This past weekend, Benjamin and I drove to Albany to visit with Catherine and Morrie and to go hiking with them in the Adirondacks. We were really looking forward to it, since it has been far too long since we have had a chance to go backpacking.
We had one minor problem on the trip - a disintegrating backpack, as seen above. I have had that backpack for close to 20 years probably, and during our last small backpacking trip, the part of the pack that held the shoulder straps onto the body of the pack snapped into two pieces. On Thursday night, we rigged what we thought was a very clever fix to this problem by sewing the two pieces together with twine. On Saturday, when Benjamin lifted the partially loaded pack out of the car, another area of the same rubber/plastic piece fell apart. At this point, it was the backpacker's friend - duct tape - to the rescue. Not the most elegant or comfortable solution, but it got us (well, Benjamin, since he had to carry it) through the trip. For our next trip, we will be taking a trip to a camping store to get a new pack!
Here we are, relatively early into the long slog that was the trip up to Big Slide. I have really only ever gone backpacking on the Olympic Peninsula, where the terrain is relatively flat, apart from headlands. The hardest part of the hike there is slogging through sand or avoiding fast rising tides. So, while I was intellectually aware that we would be hiking UP mountains, I was not quite prepared for the amount of actual up climbing to be done... I am really quite a wimp when it comes to up, but I made it, without too much whining.
And it really was worth all the climbing, aching legs, sore feet, and humidity. The forest was wonderful - mostly empty of people, quiet except for the sounds of birds, running water, and wind. The views were spectacular. The flowers were lovely. The above are bunchberries (
Cornus canadensis), which are related to dogwoods. They were all over - if I hadn't been with other people who actually wanted to make some progress, I could have spent hours taking pictures of them.
We also learned about another vital part of the Adirondacks hiking experience: the black flies. When I mentioned where I was going over the weekend to people at work, they all said "Ooh, take some bug spray, and good luck with the black flies!" Catherine assured me that bug spray wasn't really necessary, and I didn't want to have to carry it, so I ignored the advice. For the first part of the hike, it seemed that I was fine. And then, we reached the fork in the trail where we were to leave our packs and climb up a bit higher to the top of Big Slide. As we took our packs off and rested, we were suddenly swarmed with flies. Little black ones that began to bite. A lot. As we went up, we passed another group of hikers coming down - two of whom had silly looking hats with netting hanging off of them - and we traded pleasantries about the day and jokes about the flies. We weren't laughing much as the flies got thicker. After a bit I was just too pooped to go on, so I stopped at an overlook point to eat a snack and let the others go on ahead. Within two minutes I desperately wanted one of those silly looking hats. I had to pace, rather than sit as I really wanted to do, to avoid the flies. Then, I had to start flapping my bandana and slapping myself all over to get the flies off. When the others returned to my "resting" spot, I headed back down to the packs as fast as my legs would go. When Catherine and Morrie paused to put on long pants and shirts, I just took my pack and started booking it down the trail in the direction of our eventual evening stopping place. Benjamin had to run to catch up with me. I didn't stop until I was away from the swarms and could open my mouth without fear of one flying in. Whew. Now I am covered (as was everyone else) with bites, but the trip wouldn't have been the same without them. I can say I have had the authentic experience. And, if I ever get a chance to come back, I will bring one of those hats!
We spent the night in a lean-to. I couldn't exactly see the point of them until we actually arrived at it, because I am used to camping with a tent - but when it started raining and all we had to do was retreat under the roof, I sure appreciated it. And getting ready to leave in the morning was a lot easier without having to wrestle with a wet tent! We ate dinner, played some cards, and flopped, exhausted, into our sleeping bags. The next morning we tackled another peak, hiked out, stinking, sore and tired, but with a great feeling of accomplishment, and celebrated with lunch at Catherine and Morrie's favorite diner. Ahh! Wilderness!
On Saturday we took a trip south of the Thruway (I-90 to those of you not in the know) to Letchworth State Park, called by some the Grand Canyon of the East. The Genessee River flows through a series of gorges and down several waterfalls on its way north towards Rochester and Lake Ontario. Our original intent was to go on a nice, vigorous day hike, and to get out of the house for a day. The forecast was for possible thunderstorms and rain, but since the weathermen have been saying that a lot lately, and have been wrong a good portion of that time, we figured we were safe. And even if it rained, we both felt a desperate need to get out of town for a bit.
It did rain in Brockport before we left, and rained on us for part of the drive, but when we first arrived in the park it was clear and dry. That didn't last long. As you can tell from the first two pictures, it rained. A lot. We decided to eat our lunches and hope it would pass quickly, as most storms around here do. Not this one. We ate in a picnic shelter, along with a family of Korean tourists taking refuge from the rain. Although the rain hadn't stopped, we decided to push on towards the trail head we wanted. We braved the rain to take in the (misty, rain-covered) views, and to get soaking wet.
The rain stopped eventually - not before we were both too wet to want to go for a long hike. Benjamin, in particular, had wet feet after mistaking a diguised puddle for solid ground. Oops. You can see the magnitude of the rain in the rushing rivulet above. Anyway, the rain did abate and the sun came out as we reached the final parking lot and the trails to the falls. 
This picture doesn't really do the falls justice. While I would hesitate to compare the gorges and falls to the Grand Canyon (I mean, there really is no comparison if you have actually seen the GC), they were quite scenic and lovely. There are three sets of falls, and apart from the railroad bridge and rock walled trail on the one side, there are no other human intrusions to mar their beauty - unlike Niagara Falls with all the casinos and such. The flora is very lush and verdant, and had it not been so humid and wet, I am sure we would have enjoyed going on the hike. As it was, we had a really good time, despite the wet feet, and if we didn't get our hike, we did get out of the house and town for a while.
