Saturday, May 17, 2014

Conquering Nature!

While many students headed home after finals for a nice long summer, the science honors group had a 6 day break before returning for our Mayterm session. Four of us (Kayla, Bub, Dan, and Michael) along with Whitney Farrand took a backpacking trip to the Adirondack Mountains. On Tuesday we drove to Deerfoot Lodge to pick up bear cans for our food (we can open them, bears can't). Things didn't go as planned and we actually had to spend the night in the cabins there instead of at our first campsite. The next morning we drove to our trailhead. Despite being way behind schedule we hiked super fast, made up the distance, and made it to our second campsite. Our leanto was near Bushnell Falls  so we went exploring and enjoyed the waterfall.


The next morning after fueling up on oatmeal, we were ready to head toward Mount Marcy. As elevation increased we began to see snow around 3000 feet. As long as we stayed on the packed section of snow in the middle of the trail (called the snow monorail) it was manageable. Once we hit 3600 feet the snow was deeper and harder to manage. Our feet were sinking more frequently into the deepening snow, making things difficult. Luckily, we were prepared with snow shoes thanks to Dr. Rowley's suggestion! After snowshoeing the rest of the way to the junction we dropped our packs and headed up Marcy. There was no one at the top so we were able to enjoy the view and the dinosaur gummy snacks we had packed. (Every hardcore hiker packs gummies.)
We considered using our snowshoes for traction on the way down, but quickly realized there was a much better way. With a running start we glissaded down the mountain face. Wearing t-shirts and pants it was like sledding in 60 degree weather. After a lunch break and picking up those heavy packs again we traveled on to Indian Falls.
A few more miles to our campsite and we were ready for some hot chocolate and sleep. Luckily our good luck with weather continued as we tackled Phelps on Friday. The trail was one mile of 3 feet thick ice. Though more difficult without crampons, we were able to carefully climb our way to the summit with only a few falls. 
At the top we saw rain clouds in many other places, but clear skies over our heads. 
Like good scientists assuming the storms may be headed our way, we made the slippery descent to the bottom, once again wishing we had crampons. After another lunch of peanut butter and jelly tortillas, we were ready to hit the trail again. The original plan was to drive back on Saturday morning. We were such fast hikers that we were able to finish the loop and drive back on Friday night. 

There is no way to describe how we started 5 hours behind schedule and ended a day early. What else would you expect from a group of determined academics? According to Michael's GPS we traveled a total of 28 miles and averaged 2.5mph. Our elevation range was between 2046 and 5354 with 5500 feet of climbing total. That can only be referred to, as conquering nature. 
--Kayla 

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