I was super excited for my birthday day! I took the day off to hike with my boyfriend and adventure pup Baloo. I had been planning the day for a while and couldn’t wait for Baloo to snag a couple more high peaks. On Friday night, Travis, Baloo and I packed up the jeep with our camping and hiking gear and hit the road north. We headed for the Adirondack Loj trail head. By the time we arrived, it was almost dark. We got our packs situated and got our boots on. As we signed into the trail register it was pitch black. We had about a three mile hike into the campsites we plan on staying at for both nights we were out in the woods. The trail wasn’t to muddy, just some slick spots. I’ve been on this trail many times, so even in the dark it feels familiar. We crossed over a wide creek and knew we weren’t too far way and it was around 11pm by the time we found the sites and set up our tent. We didn’t care it was so late as we planned on sleeping in the next morning.
It was my birthday! It was a peaceful morning and because the campsite we were at was well up a bank and away from the trail, we didn’t hear any passing hikers. I ended up falling back asleep and woke up about two hours later. We took our time making our breakfast and talked about the day ahead.
Travis and I had done Marcy and Skylight last October, but had missed the trail for Grey, so we both needed to hike Grey and Baloo needed all three. We sort of knew what to expect from the two peaks but wasn’t to sure about Grey. Also, having done this hike previously, we did the loop and went down the trail towards Feldspar Lean To and back to the Loj passed Arnold Lake. I didn’t like that trail the first time so I didn’t want to do it again, so that was why we came up with the plan of hiking Marcy, head over and summit Grey, then I’d do Skylight with Baloo while Travis headed back up Marcy from the four corners. Then I’d meet back up with Travis on Marcy before we head back to the tent. And in doing so we thought catching the sunset on Marcy would be awesome!
After we brushed our teeth and Travis refilled his Nalgene bottles as well as Baloo’s with his Katadyn pump, we finally hit the trail towards Marcy from the Phelps campsites at around 11-11:30am. We kept a good pace and stopped at Indian Falls to take in some views and have a quick snack. We continued up the trail after about 10 minutes and saw a bunch of people along the trail. Once we got up in elevation and neared the summit of Mt. Marcy, there were tons of people we had to wait a few times for people to pass us on a couple sections of the trail. Especially with a fairly large dog, I always try to practice positive trail etiquette like waiting for people to pass us while we step to the side or off the trail unless they allow us to pass them. It was about 2 pm when we reached the summit of Mt Marcy! It was Baloo’s 14th high peak! It was sunshine and blue bird skies and the wind was blowing pretty good. We had some snacks and drank some water to refuel for the descent down the backside of Marcy to head over to Grey.
The descent down Marcy isn’t terrible. The open rock is tough but once you’re down into the trees again it’s like a normal trail in the Adirondacks, rocky, eroded and muddy. Once we got to the four corners intersection, we made our plan to head to Grey. It was only .3 miles down the trail and this time we kept a good eye out for the rock cairn that marked the herd path. Luckily for us there was a man sitting near the start of the trail waiting for his wife. Travis topped off his water bottles again in the stream from lake tear of the clouds which you cross over to get to the trail. Once on the trail we were faced with some tougher sections not really for us, more for Baloo, but he maneuvered himself and allowed Travis and I to help him when he needed a little boost. It’s much easier with two people when we get into those situations as Travis can go first then I can send Baloo while Travis guides Baloo down a section or up a rock scramble and then I follow. There were a couple more spots after the initial section that Baloo needed some help on as well as the last push to the summit of Grey. There was a tall shelf to get up onto the summit and once up there, Baloo had just snagged his 15th high peak as Grey was my 37th! There was a lookout area but the actual summit was wooded and marked with a sign. We sat up here for about 15 minutes to let Baloo have a break with some water and more treats. Travis was a ways behind me at this point and Baloo and I waited for him to summit before we headed over to Skylight.
He stayed on Grey and made some Ramen quick while Baloo and I headed down. We made it past the difficult sections somewhat easier on the way down and we got the main trail in about a half hour. Once we crossed the small brook again and headed for the four corners intersection it was about 5pm. We made it to the trail for Skylight in about 15 minutes and continued up after giving Baloo a break and some more water. Having done this Peak before, I already knew what to expect. It’s just rocky and a steady grade not very steep at all. Once we reached the top it was about 5:45 pm. No one was to be seen. We had the whole summit to ourselves. It was pretty windy and the sun was getting lower so we quickly took some pics and then headed back down the open rock trail down into the trees. Baloo needed to stop once on the way down. I could tell he was getting pretty tired and with the ascent up the backside of Marcy between us and our cozy tent on the other side we rested for a few minutes and
continued.
We rested again at the four corners intersection and then was the last ascent of our day. We were going pretty slow as we had plenty of time before sunset and we were both tired. Travis went straight from Grey to Marcy so he was quite a bit ahead of us on the ascent. We took a couple water breaks and even stopped for a snack at one point. Once out of the trees and up on a rocky out crop I could see Travis almost to the top of Marcy so I called out and waved and got a trekking pole wave in return. The leg burn on this part of the hike was pretty good. Baloo needed a couple breaks on this section as did I. But once we got closer to the top, Baloo heard Travis’s voice and continued on ahead of me to meet him. The feeling of getting back on Marcy was both exciting and exhausting. It was a long day and we still had about 4 miles back to the tent and we’d be hiking in the dark. It was about 7pm. It was very cold on the summit so we put on more layers and Travis had brought his Thermarest sleeping pad which we situated behind us to help block the wind and keep our body heat. We took our Backpacker’s Pantry meals and the Jet Boil out and put some water in Baloo’s collapsible bowl and his dinner in another bowl. He was more interested in sleeping though. He ate some treats and then napped pretty hard. He totally killed it today and I was super proud of him! He may have been tired, but he was still smiling and his tail was propeller wagging all over the place.
We got some water boiling for our food and as they were “cooking” in the bags, we just sat up there on the rock taking in the incredible view. We were facing south west/ west so we were looking at Mount Colden and the Macintyre range of Algonquin, Iroquois and Wright. We could see for miles. The sky was almost a golden yellow and the layers of mountains were different shades of blue. Behind us on the distance mountains of Haystack and parts of the Great Range, the alpine glow was bright orange and the sky began to turn a pinkish hue. It was beautiful. It was wild. It was the Adirondacks. And we were sitting on the highest point at 5,344ft taking it all in. My heart was beyond full. I had my favorite person and Baloo by my side, hiking all day in my favorite place. As we sat in our little cove all huddled we couldn’t help but feel humbled by these mountains and their magnitude. Time passed and by then it was about 7:45pm and we began eating our meals and Baloo was still napping. Then all of a sudden Travis pulled out a small gray box out of his pocket and opened it with a beautiful ring. I honestly don’t really remember exactly how he asked because I was so surprised! I was not expecting to get engaged today! As if today couldn’t be more perfect, it hit another level. Of course I said yes! Travis and I have been together for about 3 years but have known each other for over 11 years. Still in disbelief, I managed to finish eating before we decided to take some photos and head off the summit early as we were both getting pretty cold after just sitting up there.
It was about 8pm when we packed up and headed down and caught the last views of our long day. As we descended off the rocky portion, we watched the sun creep down further and further before it was a small orange dot about to disappear behind Algonquin’s huge shadow. At a clearing with the summit of Marcy and the route we just took down as the view, we took out our head lights and stripped some layers. We had quite a ways back to the tent and it got dark fast. The trail was easy to follow and we made good time. I was in front of Travis with Baloo at my heels the whole time. Baloo and I would stop every once and a while to see how Travis was and we’d continue. As we neared the intersection to turn right to go past Indian falls and continue to our campsite. I stopped to let Travis catch up to Baloo and I. All of a sudden as Travis reached us we heard a very deep, feline like growl about 30 ft away. It made the hair on my neck stand on end as a chill ran down my spine. I fumbled to grab Baloo’s harness handle and got his leash on. In the time it took to do that, whatever it was had growled another 2 times. Travis let out what I can only call a “man scream” that sounded like a grizzly bear roar, which made me jump. Nothing moved or ran away, it just growled right back. So with Travis very close behind me and me just about picking Baloo off the ground holding him as close as physically possible next to me, we continued very quickly past Indian Falls. We still had 2 miles to hike to our tent and after the growl encounter, we were a little more on edge and I was a little worried it could follow us back to our tent. Highly unlikely, but it was in the back of my mind. As I realized we had passed the trail for Tabletop and was about to cross the water bridge just up the trail from the Phelps trail, I was relieved our tent wasn’t to much farther.
Before we went up to the tent, we decided to take some time to brush our teeth, fill water bottles and wipe some of the sweat off. The water was so refreshing and a treat after a long day in the mountains. Even Baloo dipped his feet in. By this time it was about 11:30pm. The entire way back Travis would look behind him for any movement or sounds but never heard anything. We were convinced the growls we heard had come from a mountain lion. (When we got home we did a bunch of research and listening to different sounds and the mountain lion was the only one that sounded exactly like the growls we heard). We still kept an eye out as we got in our tent but we quickly fell asleep.
As my birthday came to an end, I couldn’t help but feel unbelievably blessed. I spent two nights under the stars with Baloo and Travis. Racked up miles and climbed mountains all day. Caught a sunset that was one for the books, as well as getting engaged. When we woke up the next morning tired, sore and hungry, I had a huge smile on my face. It was a slow 3 mile hike out and I couldn’t help but think about the previous day and asking myself, “was that a dream?”. Words can’t even begin to describe what this trip means to me and I’ll always remember this day and will always cherish days like these.
You can follow Rachel, Baloo, and Travis’ adventures by clicking here.
Ladies Get Outside 