May 19th, 2015

Today's miles = 19.8
Total ADK miles = 224.2

I woke up excited this morning even though it had rained the entire night. A few times during the night it was really coming down. I stayed dry in the tent but I could hear all the toads jumping around in the piles of leaves next to my tent.  I didn't sleep well but I slept late. Because of the rain clouds the sun didn't wake me up until 7:45am. I packed up sort of quickly and hiked the one mile to the Piseco Post Office...which was closed and didnt open until 9:45am. I had 45 minutes to wait so I made a cup of coffee and loitered by the handicap ramp. I got my box and stuffed the two and a half days of food in my pack and hiked on the road down to the 'general store'. The store didn't have much but it had enough. AND I had them make me a veggie sandwich with yellow mustard! CHECK!

I left there around 11:30 and had some uneventful hiking. Some snowmobile, some road walks, and some bushwhacking. The snowmobile tracks were not the easiest to hike on. The ground was very bumpy and uneven. It was also sinking and muddy as hell. It was a little more slow moving than I would have hoped.

I am camped tonight on the side of a snowmobile track. 20ish miles to the truck parked in the middle of nowhere and about 21.5 miles until the end of the Trans ADK. I'm hoping to wake up early tomorrow and make it to the end before nightfall. Tonight may be my last night in the tent until the next trip. Meh...I'm ready for a shower and some real food. Who knows....maybe I'll celebrate with Pizza Hut pizza and breadsticks on the drive home.

Also, the below picture is how I deal with black flys.

May 18th, 2015

Today's miles = 17.5
Total ADK miles = 204.4

I did not sleep well last night.  Something about where I was camped made me restless and I didn't really ever fall asleep for very long. By the time the sun was rising I was cranky and refusing to get up. I didn't make my coffee this morning (my little disposable cup broke yesterday and I refused to use anything else on principle and I suppose loyalty) which put me in an even grumpier mood. It was because of that and the slug on my tent (which I named Roberto the slug) that it was nearing 8am by the time I was hiking. At this time it was already SO unbelievably humid and warm out. Progress was slow and painful this morning.  I had about 3 miles left on the French Louie Trail before it met back up with The NPT. I had to take a break after just those 3 miles and pull myself together. I knew I had to do at least 17 miles today to set myself up to receive my mail drop in Piseco tomorrow. From that break spot there was a trail sign (gotta love the NPT) that read "15 miles to Piseco lake".

The miles to lunch today were even more painful than the earlier ones. I had no power behind my legs and was really feeling the fatigue. The heat was getting to me as well. I wet my shirt in a stream and that helped a bit. I then wet my whole face in a different stream not too far down trail and that helped more. I made it to my lunch spot, you guessed it, by a lake by 12:30. I had only come 7 miles. I took a rather long lunch at the shelter by the lake and began trudging along the trail once more. The trail itself was rather straight forward and simple. The forrest was pretty and in other conditions it would have been a very enjoyable hike today. The hot sun, the humid air, and the sea of black flys took my mind off of how pretty it all was though.

It eventually cooled down enough to feel human again and I busted through the last 5 miles of the day to my camp spot tonight, by a trailhead leading to the road to Piseco. I got in my tent just in time for the rain to start. It almost never works out that conveniently. I have a little over 1 mile to the post office in the morning to pick up my final drop for this trail. It's a small one as I only have 42 miles of trail left. From the post office a few miles down the road and still on the trail is 'Casey's Corner' a small gas station which apparently has a deli!  I have been craving lettuce, tomato, cucumber, sprouts, avocado, and yellow mustard on white bread like no one's business. I don't expect to get exactly that but it would be nice to find something close. So, needless to say I'm excited for the early part of tomorrow. Now, rest my weary legs.

Oh, and there's certainly something funky going on with my toe....the one that had the giant blister underneath the toenail. Now the side of it where the cuticle meets the skin is all purple and puffy. It looks terribly infected and pusses some shade of yellow-green whenever it gets angry. The skin surrounding it is also appearing to almost discinagrate off my toe. I'm glad to be done in two days to give it a rest. Hopefully it's nothing serious. Hummm....

May 17th, 2015

Today's miles = 19.6
Total ADK miles = 187.9

I woke up today feeling so much better! I took a nap last night after I got in the tent and before eating dinner and I think that really helped. I also slept well. The black flys were already awake when I woke up and were disturbing me while I was trying to make my breakfast and coffee. I got packed up and moving by 7:45am

The first 11 miles of the day absoutely flew by. I don't even really recall hiking them. They were easy miles and I felt great so I had no problem stomping away at the trail. My leg is almost completely better as well. The morning followed a lake or two and it was a prety hike to my lunch spot. I took lunch at Cedar Lakes by a rickety bridge. The sun came out and the wind blew just enough to make it very pleasant. The first few miles after lunch were okay as well but eventually the Trans ADK veered off the NPT and went down to an old shelter. From there I had to bushwhack around Cedar Lake in a dense mixed forrest with hardwood and pine. Pine is sharp! It sucked.  It was slow moving and did I mention I HATE bushwhcaking? I've got countless cuts, scraps, and puncture wounds as souvenirs. After that about .7 bushwhack I met up with an old abandoned trail that was almost completely overgrown. There was enough of a path to follow but I did have to pay close attention. That trail didn't last long until it came out to a meadow. The meadow was surprising rather dry and I didn't even get my feet wet. In the guide for the Trans ADK it tells you to from this point enter the dense spruce forrest directly on the otherside of the meadow and bushwhack South to meet up with the continuance of the former trail. There was no way in hell I was going to do that. I thought for sure there was a smarter way. So, I walked along the meadow South until, alas, I found the trail leading into the sprice forrest. There was absoutely no need for that bushwhack and I'm so glad I didn't listen to the book.

I followed that trail (which was still barely there) a few more miles, passed another beautiful lake, and eventually met up with the French Louie Trail. The French Louie felt like heaven having come from the overgrown trail, although, it was rather in need of some work as well. About 2 miles down that trail I was ready to camp for the night, however, there was absoutely NO good places to lay down the tent.  I accepted defeat and ended up setting up pretty sloppy on the very bumpy and muddy ground just above the trail. It took some time to make it a suitable place to camp but I was eventually satisfied and cooked my dinner (Veg chili) and went to sleep.

May 16th, 2015

Today's miles = 18
Total ADK miles = 168.3

I slept pretty well last night in the bug net in the shelter by Tirrell Pond but I felt just as sick waking up as I had going to sleep. Today was certainly the most difficult day so far for me on the Trans ADK. The trail in the morning was mellow but my low energy and nauseous state was holding me back. I struggled through the entire morning in the mud for the first 5 or so miles. At that point the trial came out to a highway where I took a break and attempted to eat. I could barly get down a few bites of food so I moseyed down the trail some more until I came to a campground at Lake Durant. I immediately saw a spicket for water and rushed on over because I was excited I didn't have to filter water. I wish I had, however, because mountain water tastes SO much better than 'town' water. It wasn't for a few moments later that I saw a building with the words "woman's showers" on the side. Surly this couldn't be? Showers? They must be those awful coin opperated showers that only dispense cold water....but I had to go in and check, right? Not coin opperated and warm water! I have never been so happy. I was in that shower before I even could processes it was happening. Now, I had grabbed a handful of the terrible hand soap from the sinks to wash myself with but that of course was only for the illusion of cleanliness rather than actual. In any case, I felt like a new person exiting that shower...until the black flys swarmed! I could have never imagined the amount of black flys that exsisted in the world. Without my bug net for my face I'm pretty confident I would have lungs filled with them.

The trail was rather straightforward in the afternoon until it veered off of where we were suppose to be and took what looked like a very long reroute. We followed that reroute until it met back up with the trail. All the while I was suffering from unbelievable fatigue and weakness. The trail was mostly in a pine/birch forrest for most of the day and it was excessively humid out all day. It was a struggle to make it the 18 miles I did. The trail eventually met up with a dirt road that took me a few miles down and to my camp spot tonight. An actual bona fide camp spot - with a fire pit and a picnic table. Although, I couldn't use either. One because of the fire ban and the other because of the black fly swarms. Im glad to be sleepig in my tent again tonight and I'm glad to be laying here watching all the little shitters trying to get me but not able to. Oh, the little things. 

Oh yes, Monkey and I also took a break today in a new cedar privy to escape the flys...picture attached.

May 15th, 2015

Today's miles = 18.5
Todays ADK miles = 17
Total ADK miles = 150.3

Last night I slept warm. It was actually very nice down by Long Lake. I woke up starving because I hadn't really eaten dinner or my snacks yesterday. I made a packet of oatmeal and my coffee and was officially out of food. Only 7 miles to 'town'! I packed up rather quickly and was on trail by 7am. Hunger will do that I guess. The morning flew by for me. The trail was nice and easy walking and before I knew it 9:30 had come and so had the road to the town of Long Lake.  A man in a pickup stopped to give us a ride and dropped us right off at the post office. I got my resupply box and then headed straight for the only thing in town, the 'Stewart Shop'.  It was a little gas station where I got a coffee, a PB&J sandwich and a bagel toasted with peanut butter. Gone...within moments.

I loitered outside an icecream shop and under its awning because it had not yet opened for the season. After about 3 hours of sitting there starring into nothing and feeling the food I had just eaten digest I got a ride back to the trail. The first part of the hike from there was a lot of bog boards, one of which I slipped on and busted up my knee. It's still a bit sore. Shortly after that the big climb of the day started. There was a steep climb that I powered up (even with my heavy and fully resupplied pack). Must have been the bagel...

After that, however, is when I started to feel really ill. I'm not sure if it was the food I ate in town, the sun, or the climb but I began to feel very weak and nauseous.  I felt like that the rest of the day to the shelter I am camped at tonight. The shelter is by yet another beautiful lake (with a sandy beach)! I set up the netting of the tent in the shelter tonight because the black flys are beyond horrendous. I also think it may rain tonight.

I tired to eat some food for dinner and ended up munching on a quoina and brown rice meal but I'm still feeling pretty sick. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

May 14th, 2015

Today's miles = 20
Total ADK miles = 131.7

My sleeping bag zipper broke and I am only able to pull the zipper down and not up. I had to develope a system to get in and out at 2am this morning when I had to pee. At this time I looked at the thermometer which read just barely over 20 degrees. It was another night of almost no sleep for me. It stayed cold the entire morning. I was hiking in most of the gear I brought with me. The first part of the day was decent hiking but it was pretty muddy in some spots. The trail followed Cold River for the whole morning and eventually crossed it later in the day on a suspension bridge that marked the halfway point of the trail.

I took lunch at a whirepool spot of Cold River called Big Eddy and washed a few things in the water and dried out my socks. Monkey went for a dip. The water was a bit too cold for my taste. The rest of the days hike was rather uneventful and a bit muddy with some significant blow downs on the trail. I set up for the night at a beautiful camp spot right at Long Lake (yet another gorgeous lake camping spot). I am tired and sure as hell feeling the miles today. I am out of food so I ate some split pea soup broth for dinner.  That is going to have to hold me over until tomorrow when I go into Long Lake to pick up a resupply box. I believe I have 7 miles in the morning to get there. Urgh...I'm so hungry.

Oh, there was also some crazy beaver crossing we had to do where the trail had been completely taken over by beaver water. And I got to see my first beaver of the trail.

May 13th, 2015

HiToday's miles = 17.3
Total ADK miles = 111.7

I did not sleep last night. It was so cold all night. I couldn't eat my oatmeal this am because I was a bit nausous from having not slept. I did, however, drink my coffee and look out at the lake. This trail has been nice in that I don't think I have slept right next to so many lakes as consistently as I have out here.

I paked up my things while shivering and mumbling under my breath at how cold it was and was hiking by 7:45am. It rained most of the morning. It was most certainly the coldest day so far on the trail. It drizzeled and was cloudy until lunch. I thought I was doing well this morning with mileage. I was navagating the obstacles really well I thought and was crusing through the sloppy mud with my 'Iron Man legs' (my new knee high gators) pretty fast. After what seemed like 6 or 7 miles I stopped to fill up on water and realized that I only had hiked 3 miles! I had been trudging through so much mud for so long. How had I only come 3 miles? The trail went up and around Colden Lake and crossed over to Flowed Lands. I had to take a high trail by Flowed Lands because the low trail had all flooded. I did not want to walk through any more floods. But, of course, I had to later. A few miles later I had to ford Opalescent River because the bridge had been removed due to 'safty concerns'. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I crossed it one more time where a bridge had been demolished by hurrican Irene in 2011. All in all it was a very wet afternoon.

The sky clearned up for a late lunch on a grassy jeep road. I took off my shoes, tried to dry my socks, and even made more coffee to warm myself up. It was the only (weather) nice part of the day. After lunch the sky became gray once more that the trail became a mud pit again. I climbed up to Duck hole which is... a giant mud pit where a lake had once been. Hurrican Irene had burst the dam and the lake drained down stream. There were two shelters by this giant mud pit and I slept in one of them. There was a thermometer on the side of the shelter that read 30 degrees...

I didn't take any pictures today because I was too cold to get my phone out.

May 12th, 2015

Today's miles = 17.2
Total ADK miles = 94.4

The rain had stopped sometime in the morning and it was enough for me to start my oatmeal and coffee. I didn't mind so much being in my tent even though everything I have is wet. There's a certain stillness about the forest after a good rain that I love and I got to sit there and smell the wet trees and earth and drink my coffee in relative silence (Except for the very chatty frogs). Right as I was about to step out of my tent all packed up it began to rain again. It rained all morning.

The first part of the trail today was suppose to be on a 'road'. The road turned out to be a completely flooded jeep track that the beavers had made thier home. There was no way to get through it except to go in. It some spots in was almost up to my butt and was very cold! Getting through that took the better part of the morning and by the time I hit the real road it was already after noon. The afternoon was spent walking a paved road up to the summit of Mt. Van Hovenberg, which is the old Olympic bobsleding mountain from when Lake Placid held the winter olympics. It was kinda cool to see all that stuff still up there...until it rained some more

I took lunch on a rock overlooking all the mountains I have yet to climb. And then it rained some more. The rain finally let up and there was a patch of nice trail. Nice trail (any trail) comes along so rarely that it really sticks out when it does. I passed by Marcy damn and up to Avalanch Lake.  The trail at Avalanche Lake is a jumbled stretch of boulders around the side of the lake.  It took a while to make it the .5 around the lake with all the hand over foot climbing, butt sliding, and rock hopping involved. 

Tonight I'm camped at a lean-to at Colden Lake. It is absoutely freezing.  I don't anticipate much sleep.

May 11th, 2015

Today's miles = 8
Today's ADK miles = 6
Total ADK miles = 87.2

Today I woke up in the motel in Lake Placid. I did not want to get out of bed. We had set an alarm for 7 thinking that that wouldn't feel too early but I think any time would have felt too early for me. I am a morning person by nature but while on trail I almost never want to get up. I moseyed my way to the lobby to grab some coffee for us and then began to get my things together. We left the motel by 9:45 or so and headed out for breakfast. After toast and hashbrowns I made my way to EMS and got a new pair of shoes and a fuel canister. I absoutely could not walk another 5 miles in the shoes I had. I realized that those particular boots had walked with me over 1,500 miles and I feel like that is why I was having so much trouble. Who'd a thought? I guess I didn't sit back and think about the mileage on them before I decided to bring them. In any case, I have new Solomons! After the EMS run was done I got a sports wrap for my leg and Monkey had called a taxi to take us back to the trail. A taxi! I know. Since when do we take taxis instead of hitching?  Well, the taxi was ten bucks and we wanted to get to trail asap. It was perfect. We got dropped off right at the trail around 1pm...which was a paved road. Wtf? That road lasted for a few miles before finally turning left onto to private land. There was a little trail that meandered around a brook thet we followed for while. We were suppose to follow that trail all the way (3 miles) to the top of South Notch. The trail disappeared after a half a mile or so. We searched for it for a while. Retracing our steps and noticing that the trail did in fact suddenly stop. While we were searching for the trail in a rather thick forest the sky got dark and it began to pour. It was the first rain of the Trans ADK for me. And oh what a rain it was! The thunder and lightning was pretty intense and a tree not far from where we were got hit. This made searching for the trail nearly impossible.  I knew the trail was suppose to cross the brook so I walked up and down the brook looking for any signs of possible trail.  The problem is that I have a very keen eye for spotting trail and I kept finding them everywhere. They all seemed to be game trails that lead nowhere I wanted to be. Monkey busted out the GPS and we decided to just bushwhack through the forrest and up to South Notch.  We had been following it for a while when my suspicion that we were no going in the right direction was confirmed when Monkey stated that the GPS was not working properly. We had hiked out of our way and up a mountain we didn't need to climb. So, putting the GPS away we took a compose bearing SW and continued bushwacking down the other side of the mountain we had just climbed and started heading the right direction. The rain was still coming down.  The tress were getting denser. The ground was so soft it was disintegrating underneath my feet. The whole mountain was practically a bog. It was a hot mess. Hours of trudging through (including some screaming and treking pole throwng) we finally made it to the top. Soaked the bone and freezing we acknowledged that it was going to get dark in about an hour. There was no trail heading down the mountain we had just worked so hard to get up. We had to bushwhack down in even worse conditions than there was going up. It was STEEP! The ground did not hold. We had to cross a raging river multiple times all while getting poured on in the (almost) dark. At the bottom of the mountain was suppose to be a road. When we got there we found that it was a flooded old jeep track. So, we set up camp in the rain and dark alongside that road pretty much right on a game trail. Everywhere else is flooded. It took a while to get out of my wet clothes and dry off. Of course, you never fully do when you're hiking in the rain. I had chili for dinner and went right to bed conpletely stripped of any and all energy I may have had.

May 10th, 2015

Today's miles 10
Total ADK miles = 79.2

I didn't sleep too well last night. It was very hot outside and there was some kind of big animal walking outside my tent for a while. Not to mention the alarm went off at 3:30am. I fell back asleep untill 4:30 and was up and climbing by 5:45. The first 3.5 miles where uphill; pretty much straight up Mt. Whiteface. It took me a while with my shin splint, the snow and ice, the the overall technical nature of the trail to make it up. There were sections of the trail that were completely covered in ice. I had to slide myslef up while grabbing onto surrounding pine trees to push myself forward. The trail had become a stream in some parts from all the previous snow melt. It was a hell of a climb with the conditions. The last .3 up to Whieface was horrendous (in a good way). There was a rock/boulder scramble and tons of snow. But I made it up in surprisingly good spirits. The summit was cloudy with a light drizzel and what appeared to be a storm headed right toward the mountain. I didn't stay up there long and started the decent after a bit of food and water. The decent was ever more difficult that the way up; so much ice, snow, and boulders!!

After I got down the mountain (which took hours) the trail evened out a bit and the sun came out. The rest of the hike was rather pleasant. The trail led out to Route 86 where we got a hitch quickly from a local with a lot of knowledge about the area. He took us to the grocery store and then dropped us off at the motel. I got a frozen meal and ingredients for a HUGE salad for dinner. Shower, trashy TV (although I don't consider Bourdain trashy), relaxation... begin!