Today I lead a hike up Mt. Adams Fire Tower.  This is one of the harder fire towers to go up.  It starts off on the east river trail, which is quite pleasant for the first mile.  Then you come to the observer's cabin and the trail which is where the trail starts to climb.  It starts easy and then the last mile is just like a high peak with steep slabs and eroded trail for most of the last mile up.  It's a lot of work, but it is soooo worth it.  We had the perfect day for the hike.  Slight chill at the base, but the hike in took care of that.

I lead my first ADK hike as a trip leader up Goodnow mountain.  I love this mountain because it has such variety on the trail.  The very initial 100 feet or so is a quick steep up to stairs and a short bridge, and then it levels out for a good long while.  For the entire stretch of the "flat" part of the trail, you can see the reforestation project SUNY ESF is doing on the mountain.  When you leave the flat trail and turn to start heading uphill some more, you cross the study area, and they have a sign explaining what they are doing.

Wanting to get more winter practice in, I added on my snowshoes and ice axe since there was measurable snow fall just beore I went hiking.  All the hikes were short, but added up to nearly 10 miles in the end.

These are some of the furthest I've driven for a fire tower yet.  Azure Mountain is a short hike, but as you would expect, it's just steep.  The first third was a nice road, the second third was a good climb with a switchback, the the last third was a muddy mess until you got to the tower where there were lovely views from the tower and the ledges.

In my quest to do all the fire towers, and my desire to get used to my heavier winter pack, I did 2 fire towers.  First up was Goodnow.  This is maintained by SUNY ESF and last winter they did some logging to study different methods of reforesting.  That was clear on the way in as you walk through the experiment.  But overall, the trail was a lovely trail, gentle, and the views from the top were just wonderful.  I didn't get on top in time to see the sunrise, but I did see it on the surrounding hills.  This is for sure a repeat hike for me in the future.

With the start of the colder weather, it was time to bring out the winter pack, and to start getting used to the larger weight.  Today I did the Mt. Adams Fire Tower.  I knew going in that this was a steep, and unrelenting hike.  The wintry mix that I got hit with on the way in didn't make it any easier.  The hike in to the trail junction was quite easy, but the climb was difficult.  It was part due to the heavy pack, part due to the wet and slippery trail.  Boy, they were right when they said it was a steep hike.

Having a nice day ahead of me, I decided to do Gore.  I went up from an unusual trailhead, the Raymond Brook Trail instead of the Schaefer trail out of the resort.  This route is a ski trail until it hits the Schaefer trail, and it was beautiful and obviously not well used as I didn't see a single person on it.  What I did see though was a startled black furry butt running away not far from the start.  My first thought was it was a bear cub, but it was way too small to be that.  Instead, I think it may have been a fischer I spooked.  

After taking the heart of the summer off from hiking, I got back into it with one easy hike with a couple other people I met through a hiking group.  I was not leading this, but I know the trail, so gave advice as needed.  Original plan was to hike up and back.  I talked the group into making it a little longer and go on some real trails (the shortest hike up is mostly forest road).  So a loop was made.  It was absolutely beautiful, and the temperatures were more than tolerable.  Twas a good day.

In my quest for fire towers, I went far north and did Lyon and Loon Mountain fire towers.  Two very different hikes.  Both were very muggy and took a lot out of me making me actually eat on the trail!  I also went through nearly 5 L of water over the 12.7 miles.

Today was a prep for memorial day hiking/backpacking, and I failed miserably.  The hike itself is quite beautiful up to the former caretaker's cabin, that is once you get off the long road walk in.  You pass through forest and meadows, by ponds and over streams.  I actually saw some fish in one stream and painted trillium, which I don't recall ever seeing before.  The trail up from the cabin was a typical ADK trail, but the views from the tower are lovely, and I haven't seen the high peaks this well from the south before.