On Monday, 6/29, my brother and I made our hike out of the Adirondacks–this post is day 2 of our trip.
The night prior, we climbed to the summit of Mount Marcy, the highest peak in New York… and gotten lost on the way back. We went to bed late (for hikers), around 10 PM, and didn’t set an alarm, figuring we didn’t need to hurry and we could sleep in.
If 6:30 AM is “sleeping in” then yes… we slept in… *yawn*.
I think because daylight was at 5:15 AM, the birds were chirping, and we couldn’t sleep any more. I did lay there for a bit, just resting and trying to gauge how tired and sore my body felt. I didn’t feel like I got run over by a bus, as I had on day 4 of the PCT, and I wasn’t super hungry or thirsty–all good signs.
We had our breakfast down by the river. While we waited for the water to boil, we filtered more water for our 6+ mile hike out of the woods.
Mountain House is not my preferred breakfast, but again, beggars can’t be choosers. We also had some instant coffee, courtesy of my JetBoil. Unfortunately, the coffee didn’t agree with my tummy, but at least I learned a lesson–no coffee while on the trail!
After our leisurely breakfast, we packed up, and got back on the trail!
I could tell right away it was going to be slow-going for me. Despite eating most of the food, and not carrying too much water, my pack still weighed approximately 25-30 lbs. Each down step with my left leg sent a painful wave up the side of my peroneous longus (just had to google “outer side of lower leg muscle” and I think that’s the one).
We had to go up about 700 feet, before going back down about 2,000 feet. All of this was tough on my tired body, but again, thank God for the trekking poles.
I told Joel I needed to take it easy… I really didn’t want it to be hurting all the way up Mt. Mansfield later!
Joel asked if I had any KT tape, to use on the side of my leg. I DID! I had put some in my first aid kit for the PCT hike, and never used it. Yay!
I applied it, and it did seem to help support my very tender tendons and ligaments. I had rolled my ankle a few times the night prior, and it caught up with me.
We took our time, especially on the bog bridges (not pictured here, but check out yesterday’s post if you want to see a crazy balancing act above boggy water). At one point, crossing the bog bridge, a big frog hopped off the log into the water, and it nearly made me fall because it broke my focus!
The way back felt long, but at least it wasn’t too hot and didn’t rain.
A couple passed us when we were about halfway back… just zoomed right past. Joel didn’t like getting passed 😛 But I told him, they weren’t carrying heavy packs like we were, so don’t sweat it.
When we finally got out of the rocky portion of the hike, I felt so much relief on my tired legs. Look how much easier this is:
I didn’t take nearly as many pics as usual, because I really wanted to get back, take off my pack, and have a real meal at the Hungry Hiker 🙂
At last, I saw the trailhead and register up ahead (we made sure to check our names off both registers, so that no one would come looking for us, thinking we’re lost).
We quickly ditched our smelly shoes, socks, and gear at the car…
…and headed over to grab some lunch!
This homemade lemonade was seriously AMAZING after a long hike:
We ate, returned the bear can, bought a Mt. Marcy sticker…
…and were on our way to a very rainy Vermont!
No road trip is complete without a snack stop. Joel mentioned ice cream, so I found us an ice cream place, Olson’s Ice Cream, in Vergennes, Vermont:
An hour or so later, after a bathroom/gas/firewood stop, we pulled into Underhill State Park, for part 2 of our adventure, climbing Mount Mansfield!
Map of Feldspar Brook campsite back to the Van Hoevenberg Trailhead / Hungry Hiker snack bar 🙂
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