Saturday, June 10, 2006

 

Hiking Mt. Marcy

Mt. Marcy is a peak in the Adirondack Mountains and the highest point in New York State, U.S.. Iit has an elevation of 5,344 feet (1,629 metres) above sea level. It is located in west-central Essex county in the northeastern part of New York state, and about 12 miles (19 km) south-southeast of Lake Placid village. Lake Placid is way up on the far northeastern part of New York State, not too far from the South Eastern section of the Canadian border . The Hudson River's main headstream, the Opalescent River, originates on the mountain at Lake Tear of the Clouds and waters from this mountain is where the Hudson River and some others rivers also originates. This Mountain was named after William L. Marcy, who was Governor of New York at the time. He was the first to climb it in 1837. He did a geological survey of the Adirondack region. Mount Marcy is now a popular hiking place
Have you ever climb a mountain and seen the glorious view from the very top?
Have you ever spent the night in a lean -to half way up the highest mountain in the State or area where you live? It can be loads of fun as long as everyone is careful while climbing. I had the pleasure of doing just that when I was a teenager in High School. I had joined the Girl Scouts when I was just 12 years old and remained a Scout up until I graduated from High School. We belonged to a Group called the
"Senior Girl Scout Troop". When we left the junior Scouts we needed a leader to continue, so our High School Gym Teacher agreed to become that leader. When summer arrived our Leader asked us if we would
like to go mountain climbing. Of course we all said yes. So, she set a
date for shortly after school ended in the spring. This teacher owned a little coupe with a back that opened to uncover what was then called a rumble seat. This seat held just 2 or 3 people- a bit crowded, but since
we were small, 3 would fit. Two could squeeze into the front seat with
the driver ( was a bit crowded). That left 3 more needing a place to ride. Under the rumble seat in the back was the trunk. We discovered that 3 could easily ride laying down in the trunk. We climb in head first with our feet at the rear of the trunk. Can you imagine anyone daring to ride
in a trunk today? The law would forbid it for fear of suffication. But, I was one of the three who rode in that trunk. I bet our parents would have forbidden us to go if they had know this part of the trip.
I think the three of us in the trunk had the most fun on the long drive to Mt. Marcy. We were just teenagers and we found we could use our feet to slightly open the trunk to see what was behind our car. At first, every time we opened the trunk, the leader could see it in the rear view mirror and she would yell back at us to shut that trunk before we got sick from the gas fumes from the exhaust pipe that extended under the trunk. After a while us three girls realized if we opened it just a little, the driver wouldn`t see it. So, thats what we did.
Now, if you are wondering why we wanted to open the trunk a bit, just remember we were teenagers at the dating age. Have you already figured what was driving behind us? There were boys driving on motorcycles just a few feet from the back of the car. So, we were having one heck of a good time with these flirting boys. We couldn`t hear too well over the noise of the motorcycles, but we all knew the game where you use motions to convey what you were trying to say. Like playing a pantamine game where you used motions to show what you were thinking of and others had to guess what it was. They drove behind us for at least 2 to 3 hours. When they drove off on another road, then the ride seemed twice as long. It took at least 6 hours to arrive at the foot of Mt Marcy where we drove into a fenced in field that resembled a cow pasture, but we didn`t see any animals in the field. All of our camping gear was forced down behind the front seat. Pushed pretty hard to get it in and was also hard to pull it all out once we got there. We left the car there and got ready for our long hike, carrying all our food and hiking gear. I still remember carrying all that weight on our backs while climbing.
We stopped for lunch after a few hours of hiking. Then we trudged upward mostly using trails where we found them. Today, I read there are different trails to use to climb all the way up the mountain . Back then there were some clearings with paths and some places where the brush had overgrown and you had to make your own way thru them. As it started to get dark, we found there was a Boy Scout troop spending the night just around the next bend and we saw a 3 sided lean-to where we could spend the night just before that curve, so we went back to camp there. So, we built a small campfire in the clearing in front of the lean-to to cook our supper. After we retired for the night we saw a mother bear and her cub noseing around where the fire had gone out. We were laying in our sleeping bags just a few feet from the bears. As our leader said, they won`t bother us as long as we remain quiet and don`t bother them. She was so right. When they finished searching for food, they slowly walked off. We had been very careful to clean up any sign of food after we ate. Early the next morning the boys had left, so we started our climb on up the mountain. What a beautiful view , you could see off in all directions, but some places you just saw the top of smaller mountains.
We made this mountain climb again the next summer, but we invited some of the Junior scout to join us and we had a bigger car to ride in. One of the younger girls sprained her ankle shortly before we reached the Mountain top and we couldn`t continue to the top that year. We used our arms to make a chair and took turns carrying the girl back down the mountain. Took us lots longer going down that year. But still we all had a great time.

Comments:
These reminisences are great. It sounds like great fun!
 
hello dot. that was a great story and if you tried some thing like that nowadays the police would have stopped the car and gave the driver a ticket for sure. nowadays there are way to many rules. they mean to protect us i guess but they hinder us in doing things we would like to do.
you have a great memory from your trip as a teenager and that is a good thing for sure.
have a great weekend and i will talk with you soon.
 
hillgrandmom, we did have loads of fun. I am so glad our leader took us, or I probably never would have gotten a chance to climb a mountain. We were so lucky to have our High School Gym Teacher agree to become our Senior girl Scout leader. I think enjoying being a Scout myself is why I became a Cub Scout Leader for over 15 years. Noone wanted to do the work and my boys and their friends wanted to join. Then I helped my husband start up the Boy Scout troop for the older boys. Our neighborhood hasn`t had either cub Scout or Boy Scouts since my husband and I retired from scouting. Seems parents wanted to drop off their boys, but didn`t wish to help out. It`s a shame other parents didn`t keep scouting going for their kids.
 
Mr Haney, I could have told even more, like when the younger kids went with us, some were afraid , a couple even cried every time they heard a noise in the brush, so us older girls slept in front of them so they could sleep in the back of the lean-to and feel more protected. I remember seeing a pond part way up the mountain which surprised us to see it not dumping down the mountain. Only small level place that I remember on the climb was there and where the lean-to was. Some places it was very narrow on the edge of a cliff so we had to walk in a striaght line-- one behind the other to go on. But we still had a wonderful week-end both years. I wish all kids could have this hiking and camping adventure.
 
Beautiful post. thanks for stopping by my blog and please do come back.
 
Thanks starry nights. I also enjoyed reading your blog and i will be back again.
 
i have tried that once. by the time i reached the top i was almost dead. but v all enjoyed it really well ...
 
You cherish those memories and remenber even small details.
Amazing!!
 
Interesting ! I haven't tried such things !!
 
Dew Drop. yes, we were tired to, but wasn`t it fun? Things like this you never forget. Thanks for stopping by.
 
Jac, i think we all remember more details when we are remembering something that was loads of fun. Hard climbing at some places, but easier when you are all having fun and sibginbg as you climb. I was at your blog earlier.
 
Abed, I hope someday you do get a chance to climb a mountain as you will never forget the hike up and the climb back down. it was loads of fun. come back anytime.
 
I climbed up two thirds of Mt Olymnpus in Greece as a kid and on top off another one.
They build their churches on top of mountains to be closer to god.
I wish they would have build escalators too.
But I was a kid of 12 back then and I would have gone to the peak of Olympus then but now the hills of NZ drained me with the thought of walking back up LOL
 
I`m with you. Today I even hate walking up the short slope to the hospital or the ramp at the eye Dr`s office.
Not sure I would use the escalator if they had one to take you to the top of a mountain. It would be so long it just might get a bit scarry long before it reached the top. I have heard that some Churches are built higher to be closer to God, but have never seen one of them.
A few years ago an old school friend said she would like to walk back down thru the woods to see all the places we used to play. Told her I would make it down, but not sure I would make it to climb back up. Last time I was ever there I rode with Walt on a bro`s 4 wheeler. Not sure if he stills has them or if the 4 wheelers are still working. I`m sure if they are my bro would lend them to us to drive around thru those woods that now belong to him. But by now, the brush has probable grown up again and the roads and paths are probably impassable. After my bro`s strokes, he can no longer take care of the trails that he had made.
 
I have lived in this neighborhood all my life and I walk through it in a different dirrection evey day almost and i remember different things at different times.
Our memories are our hidden treasures
 
Very nicely written post, you have given live description. I am scared of climbing mountains, so I never climbed.

Thanks for visiting my blog and your comments. I will be happy to see you again.
 
Very nicely written post, you have given live description. I am scared of climbing mountains, so I never climbed.

Thanks for visiting my blog and your comments. I will be happy to see you again.
 
Great story and great memories!
 
Hi Walker, It is funny how some little thing can bring back so many memories. You see places and remember what used to be there when you were younger. Like the Drug store where we used to meet with the booths and jukebox in the back half which is today a small restaurant. Or the roller skating place that used to have a closed in tunnel going around with just a few tiny lights on the wall and also had a place set aside for us to Dance on our skates without worrying about the younger skaters. Today it is just one huge open skating room. So much has changed, but our memories remain. Thanks for stopping by.
 
Hi Saroj, I think everybody has something they are scared to try.
With me it is swimming. I used to be a good swimmer and even loved swimming across the canal, climbing up the other bank, diving back into the water and swimming back to the other side. But then I fell down a well with water in it on an Uncles farm and since then everytime my face gets touching the water the fear of drowning comes back to me. Once I did manage to dive under water and bring up my 3 year old son who had ran right off the dock into deep water. That was years ago. I guess we forget our fears when we are scared for the safety of someone else. But I still am afraid to go swimming. I used to love swimming a lot.
Thanks for stopping by. Come again.
 
Hi Nan, Thanks, nice seeing you here. I`ll be around to read your blog. Have a nice week-end.
 
Climbing mountains used to be my hobby. Smallish mountains - 3000 - 4000 ft. I love the views from the tops and think it is well worth the effort.
 
I agree with you Kat. The view is well worth the climb. I live just a few miles from West Mt.in the Adirondacks, but there is a road to drive part way up so we only had to walk about 2/3rds the way. Used to go hunting there with my hubby. I didn`t mind going as I knew he wouldn`t kill anything. But we did have fun hiking and looking around. One time I went below and he couldn`t see me and got worried. I was just under a huge rock cliff right below where he was. So, I took him down to see the place. Many times the Boy Scouts spent week-ends on this mountain. Today there is a ski center there with loads of high trails to ski down, but I have never skied there. Kat, thanks for dropping by.
 
Skye, sounds like you handled Scouts like I did. I was cub Master and Webelow leader because no man would take the job, plus was Den mother for cubs in 4 different books at the same time. Some boys were 8 yrs old in Wolf Book, some were 9 in Bear book, some were 9 1/2 in Lion Book and some were 10 yrs old in the Webelow Book. Real hetic. They don`t use all these books today. Had the kitchen table, dining room table with 2 extra leaves in it, and a card table and no empty spaces for anymore chairs and still noone was willing to help. I was even using our lawn chairs plus a long stool I made. I quit once and noone would take over, so I finally felt sorry for the boys and started it up again. After 15 yrs I did retire from Scouting and we haven`t had a cub or scout troop in our area since. I had helped my Husband run a Boy Scout troop for older boys and when he quit that ended also. i got calls many times over the years asking me to start them up again so their boys could go to Scouts. Each time I tried to get the parent to start up the cubs again, even said I would help them plan their meetings , but no go. At one of the Round tables where I was also one of the trainers for leaders of the whole county, I heard one Den mother say that she felt like a glorified baby sitter for everyones kids. I told her, yes, but think of how much good you are doing those kids with what you teach them.
No I never taught 30 kids to crochet, and if some were left handed, I taught a left handed granddaughter and know how hard that can be. But I did have them working with saws, drills, jackknifes, hammers, and other tools and many times I wished I had eyes in the back of my head. Way too many kids for even three leaders to handle, and looking back I wonder how I ever handled so many with then working in 4 different books at the same time. Kept my mind alert as I tried to run from one cub in one book on to another in another book.
Skye, Parents should have appreciated the time you spent teaching their kids, but I bet the girls were happy to have you.
I have to admit I did love working with the boys and also working at summer camp at the Boy Scout campsite. The leaders i helped train did appreciate my help.
 
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