Hiking To A New Horizon

Fall in the Adirondack Mountains is a fantastic time to go hiking. We decided to venture up the 2 1/2 mile trail to the top of Black Mountain, which is the highest peak on Lake George at 2641 feet.

 

Luckily the trail starts about halfway up the mountain, because it ended up being quite a climb. The first half mile was an easy walk on a fire road, and we kept thinking, "This is too easy." and "I wonder when we actually start going up?" This concerned me too, because the further we walked on even ground, the steeper the actual climb had to be. Finally we entered what looked like an old creek bed with lots of rocks, heading up. Challenging, but not insurmountable, and we stopped to catch our breath a few times. Towards the end, when it seemed to go on and on, Dave kept hearing me say, "You've got to be kidding" as we approached each bend in the trail and there was yet another rocky climb upward. However, when we reached the summit, the view was spectacular! "WOW!" Definitely an OMG moment...

I couldn't go near the edge because of my fear of heights, but Dave did, even in the windy conditions...

This is the communication tower on top of the old fire tower. 

It was run by solar and wind power. The wind generator sounded like a helicopter was landing.

The woods that we hiked through to get here. The leaves haven't changed much yet.

This is a very popular hike, but we were lucky to have this vista all to ourselves.

As we departed downhill, another couple was just arriving and we had to laugh because we could hear them having their OMG moment and exclaiming about the view after their long trek. On the way back down we passed several other people on their way up, and when I checked the log-in book, found out they were from Manhattan, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and California. It was quite an adventure and amazing that we actually made it...especially Dave, who was limping at the end. 5 miles is a long way for him to go on flat ground, let alone on rugged terrain. He was feeling that old injury, but any temporary pains either of us had were certainly well worth it!