Cascade family hike

    I knew it was only a matter of time until I came back from a stunning high peaks hike and Jeanette's jealousy would send her up a peak with me soon after. After a perfect day on Dix, Jeanette had had enough!!! Time for a climb!! We threw around Avalanche Lake since we've made a winter pilgrimage there the past few years but she decided as it got closer that she wanted to climb Cascade.

    Well it just so happens that I hadn't been up Cascade in the winter so I could bag it and Porter for my W46!!! The drive up was very pretty with an average amount of Koda whining. It was evident that the snow pack was going rapidly. There was way less snow then even 2 days earlier. I was so beyond thrilled to be hiking with Jeanette again. As much as I enjoy solo hiking and my solitude (and lobbied for it pretty tirelessly) I deeply missed having my hiking partner and my true love with me to share the beauty. We fell in love in the woods and they never cease to make me think of her.

     Skies were overcast but very crisp which got me excited for Cascades epic views. This was our first (like many others) high peak and so we remember the least from it. I know that it was windy and we had almost zero visibility. Jeanette had taken girls from the grad department several time since but I hadn't returned. It was nice hiking "new again" trail and taking in unique perspectives from this northern peak.

     Jeanette set a fast pace that had me sweating within the first 15 minutes. She felt out of shape and had to take what she felt like were too many breaks but again, we were CRANKING up the trail hahaha. I tried to keep up while dodging the first trail rocks I had seen since November. Spring is definitely on the way. The last third of this hike, once on the ridgeline is very pretty. The pine forest festooned with runners of alpine moss. There are a few open points that offer tantalizing views of what's to come, with clear views through Avalanche Pass Flanked by the Mac's and Mount Colden.

     Once we broke through the tree line to the bare summit we could hear the winding roaring over the rock. We started the scramble and ditched our snowshoes once we realized the rest of the way was primarily bare rock. The gusts were very high. I don't really have a firm grasp on MPH estimations but it was the heaviest I've ever felt and would venture to say that it was up to around 40 MPH. Jeanette got out the nice new camera and took some stunning summit photos. The dog and I played around on the summit a little beit before we all decided it was a good idea to get off the exposure. We made a bee line back to one of the open spots along the trail and had a second, less windy, photo-shoot.

     This hike was a big deal for me for two reasons. The first, as I mentioned earlier, it was Jeanette's first hike back since her dad passed away this fall. She's been struggling to find the energy or the desire to do this sort of thing. Her planning this hike marks a major turning point and a definite indicator that, while things are still hard, she's emerging from the darkness. The second and less dramatic big deal is that I didn't "bag" Porter. Sometimes I feel like a hopeless peak-bagger. I've been trying to promise myself that I'm really going to savor my winter round and when possible, do single peaks instead of multi-peak outings. Once I'm out there though, i get excited and want to do bigger and bigger hikes. On the Dix hike I made a quick attempt at Hough but turned around very quickly when I couldn't immediately find the herd path. I was a little irritated with myself for pushing it and not being able to simply enjoy the good that I had.

       So on this trip, about halfway through, I decided not to "bag" Porter. I had a simply phenomenal hike this fall, climbing Porter and Cascade from Marcy field. I fell in love with the Porter Ridge. So rather than taking the quick jaunt over from Cascade as so many have half-hardheartedley done before, I saved it for another day. Maybe I'd repeat that beautiful hike up the ridge or try the trail from the Garden which I hadn't hiked before. Maybe I'd save it for my final hike so friends that don't hike a lot could come along! So I passed the intersection on the way up and down without another thought of hiking over. A small victory in the battle with list obsession.

     All in all it was a great hike with great company. It was the first time we all (Koda, Jeanette and I) climbed a high peak together and Jeanette's first big hike in a while. It left us both excited for spring and some of our coming hikes. I loved spending this lovely warm spring day with those I love (lots of love in this sentence!!!) the most and felt very present and in the moment. Life is good.

Porter and Cascade: Koda's first two high peaks!

The past few months have been crazy and dramatic. We finished or 46 in July. We got engaged on an incredible adventure in British Columbia. In September J's dad passed unexpectedly. Aside from the emotional trauma, loss and mourning and its impact, we had a whole new life. We decided to take on his house (J's childhood home) as well as his 2 year old lunatic German Shepherd, Koda.

Jeanette (mountainwolf) and I have been working non-stop for the past 2 months getting affairs in order and moving out of our much loved apartment in the Pine Hills neighborhod, leaving very little time for hiking and certainly not 4-5 hours to drive up to the high peaks. I've been satisfying my need to roam the woods by visiting all of my favorite local parks and preserves.

Things have finally come together enough so we have some spare days. All Jeanette wants to do right now is rest (who could blame her?!) and I've been dying to touch base with the High Peaks so a plan was hatched to give her some time at home minus the constant engagement of an especially high energy shepherd and us two boys would go burn some calories and play in the snow.

Since completing the 46, I've loved refocusing my energies on different pursuits in the woods: sharing favorite hikes with friends, exploring new trails and approaches, and simply immersing myself in the woods. Reaping the true benefits they have to offer.

This hike fell nicely into my current mode. I would get to share a hike with my awesome new friend Koda, climb a different route up an a peak I already knoe and likely be alone all day, completely immersed in the place in the world I love the most.

We arrived at Marcy Field at 8:30. There was a very serious looking all terrain van-type thingy with a little mo-ped strapped to the back idling in the lot. Weird. While I was putting my boots on and shuffling my gear at a leisurely pace no one stumbled out so I snapped a quick picture and made my way up the trail. It was cold all day but as long as I kept moving it never really got bad. I was definitely happy to get under way though. The trail starts out very wide (like old tote road wide) and eventually breaks off left where the town trail keeps going straight to what I assume would be a low overlook. The hiking was pleasant and began following a brook, crossing it twice. Koda took a drink and I encouraged more, knowing puddles up higher might be frozen on such a crisp day.

After leaving the creek behind we reached an overlook about an hour or so into the hike. There were good views of Giant and Keene Valley below it. I can see very clearly from this perspective how the Giant of the Valley got its name. As we went higher, Dix, Noonmark, Round and the Upper Range all became visible. Reaching the summit of Blueberry Mountain was pretty tough and I was very grateful to come to a wide, flat and open summit. This is a really cool mountain! Great views all around, now including Whiteface to the north looking all pretty with snow on the trails.

There was a good amount of ice on the steep approach of Blueberry and I was obviously not used to it, taking a couple stupid spills that learned me quick. Winter is here indeed! After the summit, the trail was dusted with snow at first. That dusting grew incrementally in depth throughout the day. I'd guess 3-6 up top? From Blueberry I could tell that the first push to gain the Porter ridge was gonna be tough. It didn't disappoint. I huffed and puffed while Koda ran graceful laps first just out of sight and back to see if I could pick up the pace a little.

After gaining the ridge there were several terrific vantage points. I was really blown away. When we climbed Porter originally for our 46, the summit was socked in completely and I vaguely remember being told I didn't miss much. Huh...not the case. What an amazing front row seat for the whole of the great range, the Macs, Colden...the list goes on. It didn't hurt that I happen to love snow-capped mountains and was being served them in spades.

Since it's been a few months since a really ambitious hike, I was pretty spent by the top of Porter. I slumped down onto the rock, fixed my gaze at the range and contentedly sipped some green tea from a thermos. Koda and I shared a packet of tuna which we wolfed down with great enthusiasm. I kept resting and taking pictures while Koda looked insistently down trail. The initial plan was to climb Porter and evaluate the dog to see if he could push on. Well, it seemed like the dog was ready to go and trying to evaluate me. Again, the brief hiatus had diminished my endurance so I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep going but in the end I succumbed to peer pressure and off we went.

After two pretty grueling ascents it was nice to settle into a good trot on mostly even ground and before long we were making the final rock walk up Cascade. I figured if I was going to see another person it'd be on Cascade but it turns out the range was ours for the day. A few pictures later we were making our way back. It was really cool to look out and see the entirety of my hike laid before me from Keene Valley to where I stood.

We reached Cascade at 12:30 and made it out by 3:30 so it took us four hours to climb and three to descend. The hike out was pretty but uneventful and there was less conversation on the way down than there was excitedly going up. Koda finally seemed to start getting tired and often wanted to walk behind me for tricky spots.