and home again

Aug 30, 2010 16:14

I rented a car for the weekend and drove cris and myself out to Mount Greylock for his birthday camping trip.
We parked at one of the overnight lots, and hiked a mile in to the Sperry Road camp site for the first night. In the morning, we broke camp and took the Hopper Trail to the Money Brook trail to the Wilbur Clearing camp site. We ended the day at around 3pm, even though we "only" went 4 miles or so, it was a steep climb with fully laden packs. We saw an amazing sunset, and had a warmer second night out in the woods. Then we climbed up to the Old Summit Road trail, did a short section of the Appalachian Trail from just past Mt. Williams, over Mt. Fitch to Mt. Greylock. I was a bit overwhelmed by the crowds at the peak (there's a road and parking lot serving a lodge there). Then down another section of the Hopper trail to the first campground and back to the car for the drive home, for a total of about 6 miles the second day (it was a lot less steep).
My legs are a bit sore today (all muscular pain, my knees were fine (yay!)), and I learned that 25lbs is a good pack weight for me. 30+ kinda sucks, even if it includes extra water so that I don't dehydrate. The nice thing about camping out for two nights is that you keep eating more and more of the food and have to haul less and less up the mountain as time goes on. :)
I'm not sure that I can exactly recommend the "haul 30lbs of gear up a steep slope for two days" exercise regime, but after testing it out via bike and foot, it does work to kick start my cardio health and use up some stored energy. Today: eating all the food I can get my hands on so that I can be ready for the next endurance test. :) I don't think I'll make it to the Industrial Ice Cream Party tonight, esp. since I'm not up for dancing again quite yet (my cold still isn't fully gone either).
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