Friday night at a Lake Placid motel:
Our intrepid group of hikers gathers to discuss the upcoming adventure and settle on an itinerary. Most of the discussion revolves around the difficulty level of the alternate routes available. Below are some of the more notable comments albeit edited (read that “modified”) for content, time and formatted to fit your screen. Names are excluded to protect the guilty - and the conversations modified to fit the editor’s whims - but anyone that knows the three can probably guess the source. We join the conversation near the end…
“Well, that leaves us with Rocky Peak via the long route.”
“Where’s the beer? I really want a beer.”
“Look in the ‘frig. Sounds neat, but how hard is it really? I want to be back in time for some time on the town. Besides, I’m not in shape for a tough summit.”
“Anyone got a knife to cut the lime with?”
“Well, it’s definitely an all day ordeal with a lot of elevation.”
“Never mind. I found one.”
“Okay, let’s skip that one. We could always do a minor summit like Noonmark.”
“Hey, I want to do a real peak! Just not a hard one. Or one I’ve done before... Or one that doesn’t have good views... Or one that’s really muddy... But keep it easy!”
“Oh, man, these Combos are good!”
“Why don’t we head for Dial and Nippletop. If we get to Dial and there isn’t enough time to return for a relaxed dinner, we skip Nippletop and come back. But I doubt we’ll make Nippletop. I don’t think I’ve got two peaks in me. Besides we still have to go over Bear Den and it’s pretty steep climbing the whole way.”
“Aww! Isn’t there an easier one?”
“Not with all the other conditions we’ve set.”
“Oh, all right.”
“Oh, this beer is SO good!”
“What time do we get up.”
“Probably around 5 to do both.”
“Aw, man. No way! I need my beauty sleep.”
“Yeah. I need SLEEP! How about 6?”
“I guess. But don’t complain to me when we don’t make both summits.”
“Is it too late to go see Martha?”
“Yeah. Here, have a Corona.”
6
AM, Saturday
Beep,
Beep, Beep, Beep…
“Do we really have to get up?”
“Only if we want that night on the town. How about we skip the hike and sleep in.”
“Groan! I’m to old for this stuff.”
“I’ll wait for you guys here.”
“Not if you want us to vouch for you having completed the summit.”
“How about we all agree to vouch for each other? Then we can do breakfast, lunch and dinner in town?”
“Whimps!”
WHUMP!
“Hey! Remember, you all wanted to do this.
“Oh, all right. But I am getting my caffeine fix before we hit the trail.”
“That goes without saying. I’m going to need more than my usual caffeine hit to make it through the morning.”
“Hey, did you guys know Combos taste pretty good for breakfast, too”
“I guess the sooner we get moving the sooner we get to town. Ow! Boy, am I stiff. Who’s going to carry me up the trail?”
“Alright! Who forgot to put the lime away?”
“I don’t know but look at Alan’s water bottle. It’s frozen solid.”
7:30
AM, walking up the road to the trailhead
The
contest continues…
“I’m not ready for this hike.”
“Me either. I haven’t been working out much.”
“I know how you feel. I’ve only been at half my normal routine.”
“Yeah? I haven’t worked out in 2 weeks.”
“No kidding? I haven’t worked out for a month.”
“Hey! Slow down! 10 minutes ago you were complaining that you wouldn’t be able to keep up.”
“I’m not going that fast.”
“Your competitive side is trying to keep up with that lone hiker in front of us.”
“No it’s not.”
“Is too!”
“Is not!”
“Is too!”
“Hey! You’re both going too fast. Wait up!”
8:00
AM, the real climbing begins
The
contest heats up…
“Please. Be my guest. You go first.”
“No way! I’m not going to be going that fast. You go first.”
“Hey, I’m in no better shape than you. You lead.”
“No, really, I insist. Age before beauty.”
“Oh! And next it will be, ‘Women first.’”
“I know where there’s this nice little Italian restaurant in the village. I bet they open for lunch.”
“That’s it. This was your idea. You lead.”
“But I’ll be going to slow for you guys.”
“That’s OK. I feel like a slow pace.”
“In that case I should lead. I feel weak.”
By now you should have an idea of the conversations.
Around 10:30 the trio reached Bear Den. The damage from the September, 1999 Noonmark fire added an interesting dimension to the hike and provided views of the Great Range that were spectacular.
The trio reached Dial’s summit around 11:30 and sat down for lunch and photos. They were the first there for the day. The weather was perfect for hiking. There were some quick discussions about continuing on to Nippletop. While everyone seemed to have the energy reaching the summit would eliminate the possibility of the night in town. No problem, they would return the way they came.
Shortly a solo hiker appeared and mentioned his goal of Nippletop. As might be expected this got them looking at the distant summit and recalculating trip times. But the potential of a relaxed dinner was too much. And so they returned. Of course, whining all the way.
 |
| Alan & Sherry On the shoulder of Noonmark. The open space is due to the fire of September 1999.
|
 |
Dial
Mtn
|
 |
Great Range from shoulder of Noonmark
|
|
| Great Range from
shoulder of Noonmark
|
|
|
Dix from shoulder of Noonmark.
|
|
| Sherry and Alan On summit of Dial
|
|
|
Sherry and Joe On summit of Dial
|
|
| Alan and Joe Yup, on summit of Dial
|
|
| Another shot of the
great Range
|
|
| Sherry Enjoying a water stop on the return trip.
|
|
| Alan Always smiling
|
|
|
Panoramic composite of the Great Range (and more) from the summit of Dial. OK, so I've got to get better editing tools if I'm going to do this type of thing. But at least you get a limited idea of what we saw.
|
