I almost made a huge mistake Friday. I took the day off to go hiking since it was looking like the last opportunity to get out and see the fall colors before they were gone. I decided to go hike a stretch of the tongue mountain range on the west shore of Lake George – which piece I figured I would play by ear. There was a loop trail that judging by the map would be about 8 miles. Turns out that was as the crow flies, not as the Dave and Soolin hike. I got there at around 11 and hiked on the west side of the range along the lake. This is a gorgeous, relatively easy hike, most of which is right alongside the water. Soolin was in heaven – plenty of swimming to be had, falling leaves everywhere to chase, and chipmunks which she thinks are squeaky toys. We had a blast hiking in. By 1:30 we were at the southern tip of the range and had hiked about 6 miles. I stopped briefly for a snack then had to decide – back the way we came, or up into the range to complete a loop. This is where I made a mistake – I should have headed back the way we had come. Instead we headed up into the range, with three peaks to summit ahead of us.

I knew as I set off I would have to make good time in order to make it back before dark so Soolin and I kept a brisk pace. What I didn’t know was how rugged the terrain would be. Andrew and I had done the northern section of the same trail earlier in the year and while there were some steep cardio buster sections of that trail, overall it was a fairly easy 8 mile hike. Not so the southern section. There were tons of scrambles up and down ledges, boulder and scree fields, and in and around crevices in the rock faces. Normally I love this stuff but by the time I got to the second peak of the three it was after 3 and I knew I was in trouble. Soolin and I entered into forced march mode, which was especially tough since I had already been pushing us hard and my hips were hurting, my knees were literally killing me, plus I was occasionally cramping up and having to stop and massage the backs of my legs.

By the time we made it to the side trail to 5th Mountain peak’s lean to, I was completely shot and could barely walk downhill because my knees were so sore. It was a little after 4. Even so I decided to head down, which was about a 2.5 mile hike but all downhill, rather then spend the night with little food and only a liter of water. It was the right call – I made it to my car at 5:40 – by 6, it was dark. If anyone had seen me coming down the mountain they would have thought I was a 75 year old ex-football player because of how hobbled I was by my knees. It’s a good thing I had done this last stretch of the trail a number of times since it let me shave off a good bit of time by ignoring the switchbacks and just blazing straight down since I sort of knew my way.

That all sounds pretty dramatic, but for family who might be inclined to worry about such things – the worst that would have happened is Soolin and I would have spent a thirsty night huddled around a fire in 5th Mountain’s lean to. I’m still mad at myself even though the consequences would have been negligible though. I should know better, and I should be better prepared. I keep a small emergency kit but I had forgotten the flashlight in my car and really I need more gear than I currently have, particularly water treatment gear.

So, that’s my big adventure. I’ll put up pics in my album as soon as I have time to prepare them (I’ll post again when I do). I’ll be back next summer to hike that lakeside bit of the trail again, that place would be perfect for an overnight trip or two next summer.

The final tally btw was somewhere between 14-17 miles. In terms of marked trails it should have been around 13, but Soolin and I took several side jaunts in the beginning so she could swim and so I could check out the absolute southern tip of the range. Confusing matters was the fact that before the batteries died my GPS claimed we had already done 14 miles and that was at the second peak’s summit with at least 4 miles to go back to the car.