On Sat, Aug 15th, three friends and I headed up to Lake Placid to get ready for our hike to Mt. Marcy. (for those of you who might not know, Mt. Marcy is the highest of NY State's 46 high peaks--although not necessarily the most difficult).
After checking into our motel, we went to Lake Placid for dinner. I saw this marker on the sidewalk.
This was the view from our restaurant window.
Some flowers in a garden along the sidewalk.
The next morning we arose at 5 am to get ready. We knew the hike would take us a long time, so we wanted to get started as early as possible.
Pretty self-explanatory---the ADK loj at the trail head.
Part of the trail. We thought this would be the most difficult part, but we found out differently later.
A group of kids sitting on the summit.
There was a High Peak Steward at the summit. I found out that each high peak has a steward. Each 5 days they rotate to another high peak and they climb to the summit early in the morning in order to be there to help people, educate them about the mountains and the flora and fauna, and take pictures. Then at the end of the day, they hike back down. Oh My Gosh! She took this photo of us for us.
It took us 7 hours to hike up (counting the hiking time and the rest stops), we spent an hour at the summit. We began back down at 3 pm and arrived at the trail head at 11 pm. (that's not a typo). We were on the trail for 16 hours--pretty embarrassing. Don't ask--the story is too bizarre. (by the way, the trail is 15 miles round trip)
People who hike the 46 high peaks are known as 46ers. After this hike, I'm very happy to be known, now and forevermore, as a 1er. I got my pin and I'm seriously done with the high peaks!
The Thursday assignment, given by Steve this week, was to choose a song and connect the photos to the lyrics. After seeing everyone else's post, Steve said he was happy to see that it wasn't as difficult for everyone as he thought it would be. Well....it was difficult for me. Being the concrete thinker that I am, I really struggled with coming up with a song (which one should I pick?, I like so many of them). So in my true "this-is-too-hard-for-me-I-think-I-just-won't-do-it" fashion, I almost ignored it.
Yesterday afternoon I attended another photo meetup at the Altamont Fair. Another chance to shoot moving rides and nighttime scenes. On my way home, the song, "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins started going through my head. Even though this is a loose interpretation of the song, I decided to use some of these images to illustrate the words.
Of course I can't remember the refrain in total, but the song describes:
His response to her:
So as I was wandering around the fair, I was wishing I could tell all the teenagers, the parents with young children and even the older folks, to enjoy this, because, "these are some good times, you're gonna miss this".
Another reminder to myself to enjoy the moment--whatever that moment may be, because once it's gone, it can never be retrieved. Basically: Stop and Smell the Roses!
Another hike today. This time we went to Buck Mountain, in the Lake George area. It's a 3.3 mile trip (each way) with a 2,000 foot ascent. Okay, so that's pretty darned steep! I did this hike two different times before, but that was about 15 years ago. I remembered that it was pretty steep and that there was a lot of rock-face in the last mile. My memory was correct. OM Gosh--it was a tough hike.
We dodged the rain bullet. Not a drop for us, and we even had some periods of sun.
This is the summit marker. (You'd think after all that effort to reach the top that there would be something a little more dramatic, but this is all there is.)
Not sure what lake this is, we weren't able to identify it.
The next several images show Lake George. Very cloudy, but the view was still pretty spectacular.
So next weekend is the BIG ONE--Mt. Marcy. I'm already beginning to hyperventilate!
A friend of mine lives in the town of Florida. Today they had a town-wide yard sale. I had a few things that I wanted to sell, so I spent the morning with her--no luck.
This afternoon I took photos of some of the things I want to get rid of because I'm posting them on craigslist.
Not too exciting, but it's something I've been wanting to do but have been procrastinating about doing for a very long time. So even though these images leave a little to be desired in the "creative/exciting" department, my accomplishment makes me really happy.
I had to go to Cherry Valley today. I've never actually been to the town before. It's a sweet little place with farms, winding roads and beautiful country homes all surrounded with breath taking rolling hills and funky little sights along the way. I saw this row of old, faded mailboxes on the side of the road and couldn't pass it up.
Back behind the mailboxes was a blue garage type structure with this old-fashioned gas pump out front.
Just down the road was a small farm stand with this cute sign. Off to the right is the stand with the vegetables on it. Check the spelling.....it took me a minute to "get-it".
On my way home along Rt. 20, I decided to take a detour into Sharon Springs. Many years ago I photographed this Spa, and was happy to see that it was still standing--it would be nicer if some gazillionaire would buy it and refurbish it, but right now it sits vacant and deteriorating. In my mind's eye I could see the guests wandering around the grounds, sitting on the porches drinking coffee, and letting the cares of the world fall from their shoulders as they escape their daily cares in Sharon Springs, NY.
Phil's assignment for today was to show weight management. Taking it very literally, here's my take on the assignment. "Thank you" to Pine's for letting me photograph their luscious veggies and not calling those guys in the white jackets to come and take me away.
Good idea for a post topic, Phil.
