Hiking

  • Fitness,  Hiking,  Trip Report

    The Longest Hike – Allen Mountain

    Saturday was the perfect September day! My day started out VERY early at 4:00 AM. Christine is on her way to finishing her Adirondack 46 this month and  only has a few more high peaks to hike. I joined her for one of the longest, Allen Mountain. We arrived at the trailhead for Allen at the East River parking lot at about 7:00am. The sun had been up for only a few minutes. We wanted as much day light as possible because this was a doozey of a hike. About 18-19 miles round trip and an estimated 12 hours of hiking. I was game because I like walking and I…

  • Fitness,  Food,  Hiking,  Travel,  Trip Report

    Hiking Mt. Jo and ADK Things

    This weekend was full of Adirondack goodness. I went camping near Lake Placid with my friends Meredith and John. We had grand plans of hiking some high peaks this past weekend, but weather diminished them. However, the weather was still great on Saturday after we set up camp, and decided that we better get a hike in now, just to say we saw  some views. Enter Mt. Jo. The trail to Mt. Jo is at the Adirondack Loj parking lot. It was a short hike, so we didn’t mind starting the hike at about 4:30pm. First we stopped to see Heart Lake. Then we began the 1.1 mile climb on…

  • Hiking,  Trip Report

    Brown and Five Mile Mountain – Tongue Mountain Range

    On Saturday I took my good friend Sarah on a hike near Lake George. I hiked with her for the first time back in 2008 when I was first getting into shape and we hiked Sleeping Beauty together–it has been nearly six years since we did that hike! I wanted to do an easy hike on Saturday because I still had to do my long run on Sunday, so I picked part of the Tongue Mountain Range–the trail to Five Mile Mountain. The book of day hikes that I have boasted that this hike had amazing views. About 3 miles into the hike I deemed it the book of lies.…

  • Fitness,  Hiking,  Trip Report

    Blackhead Mountian

    Yesterday I took a day off from work to hike with my friend Brendan. He had the whole week off for vacation and Monday’s weather was looking fantastic, so I suggested we go down to the Catskills. I found three mountains we could hike, but ultimately decided just do one to make it a short day: Blackhead Mountain, the fifth highest Catskill peak, part of the 35 over 3,500 ft. We parked at the Big Hollow parking lot in Maplecrest and started our hike at 11:00AM. Late for me! The first mile or so of trail was relatively easy and flat, a nice little walk in the woods with a…

  • Fitness,  Hiking,  Travel

    Owl’s Head Mountain

    Saturday I finally got to take my parents on an Adirondack hike! The last time I hiked with them it was 2009 and we hiked to the Hadley Mountain firetower. They loved it, but hadn’t hiked anything since. Saturday was the day. I picked Owls Head in Keene because it is an easy hike with outstanding views. I was a bit worried about the rain, but it held off, and we could see in all directions! There are many view points all along the .6 mile trail to the summit. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the top and right as we got there it started to…