Common bonds....

What do these 3 things have in common? Donny Osmond's socks, Grape soda, my middle toe.......

Did you guess "things that are purple"? If you did, pat yourself on the back...I'll be in the corner, pouting.

I am not a happy girl. I sprained or broke my toe early Sunday morning. I got to the last step on the stairway and turned like I always do and whammo....the arch of my foot slid over the edge of the tread and caught my toe. My foot and four other toes landed flat on the carpet, but the middle-guy didn't react quickly enough...he stayed in a tucked position. I really didn't mean to say all those swear words on a Sunday morning, but that hurt!

If this had happened twenty plus years ago, I would have been glad to have an excuse to get out of gym or some other physical activity. However, I was supposed to hike today [Monday] and it looks like I'll have to wait at least a week for the poor toe to return to its normal color and size. I put on my socks and hiking boots to see what it felt like...it wasn't awful, but I never would have made the 11 miles. So, I will continue to ice and elevate. And pout.

Just because

a High Peak is below 4,000 ft, it doesn't mean it's going to be easy. I didn't think Blake Peak was going to a walk in park so to speak, but come on....this was a knee cruncher!

Brian and I got to the St. Hubert's parking lot at 7am---which was looking pretty full at that early hour. We scooted up to the Lake Road and signed in. We took our usual Colvin/Nippletop Route---I say usual because this is the third time we've been up there.

We had an uneventful hike up to the junction, stopping a few times to take a breather. I felt like I was having an off day---just couldn't find my groove. We took a break around 9:15am because I was starving. Of course, when I sit down to snack, I have a hard time getting anything past my lips. My stomach says "feed me" but my brain says "no way Jose". I wish I could find a happy-medium solution to this issue. Anyhoo, I had a half of a snack size bag of "Cheeze-its" and figured that was plenty. Before I knew, we were nearing the beginning of the steep section below Colvin. No problem---I was looking forward to that stretch since I was already familiar with it. We reached the summit of Colvin at 10:30am---holy smokes! It only took 3.5 hours to go 6 miles (half of that road was walking)---not a new land speed record, but I was happy!

We had an early lunch, packed up and then headed over to Blake, 1.3 miles away. The first .2 miles was ok, but after that, forget it. It's all down-hill. I was really surprised at the amount of scrambling we had to do. Secretly, I was hoping it would be a ridge walk--like from Dial to Nippletop. No such luck. This was muddy, steep and downright nasty in some spots. We got just past the col and ran into 4 hikers coming down from Blake. We were within .5 mile of the summit--woohoo! Finally, after about 30 minutes of serious huffing and puffing, we reached the top! Great! Now we just have to re-trace our steps back over to Colvin [insert evil laughing here].

Me on the summit of Blake, proof I was there :)

At the split

My hiking buddy


Probably the worst of the scrambles going down/up the backside of Colvin towards Blake---this would be a great spot for a ladder or rope. I decided to straddle the log and pull myself up because I couldn't get a good foothold the other way.


Same scramble, different view. I dubbed it the "Butt-crack Slab" because it looked like a big fanny with a crack running up the middle!

We reached Colvin (again) at 1:55pm and started the next series of scrambles---which weren't too bad considering what we just did! There was a definite breeze, sky was really starting to cloud up by now and the front was moving in. Brian kept saying that he was surprised it wasn't raining. I kept telling him to "shut up", LOL! I told him it could start raining when we reached the road. Sure enough, we were a couple hundred feet from the road when we finally put on our ponchos. We walked out the 3 miles to the parking lot listening to the thunder rumble and watching the lightening flashes. Not a bad day...2 High Peaks, 14.6 miles in 10 hours...

Happy Golden Anniversary!

Two score and ten years ago, our parents brought forth, upon this continent a new marriage, conceived in Love, and dedicated to the proposition that they should be fruitful and multiply....and so they did...thank you Mr. Lincoln for allowing me to "use" the intro from the Gettysburg Address)

Fifty years, seven children, five grandchildren, and one great grandchild later, the happy couple is still very much in love! I can't think of any storm my parents have not weathered together. Whatever challenges life has dealt them, they have handled them with compassion, courage, forgiveness and at times, humor! Most important--and I'm paraphrasing Deacon Dan's homily from Sunday's Mass, they have been faithful in the face of adversity and to me that speaks volumns. I can't think of two other people who I would rather have as my parents. We are truly blessed and very proud of them!

Dad and Mom---aren't they cute!

The centerpieces surrounded by a healthy dose of golden "50s" and "Happy Anniversary" confetti.


Ann, my oldest sister and BIL David


My older brothers on the left, in tan, Michael and Charlie with cousins Steve and Kevin

My youngest brother DJ with his girlfriend Dani

My niece Katie, lil' Max and my sister Sue


Cutting the cake--be careful with that knife!

My sister Theresa

Me, Brian, our nephew John and our very own Patrick in the front

Nathan...peace...out!

Grandma P and Elizabeth

Poster board at the entrance...I used the Cricut for this (Home Accents and Opposites Attract cartridges. And btw, golden vellum is a pain in the patootie to cut. I also made a Guest Book using a 6x6 DCWV Black album. I used some Cloud Nine rub-ons at the top of each page.

We all got to reconnect with cousins we haven't seen in years....and I mean years! It was a perfect celebration! My parents were thrilled that everyone came from near and far to be with them for their special occasion.

Adventures in hiking

I could think of at least 10 good blog titles for this post....The Hike from Hell...The Nichols Family Death March...Mt. Marcy Madness...Thunder&Lightening&Bears, Oh My!...if I think of any more, I'll be sure to post them. Anyhoo, Brian wanted to have at least one camp-out on his vacation and the kids wanted to say they climbed Mt. Marcy, (elev 5,344 ft.) so we combined the best of both worlds. We planned on hiking in about 5 miles, snagging a lean-to and finishing the day on Marcy enjoying spectacular views on the summit [insert snickering here].

We managed to leave home almost on time and arrived at the Garden Parking Lot shortly after 8am. By 8:15, we hit the trail---the kids had our smaller backpacks and we had the external frame packs. The weather was pleasant enough and there was really no need for fleece or long sleeves. We hoped to keep the kids on track so we could get to the lean-to, eat lunch, leave our gear and head up to Marcy.

Stopping for a bit

Johns Brook

Johns Brook, near Wm. G. Howard lean-to

The first 3 miles went smoothly---we stopped at abovementioned lean-to for a snack and adjusted Patrick's backpack. These photos are courtesy of Elizabeth, a budding photographer. After that, we got back on the trail and headed towards JBL---Brian spotted a deer just of the trail. We tried to get a few pictures, but I think "she" was camera-shy and kept bobbing her head trying to smell us.

Ok, 2 miles beyond Johns Brook Lodge, we arrived at Bushnell Falls. We hoped to get lean-to #2 but it was taken, so we backtracked a wee-bit and claimed the more secluded lean-to #1. After a quick lunch, we emptied the external frames packs, hid the bear can, and set our packs in the back of the lean-to...and away we went headed to Marcy!

We took the 2.8 mile Hopkin's Trail to the Hopkin's Junction. This section of the trail was tight and overgrown in several places and there was some blowdown. It is not a popular trail and now we know why. There is water along this trail so we did stop to filter about a mile in or so. The kids did pretty good in this section. I have to admit, it can get pretty rugged and tiring. Brian and I wore the backpacks filled with snacks, gatorade and raingear so they wouldn't have to. When we arrived at the Hopkin's Junction, Brian kept looking up. He could see "development" in some clouds which meant we needed to push the kids a little harder if we wanted to summit before the storm came in. About 15 to 20 minutes later we found the main intersection---only .6 miles to the summit of Marcy!

Views from the from the trail

Storm Clouds!

Me and Patrick---headed up to the summit

Pretty alpine vegetation



Here comes Elizabeth, a little out of breath, but getting closer and closer to the top!



Success! We made it to the top of Mt. Marcy! The man in the white shirt was on the last leg of the Great Range Traverse, about a 25 mile hike!

It was very windy on the summit and it cooled down quite a bit. The "marathon" hiker was kind enough to take our picture. 5 minutes. That's about all the time we had. We hoped to enjoy the views and rest, but the storm literally chased us away. We were half way down the summit when it started to sprinkle so we stopped to don ponchos. By the time we arrived at the intersection, sprinkles turned into a full-fledged downpour. We heard thunder and saw lightening. Thankfully, we were back in the tree line, but the thought of hiking 3.4 miles back to the lean-to in a thunderstorm was not appealing.

The good news: we made it to the lean-to in record time! We hiked our way down a rocky, slippery, muddy, wet trail in the rain. From the summit of Marcy back to the lean-to, it took us 2.5 hours.

The bad news: when we arrived back at the lean-to, we had company. Four men from the "city"--NYC that is, had set up camp in the lean-to. Our gear had been moved to the other side and nothing was where we left it. I was annoyed and immediately thought they must be messing with us b/c they disn't want to share the lean-to. Then I realized Brian's external frame pack was missing. The city guys said when they arrived, our gear was scattered all over the place, inside and outside of the lean-to. It had rained so they picked up what they could and put back in the lean-to. Feeling discouraged, Brian wanted to pack up what was left and hike to the next available lean-to.....2.5 to 3 miles away! However, we were all cold, wet and hungry and it was closing in on 8pm. I was not about to pack up, so we stayed.

The good news: Two of the guys offered to pitch tents in the camping area to give us more room. The other two stayed in the lean-to with us. After talking to them, they seemed like decent guys, so I wasn't worried and did not have any hesitations about the arrangements. Techincally, we claimed the lean-to first, so we were under no obligation to move...and we had kids with us...a good bargaining chip, LOL.

The really bad news: After some investigation, we came to the conclusion that a bear had come into the lean-to and rummaged thru our gear. We found the chewed up tarp and sit-upons with teeth marks. Unfortunately, a sealed dehydrated meal was left in Brian's pack. Adirondack bears like Spaghetti and meatballs, who knew?! Since Brian's pack was missing, he had no fleece bivy, no 3-in-1 poncho, no compass and no candle.

Anyhoo, we retrieved the bear can and proceded to make supper--- 3 containers of Cup-o-Noodles and whatever else needed to be eaten--chips, apples, donuts! A veritable smorgasbord! While trying to prepare our feast , Elizabeth was in front of the lean-to and spotted one of the bears--the mother we think. Everybody quickly chased her away. Brian and one of the other guys went to look for his pack during all that. They wanted to know what all the commotion was about, so when they got back, they got an earful, LOL. From about 8:15pm to 1am, we had 2 bears in the vecinity, the mother and a cub. The kids were in dry clothes by now (8:30pm) and were asking to go to bed--(***we need to hike like this more often***). The only dry pieces of clothing I had was a pair of undies and a pair of cotton socks. My pack had been dragged out into the rain earlier, courtesy of the bear, thank you very much. It was going to be a long night....a very, very, very long night. There were several more bear sighting as the guys went to hide the bear cans...oy vey!

This is a night-time view of the area in front of the lean-to. Brian was trying to get a picture of one of the bears, but the guy next to him turned his light on and the bear took off. At one point, one of the bears was sniffing the water bottles in the photo. All fine and dandy, but that was about 8 feet away from MY FEET! We had to share blankets and the one remaining bivy. Between sleeping on the floor of the lean-to and dealing with bears, I know I did not sleep well. The kids did. Actually, none of the adults slept well.

Oh get this....Elizabeth tells me as we're nodding off that she left M&M's in the cargo pocket of her hiking pants which were hanging on the outside of the lean-to. I was too tired to reach around and grab them and quite frankly I knew what was out there lurking in the darkness! I told her if we woke up in the morning and the pants were gone, we would buy another pair. For some strange reason, the bears walked right by the pants with peanut M&M's and they were found in tact in the morning.

I was ever so glad to see the sun come up. We got hot water going for coffee and hot chocolate. Brian decided to go back and look for his pack one more time. He went a little farther in the woods than the night before and, lo-and-behold, he found it...and the fleece bivy and the poncho. He also found tons of garbage (not his) so he decided to collect it and carry it out.

We packed up and headed out around 9am...the only thing we couldn't account for was Brian's favorite compass. Brian found his candle lantern and gave the city guys his extra candle since they used theirs the night before. Elizabeth's pants were still wet so she hiked out in fleece pajama bottoms---what a sight she was!

Bear tracks in the mud

Chewed up tuna cans found in the woods (not ours)

Patrick at the Interior Outpost---only 3 miles between us and civilization, oops, I mean the car!

The stove canister with bite marks

The violated backpack (which has since been repaired)





Our "souvenir" sit-upons

I guess we could have called this the "Lemonade Hike". When you're out in the back country or interior and unfortunate things happens, you have to have a sense of humor. Nobody got hurt, we got through the night, we made new friends and we had fun...right kids?! I'll never forget this hike, that's for sure. Elizabeth and Patrick did an awesome job of hiking 13 miles in one day and being such good sports! Brian, as always, was our fearless leader! Thanks for getting us in and out safely Daddy :) !