ACUTE MOUNTAIN SICKNESS! - Ben

I just convinced Katie to call this blog Acute Mountain Sickness, because that seems to be an apt description of the way she feels about taking on bigger hikes.

We have very slowly worked our way up from dinky 2-4 mile hikes in somewhat urban back woods to 7-8 mile hikes up the sides of mountains.  The bigger and longer we go, the more motivated I am to take on bigger conquests.  The sense of accomplishment at the peak and again at the end of the hike drives me.  It makes me want more.  Not just to do the same thing again, but to do something even more challenging.  When we first started, I would get winded on the easiest hikes.  Now I feel like I could take on anything and I definitely want to.

Katie suggested we start this blog in order to profile all the hiking we do and I agreed that it was a good idea.  We have a relatively short list of hikes so far, but we are planning ahead and aiming high.  With my goal of taking on Big Slide Mountain(over the Three Brothers) this weekend, we've been wondering aloud whether we have what it takes to get all of the Adirondack 46 High Peaks.  For those unaware, the 46 High Peaks are the 46 peaks in the Adirondack range over 4000 feet tall.  Some are fairly easy (less than 6 miles round trip with less than 2000 feet elevation change) while some will break our backs and test our patience(12-15 miles with over 3000 feet elevation change).  I think we can do it, and hopefully I'll be able to get Katie all the way onboard.

From here on out, we'll make a post every time we summit another of the high peaks, or any other long and interesting hikes for that matter.  If I finish convincing Katie that 3 Brothers/Big Slide Mountain is a good first trip, then look for our post in a few days. Otherwise, we'll probably summit the relatively easy 2-fer of Cascade Mountain and Porter Mountain, which will start us off with 2 of 46.

From our hikes so far, I'd say Sleeping Beauty was the most rewarding.  It was basically the longest hike we've done so far with a moderate climb and the view at the top was awesome.  Hadley Mountain was the most difficult.  I do feel like I'm in better shape now than when we took on Hadley, but we'll figure that out when we take on a real mountain.  Plotter Kill was one of the most beautiful places we've been, even though (in retrospect) the terrain wasn't very challenging (it felt like it at the time).  Here's to hikes that make Hadley Mountain feel like a stroll on the beach!