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. 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)
The stove canister with bite marks
The violated backpack (which has since been repaired)
Our "souvenir" sit-upons
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