The cabbie had poor driving skills to be sure! I don't know how many times Paul and I looked over at each other with a surprised look on our faces!
Grabbed our bags and back on BART to Milbrae where we switched to CalTrain and off we went. My parents met us with pizza in the car (bless their hearts) because it was late and they knew we were starving! A half hour drive home and we'd made it! It was a very long day, but we were home!
Greetings to my animals and a short visit and off to bed. The rest of the week was full of visiting and a couple of home improvement projects. I helped Paul install a new faucet in the laundry room and Paul and my dad worked on knocking down the rotten deck railing outside their bedroom and putting up a new one. That was a huge project! They did a great job though. And, it was hard not being able to finish everything up by the time we left, but the guys got a good jump on it and my dad could do the finish work easily by himself. His back hasn't been the best lately, so it was good that Paul was able to help as much as he could. I did what I could too, but usually was only the "tool girl" going back and forth to the shop to get tools, etc.
The weather was absolutely beautiful the entire week we were there. No rain. It was warm and sunshiney every day. It was windy quite a bit, but that didn't matter to us. We enjoyed the cherry orchard in bloom, we loved smelling the orange blossoms on the trees, and had fun playing with the dogs and cat.
We did a lot of cooking too! My favorite was the homemade ravioli. It was a three person job! My mom, Paul, and I all worked together on an assembly line of sorts to mass produce ravioli for dinner. And they turned out super too! Yum!
Before we knew it, the week was gone and it was time to go back to NY. : ( It's never easy to leave home, that's for sure. Hopefully we'll be able to go back this summer for a visit!
Thanks Mom & Dad! We love & miss you!

Jen Summer Liz on the Golden Gate

Liz Jen Paul

Jen Liz Summer

The men on the deck sans railing

The NEW and improved railing!

My girl, Mae My boy, Jack Jack LOVES Paul

Cherry Blossoms

More Cherry Blossoms

Jen & Dad

Jen & Mom

The Second & Third Trip of Winter

CONTINUED: (See blog entry below for the first part of the story)
Again, this is an OLD trip, but a NEW blog entry. : )

We took a risk by driving up the "private" road and parking at the intersection, though we didn't risk it by driving down the other small road to the trail register. The gate keeper is a feisty elderly man and by feisty I mean it! We have a story about him, but that's for another time.
It was bitterly cold when we got out of the car and walked the road. It was very icy and extremely slippery. We got to the register and saw that famous PinPin had been in and hiked Colvin & Blake. We were more interested in doing the Great Range, but not many had been in there. Honestly, we were still exhausted from breaking trail in the Sewards and while we'd planned on heading to Esther, I'd asked my mom via text message which peaks we should do and she'd responded with "Colvin & Blake". It was a sign! That did it. We carefully walked back to the car and decided on C&B for the next day.
Went to sleep beneath our Christmas lights and up early the next morning for a walk down Lake Road. The snow was fairly hard and icy and it was quite cold. Paul took a photo of my frozen hair. The ice on it made it look gray! We eventually made it to the turn off for Colvin and up we went.
The trail was nicely broken and it was easy to follow, just a lot of climbing. I felt very sluggish and slow and still felt as though I hadn't recovered from the few days before. I just wanted to lay down in the snow and take a nap.
Up up up we went and just below the summit of Colvin was a steep, somewhat narrow and exposed section. Paul went first and made it up ok, but I was tentative. I was nervous and wasn't comfortable. I didn't think I could do it. Then came the tears. It was just all too much. Paul reached out and helped me up and I was relieved. We topped out on the summit and the views across to the Great Range and beyond were phenomenal. We took photos and decided to press on toward Blake because we figured it would take a little while to make the careful descent.
As expected, it was slow going because of steep and icy conditions. Paul helped me in certain spots and we made it to the col after what seemed like eternity. I remembered that it was a lot of elevation loss, but apparently I'd forgotten just how much! We finally made it to the summit of Blake and took a couple photos there. No views from the treed in summit, but it counted nonetheless. Had a quick snack then back up up up to Colvin. More photos from Colvin and spent time admiring the majestic peaks across. I was nervous about the tricky section, but Paul helped me down and we were off. We made good time getting down and before we knew it were back at Lake Road.
As we hiked Lake Road I noticed a twinge of discomfort in my right quad muscle. I didn't think much of it and kept going. We got back to the car, changed clothes, and off to the Noonmark Diner we went. We had dinner and my leg was definitely sore, but most of my body was sore. I was still getting back into my hiking shape afterall.
We discussed trip options for the next day and planned on doing Esther. The forecast called for heavy rain, so we wanted to do something that we knew we could accomplish in those conditions.
We decided we'd sleep in a little bit the next morning, but still get an early-ish start. We wanted to beat the rain if all possible. We started off from the weather station just about daybreak and I remembered how steep it was once we started. The first time I climbed Whiteface with Paul and Rick back in 2007 was in deep, deep unbroken snow. It took us forever! This day was different as the trail was broken, but it was still just as steep!
The nice part was that it was warm. Unseasonably warm! I was thrilled to be hiking in only 2 layers instead of my usual multiple layer look. We got to Marble Mountain and it looked so different from 2007. Off toward the trail intersection and the rain finally started to fall. I guess we weren't going to beat it! We trudged along and the wind picked up too. We made it to the trail intersection and of all things found a sign pointing to the herd path for Esther! We were surprised! That was a new addition since last time we'd been through there.
The broken trail continued toward Whiteface, but it did not continue toward Esther. It was ok. The snow was pretty firm and while we had to break it, it didn't compress a lot so it wasn't as difficult as other trips.
We used GPS to navigate and zigged where we needed to zag sometimes, but eventually found the yellow disk high in the tree on the summit of Esther! I had to really look for it too because my hood was drawn tight over my head!
The wind was really howling and the rain was falling and blowing. We took a few quick photos and off we went! I was feeling the same pain in my leg and was hoping it would relent. We raced back to the trail junction and turned left to go back the way we came.
As we descended, my leg became worse and worse. It was unusual. The pain was not in the "meaty" part of the front of my quad, but almost my inner thigh just above my knee. It was honestly excrutiating. I felt like such a wimp.
We made it back to Marble Mountain and the scene was so different from that morning. So much of the snow had already melted off. It was incredible. I was anxious about the steep descent from there and how my leg would hold up. It was a slow and painful descent. Each bend of the knee sent sharp pain signals to my brain. I was in tears multiple times. Paul tried to help where he could, but there really wasn't anything he could do. We made it back down and to the car and had a break in the rain where we could shake off our wet gear, change into dry clothes, and figure out our next plan.
I put Biofreeze on my leg and we decided to head into Lake Placid to get some lunch. I told Paul I didn't think I could hike the next day with my leg as painful as it was. I felt bad. I felt as though our vacation time was being wasted because of me. We grabbed some soup and a sandwich in LP and decided to head back to Paul's parents' house.
On our way we stopped and I bought a wrap for my leg. We grabbed a pizza for dinner and brought it with us.
It was nice to be able to dry out because everything we had was pretty wet. We talked about what trip we'd try next and went to sleep figuring on discussing more options in the morning.
My leg felt quite a bit better the next morning as Paul and I mused over which trip to do. Paul asked what I thought of the Sewards. He figured on doing the unthinkable: returning to the Sewards! We knew the gate was still open. We knew the road was plowed and we hadn't received much snow. This was our opportunity. I was nervous though. I really didn't want any part of it. Why couldn't we do another trip? We had plenty of peaks to choose from! In the end though, I understood Paul's way of thinking and we decided on the Sewards. I was pretty grumpy about it though. Meh...
Packed up the car AGAIN and off toward Tupper Lake. Dinner at The Lumberjack AGAIN and off to Corey's Road AGAIN. Does this sound like deja vu? The wind in Tupper Lake was absolutely ridiculous. I could not believe the ferocity of it. The forecast said it would die down around midnight and I sure hoped so because it was insane how it was blowing.
We started down Corey's Road and not too far down was our first obstacle: a downed tree. Ummm, to me it was a sign not to continue. To Paul it was simply that--an obstacle. He got out to take a closer look and I stayed in the car until I watched him try to move it. I got out and he yelled to me that it was very slick. And it was! I stepped carefully toward him and the tree and we both tried to move it. It was hard enough without the ice, but that made it even worse! With enough "oommphh" we got the tree out of the way and got back into the car. Whew! Now what? Onward we went and the road conditions got worse. The whole road was almost like a skating rink--pure ice. The car was handling it well at first, but soon we started to slide. As hilly as the road becomes, we knew it was a recipe for disaster. We'd made it as far as a parking lot for other trails, but it was still quite a ways from the summer trailhead. So, what to do, what to do. Do we park where we were and hike from there? Do we give up on the Sewards for now and head somewhere else? These Sewards were really becoming my nightmare.
We tossed ideas back and forth. We both really weren't feeling any love toward the Sewards, so back into the car we went and we left Tupper Lake bound for Keene Valley to peaks we love more: The Lower Great Range.
How frustrating though to be eluded by the Sewards AGAIN. Ugh!
We decided instead to do as much of the Lower Great Range as we could. Our goal would be five, but we'd take what we could get.
Up really early the next morning for the LONG LONG LONG walk down Lake Road to start the ascent for Sawteeth. The snow was hard and crusty and I was tired by the time we got to the turn off for Sawteeth. So far the leg felt good and I was glad for that. The trail was broken until, well, until it just wasn't. It appeared that the tracks stopped and just turned back. Again it was compact snow, so breaking it wasn't too big of a deal.
We made the col between Sawteeth & Pyramid and felt good about our timing. I didn't remember much about our first Sawteeth climb and it's probably good that I didn't. I had no idea (no memory) of how steep it was. Paul went first and kicked some steps that I tried to use, but I ended up kicking some of my own. Another tricky section and tree roots provided my hand holds. Got to the top and you'd swear you were on the summit, but it's a quick traverse away. FINALLY we made it! A few photos and a careful descent of the tricky spots. At one point, the toe crampon of my snowshoe stuck so well into the hardpack snow that I tripped and fell over...It was not a good place to fall, but I was able to stop myself and regroup. I was really scared and it definitely effected me the rest of the day and made me take very tentative steps.
On our way down we ran into another hiker--first we'd seen that day. Then it was off toward Pyramid.
I did remember how steep Pyramid was and it didn't disappoint. I was tired and felt as though we weren't making very good time, but Paul assured me we were doing ok. Up to the top of Pyramid and Gothics looked SO far away! Would we ever make it?! We kept trudging and at one point determined snowshoes were not going to cut it, so we stopped and changed to crampons. I was so excited to make the summit of Gothics! Gothics is a great peak. It's a special one. Unfortunately we didn't have any views as it started to cloud in, but we were stoked to have made it!
We were still good on time, so we decided to push to Armstrong. I didn't really even noticed the whole ice cornice thing. It was cloudy and I couldn't see off either side, so I didn't notice. I've seen some pretty cool photos of it in good conditions and it looks much worse than it is. It's a neat section of trail though.
It didn't seem as though it took very long to get to Armstrong and we were happy again! Another peak! It was already a successful day, but we were so hopeful to get all five. We figured we'd push on to Upper Wolfjaw and see how it went. We started on our way down and got to the infamous ladder section. It bothered me the last time we came down and it wasn't covered in ice then! We found the ladder to be somewhat exposed, but mainly icy and it looked treacherous. We put crampons on and skirted the ladder to one side where we descended via tree roots, trees, etc. I was a nervous wreck. Two other hikers decided to downclimb the ladder in their snowshoes. I watched them in awe while I was frozen where I was waiting for Paul's help. I REALLY felt like a wimp then. As we neared the bottom, it was tricky. The guys waited to make sure I got down alright (ok, nice gesture, but very embarrassing for me) and I took my pack off, handed it to Paul, who then handed it to one of the guys. Little by little I got down, but only with Paul's help. We took pictures of the ladder, but it does not do it justice. We came down on the right side of the ladder as you're looking at the photo. Sometimes winter hiking is just plain scary. I was so relieved to get off that section!
We pushed to Upper Wolfjaw and realized that Lower Wolfjaw was not in the cards for that day. But hey, four out of five really wasn't bad, though I was severely disappointed because I don't like not meeting my goals. Still, we had a long way to go to get out and our light was fading fast. The worst was passing by LWJ knowing we were only .5 away. Blah!
We did our best to get down quickly, but the snow was hard, I was tentative with my steps. Do you see "tentative" is a theme this day? Because of that, my leg started to hurt again. It had been very mild all day. I first noticed it coming off Sawteeth, but I tried to tell myself it was fine. Really it was, until the descent toward Lake Road.
I was getting anxious about not being down before dark. I'm not sure why it bothered me so much this time, but I really was worried. I don't mind hiking in the dark, but I don't like descending. Paul reassured me that we'd be off the steepest stuff by the time it got dark, but that we couldn't dilly dally. And all I wanted to do was dilly dally. The more we went down, the more my leg hurt. But, we kept moving at a steady pace and eventually got closer to Lake Road. Much snow had melted down low and there were many patches of dirt, ice, bare rock, etc that were a pain to navigate through on snowshoes sometimes. It wasn't worth removing them though because as soon as we made it through a bare section, the next section was completely snow covered.
As we went, not only did my right leg hurt, but guess what? My LEFT leg started hurting in the exact same place. : ( I was really having problems and was so upset. I didn't understand why my legs were hurting where they were. I've hiked a lot in the past but have never experienced pain in that location on not only one but BOTH legs.
We were racing the clock to get back to the car because we wanted to make it into town to the Noonmark Diner for dinner. We were running out of time, but amazingly we really kicked it into high gear once we FINALLY made it back to Lake Road. The rest of the road was a blur as our stomachs encouraged us to get out of there!
Back to the car and we didn't even change out of our shells. We were on the road to the diner in a flash. We got there about twenty minutes before they closed and we asked if they'd serve us. I think we held our breath while we waited for their answer. Of course they would! We were so relieved and SO hungry. I bet they were annoyed with us, but if only they knew how we tried to hurry to get there!
We ate and ate and ordered pie to go so we didn't keep them any later. We got back in the car and decided that with my legs hurting there was no way I could hike the next day. We were too tired to head home, so we slept in the car and headed toward home the next morning.
And, that was it. While we'd anticipated staying up there the entire two weeks, it just didn't work out that way. I was disappointed and I think Paul was too, but he said he was pleased with us getting seven peaks. I was pleased too, but I had hoped of more.
We took the rest of our vacation time to relax, heal up, and to prepare for our next trip north. That post is on the blog--titled Success in the Sewards.
So, that was the start of winter climbing season 2008-2009 and the beginning of our pursuit of the remaining 23 peaks we had to conquer. You know the rest from there---if you've read our posts! : )

Sawteeth-Lower Wolfie:

Sawteeth, Gothics, Armstrong, Upper Wolfjaw 29 Dec 08



Esther:

Esther 27 Dec 08



Colvin & Blake:

Colvin & Blake 26 Dec 08

The First Trip of Winter: An F in the Sewards

Since I didn't do blog entries for our first few trips of winter earlier, I decided to go ahead and write those up now. So, this is an OLD trip, but a NEW blog entry. : )

Paul and I spent weeks and weeks talking about the upcoming winter climbing season. We discussed trip options, how to attack the peaks, etc. We knew we had a lot on our plate with 23 peaks to climb, but we also knew it was within our abilities.
The climbing season began on Dec 21 (a Sunday). Paul and I had decided to take some time off work and to spend the entire two week holiday season in the mountains. We thought it would be fun to celebrate the holidays in the snowy north. We came up with an extensive plan which we thought we could handle. Paul designed and built a futon platform for my car thereby creating an elevated sleeping space while utilizing storage space underneath. We bought food, organized meals, gear, you name it. We were set.
We headed up to Tupper Lake on Saturday the 20th with the intent on hiking the Seward Range over several days. The idea was that Paul would drag a sled with gear (lightening our pack loads) and we'd hike in, attempt Seymour either the first day or the second, and try the three Sewards (Seward, Donaldson, Emmons) the next day and possibly hike out--all depending on conditions and how we felt.
We had a tasty dinner at the Lumberjack Inn in town and headed to Coreys Road where we would see if we could get to the summer trailhead. The road is not always plowed in the winter and sometimes they close and lock the gate. If that happens, one must park on the road and hike in from there. It ads an additional 3.5-4 miles depending on where you start from. Unfortunately, because of recent snow, the road was impassable and we had to park at the winter trailhead. Obstacle number 1. We went to sleep for the night and woke up with a hopeful attitude.
We started off down the road and made our way to the summer trailhead. No one had been in (we weren't surprised). We hiked down the trail and the snow was deep. No broken trail. Paul was struggling with the sled because the snow was so soft. It was exhausting. It was snowing pretty heavily and we still hadn't made it to the lean-to. It has to be just ahead we kept telling ourselves. The sled was making things very difficult for Paul and he was wiped out by the time we did arrive at the lean-to. We knew we were not going to make an attempt on Seymour that day. We opted to set up our new tent instead of sleeping in the lean-to. We did so and climbed in our sleeping bags and took a nap. It was still early in the day, but we were quite tired already.
We napped, lounged, etc the rest of the day. Had a meal and slept for the night. We decided we'd get up early and make an attempt on Seymour the next day. Up relatively early and down the unbroken trail we went. The snow was very deep, as we'd received quite a bit of snow all day on Sunday and Sunday night. It was slow going. Paul was doing a great job of navigating but soon we found ourselves on a steep section in thick brush. We knew we'd lost the herdpath and knew which direction we needed to head, but it was too difficult to get there with the brush. Also, Paul was concerned about the snowpack. We weren't sure how stable things were because the snow was soft and there wasn't much of a base beneath it. There was an area of blowdown we were near and he didn't feel comfortable with us going through it. We were both physically exhausted but knew we were on the wrong track. I had gotten whipped in the eyeball by a tree-limb so my eye was burning and watering and my attitude was really poor. Paul was as tired as I've ever seen him. We knew the decision to turn back was best.
Back down we went and we arrived at the tent early again. Same story of napping, lounging, melting snow for water and hot water bottles for the sleeping bag--yay. We discussed our options. Neither one of us wanted to go back for Seymour but we felt confident in our attempt. Why not attempt Seymour and hopefully make it, then hike out? Our original plan had us hiking out with already completing 4 peaks. Here we were already prepping for day 3 with zero peaks. Part of us wanted to just hike out the next day. Forget Seymour. But, we were already that far in there, why not just stay and try again? Seymour was the furthest peak out. If we could at least get that, the other three peaks could be attempted later.
Up early again and we faced a cold morning. We knew it was going to be sub-zero temps, but wow it was cold. I was having a tough time staying warm for the first part of the morning, but once we started climbing, I did finally warm up. We followed our tracks until we branched off toward the direction we thought we should have gone. At this point the trail became very steep. We were basically on the slide itself and it was incredible. The snow was knee-thigh-waist deep and it was super slow going. We did the best we could, but we were not making progress fast enough. We were concerned about daylight and we topped out only .3 mile from the summit. Talk about heart wrenching. Reluctantly AGAIN we turned back and headed down. We both were clearly too exhausted to try to hike out. The interesting thing is that we saw tracks. Others had been in. Paul noted that the tracks followed our old tracks from the day before. Uh oh....well, maybe they had been able to find a better way.
We'd been having problems with condensation in the tent and we decided that we'd sleep in the lean-to that night. We knew the temperatures were supposed to be warmer and indeed we could feel it. It did snow lightly that night and every once in a while the wind would blow a little snow in the lean-to and you'd feel snow crystals on your face. It would give me a chill, so I tried to keep my back to the open side. I didn't get much sleep the whole trip and was pretty tired but so was Paul.
We packed up gear the next morning and made decent time along the broken trail out toward the car. And what did we find when we got to the summer trailhead? The road had been plowed! It figured!
So, it was 4 days, while we saw signs of people we actually didn't see anyone AND we didn't summit any peaks. That was a big drag. It was Christmas Eve and we were bummed. We were starving when we got out, but soon found out that nothing in the small town of Tupper Lake seemed to be open. What to do! The one place that was open was the Dunkin' Donuts in the gas station in town. I had a bagel and Paul had a bagel sandwich and that was enough to take the edge off.
We both were beat down and were not sure what to do. We'd planned on staying up there, but decided that we needed to retreat. To rethink things. Plans had changed completely. Fortunately, from Tupper Lake it was only about a 2 1/2 hour drive to Paul's parents house. We called to make sure we could come to stay and they welcomed us. We were able to clean up, dry out, warm up, do laundry, and sleep in a warm bed. Paul's mom made their traditional sausages (but earlier than midnight!) and for Christmas breakfast we made egg nog french toast. It was delish.
Paul's parents left to head to Paul's younger sister's house and we spent the afternoon sorting gear, food, and packing for another trip. Since we felt as though we needed a confidence boost, we decided we'd try a shorter trip. We figured on heading to hike Esther.
We left the warmth of the house and headed to Megan's (Paul's sister). There, we visited and hung out for a little while before we hit the road. We opted to get an early start, so we passed up dinner (though it smelled great) and headed north.
We took backroads for a while and were having trouble finding something that was open on Christmas. Once on the Northway, I even used the GPS to find restaurants and I called to see if they were open. Only one was: Denny's. We were pretty hungry at that point, so we decided to roll the dice and give them a try. We couldn't believe how busy they were! It was a small restaurant and was quite crowded. We got our food and it was tasty! I was surprised, as I've been to horrible Denny's restaurants and I wasn't sure what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised and it was good to know where it was, because later it became a favorite stopping place for several of our other trips home.
Back on the road with full bellies and as we approached our exit, decided we'd stop by the Ausable Club parking area to check out what was going on there. Maybe we'd reconsider our trip....TO BE CONTINUED...

Cali Time

Paul and I are excited for our upcoming trip to California. We leave this Saturday and will return on Sunday, April 5. It's been 6 months since we've been there, so it will be good to go home. I am looking forward to seeing my folks, my dogs, my cat, my home! : ) And, as luck would have it, two of my dearest friends, Summer and Liz will be in San Francisco the same time. So, as soon as we land in SFO, we're taking BART to the city to meet up for lunch! We can't wait!

Guess Who's Coming to.....Brunch?!

We're very excited to host our biggest fan Walt, and his wife Brenda for brunch on Sunday afternoon. We've got a nice menu of waffles with fresh fruit & whipped cream, Sky High biscuits with homemade razzleberry jam (can never have enough carbs!), eggs, and fresh squeezed orange juice. Mmmmmm. Can hardly wait! I'm already hungry!!!

The Luck of the Irish

Paul is half Irish, thus St. Patrick's Day is his holiday. Oh, I wear green and all, but heck, I'm too Italian to be Irish! ; )
I decided to cook my first ever corned beef for Paul this year. I had no idea how to do it, so I looked online for recipes and found one I liked. I went to Wegman's and got the beef and other stuff and came home and got to work. It was really easy! I cooked it in a mixture of beer and water with the spice packet, some garlic, shallot, and near the end added red potatoes and carrots. Ok ok, I'm not sure if that's "standard" Irish fare, but hey, I was trying!
It cooked longer than I'd planned because we decided to change the oil in my car and rotate the tires before dinner (taking advantage of the daylight). So, instead of taking the meat out, I just left it in and turned it way down. Paul was pretty excited about it when we finally came upstairs for dinner. We took the meat out and let it rest for a good fifteen minutes and Paul carved it up. A nice portion with potatoes and carrots for dinner and it actually made enough for 3+ lunches for him. I was nervous about how it was, but he said it was very good and enjoyed it! Yay!
A vegetarian that cooks meat--what an oxymoron!

Panther, Santanoni, Couch & Friends

Paul and I were finally able to schedule a trip to meet up with our friend Bob from the online forum. I picked him up Friday afternoon and we headed up to Upper Works. We stopped in Oneonta for dinner at the Neptune Diner. Paul had eaten there before but I never had. I was in the mood for breakfast, so I ordered the french toast. I made a joke of it to Paul because it said it was "jumbo" slices of homemade challah bread. Jumbo. Ok, sure. I'll believe it when I see it. While we waited for our food, we enjoyed the ambiance of the giant fish tank just behind our table. It really was quite fascinating. There were fish, hermit crabs, and plant life. It was most interesting to watch the crabs. They came in all different sizes, but from tiny, to small, to medium size. They were crawling around while carrying their home of a shell on their backs.
Our food arrived and then the joke was on me. It really WAS jumbo sized bread! It was quite good, though I wish it would have been cooked just a little more. I know, I'm picky, but I can't help it. I don't like soggy french toast! ; ) When the server returned to clear our plates and bring the bill, she said,"Did he help you with that?" LOL She didn't believe I ate the whole plate of food. We laughed about that!
We made it to Upper Works and decided to park at the trailhead for Allen. We did briefly check out the Santanoni parking lot and the trail register. People had been in during the week and there were cars in the parking lot. The stars were quite amazing and I took a quick look before we turned in for the night.
I was able to get some sleep which was a nice surprise. The alarm didn't go off until about ten of 5 which was a treat. It was almost like sleeping in! I was still tired though and not ready to go. Soon though, headlights filled the car and we noticed the truck of the ranger who apparently was out doing rounds, checking registers and parking lots. He left just as quickly as he arrived and we started moving, putting on hiking boots, and prepping for the day.
We drove down to the Santanoni parking lot and noted it was filling up quickly! There were quite a few people there already. The last we'd heard, there were to be about ten people from the forum for the hike.
We were first greeted by Cindy (Snickers) from the forum who we've traded messages back and forth with for over a year. This was the first time we'd met though! Soon, Lyle (crazymama) and Diana (Lurkette) came to introduce themselves and we chatted briefly while we waited for others to arrive. Our main "character" was Bob (turkeybob), but he wasn't there yet. Cindy was confused because she had seen him the night before and he said all was good and that he would see us in the morning. We waited, but decided we were going to press on without him. Paul and I wondered what happened.
Off we went, the group sort of dispersed, but would soon rejoin. There was Steve (steved), Chuck, another guy whose name I forgot, Lyle, Diana, Cindy, Paul, and myself. We barebooted down the trail and made it to the herdpath turnoff for Bradley Pond when Bob and his son Joe (JuniorTurkey) caught up to us. Not only them, but also Keith, Phil (Prino), Yvon, and Annie. Wow! It was a full group!
Bob wasn't sure who we were at first and when we introduced ourselves was thrilled! He was so excited! It was cute, actually. Bob is 61 years old and had only the three Santanoni's plus Haystack left to finish his Winter 46.
Anyway, again we mostly stuck together on the way up to Herald Square, though we did separate slightly. The day was absolutely extradordinary and the views on the way up were outstanding. It was crazy at Herald Square. So many people! I shared some banana bread and blueberry crumb bars and then off to Panther we went! It was a short trip with really only one tough, icy section. We all made the summit and there were high fives, woo hoos and lots of celebrating. Photos, more photos, and more photos were taken. It was fairly chilly on top, so back toward Herald Square we went. I took my time getting down the steep section and had Paul's help. He was kind enough to make sure others got down safely too and was there in the event that someone needed help.
From Herald Square we headed to Times Square. We didn't dilly dally at all, but instead headed straight for Couch. We saw overnight camping gear that belonged to Clay (Rookie) who had camped up there Friday night. We had sent him a note earlier in the week to let him know we'd be up there and he was looking forward to meeting us and vice versa. The trip to Couch is about 1.5 miles and it's a bushwhack. The herdpath was fairly open, but you still have to push your way through spruce trees and you do get hit in the face by tree limbs. In fact, Diana had a scratch on her nose that was lightly bleeding...most everyone had some form of treelimb damage. It's inevitable.
You lose quite a bit of elevation on the way to Couch. The peak is actually less than 4,000 feet, but is still one of the 46 High Peaks.
On the way we did manage to lose the herdpath but soon found it again and continued on. We met Brian and Janet on their way down (we didn't know them then, but found out who they were after we'd returned home). And, soon we met Clay. That was one of the funniest moments of the day. Cindy was introducing people, going down the line. She got to us and Clay said, "So you're Jennster & Paul!" "I was on the summit of Couch asking everyone, 'Are you Jen & Paul, are you Paul & Jen?" It was too funny! Cindy said,"See? Isn't it like you're celebrities?!"
About 10-15 minutes later we arrived at the sunny summit of Couch. Last year when Paul and I made it, I wasn't in the best of moods. I'd gotten hit in the face several times and was not enjoying myself. My summit photo on Couch was one where I was not smiling. This time it was a different story, however. The summit is small and I'm not sure how we all crammed ourselves on top, but we did. Many, many photos, some coffee, cookies, laughs, and Paul and I felt a little cramped so we decided to head back toward Times Square knowing the others would follow shortly. I was feeling tired, but Paul insisted we were making good time. The trek back up to Times Square was mostly uphill. I guess I was feeling all the running I did earlier in the week.
We arrived at Times Square to find a woman lounging in the sun apparently waiting for the rest of her party to return from Panther. It wasn't long before they made it back. Paul and I had a snack and waited for our group too.
Cindy and Keith arrived shortly, but by then I was getting a little chilly, so we opted to head toward Santanoni while the others returned to Times Square. We took our time and slowly made our way toward the tallest of the three peaks. Before we knew it, it was time to go up! Santanoni is a really neat peak. It has several false summits and the approach is quite spectacular. What's interesting is that because it's a herdpath, from year to year it may differ just slightly. I remarked to Paul that I remembered going up a slightly different way. It doesn't matter really, as we made it to the summit anyway.
It wasn't too long before the others caught up and we all were on the summit together. There were several that opted not to do Santanoni, so we had about ten people up top and this was the ten that pretty much stayed together all day (Bob, Joe, Keith, Lyle, Diana, Cindy, Phil, Steve, Paul, and Me). Much hooting, hollering, photo taking and some snacking before heading down a new trail that neither Paul and I had traveled before.
The last time we took the trail back toward Times Square and out via Bradley Pond. This time, we were taking what's called the New-Old Trail or as Bob dubbed it--The Santanoni Express. It takes a more direct line down and cuts off some distance. It was quite steep at first, but there was some good snowshoe skiing and buttsliding which made it pretty fun.
We had great conversation on the way out and stopped for snacks along the way. My banana bread and blueberry crumb bars were big hits! : )
We made it back to the car and started our farewells. It was funny--Bob asked Paul permission to give me a hug! A big hug from him and we wished him luck with his 46th peak. He was going to attempt Haystack on Tuesday the 17th--St. Patrick's Day. We told him we thought it would be a good luck day. We sure hope he is successful! Nice to meet yous to everyone else, a big hug from Cindy and everyone left.
We did a quick clothes change and hit the road shortly thereafter. We wanted to get as far south as we could and talked about what we wanted for dinner and decided on Red Robin. We hadn't been there since last year after a hike.
We got there, sat down and our server came. I told Paul that she looked familiar. She must have served us before. A few minutes later when she came by, she said, "I've taken care of you guys before. You hike, right?" Paul and I were both flabbergasted. She remembered us from last year! Hard to believe. She must have many, many customers. We were floored that she remembered us AND that we hike. I remember that we stopped quite late one night and I had my North Face fleece jacket and beanie on. She asked if we skied and we said that we hiked...little did we know she'd keep that in her memory! We gave her a nice tip!
I drove from there and we both realized we were too tired to drive all the way home. Paul's parents were in Florida for vacation, but told us to use the house if we needed to. We really appreciated it! Thanks SO much! We cleaned up and each crashed on a couch--zonked out in minutes.
An uneventful drive home Sunday morning and back to the day to day schtuff. It was really one of the best days in the Adirondacks. The weather was glorious, the company was outstanding, and it was just a different experience for us.
I'm currently uploading photos and will post those soon and I will also copy links to the online forum and the trip reports from various people in the Santas on Saturday. I think you might enjoy reading those. For now, I'll close, but check back soon with those additions. : )
Our Photos:


2009-03-17 18:26

Photos from Phil:


Santanonis March14-09

And for your reading enjoyment...Beware, these can take a while to get through! : )
Trip Reports Written By Forum Members:
From Bob (TurkeyBob):
http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7916
From Bob's son, Joe (JuniorTurkey):
http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7919
From Clay (Rookie):
http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7931
From Brian (BushmanBrian):
http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7914