Butt Kicked- ADK Trip Report

“ Ice Tea's Photos

Report to follow:”

“Now thats nice!!!!


8)”

“What the?

ROTFLMAO!”

“That is just too funny Tea!! The crutch and kayak were nice touches, but how the heck did we end up on Knife Edge in Maine?

I just got home a while ago. This was a truly awesome trip, a full buttkicker as advertised. I'll try to have some pics posted tomorrow, and maybe tripleader (or someone else?) Artex will have a report tomorrow night. He's flying home tomorrow.

Adventurist - how was your hike out last night and how's the knee? Also, are you missing an MSR water filter?”

“LMAO!”

“The knee feels like crude, going to call the Drs. on Monday. People at the reststops were looking at me funny with the way I was walking.

I made it out to the car around 2:30 and actually saw 2 guys hiking in on the way out....they said they were heading to the JBL.

It wasn't too bad hiking in the dark....I just felt it was more productive then tossing and turning all night, trying to get comfortable. I stopped once to eat some grub at a Dennys and once again to sleep for a half hour when I felt I might fall asleep at the wheel.

Besides the knee I still had a great time. Not one bad person in the group. I was glad to have met Pepsi and Twiggie, would like to hike with you again someday! The view from Gothics, Saddleback, Basin and Haystack were all well worth the pain!

Can't wait to see pictures.

Feeney”

“glad to see you all made it home safe.”

“IceTea: That picture looks ...almost ...real! ;-)

Adventurist: I thought the trip was supposed to kick butts ...not knees ...? The story should make for interesting reading. I hope your knee will be okay, man. And I hope everyone else makes it back in one peice.

I'm doing an Adirondacks 3-day/2-nighter to Allen Mtn starting tomorrow ...leaving very early in the morning. I'll catch up on youans' trip reports, pics and related bantering when I get back on Tuesday.”

“Have a great trip M Silver!”

“How dare you put me next to an inflatable kayak!!


I'm back all in 5 pieces. Great time, great people, butt kicked like it's never been kicked before. More later when I return home in a few days.”

“It will be good to read a trip report and get to see some great pictures.


Glad is all well with you all.


8)”

“LMAO!

Did no one notice that Pepsi is in midair?

•Adventurist did you lose an MSR filter?”

“Pictures. More later.

It was great to have met everyone. I can't wait to do it again.

Adventurist, sorry about your knee. I looked for you this morning and was surprised that you were already gone.”

“nice pics pepsi.”

“Adventurist did you lose an MSR filter?

Nope...don't have a filter....
Where did you guys find it?

Yeah...sorry I didn't get a chance to say goodbye Pepsi.”

“LOL @ Tea!!

Good pics so far pepsi....still waiting on a trip report!!”

“Did you guys get to go to the Noonmark Diner?”

“LOL @ Tea - great picture!

more pics
(sorry, but there are a few BSP pics tacked onto the end of the album)

I can't wait to read the buttkickers trip reports! I had a great time - thank you all so much for letting me join you! Big thanks to Adventurist for hanging my food each night and to Ice Tea for letting me "borrow" TP, LOL.
PS Adventurist - glad to hear you hiked out and got home safely - I forgot to give Pennsy your line and caribiner (sorry!) e-mail me your snail mail, and I'll send it to you.

I drove to NY and hiked in on Wednesday, arriving at camp around 6pm. I was pleasantly surprised to see not just one red ribbon on Pennsy's tent so I could identify the tent site - but red ribbons beginning with Pennsy's car (along with the promised radio) and red ribbons at every intersection along the trail! Very nice - thanks guys!

After the buttkickers went on their merry way the second day, I left to hike the Phelps trail to Mt Marcy. I was glad then that I hadn't joined the others as I really sucked wind and dragged butt the whole way. The trail wasn't difficult, but later I realized I was probably dehydrated. Fortunately there was water along the trail and I drank plenty. The scramble up Marcy was fun, and once at the summit, it was gorgeous! I've never had a view quite like that before - the mountains go on forever! It was so relaxing, I hung out and ate and drank, and napped in the sun and warm breeze for about two hours. I felt much better after that.

I had talked with the buttkickers via radio a couple of times and saw them (as ants, lol) as they started down Haystack. They met the Buddurs somewhere along the way, as did I on my way down from Marcy. Further along the trail I met up with the buttkickers at the intersection with Little Haystack. There Adventurist joined me for the hike back, and the remaining three went on to Marcy.

As Adventurist and I hiked into camp, we were greeted by pepsi who had done "the first days assignment" that day. He missed the group by a half hour or so that morning. Buddur and Buddur dog joined the group that night as well, after completing their own version of a buttkicking.

The next day...”

“I look forward to reading the full trip report...sounds like its gonna be a doozey.”

“hey that's my filter. I lost it while snowshoeing up there this winter.....”

“I'm home now.

...and I can honestly say my and my dog's butts were kicked.”

“Here's a bunch of pics I just posted.

Great shots Pepsi and Twigeater. Twigster, I love the ones you took on Baxter. I get a kick out of the Pamola sign where it says "Do not hike this trail in bad weather." It looks like you took the pic in a storm! ;o)

Tea - oh yeah, nice touch with putting Pepsi in midair. I almost forgot about his monkeyboy climb.

Adventurist - seriously, that MSR fiter isn't yours? It was on the left side of the filter when we woke up. It was not there when we took over the lean-to? Who else could it belong to?

Trip report - I'll try to post some notes if I can stay awake long enough.”

“I must be asleep - we found the filter on the left side of the lean-to, not the filter. DOH!!”

“nice shot's there Pennsy.

Looks like I will be getting out the next 2 weekends in a row!”

“Cool pictures. Really nice.
soooo...can you tell us the story about "artex junior"???”

“Kick @ss pictures Pennsy!!!!!


8)”

“awesome pics! looks like ya'll had a blast.”

“Day 1
Artex, Ice Tea and I arrived at the Garden at 10:30am, where we met up with Adventurist. We hiked 4.5 miles to our basecamp near the Orebed Brook Lean-to via the Phelps and Orebed Brook trails. Along the way we left red ribbons (which we removed on the way out) on some trees so Twigeater would know where we were heading. We also stopped to check out the John Brook Lodge and stock up on fresh water.

We set-up camp and hit the trail for some butt-kicking around 2:30. We headed up the Orebed Brook Trail towards the ADK Range Trail. Along the way we encountered some really cool and steep slides, some on the trail and off the trail. There were a few ladders to make some of the steeper slides passable. At the intersection with the Range Trail, we took a break, and enjoyed a breath taking view of the Gothics. We also found a refreshing spring nearby to replenish our water.

The climb up to the Gothics is nothing short of AWESOME!! It's more or less a steep climb up bare rock, but the views are great and there are a few cables fastened to the rocks to assist the climbing. We took a break up top and enjoyed the fabulous panoramic view of the High Peaks.

We headed towards Armstrong and soon discovered that Gothics actually consists of 3? peaks. Once we figured out exactly which peak we were on, we headed down (steeply I might add, with a ladder or 2), and climbed up to Armstrong. There we enjoyed even more great views. After a short break, we headed down again, and then up to Upper Wolfjaw. Not much a view here so we marched on. Because it was getting late, we bypassed the side trail to Lower Wolfjaw, continued down the Woodsfall Trail to the Orebed Brook Trail and up to camp.

We greeted Twigeater in camp (we talked to her via radio on Armstrong so we knew she made it to camp), cleaned up, ate dinner and crashed. Buttkicker Day 1 a big success!
Miles: 14.25
Elevation Gain: 5500ft”

“Great Pictures Everyone!!!”

“GREAT photos!!! It looks like you all had the best weather...and the bestest times. Congrats.”

“Day 2
THE Day, the Big Kahuna of buttkickers!
Artex, Ice Tea, Adventurist and myself headed back up the Orebed Brook Trail towards the ADK Range Trail. Twigeater decided to go to Marcy via the Hopkins Trail. She had a radio so we were able to communicate a few times during the day. Still no sign of Pepsi and the Buddurs.

The OBT is not a piece of cake (1400 ft in 1.8 miles) so we were not exactly relishing this 2 days in a row. At the Gothics Col we took a break and enjoyed the spring again. We then headed up the State Range Trail towards Saddleback. It wasn't a total buttkicker going up but going down the other side of Saddleback was. Rock scrambling at it's steepest finest. It was hard, but it was fun! What goes down, must go up, and it was a hard climb up to Basin where we stopped for lunch. Again, the views were just fantastic. We also radioed Twigeater who was getting close to Marcy Summit.

We climbed down from Basin to head towards Haystack. At the trail intersection between Haystack and Marcy, we ran into the Buddurs. How about that! He had just summited Haystack and was getting ready to do Marcy. We spent a few minutes chatting and parted ways. We were pleased that Buddur would be joining us in camp later that night. We hiked up to Little Haystack (which is NOT little) and realized there was a col between it and Haystack summit. Oh JOY, another down and up! It's a bare rock scramble to the summit of Haystack, but the views here might be the best in the Adirondacks. Just WOW! We had a great view of Marcy and the young dudes with the good eyes said they could see people up there. I radioed Twigeater and discovered that she was indeed on Marcy Summit. Her first time in NY and she summited it's highest peak. Way to go Twigeater!! She liked it so much that she spent 2 hours on top.

We reversed directions and headed back down Haystack. Yep, back down the col and up to Little Haystack and down to the trail intersection. Adventurist's knee was bothering him and since he had done Marcy a few times on previous trips, he decided head back to camp. Smart decision. So Artex, Tea and myself slowly crept up our final peak of the day, naturally the biggest this state has to offer. I should say that Artex and I slogged up. That punk kid Tea RACED up it! Artex and I wanted to say that we "mounted Marcy" but I don't think we had the energy. Tea had the energy but he's too young. Anywho, Marcy summit was pretty special and we hung around for a bit. Not too long though because it was getting late.

We hiked down Marcy and returned to camp via the Phelps and Orebed Brook Trails. We got to camp in the dark about 8:30, where we discovered Pepsi and the Buddurs. Pepsi just missed us in the morning but he did our day 1 hike including Lower Wolfjaw. Nice going Pepsi! We congratulated Twigeater on bagging Marcy, ate quickly and crashed early.

Buttkicker Day 2 was THE buttkicker of buttkickers (but we loved it!)
Miles: 15.75
Elevation Gain: 6500ft”

“Gemini - you'll just have to wait for Artex to post about Junior and his stickmen. ;o)

Pete - where ya goin 2 weekends in a row?”

“I wonder if that guy in the blue TNF tent by the outhouse left the filter there after we went to sleep.

If not maybe it's Crystal's or Nick's. If she e-mails me I'll ask, but I really didn't think it was there when you moved in.”

“Pepsi - you're not the only one who said it wasn't there when we moved. I doubt it's Crystal's or Nick's.

But, that guy in the TNF tent did stop to talk to Buddur after dark, so it's possible he dropped it. I was 99.99% convinced it was Adventurist's though. Maybe tomorrow I'll post a 'found filter' on Views From the Top.”

“Day 3
Artex decided to stay in camp today. Considering that he hasn't seen a hill of ANY sort in months, never the less these big mountains, I think he 'done did good' the first 2 days. Plus, some blistering didn't help matters.

Thankfully today we were NOT going up the OBT. Yippee! Tea, Pepsi, Coffee, Coke, Twigeater, Adventurist and myself headed down the OBT to do Big Slide. The Buddurs (dog and dude) had done Big Slide the 1st day so they headed towards Gothics. We stopped by the JBL to fill up on water and headed up the Slide Mt Brook Trail. It was a long grind to the top, and Adventurist's knee got worse so he turned back to join Artex at camp. Pepsi and Tea made great time to the top but my energy resources were starting to lower, so I lagged a bit. Twigeater just marched on with her typical steady pace. Those Maineiacs know how to hike!

Again, more spectacular summit views. From Big Slide, we could see the whole range of mountains we did the previous 2 days. Cool!! We took a nice long lunch break enjoying the views and the great weather before continuing. We then headed over to Yard Mt, then descended back to the JBL via the Klondike Trail.

It was around 3 and we all probably should have just hiked back to camp to relax. I looked at Tea and said "you know, we probably could bag Lower Wolfjaw since we didn't have time the first day. It's 'only' another 5 miles." I hate it when someone agrees with me. Tea and I headed to LWJ while Twigeater shook her head at us and headed back to camp. I'm not sure what Pepsi ended up doing? At the intersection of the ADK Range and LWJ trails, we ran into the Buddurs. How about that again! They had just done Gothics, Armstrong, and Upper Wolfjaw, and decided to do Lower Wolfjaw as well. It was "only" another .5 mile to the summit but it was quite steep with a lot of rock scrambling. I was kind of glad to see that Tea was almost as pooped as me. ;o) There wasn't much of a view on top, and we were whipped, but I'm glad we did it.

Well, we crawled into camp at 6:30 pleased that we would be able to cook in daylight for the first time this week. All I wanted to do was get cleaned up, change, eat, and crash. However, everyone was moving stuff around. What the hey? A DEC Ranger stopped by and said we had too many tents for one campsite, and that half of us would have to move. Fortunately, the lean-to was available so everyone but Buddur and Pepsi moved over there. Oh well... The good news is that while Artex was in camp all day, he made individual stickmen for all of us. What a guy! And yes Artex, I certainly packed out the 5 pound stickman you made for me. Really, I did.

The lean-to was at an angle and everybody except Tea had a hard time getting to sleep. Damn kids can sleep anywhere! Adventurist could not get comfortable in any position with his hurting knee, so rather than endure a completely sleepless night, he decided to hike out. Heck of a decision considering it was past midnight but it worked out for him.

Buttkicker Day 3 a buttkicking success (despite the walking wounded)
Miles: 13.5
Elevation Gain: 4500ft

Miles for 3 days: 43.5
Elevation Gain: 16,500ft”

“Day 4
No more buttkicking hills today. Woohoo! Twigeater, Artex, Tea, and I got an early start out. A huge breakfast was waiting for us! Pepsi hadn't decided if he was staying another day and Buddur said he would catch up with us at the diner.

The 4.5 mile hike out was practically all down hill so we made good time, despite Artex twisting his ankle 3 times. The guy's a wreck! ;o) Rain was in the forecast and it held off until we were about 100ft from the cars. What timing!

We stopped at the diner and luckily got a table outside. I think we would have stunk the place out. Buddur joined us and we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast before heading home. We ran into Pepsi as we were leaving so we all parted ways.

It was a great trip with great people. It was great meeting Pepsi for the first time, and as always a blast with my 'old friends.' It was very cool that Artex could come up from Florida to do this, and I was very pleased that Twigeater enjoyed her first Adirondacks experience.

Finally, why am I posting at 1am???”

“RE: FOUND WATERFILTER...
Did you guys find the filter at the corner of the lean-to where I was sitting Fri night? Because the dood I talked to, Randy, had just come from filtering water...maybe he left it there.”

“Great Trip Report!

So did everyone like the diner's food? I'm bummed I missed out on that. Did they have the blueberrie pancakes?

By the way Pennsy, check out the What the Heck Thread!”

“awesome pics! great trip reports. i'll get up there someday, oh, i will.”

“Great TR, and priceless pics from all.

Artex Jr. - LMAO!

Tea is all growed up, he looks 18!”

“um. that's a lot of words to read for that trip report.
but worth it! great pics, too.

what a wussy artex turned out to be!!! ;-)”

“I just saw that pic of Buddur dog! Poor thing looks exhausted.”

“I gotta look at my map again - Hopkins trail? I thought I went up Phelps, but maybe not. Since the trails aren't named on the map or on the trail, I could be wrong. Probably am wrong, but I always knew where I was - good thing I'm not color blind, LOL!”

“twigeater,

lol, I was thinking the same thing. I always knew where I was, but even looking at the map I'm not sure which mountains are which in some of the pictures.

And, I finally figured out why thre was no view on Short Job Mountain.
The sign said "Short Job Lookout - .4". Evidently the lookout that I saw WAS at .4, the peak was at .8, no view. The lookout didn't see to Lower Wolfjaw anyway.”

“cudos to the authors and photographers...nicely written and nicely photologged.”

“Pics to come later today.

Okay, I'm finally back. I had to stay the night in Cincinnatti because I missed my connecting flight. Anyway, that's boring stuff. On to the main dish:

Day 1: I sloggered out of my friend's house in Jersey at 5:45am with my gear to see Pennsy had just pulled up. Half an hour later, Tea the Kid finally showed up and we were off. A four hour car ride spent busting on each other and goofing off flew by like it was nothing, and before we knew it, we were at the trailhead. Adventurist was already there, and we put on our packs and headed into the woods.

I was thrilled since I hadn't been in the mountains in 6 months. I instantly decided that was way too long. We enjoyed a nice, steady, mostly uphill hike about 4 or 4.5 miles into our campsite. After setting up, we were off to conquer the Gothics, Armstrong, and Upper Wolfjaw. Halfway up the face of Gothics, it was evident I was really out of backpacking shape. It took a lot of effort to keep up with everyone. Anyway, as mentioned before, the views at the top were incredible. I snapped a ton of pictures and we went on to the other two peaks. At some point, Pennsy made contact with Twigeater who had arrived at our basecamp, and shortly after sunset, we made it home. This day was a buttkicker in itself, and I couldn't believe there was still a lot more left!

That evening, I took a very refreshing dip in a swimming hole next to a small waterfall near our camp. Cold as heck, but oh so refreshing! I didn't stay up late that night, since I was sleep deprived from the days before, and went to bed early wanting to rest up for day two.

Day 2:

This was the mother of all hikes. On the agenda was a very long, steep, and tough hike up Saddleback, Basin, Little Haystack, Haystack and Mt. Marcy. I lagged behind for much of the day, as my butt was officially kicked! I felt so out of backpacking shape and became a little frustrated at times, but all I had to do was look around me and take in the views and any disapointment was swept away in the mountain air. The views were amazing, and after years of wanting to summit Marcy I finally did it, which felt very, very cool.

I dragged myself down the mountain and night had fallen. About a mile away from basecamp, we heard something crash through the woods and two eyes danced towards us as a large creature approached. Our headlamps soon froze a large doe in it's tracks, and though we spoke at normal volume, it showed no fear. I was able to get about 5 feet away from it for pictures, which was sweet.

Finally, we reached camp. By now, my body was officially abused. It felt as if it had fallen off the mountains, rather than climbed them. I knew that night I wasn't going to be able to hike the next day. My muscles were beyond soar, and to add salt to the wounds, I had some pretty gnarly blisters from a crappy pair of boots I was still breaking in. Thankfully, Twigeater shared most of her dinner with me that night, which was awesome! I crashed hard that night. Real hard. A bear could have crawled into the tent with me and I probably wouldn't have budged.

Day 3:

I awoke and the pain in my legs underscored the need for a day of rest. I wished everyone a good time and they were off. I went back to sleep for a bit and woke up. I definitely wouldn't want to make a habit out of it, but I enjoyed staying behind that day and just spending time by myself in the woods. I was able to just think about things and enjoy the forest around me. I decided then and there I definitely wouldn't be sticking about Florida for too much longer. I love the mountains too much. A job transfer is definitely in order next spring.

I also got a bit of a creative urge, and decided to carve out some stick men. The first one I made, Artex Jr., came out the best! The other two kinda sucked so I gave them to Pennsy and Ice Tea under the guise that it was a reward to them for being the only ones to complete the planned itinerary.

Day 4:

We hiked out, and I was bummed the trip was coming to an end. As soon as we hit the trailhead, the weather turned bad and it poured down rain, so the timing was at least perfect! We chowed down at a nearby diner, and were off.

Synopsis:

I had a blast. It was great to meet Pepsi, and hike with everyone else again. All are fantastic folks to hike with. Like I said, it felt great to be in the mountains again. If I stay in Florida too much longer, I think I'll melt. I will be back!

Pictures to be posted later today!”

“Artex's Pics

Hope you like them! :-)”

“Since noone will answer my question about the filter....

I must be asleep - we found the filter on the left side of the lean-to, not the filter. DOH!!"
Pennsy Hiker
08:57:41 PM
08/17/03

So Pennsy, is that the left side as you're looking at the front of the lean-to, or as you're looking out of the lean-to???

I have a feeling it's Randy's filter.”

“that shot of Marcy from Haystacks is one of my most fav. I have a pic from there in the winter and it is just awesome.

thanks”

“Hey Buddur - some people actually work for a living and don't see TT during the day. ;o) Anywho, the filter was on the left side facing the lean-to so I bet it does belong to Randy. Any idea on how to contact him? I have no problem mailing it out. Maybe he left it for a reason because I just tried it out. I pumped for a minute and got a whole 4 ounces out of it. Yeesh!

Artex - NOICE report and pics! However, I did NOT whiz on those flowers and about that filthy beast being my best friend... that is just WRONG!

Adventurist - yeah, they had the blueberry pancakes. Artex had them. The food was great. Oh, I checked out Strongbad. Laughed my a$$ off, but I still think YOUR system is down.

Twigster - you might be right about what trail you were on. I don't like that the map has numbers for the trail, forcing you to use the guide book to look up the number. Of course, if we go back many more times, we'll know them by heart.

Yam - beware the wrath of Artex Junior for that wussy remark. ;o)”