Adirondacks COVID Style

    

 Friday was intended to be a hike together, just like the sign indicates. Gail had her bonnet, I had my pack basket and walking stick, and she knows to stay a few paces behind me without being told by a sign.           Whiteface and Esther Mountains were on the agenda, but a sketchy forecast, an actual shower and               strong wind gusts as we arrived at the trail head dissuaded Gail from such foolishness. The wind wasn't      too bad in the woods and after that initial shower passed the rain held off until the very end, more on that   below.  On my way up I had pretty clear views of the summit from the  north.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

 I almost made it to the summit before it disappeared in the clouds, but right about the time the trail runs into the stone wall holding up the highway, wispy bits of cloud were streaking across the sky.  When I got above treeline the wind spun me right around back to the shelter of the krummholtz to change into a dry shirt and dig out more layers and rain gear.  

Conditions on the summit were extreme.  I'd hoped to be there on a clear day, not as much for the view as to text people and tell them to check the summit camera to see me waving.  I spent much of an hour up there sheltered behind the rocks where I've put an X in the blue box in the bottom picture.  Visibility was so limited I could barely see the viewers on the ledge, and I never really saw the camera on top of the building, though I kept telling myself I could see it.  The wind was steady above 40 mph, gusts knocked me off balance and kept me from venturing far.

  After I'd had enough of that, I headed back down to the sheltered conditions in the woods and to take the herd path over to the summit of Esther to add another 4000' mountain to my list, not that I'm trying to get to all 46.  Easy enough, it's an out-and-back trail, no turns, no junctions, that would add a little more than a mile to the day.  On the way back I stopped in a col for lunch amidst a mess of trees that blew down in some extreme gust not long ago.  Then I got up, stopped at an overlook to take a picture of Esther's summit, and proceeded to turn around and go back to the summit again.  Not on purpose.  What's worse, that trail is notorious for being a muddy mess and even in this dry summer had an impressive array of mud pits that I had been tossing logs and rocks into for dry footing to prevent people from making it wider by going around.  As I went over the stuff I'd put in the mud I thought it was great that someone else was doing it too.  About 50' before I reached the plaque the second time I knew....

The part of the blue line that makes an L is the trail to Esther, I got turned around where the small, red X is.  Fortunately it didn't cause any trouble and I was only a half hour late meeting Gail at the trail head. Of course it started raining for that extra half hour I spent out there.  Oh well.

Gail spent the day exploring some of the gorges of the Ausable River, and honing her parking skills with dual kayaks mounted on the roof of the car.

After all those days of hiking, I finally pulled a stool up to the sink to do the dishes in our Airbnb after dinner Friday.  Wish I'd done that five days sooner.

And another thing: