October Hiking

Rooster Comb, Hurricane Mountain and Fish Hawk Cliffs / Indian Head Overlooks of Lower Ausable Lake Photos

Legs still feeling the tightness around the new bionic joints.  The generalized swelling of the leg is a thing of the past now.  What I have now is internal swelling that stiffens the knee some, but not taking away flexibility, just creating a pull sensation as the knee is flexed.

I was stuck in a hotel room and decided that the stiffness was on the wane after a weekend of hiking, so got on the treadmill and did two miles at a 10 minute pace, expecting the worse in "steps backward."  To my surprise I felt looser in the knees in the following days than I have in a long time.  Puzzling to say the least.  Did I get the scar tissue to break loose?  Don't know, but will file that away for future use.  I did however, get the expected soemness in the other areas of the body, especially the hip flexors and lower back.  Just the thing to do to yourself before a three-day weekend of hiking in the Adirondacks with Donna!

Well the hiking went very well; it loosened the hp and back area and did not tighten the knees until the last day.  After Donna got the animals settled in, we set off up the northway to Keene Valley and got on the trail to Hurricane Mountain at 1:30 pm.  So, a 4 to 5 hour hike up 2000' got underway.  Doing calculations as we started the steep climb right from Tr 9N trail head, I figured we would be in the dark the last hour at best.  After the first climb we got to a beaver dam pond that flooded the trail and had to go around.  We had difficulty getting back the trail on the other side, so decided to abandon the hike and go back.  We saw another trail head just up the road on the way in, so looked it up.  Baxter Mountain was a short 2 mile in / 2 mile out and 1000' of up, so that is what we did.  It was a nice walk with great views right down into Keene Valley - we could see our B+B!

Saturday after a great breakfast we got an earlier start (10 am!) and headed back to Hurricane, but this time from the northern route.  It was about the same distance, 3 miles in / out and 2000' and most of the hike in was right up a stream bed, so very challenging rocky path.  When we made it to the top we were rewarded with spectacular views of 42 of the 46 high peaks, 360 degrees of mountains and even a great view of a long section of Lake Champlain.  I can see why the put a fire tour on top.  There was one other couple that we criss-crossed, but that was it.  Cold on top, with ice froming in the puddles and the wind was not bad, especially as the high winds often found on top are how it got its name.  We decended and had lunch in town at the ADK Cafe - great food.

Our legs were certainly feeling the effort, but we did not want to waste Sunday, especially as the weather got even better and was supposed to deteriorate by late afternoon.  We decided to head up to the cliffs overlooking Lower Ausable Lake - Fish Hawk and Indian Head.  We had to park right off Rt. 73 and then hike the private road into Ausable Club.  Then up the dirt road that parallels Ausable River until we hit the path that follows Gill Brook until we take a right and climb up to the first cliff,  The falls and flumes of Ausable and Gill Brook were amazing.  The view up the Lake from Fish Hawk were unreal, also we were looking directly across to Sawtooth, Pyramid and Gothics.  We ate lunch with 1000 foot of air between us and the lake below.  The short but steep hike over to Indian Head was well worth it too as now we could see up to Hurricane and down onto the dam below.  The trails to the dam and along Ausable and out were just as pretty as the other trails.  We finally got back on the private road and out - about 8 or 9 miles all together.  My knees were tight and I developed a blister, but otherwise was in good shape.  Shower at the Noon Mark Diner and then headed home in the rain that started as soon as we got back to the B+B for the shower!

It took the full week for my knees to lossen up and this morning we went for a hike around the block in the fresh 6 inches of snow that arrived overnight.