Recent Exposures

Yesterday I picked up my dad’s car around 8am, had breakfast with my mom at Mailey’s Diner on Route 149 and headed up to NH to climb a couple more mountains.   My first goal was to
climb Zealand Mtn.      The trail up Zealand was fantastic.  The trail into the notch between Tom and Zealand is a very flat one that follows the Zealand River Trail (pic on left with Zealand above).  There are numerous spots to jump in for a swim.  The last time I was on the trail I was climbing Mt. Hale with Katie Sauer with a broken knee (I didn’t know it at the time but I had no ACL in my knee).  When I left Lake George in the morning it was cloudy and raining but as I started my hike the sun was out.  It took me little time to make it to the amazing Zealand AMC hut at the beautiful Zealand Falls.  This hut was
fantastic.  It was clearly built right to the flanks of the steep mountain next to the falls.  Guests at the
hut are provided meals, bunks, electricity, showers etc.  Apparently the pricing is very expensive and it sells out quickly.  A short walk from the hut is
the falls which is basically a staircase of falling water over smooth rock.  It’s a great place to cool yourself off and the views of Crawford Notch are amazing.  When I’m a little older and lazier I’d love to come back to this hut with friends and family because the hike in is incredibly easy - just a light walk - and the views and amenities are great.
    From the hut I continued nearly straight up the side of the mountain gaining elevation fast
until I hit Zealand Ridge.  I loved having my new Garmin GPS with me as it told me my location
and elevation the entire way.  I met a few people at a lookout who said I had a couple more hours before reaching Zealands summit.  40 minutes later I was standing on the wooded summit….. It wasn’t much to write home about.  Just a cool carved out sign amongst a stand of spruce trees.  As I stood on the summit I looked up and the sky was quickly turning black so I wasted no time and booked it back towards the AMC hut.  I popped a couple Aleve for my bad knees and headed down the steep trail to the hut, making it there just as the
rain began.  On the hike out on the easy trail along the river it poured hard for about 20 minutes leaving me drenched but it was warm and when I got back to the car the sun had come out again.  The hike turned out to be 11.09 miles according to my GPS.  I started at 12:36pm, reached the summit at 3:08pm and was back to my car at 5:18pm averaging 2.8 mph while I was moving.  Love that GPS…
    I drove into North Conway and found a place called the Colonial Motel to stay for the night… Ironically when I went to pick up the Chinese I ordered down the street I found two hotels, each 10 dollars cheaper… oh well.  On my way down route 302 I came across Silver Cascade Falls
which I hadn’t noticed before and grabbed a quick pick.  I picked up some booze and watched the Red Sox beat the Mets for the sweep of the series.  I love my Red Sox!  12 straight wins at that point, which they’ve only done 3 times in the history of the franchise.  And it was their 16th straight game without an error which ties the MLB record since record keeping began in 1960.  Coco Crisp the star of the game had a great diving catch which prevented the tying run.   Schilling, my boy, got the win and Papelbon of course got the save.  According to the announcers it was the best game of the season, and according to Terry Francona he’s never seen a play as great as the one Coco made… what a statement from a man that’s been in the game for so long!  Anyway… it was a great end to a great day hiking.
    I woke up today at 5:30am and headed down the Kangamangus highway in NH towards the Tripyramid range.  I have climbed this mountain twice before and have turned around at the summit both times.  The first time was in college when I climbed it with my friend Lindsay who was exhausted when we got the summit of North Tripyramid so we turned around.  The 2nd time was when I climbed it alone in the spring of 2004 and had to turn around because it was late in the day and the trail was competely unbroken (2 feet of snow) and it didn’t "feel" safe to me.  So, accordingly with the name this was my 3rd attempt at Middle Tripyramid. 
    The trail into the base of the mountain was easy as usual but from there on it was literally one of the steepest trails I’ve ever climbed.  I was panting and out of breath by the time I reached the summit ridge of the range.  At one point my GPS actually couldn’t find a sattellite because I was hidden underneath the huge mountains on a steep slope.   As I was approaching the summit of North Tripyramid with my headphones on as usual I suddenly looked up and saw a dog in my face barking!  People were camping at the summit (illegal above 4,000 ft but I didn’t say anything).  I told them the updated weather report from the morning and headed off down the ridge.  It was 8am at this point and I needed to reach Middle Tripyramid and get back to North by 9am for my descent.  I briskly ran the ridge as fast as I could to Middle Tripyramid.  While on the summit taking pictures I could see South Tripyramid in the distance.  The summit
as you can see from the picture on the right is wooded.  This mountain is not on my list of peaks to bag because it is too close to Middle to be designated a completely seperate peak but it is still over 4,000 ft…. so for peace of mind I decided to run over the ridge further to reach it’s summit also.  This meant that I went over North, Middle, to South then back over Middle to North (technically climbing 5 mountains that morning).  I got back to the first - North Tripyramid at 9:02am… :).  I said hi to the campers again and hauled ass down the mountain to my dad’s car which I arrived at around 10:15 for a total hike time 3hrs 45 minutes for 10.12 miles.  Not bad and at a much faster pace than Zealand the day before.
    The rest of my day involved an 80mph drive home to make it to work for a very exhausting Friday night shift at Wheatfields by 3pm.  I had 5 minutes to change at my apartment and make it to work.  Talk about cutting it close!  What a great two days of hiking!.

You would think that I would have gotten one of these 10 years ago BEFORE hiking all the mountains I
have… but I didn’t.  I made it through the woods for over 180 mountains now without one so now I’m going to spoil myself with one for my future mountains.  This one has a new chipset for picking up satellites indoors even - yes it actually does!  It can also pinpoint points of interest while driving such as chinese restaurants, parks, lakes, etc and can navigate you turn by turn from where you are to them.  It also records altitude and has a barometer.  It’s accurate anywhere in the world to 10 feet and is pretty much the shit.  I’ll never get lost again!

I’m going to label this entry under the "hiking" category because it certainly turned out to be more of a hike than I had expected. 
    I had been planning to head up to Lake George down Shelving Rock Road to Log Bay and then hike along the shore to Calf’s Pen with Emily after work.  Calf’s Pen is a popular local cliff jumping spot on Lake George.  I’m not even sure how it was formed, but it is basically a crack in a cliff face on the side of the lake that is nearly 200 feet deep straight down.  It is about 30 feet
wide and you have to jump over brush and branches (see pic of drunk guy about to jump from upper level.. look at what he has to jump over) when jumping from the highest levels.  It is a staircase of jumping options leading up from lake level to about 55 feet.  There is also a tree at the top that can be climbed and jumped from which is about 70+ feet.  I did that years ago and it ripped the hair out of my legs when I hit so I decided not to this time. 
    At work I asked if Kate and Keturah wanted to join us and after some persuading they agreed and drove up with Emily and I at around 6pm from Saratoga.  We made it to Log Bay down the trail from the parking lot at around 7pm and I thought we would only have a short 15 minute walk along the shore but it was a lot longer than I had remembered and turned out to be about 45 minutes of walking with the girls in flip flops who weren’t happy about it…(see map on right).   I should have remembered to tell them to wear sneakers for the walk.  At one point Emily almost slid into the lake!!!  I felt really bad but we finally made it to the cliffs and after the sweaty walk we were all ready to jump in.
    After some coaxing I was able to get the girls to jump from about 25 feet off the lower levels
into the very refreshing lake (60 degrees I’m guessing).  A bunch of drunk guys from NYC on
vacation in a boat showed up to jump with us and were nice enough to give us a ride back to log bay.  I swam our towels, cell phones and my camera over to the boat above my head so they wouldn’t get wet for the girls.  We had a windy cold ride back as the sun set over the mountains to Log Bay. 
    We thanked the guys a bunch for the lift down the lake and I exclaimed, "wow, that worked out perfectly", to which Keturah then responded, "Jon, where is my green bag?"…. SHIT!… I simply said, "girls, keys are in emily’s bag, wait for me in the truck" and as I started running I yelled, "this is what I do..".
    I was wearing my kayaking sandals and was in a full run down the eastern shore of lake george in the remnants of daylight knowing that I had to make it to the cliffs and back before I wasn’t able to see anything.  The sun had set and I didn’t have any form of light with me so time was running out.  I made it back to the cliffs in about 15 minutes and frantically searched for her green bag.  I finally found something in the dark that looked like a rock with buttons and thankfully it turned out to be her camoflage colored green bag.  I crunched it up in my hands and began to run.  At this point it became nearly impossibly hard to find the trail in front of me and I was purposefully lifting my legs and feet high in the air while running so as not to trip on the hidden roots and rocks.  Suddenly I slipped and found myself sliding down a rock face towards the lake but was able to grab a root and arrest myself.  I could feel that my leg had fallen on something sharp and my shin was bashed but I had no time to look at it.  While on our way to the cliffs earlier we had come across a large crack in the shore about 25 feet deep and about 6 or 7 feet across that we had to walk around.  Well, on the way back running in the dark I could barely make it out in front of me.  The sun was well gone by now and there was no moonlight yet because the moon was behind the mountains over my right shoulder still so the ground quickly became invisible in front of me.  I barely noticed the pitch black hole in front of me before reaching it was able to lunge over the crevasse in the earth to the other side barely making it.  Yes, I was nervous without light, proper footware, being alone, and running down a trail I was unfamiliar with but damn it felt like something out of an action movie… haha.  That’s when a wire across the trail caught me by the throat and body slammed me into the earth… that one hurt a bit.  We had crossed under it earlier in the light and I had forgotten about it. 
    10 minutes later at a slightly slower pace because nothing was visible now I found myself back at Log Bay and began to follow what I believed was the road back to the truck… wrong… I ended up going up a river towards Buck Mountain… I stopped, realized I had to backtrack, fell down a ravine into the river, gave up and decided to just wade down the river to Log Bay where I finally met the bridge that I was supposed to be at and the trail back to the truck.  The phone rang and it was Kate.  She said that her, Emily and Keturah had just made it back to the truck after having gotten lost trying to make it back up from Log Bay.  They had apparently taken the only wrong turn possible from the lake and had to back track a little bit.  They were in flip flops and were moving at a slower pace so it took them a little time to find the truck.  I told them I was a little lost and couldn’t see a thing but would be with them soon.  The cell phone came in handy the rest of the way as a light in front of me so I could atleast see an open path in front of me through the dark shadows of the trees which I knew was the trail.  The girls kept my truck lights on so I could find my way back to the truck which helped. 
    So, I wasn’t planning on a trail running adventure in the dark but I got one and I was able to retrieve Keturah’s bag, car keys, and cell phone as well.  My leg has a chunk out of it now and my calves look like a cat attacked them with all the scratches.  I think the girls must think I’m crazy but I know they were grateful that I was back ok.  The whole sprint back to Calf’s Pen, searching for her bag, and then back to the truck took me about 40-45 minutes and I was back at the truck and driving out at 10:15 in the pitch black of night in the mountains.  We saw a few deer on the way out as well as an owl that almost hit my windshield.  I told the girls that I was running I could hear large animals such as deer running out of my way but I couldn’t see them of course in the darkness. 

    On the way in to the cliffs earlier Kate had mentioned that it would be an "adventure".  She was certainly right.  Next time we will go with sneakers and earlier and with a headlamp for saftey.  I’m still a bit sore today from the run but am glad that I have another crazy story to tell.. hahaha.  And take a look at the sunset we saw from the cliffs of beautiful Lake George!

    After we got back to where Keturah had left her car at Exti 20, Kate Emily and I headed back to Saratoga.  Kate stayed in for the night but Emily and I ended up going out for drinks with Mike until 3am and then back to her place until the sun came up.  I slept in until 11:30 today and still feel like I need more sleep after yesterday’s adventure..

    After work tonight I called Emily who said she was taking it easy with her roomate Cassie at their place so I got a hold of Mike and went out with him and his friend Alex (cute brunette in picture) for a few drinks downtown.  When he first told me he was coming over to my place with his friend Alex I didn’t feel bad about the 6 pack of Smirnoff Ice "wild grape" that I was drinking but then when he shows up with a cute brunette I felt like an idiot.  haha. 
    We ended up going out to Desperate Annies for a drinks and then Gaffneys.  It was busy but not as bad as it was last weekend after the Dave Matthews Concert.  Each of us bought rounds for everyone and Alex introduced me to her friend Gamble (right side of pic) who ironically works with Gary Zack (my landlord) across the street from me blowing glass.  At first he was an apprentice but now he works there full time. I bought us all a round of Irish Car Bombs at Gaffneys and after a few more drinks Gamble and I wondered back to my place for some left over pizza from work.  He had worked on our apartment when Zack first converted it over and he said he liked what I did with the place.  He’s a cool kid and I’ll have to hang out with him again.  Apparently Mike and Alex stayed out even later and ended up getting bombed… haha.  Good times, good times.  Work at 11am was a little rough at first and Karen informed me I had bad booze breath… haha. 

Last night I thought it would be a fun idea if Emily and I checked out "Reel Meals" on Congress Street in Saratoga.  It’s basically a "dinner and a movie" business.  We went at 7:45 to catch Mission Impossible 3.  I’d seen it before but it was between that and watching an hour and half of people drown in "Poseiden".  There was only one other person in the entire theatre with us.  We had a 6 person both table directly in the center of the room with a great view of the screen.  I was starving so I orderd an appetizer of motz stix and chicken fingers for us.  We didn’t need it because when our chicken parm and shrimp rosa entree’s came out they were friggin’ enormous!  The waitress walked away saying something about us having leftovers… haha.. not me.. I finished off the entire dish and the left overs from the appetizer… probably embarassing myself in front of Emily.  haha. 
    It was really great food there and it was something different then just going to a regular movie.  Emily had never been to such a thing before and I think enjoyed it even though we were practically the only ones there that evening.  After the movie we headed back to my place to hang out with Rick, Josh, and Jess for a bit. 

Today I went over to my parents place to hang out with my dad for a late father’s day.  I was not sure what to get him because he pretty much has everything he cares about.  Then it came to me… what makes an old man really happy… his stomach!  So I stopped at Price Chopper on my way over and picked up smoked salmon, about 50 steamers, stuffed mushrooms and a piece of watermellon and bag of soft black licorice for him.  I then cooked up a london broil on the grill for my parents and the seafood for my dad and I which he loved.  I hung out there watching tv with my parents until I noticed my dad doze off so I took off around 10pm.  I think he really enjoyed the food I brought which made me happy because I always feel like birthdays for my parents are hit or miss with me…

When I got out of work today I got back to my apartment ready for a boring night because Emily was at the Dave Concert at SPAC with her roomate Cassie.  Then, at 5:45 I got a suprise call from Brian King and Jonny asking if I’d like to be the 3rd man for wakeboarding on Lake George.  I immediately jumped in my truck and drove 85mph up to the lake to head out with them.  We had a case of beer and took Jonny’s relative’s (aunts?) boat out for a sesh.  The boat we took was ridiculously big for towing a rider.  It slept four and had a kitchen… to give you an idea of it’s size.  At first we couldn’t find a hook to tie the rope to but Kinger, with his knowledge of boats, found two in the back that we used.  Jonny was our driver and could not board because he had been sucker punched a week ago and fell onto the large speakers he was carrying when hit… cracking several of his ribs and tearing up cartilage… so for now he’s out of commission for wakebaording.
    Kinger landed a sweet dock start from a dock on Long Island (same island my drunk friends
drove their speed boat onto 5 years ago while towing my buddy Jeremy Russo).  I had my video camera with me and got some great footage while
Kinger tore it up on his wakeskate (wakeboard without bindings, like a skateboard but bigger).  Kinger had a great fall at the end of his sesh.  He bombed into the wake and killed it flying off the wakeskate and doing a full backflip misty before hittin’
the water again (check out the pic… pretty crazy).  I jumped in the water next with the board on and had a great first of the year sesh (pic on left - white shorts).  I wasn’t able to do too much because the rope was  tied in such a way to the back of the boat that it would catch itself and then release quickly in a snapping manor thereby jerking the rope and me into the water but it was great to get out on a board and the lake nonetheless. 
    On the way back I suggested the three of us grab a bite to eat so, upon Kinger’s suggestion, we drove up to the old "Lemon Peel" (bar that we always drank at year round because they weren’t strict on ID’s and had cheap beer, pool and darts) which is now a BBQ restaurant with a deck.  We all ordered ribs which turned out to be the best ribs I’ve ever had. When we picked up the rack the meat just fell of the bones… amazing.  It was nice to hang out with those guys again.  I don’t see them much during the winter and hope that I can get out on the lake with them a few more times before I head to OSU.
    After dinner I took off for Saratoga and ended up going out with Mike and his two friends Mike… yeah, three mikes, from St. Rose.  We ended up on the 5th floor of the Tavern which I don’t go to often and is pretty chill.  As soon as the Dave Matthews concert got out Caroline Street became a mad house of people and Gaffneys was so packed I had to walk on table tops across the "garden" back patio area to get to where Emily was watching a band and waiting for me.  Both of us were exhausted and I had to work at 9am the next morning so I stayed until about 3am so that Emily could walk home with her roomate Cassie. 

This morning I showed up downstairs waiting for Mark to show up to go riding with but instead Chris pulled in with his F150 geared up to ride with me.  I called Mark and he sounded pissed that Chris had shown up and he hadn’t… haha.  We went back to the SMBA Trails as I did with Mark on Tuesday but this time we did the same loop a hell of a lot faster and I was winded as hell afterwards. I was so tired trying to keep up with Chris that I wasn’t able to make it over the same technical terrain I did with Mark.  It was great to have finally ridden with both of them from the shop this week.  Hopefully we can continue to ride in the mornings all summer.

    Today I went to visit my parents and take my mom out to see the Da Vinci Code for a late birthday present.  I drove to my parents at 4pm so I could moe the lawn for them.  15 minutes after I started it began to pour rain.  I ended up finishing the lawn nearly two hours later covered in mud!  I also pushed the mower through the largest patch of poison Ivy I’ve ever seen!  I hope I don’t itch tomorow. 
    After dinner my mom and I drove to the mall for the movie and I made a mad dash to CVS for my usual sweedish fish only to find the store not there anymore!  As I walked by the jewlers I saw my ex-girlfriend Kim who got married a year ago and last fall had a baby boy.  She had cut her hair short and looked beautiful.  I haven’t talked to her since last fall and need to stop by to say hi before I head out to Oregon for my PHD.  Out of the two long term relationships I’ve had I feel the one I had with her was the most valuable by far.  It just wasn’t the right time for us and I’m so happy for her and her new child and family now. 
    The Da Vinci Code was pretty good.  My mom and I have both read the book and agreed that the movie followed it pretty closely.  I thought Tom Hanks was a good choice for the main character but I guess the movie in general has gotten poor reviews. 

Visited Adrian last night in Sleepy Hollow.  We went out to a few bars and grabbed some drinks.  The first bar we went to had obnoxiously loud techno music blarring and a really drunk bartender
who very obviously used to be a stripper.  We headed to a more relaxed bar down the road until about 2am when we went back to his parents place for the night to crash.  It was good to seem him again and he apparently is doing well for himself making nearly 400 a night when he bartends (usually only one night a week … lucky bastard).   He’s a good guy and I hope to stay in touch with him.