Wild Turkey Time In Adirondacks: Trip Re port

“After gobbling down some excellent turkey dinner I left the boys just after 5:00 PM and just before dark yesterday.
I arrived home just after 2:00 AM from another Adirondack Ass-Whoopin'.

Friday I bailed out about 1000 feet elevation and a mile short of the summit of Redfield due to severe bonkage..........out of fuel..........over the hill?

It was after 3:00 and we had eight miles to hike back to camp.
We got through the hairiest part of the descent just before we had to turn on the lights with 5-6 miles to go.
The rock scrambles and ladders and ice were loads of fun and I only fell on my ass about five or six times.
We had one confirmed incedent where Pennsy's arse graced the icy rocks.......Pete saw it and that's good enough for me.

Our little party got back to camp at 8:30 PM soaked with sweat and exhausted.
I sat in my car for a couple of hours warming up and drinking beer.......couldn't eat but the beer felt great.

Bobo and Jackstraw and EarthNsky watched the sun set from the summit of Redfield before heading back the nine miles they had to cover.
Their ordeal didn't end until about Mindnight and they all lived happily ever after.

Those guys should be home this evening.

Via con lobos, muchachos!”

“Oh yeah, we talked about the Trail Talk Women.

What a bunch o' girls!!”

“OK, where are the turkeys?”

“I am home. Home sweet home.

Great Trip!!!!! fooooooorrrrrrtttttteeeeeeeee fffffffffffivvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeee dude!!!!!! uno mas!”

“Just got in about eight pm. Had to stop for a celebratory 6 of yeungling. Manrule , you understand. What a fantastic time. I'll write about it later.”

“Wow! What a great trip!!!

Rob, MarkO, Pennsy, sirpete, jackstraw, crazypace, and myself... whadda crew! Although we only bagged one of my last two remaining peaks to finish the 46ers, I really don't think I would have wanted this trip to go any other way... well, perhaps if I had managed to see Jessica's tattoo... but let's not get off subject here!
:D

Early Thursday morning at 1 AM Rob and MarkO met at my place after MarkO took an unscheduled tour of the City of Brotherly Love. We managed to get to South Meadows camp area around 9 AM and found the nicest campsite on the block! We set up camp and, err, drank a few beers throughout the day. Later that night Pennsy and sirpete arrived. Friday morning, jackstraw caught up with the party as we were preparing for the day's hike to Mount Redfield, we knew the mileage was extensive, figuring about 16 miles or so, but in reality it turned out to be 20 miles on some treacherous terrain with a wicked degree in sphincter factor that would test everyone's mettle by the end of the day. From South Meadows we hiked on the Truck trail to Marcy Dam, the weather was bright and warm in the sunshine. From Marcy Dam we next hiked to Avalanche Pass, going up and down wooden ladders and hitch me-up Matildas, it was awesome hiking and the group was in high spirits. Onward to Lake Colden with beautiful views everywhere to be found and not a cloud in the sky. Crossing the Lake Colden Dam, Rob turned into a ballerina and danced across the dam for a few moments to everyone’s mortified dismay! Next, we started following the Opalescent stream upwards to Uphill brook. The change in altitude was now becoming apparent with snow covered forest, much colder temperatures, and an icy forming Opalescent stream preparing itself for the total ice cover of winter. As MarkO had mentioned, fatigue started setting in around 12 miles into the hike and after some crazy scrambling around killer white ice on the Opalescent, MarkO, Pennsy, and sirpete made a very sane decision to turn around at 3 PM with enough sunlight left to get off the treacherous herd-paths and back to relatively safe designated trails. On the other hand… Rob, Myself, and jackstraw continued to push on! We knew we would be coming down in the dark, but what can I say, “We’ve got headlamps and we’re a bunch a dummies!” We continued to climb in a frozen world of ice and danger and it seemed that Mount Redfield decided to stack its worst ascent in the last five- to six-hundred feet. We made the summit of Redfield at a harsh 4:30 to a beautiful view of the sunset against the surrounding high peaks, and we only had 10 miles left to hike in the darkness!!! We were so happy to make the summit, as this was jackstraw’s first Adirondack High Peak. Harry, you earned my respect on this day when you fought for every inch of trail under really tough conditions, well done and great job!!! We descended the mountain slowly and dark fell upon us quickly. We hiked for the remaining nearly 6 hours in the dark by way of headlamps. We used crampons to get around the worst of the Opalescent ice but we still had to do the whole day’s trek in reverse. Rob, jackstraw, and myself managed to drag ourselves back to camp 10 minutes before Midnight – 15 hours of hiking and climbing! We were met by the gang at camp and crazypace had also arrived and joined the fray. There was as much rejoicing as three beat-up mooks could take after we were harassed for not getting back earlier to cook our Thanksgiving dinner!

Saturday morning we decided that Hough Mountain and the completion on my 46ers would have to wait another day and that was fine by me because jackstraw and I still had a Thanksgiving dinner to cook up! Rob, Pennsy, and crazypace took a hike and climbed Phelps Mountain and crazypace successfully climbed his first Adirondack High Peak – congratulations crazypace!!! Meanwhile back in camp, sirpete, MarkO, jackstraw, and myself were up to absolutely no good at all! A quick trip for breakfast to the Downtown Diner in Lake Placid and then back to camp where we began preparing perhaps the most outrageous Thanksgiving dinner in all the Adirondacks, after of course we drank many delicious varieties of beer to prime the cooks! Pennsy brought the boys back to camp at a punctual 3 PM and after perhaps a little more drinking and celebration, the cooking began! First we popped the cork on a bottle of champagne in honor of our two newly defrocked ADK mountain virgins, jackstraw and crazypace. Next came the food! Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, curried squash soup, pumpkin pie, apple cake, and of course Pennsy did an outstanding job stirring the turkey gravy! But the pièce de résistance was jackstraw’s Bourbon and pecan yam dish, yowza, wowza! sooooo good!!!!! On this evening, we could say that seven burly trailtalker mountain men had yam for dinner… yummmmmmmyyy!!!
;p

So that is my story and what an epic adventure it was! We parted company on Sunday and everyone headed home, well… after we went back to Lake Placid to see Jessica’s tattoo, but that tale is for another day!”

“Margaret says............
It's a little late in the day for Redfield...

Bobo says...
See ya later...”

“Ah to see the sun set on Redfield. AHhhhhhh!”

“Lonesome lake is booked

:(

Zealand limited space and Carter ok right now.”

“you guys are a bunch of punks! The whole lotta ya!

Jess says hi!
last edited: 11/26/06 8:24:15 PM”

“Nice trip reports and that sounds like quite an adventure hiking back in the dark. At least the weather was nice all weekend for good views.”

“LOL @ Ranger Margeret. Nice try : ).Vee Need zome proof zat you are Reeally Ranger Margeret. Eef you are Ranger Margeret zen Describe Jess's tatoo!!”

“Yo RichB the weather was clear as a bell. After dark the temps dropped into the teens chilling a bunch of sweaty hikers. The trip through Avalanch pass in the dark was remarkable.”

“That's cold and it was only about freezing around here at night over the weekend.”

“I can describe more than just her tat! How's zat?”

“TMI!”

“Richb, The last 2.5 miles was just a road walk. So it was either walk really fast or risk going hypothermic. Stopping was out of the question.”

“well… after we went back to Lake Placid to see Jessica’s tattoo, but that tale is for another day!”
Capn Bobo
7:38:21 PM
11/26/06

Bobo, did the tattoo have someting to do with a mermaid?”

“Ranger Margaret, you're a better man than I!
LMAO!!!

Hopefully, pics will be up by tonight!
8~p”

“You guys met Margaret. Did she have the unleashed husky with her? Did she make you move your tent so it was less than 15' from a camping disk?

Sorry I couldn’t make it. Cars suck!”

“"I can describe more than just her tat! How's zat?”
Ranger Margeret
10:22:17 PM
11/26/06

Tit for tat, huh?

Her name was Jessica?
Nice t-t-t-t......tat!!
It certainly made me l@@k!!”

“How TF do you know her name is Margaret??

Are you sure it wasn't Roberta?”

“what a great way to celebrate thanksgiving.

sounds like a fun trip and a yummy meal!
last edited: 11/27/06 7:14:36 AM”

“MarkO, Turns out Jessica the waitress is the Caretaker at Marcy Dam outpost. She ran into Ranger Margaret who told her of a bunch of boneheads trying to peak Redfield late in the day LOL”

“Huh?

Don't be jivin', now Mister Jackstraw!”

“Whudjya do, go back to the diner Sunday so Bobo could get a look at the tattoo??”

“I'm a little jealous that I missed it.

Doug”

“You bet Gremlin, the tattoo was cool!”

“Any pics of said tattoo?
8D”

“Where's the pics ??”

“She got nice tips!
>8^]”

“Yes Marco, thats what happened. Sad but true. I mean, ahem... the food was so outstanding at the diner that we decided to patronize the establishment again. Coincidentaly we happened to be served by the same waitress.”

“Outstanding!?!”

“MarkO - I explained that, read my trip report fooh!!!!

And jackstraw I am so sorry - I forgot to mention your green bean casserole, man that was killer too!

:-p

OK - when are we gonna do Hough???”

“We're going to Hough and Pough and knock those Dix down!!!!! That's including MaComb right! Let's climb the slide ice axe and crampon style!!

I should post some pics tonight.”

“"MarkO - I explained that, read my trip report fooh!!!!"

No ya didn't!!

I read the report.......................duh!!!”

“Now that sounds like a party -- now I guess there will be a 2.0 version of this trip that will include Hough and Pough (no easy feat in the winter, I presume...)?

So Jackstraw is in the game now too? Redfield was my first peak too -- 11 down and 35 to go...”

“whoohoo, sorry I missed it. I bet the sunset from Redfield was amazing!!

Maybe I'll make Bobo's final peak trip afterall...hmmmm
:)”

“Jackstraw and bobo cooking, man I'm sorry I missed this one.”

“Some day I get my revenge on this Mount Redfield.”

“Hey, glad all youans had a successful trip. Congrats to Capn-45er-Bobo! The views from Redfield are awesome! To finish with Hough, I think you gotta re-do one of the Dixes(?). Kudos also to jackstraw and crazypace for losing their "virginity." Applause to Pennsy, MarkO and sirpete for good decision-making, albeit condolences due for having to cancel the climb to Redfield (though I know Pennsy's done that one already... remember standing in the rain with me at the summit waiting for the skies to clear, Pennsy?).

Good on yas!”

“yeah, where be that Pennsy guy?”

“Maybe Pennsy is soaking his feet.”

““Some day I get my revenge on this Mount Redfield.”
mARKo
6:31:16 PM
11/27/06

Some day so will I. I was maybe 0.1 mile from the summit when I decided to use my brain and get the hell off that rock and into some dry cloths before I ended up with hypothermia.”

“Hey!!

remember standing in the rain with me at the summit waiting for the skies to clear, Pennsy?).
M Silver

Vividly, although YOU waited whilst unpatient and soggy me headed back down and missed the view. Do you remember the AmyG lookalike ranger making you move your tent umpteen times? heh heh

What all the other guys said on their reports. Congrats to the virgins and also to Bobo for getting one step closer to 46. Thanks to Bobo for cooking the awesome dinner and to Jackstraw for his delish dishes. Yam never tasted so good. ;o)

One thing marred the trip though. Once again, Pete got me lost on the trip up. I've made this drive a zillion times by myself with never a problem, but throw Pete in the passenger seat and all hell breaks loose. He couldn't even get the coffee right. Dork.

Stay tuned. Pics "might" be up tonight.”

“We're Not Redfield Boys, WE'RE REDFIELD MEN!!!


last edited: 11/27/06 7:16:03 PM”

“It's the Soggy Mountain Boys!!”

“More pics !! Hellllooooooo.......”

“Hellllooooooooo....

Here be my pics. Enjoy.”

“what's Pennsy doing to SirPete?

oh and those are totally sweet pictures Pennsy!
last edited: 11/27/06 9:12:38 PM”