Abandoned by all his usual adult hiking partners, Joe enlisted Alexis for her third Adirondack peak. There was some hesitation bringing Alexis. Conditions can be brutal at this time of year and the forecast was very tenuous. But on the morning of the hike the weather called for breaking conditions around 10 to 10:30 with sun and pleasant temperatures.
It was chilly and drizzly as they began their hike early in the morning but Alexis wanted to push on. Besides, their timeline had them arriving on the summit around noon well after the skies were supposed to clear. Alexis also met a teacher from her school at the trail head register (small world) and who gave her some encouraging words.
At 10:30 there was no sun. In fact, Alexis was having a great time "walking into a cloud." But it was still wet and the temperature had not changed.
Around 11:30 the team broke tree line and walked into rain, wind and cold. Alexis was not happy. It was steep and slippery but she pushed on holding Joe's hand all the way to the summit.
Just as they reached the summit the weather started to break but it was too late. They were cold. After some quick pictures and short lunch they headed back. Coming off the summit they met the teacher from Alexis' school. One consolation for the day was she got to go back and tell her friends she got to the summit before he did.
Coming off the steep cliffs Alexis got to perfect and teach Joe her "butt slide" descent technique.
Even after the lousy conditions Alexis was asking before they got back to the car, "When can we do another mountain, Daddy!?" Looks like she's hooked.
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| Joe & Alexis on their way up the
mountain. There's that t-shirt again!
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"Wow! What a neat waterfall, Daddy!" Too bad they were in a cloud. Makes picture taking pretty tough.
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Alexis on the summit "Ca.. Ca.. Can.. w.. w.. we.. g.. g.. go.. n.. n.. now?"
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| Mt Colden trying to
break through.
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Algonquin making a break for it.
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| Colden breaks just as
they leave the summit.
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45 minutes down the mountain, Alexis is back to her
usual self. Scolding dad for something or other and eating Nerds.
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| "Are you sure
we can't do another mountain today?"
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| Same waterfall in
daylight.
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| Joe turns his back
just for a minute and Alexis has her boots off and is jumping in a
creek. Never mind that the water temperature is near freezing.
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| The trip home is
always a quiet one.
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