Training Log Archive: IronDan

A nice windy fall day just a little bit before Mick and Laura's wedding.

I've now climbed 19.5% of the ADK 46...that's 9/46. I'm going to run out of easy ones soon...

C • killer weekend! 2

I felt a little bit tired this morning and I needed to head back to Oshawa, so I picked a shorter, easier route, up Mt. Van Hovenberg. This is the hill that has the bobsled run on it--Mick and Sarah and I drove up the front side of it in 2005. However, the bobsled run doesn't go all the way to the top, and you can't see any of it from the trail--they do a good job of seperating the uses. Anyways the trail is steep in sections and has some rewarding views of the high peaks. I spent some time on the summit trying to identify distant peaks using my map and relative angles. Beautiful. It seems like some of the shortest hills have the best views. http://deseronto.googlepages.com/adks_october2006

Today I hiked to Mount Marcy via the normal route, aka the Van Hovenburg Trail, which is one of the oldest trails in the area. There were quite a few people on the summit, including the usual crying babies, etc. There were also two summit rangers, one of whom had passed me on the way up (and he was really moving).

From there, I headed over to Skylight. Both mountains have great views, but Skylight is much less busy. Then I did quite a long descent (1300 feet) and met another hiker...we decided to hike out together. From there, the hike is pretty easy. At Marcy Dam, we ran into two girls from Ottawa who had also been on Marcy and we all chatted for a bit.

All in all, everyone I met in the backcountry was very friendly, and I had several enjoyable conversations. It was a very pleasant trip.

For the last two nights of my trip, I stayed in the loft at the Loj, which is a special experience. Very neat and rustic. And again, almost everyone there was quite friendly.