Adirondacks '12: Finale

"Home, Final Thoughts"

Trip report in diary format. Brother Eric's account of the day is here, and his final thoughts are here.

7:57am
We're done breakfast at the Comfort Inn and are getting ready to hit the road. I slept well, and Eric and I were up shortly after 7:00. The plan was to be on the road around 8:00, and we'll be close to that. The Weather Channel was on while we ate, and it looks like we'll be driving through some rain today, and that it will be quite hot when we get home. At this point I think we're all looking forward to being home.

12:27pm
We're at Phil's house, unloading the van. The drive was uneventful, we didn't hit any traffic to speak of, and made great time getting here. The predicted rain never happened - we may have gotten a sprinkle or two, but nothing more than that.

1:15pm
Eric dropped me off at my house, and Adirondacks '12 is officially over for me.

Final Thoughts

Summit of Algonquin Peak

It's probably not fair to compare trips, but I can hardly avoid comparing this trip to Adirondacks '08, since trips were so similar - we stayed at the same campground for the same number of days, and did some of the same hikes. On almost every point of comparison, this trip was better.

• Brother Eric was with us this time. I hope we didn't annoy him too much with comparisons of our '08 trip - there was a lot of talk of "remember when we did such-and-such here last time", which was only natural, but it may have had him feeling a little left out. I hope not.
• Our campsites were prettier and more secluded.
• The weather was better - last time it was much colder, and there were rain showers every day.



Lazy afternoon in camp

• I'm not sure I'll call it "revenge", but I got to the summit of Mt. Marcy and actually saw the vista this time.
• I also got to the summit of Algonquin Peak, and saw an equally spectacular vista.
• Campsite meal planning was fantastic. We ate like kings, for which I claim no credit. Left to my own devices, campground meal planning would be simple arithmetic:
      (number of days x number of meals/day = number of peanut butter sandwiches required)
• Having a guitar with me worked out even better than I expected (and I expected it to be good.) I'll be bringing it with me everywhere I can reasonably bring it.

The only negative point of comparison I can think of is that we didn't all make it to the summit of Marcy. There was nothing else to do at the time, but leaving John and Eric behind didn't feel good.

Combined GPS tracks of my two summit hikes

I've probably used these terms too often in this trip report, but the only words I can think of to describe Adirondacks hiking are steep, rocky, and punishing. I asked myself a few times on my two summit hikes if I was having fun. At a number of points on those climbs, the answer was "no, not at all" - it was often brutally hard work.

The vistas from the top, and the sense of accomplishment from having done those hikes really does make it seem worthwhile - but I also wonder if we should be looking at flatter hikes. I'm sure there will be discussions of that as we start to talk about next year's hiking trip (about which more soon - of course ideas are already flying around!)

I probably conclude each year's trip report the same way, but there's no other way to say it - it's a pure treat to be able to get away with such a good group of guys. We've known each other forever, we're used to each others' quirks, and we all love these trips where we can get away into some remote and beautiful places and do some great hiking and see some gorgeous scenery.

In short, it was another well-planned and well-executed trip: first-rate hiking and first-rate companionship. I can't wait to do it again next year.