Fall Break Continued . . . .

Fall Break was definately an adventure. I left campus on Wednesday afternoon with Dale, Abby, Val, and Renee in my car. We drove the 6 hours to Schenectady, New York, where are friend Steve lives. Steve graduated last year, is an alumnus of the Outing Club, and the only way to describe him is as "steve." We were all so tired, we fell asleep on his living room floor. Early the next morning we were on our way to the Mountains! we drove two hours to get to the trailhead, and then we hiked in 7 1/2 miles to our base camp at Uphill Brook. We were in the Flowed Land region, near Mt. Colden and Mt. Marcey. We got to our lean-to at about 5:15, but it started to rain and get colder at about 4. It didn't stop raining until the next day at 4, when it then started to snow. We tried to go hiking on friday, but the trail ended up being a piece of work. NOrmally in the Adirondacks, trail crew has come through and built bridges and pathes and put rocks in place for the hikers. But our trail went right through the middle of a raging river and we had to cross it by crawling on a log. Then after another mile, the trail was just washed out--- it went through the middle of a 5-ft deep pond, then the trail was under a foot of rushing water. At this point we realized that we were wet and that the trail was unsafe and impassable for us in the rain, so we went back to our lean to, changed into warm clothes, and huddled together in our sleeping bags for warmth (see above picture).

In the early afternoon it began to snow, and it snowed for quite some time. the temperature dropped to a chilly 25 by the middle of friday night, (i went to bed at 9 on a friday!) and Steve's baramoter read "icy death" on it. After all this, we decided it was necessary to hike out a day early and go back to Steve's. Packing up our stuff was quite the ordeal, for many of the clothes were frozen and our boots were frozen as well. This became quite trying- for we had to pour boiling water over our boots and melt them with my stove so that they would thaw so that we could put them on. I think it is one of the most intense pains i have ever felt, putting cold toes in icy boots and then having to walk on them. Abby got minor frostbite. enough about that though.

The rest of the trip was enjoyable fun. The hike out was nice after our feet thawed, the drive back to steve's was pretty, and we had good man-burgers, OC style, and slept well for our drive the next day. I woke up on my birthday to a Cardinals victory, and angel food cake that Renee and Val made me.

I had so much fun over break -- i have always been at my element in the wild, but i have to admit, there are always moments of weakness. My moment of weakness came right before we broke camp on Saturday and i couldn't feel my toes- i was afraid i would lose one. But it's all over and it was great to be in NY and visit steve. yay for friends who love to hike.