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Hiking Treadway Mountain (Pharaoh Lake Wilderness) – 6.19.21
Treadway Mountain in the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness is a great day hike in the Ticonderoga area. Located right near the Putnam Pond Campground (note: there is a $6 fee for parking at the trailhead which is located inside the campground), Treadway is a great option for campers looking for a nice hike right from their campsite. Brendan and I decided on Treadway since it’s part of the ADK 29er Challenge and also serves as a good warm up hike for more challenging hikes we hope to do this season. The hike starts out meandering past some ponds and wetlands. The trail is pleasant, there weren’t too many rocks or root…
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Camping at Alger Island & Hiking Bald Mountain (Rondaxe) Firetower – 5.31.21
Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer. Of course, I had to plan a weekend camping trip. This time, I reserved a site at Alger Island Campground, a small island on Fourth Lake near Old Forge. This is an area of the Adirondacks that I haven’t explored much, so I was excited to try something new! Alger Island is only accessible by boat. The sites have lean-tos, fireplaces, and grills. They were gorgeous! We loaded our kayaks with our camping gear and set off from the launch at the Alger Island Access Point, where we also checked in for our stay at the campground. Because we had so…
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Favorite Cycling Gear 2021
It’s been a while since I did a biking gear post (2017 to be exact). So here’s an updated gear list, aimed toward gear I use when gravel riding. *None of these items are sponsored! This is just my honest opinion on gear that I like. Purist 26 oz water bottles I can’t believe it took me this long to find a great cycling water bottle. I had been using freebie bottles that I’ve received over the years, drinking water that tasted like plastic during my rides. Well, no more of that. “Purist treatment infuses the bottle’s interior with silicon dioxide to prevent odors, stains and mold from attaching to…
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Hiking Bear Den and Flume Knob – 5.15.21
A few weekends ago Brendan and I found ourselves with a free day with some great weather to we drove up to Wilmington (near Whiteface!), to hike Bear Den and Flume Knob mountains. They are lesser-known lower-elevation peaks right near Whiteface and Esther. The trailhead to Bear Den actually starts in the Whiteface ski area’s parking lot. Bear Den is only 2,600 ft in elevation (~1,300 ft of ascent) and although the trail is steep, it’s in great shape as it isn’t very rocky. Plus at the top, there are great views of Whiteface and the surrounding high peaks. We spent about 45 minutes on the summit taking in the…
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Hiking Poke-O-Moonshine – 5.1.21
Last weekend Jordan and I drove up to the ADK to do a nice hike to celebrate my birthday! Poke-O-Moonshine is one of the Adirondack Firetower hikes, so it’s been on my to-do list for awhile, but it’s so far North it was never really on my radar until recently. At only 1.5 miles one way with about 1200 feet of elevation gain, it’s a fairly easy hike. We started the hike at around 4PM. Usually I like to start hiking earlier than that but we know the hike wouldn’t take that long and we had a lot of daylight left. The views from the trail were awesome!! Near the…