Delilah is a year old now. Well, really a year and 17 days, but with a one year old comes delays…
It’s been a blast, the last few months she’s really become mobile which is tiring but loads of fun.
They really do grow up way too fast and we have no idea where the last year has gone, but we look forward to many hectic years to come.
Lilah learned some things.
This can’t be good…
We’re on a roll. With the long weekend last week we headed up to camp and hit another of the 46 High Peaks. This time around our goal was Algonquin Peak, but like many of the High Peaks, hiking Algonquin gets you close to several others. We made our attempt at those as well.
Starting out up Algonquin we were once again in the rain, but we knew it was going to break before noon and that we’d have great weather at the summit(s) and after. Sure enough about halfway up the weather turned and we got our first glimpse of blue sky. Unfortunately this was just before we made it into the clouds. That’s right, we were above the cloud cover. Although the hike was exhilarating and we experienced some fine views on the way up, we ate lunch at the top in the clouds and without a view.
After a short stay on the top we started our descent so we could begin our climb up Wright Peak. About halfway down to the Y in the trail the cloud coverage broke and the sky opened up. It was beautiful. One of the best views from any mountain we’ve climbed. Since we didn’t know how long the view would last, we just sat and enjoyed it for a while. Then as it seemed like it would last we continued the hike.
After summiting Wright Peak, the view and the weather only got better. We had 360 degree beautiful clear sky the rest of the day. Wright peak is a hard rock summit with views in all directions. You can see many of the other 46 from the top and we were able to pick out our next goal, Mount Colden.
We did miss Iriquois Peak, a 3rd peak just a short hike (through a valley) past Algonquin, but we were already tired and concerned we might not be able to complete Wright so we left it off this time around.
The hike down was equally pleasant. What an amazing day/hike!
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There’s 2 more people on the Trek to becoming 46ers. We’ve only just begun but we’re in it for the long haul.
We were spending the weekend in Lake Placid due to a great deal on the High Peaks Resort. We booked the trip a few weeks ago and while the weather was great Friday and Sunday, rain was expected for Saturday afternoon. Despite that we decided to hike up some of the 46 High Peaks anyway. After all, we were staying at the High Peaks resort.
To start our journey on the 46er goal we climbed two peaks. We’ve climbed mountains before, Hunter mountain was the highest so far with an elevation of 4,040ft and that was last summer. We’ve now successfully summited 2 of the Adirondack High Peaks, increasing our highest mountain’s elevation to 4,098ft.
We took the Cascade/Porter mountain trail up from route 73 just east of the mt van hoevenburg recreation area and just west of the Cascade lakes (in case you’re trying to find it).
The trail goes steadily up for about 1.8miles where it Y’s. From there it’s .3 miles to the summit of Cascade with an ascent of a 292ft and .7 miles to the summit of Porter with an ascent of 270ft. While the rest of the Cascade trail was relatively easy, only a few hundred feet to summit Porter is a bit missleading. First you descend several hundred feet through what can only be considered a mud slide, then you cross a valley and travel back up the hundreds of feet you descended plus the original 270ft.
The top of Cascade Mountain felt more like the top of Mount Washingtain than the top of one of the smaller Adirondack High Peaks. Winds were constant at easily over 60mph with gusts probably topping 80mph. The wind caused the slight rain coming down to feel like your skin was getting sand blasted. Porter Mountain wasn’t quite as bad since it wasn’t as open, but the wind was still incredibly strong.
This isn’t the first mountain we’ve climbed and it won’t be the last, but it is the first one we’ve hiked up and down in the rain. Having the right gear is vital for hiking and we made use of some new equipment, our new Eddie Bauer RipPac jackets, for the first time this trip and it made our experience enjoyable despite the bad weather. They will certainly remain a staple in our hiking packs.
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Last week we took a vacation with my parents to the Catskills. When Rachel and I went to Lake George a few years ago we climbed Crane Mountain. We enjoyed it so much we figured we’d climb another one this trip. This time we climbed Hunter Mountain (4,050 ft) & celebrated at the top. It was probably the most strenuous hike I’ve ever done (2,250 ft in 2.2 miles).
The web is abuzz today with two things. One, Amazon.com has been down for hours. Two, the story of Alain Robert (aka spidey) and Renaldo Clarke who both climbed the 52-story New York Times Building.
Renaldo Clarke climbed to draw attention to childhood malaria.
Alain Robert climbed to draw attention global warming and was carrying a banner which stated:
Global Warming kills more people than 9/11 every week.
I took the bait. I don’t have a clue how something like that could even be measured, but his banner alone isn’t why I wanted to look into this guy. I don’t think it’s shocking news that I’m somewhat interested in the developments of Global Climate Change. I like to see what new stuff is happening and what different movements there are. Perhaps one day I’ll even find one that I feel I can contribute to, who knows?
Alain’s T-shirt during the stunt read “The Solution Is Simple .org“. While I thought this would be nothing more than another meaningless organization that asks you to buy coupons to offset your carbon emissions The Solution Is Simple turns out to be Alain’s personal website and it appears he is very much in the midst of the whole Green Shift. The notion of “Greener is Better” really seems to resonate with this guy.
I have a lot of respect for Alain Robert. It seems everything this guy does has something to do with going Green and he really walks the walk. His site is even hosted by a green company.
Something I found on The Solution Is Simple mentioned twice interested me. 350. As it turns out there is an organization claiming that 350 parts per million is the magical amount of CO2 in the atmosphere which we need.
350 is the red line for human beings, the most important number on the planet. The most recent science tells us that unless we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, we will cause huge and irreversible damage to the earth.
I’m not sure if this is the magic number or not but it’s something to strive for I suppose. At least it puts a goal in mind rather than just the blanket statement most organizations seem to make of “we need to be greener.”
With his stunt and his website Alain is urging everyone to send a message about global warming to world leaders who are meeting next month at the G8 conference in Japan. You should too. There is a simple form you can fill out to do so on his website The Solution Is Simple.
I’m Randy Aldrich and I Approve this message.
NOTE: I am simply pointing out organizations and companies which have claims to being ‘green.’ I have in no way verified the validity of these statements. Please let me know if you find anything different.
A little advise for your next vacation, Ask for the upgrade! we started out with a ocean view room…meaning as long as you can see a sliver of the water…ocean view. We were upgraded to an ocean front room meaning all you can see is water. we can walk out on to the lanai or balcony and almost touch the top of the palm trees and we can listen to the waves of the ocean while we sleep. The first night was amazing but the first morning/day was incredible when we got to actually see the view!
We started off the day with a complimentary breakfast (which included pineapple, and so has every meal since. apparently they’re grown around here or something) and a quick 2 hour introduction to the islands. Here we listened to a native tour guide tell us about all sorts of wonderful things to do that we either already knew about or already had scheduled. We did however get some good recommendations and decided to take advantage.
Once we decided on a few things to do we determined that today would be a good day to climb/hike Diamond Head. Rachel was a little uneasy with the thought of hiking in a dress but we were assured that the hike was not that demanding so we trekked on. We’re certainly glad that we did. The views from the way up were awesome and the views from the top were astounding. It provides a perfect vantage point to view Waikiki Beach.
After the hike we grabbed some lunch and took it easy for the rest of the day. We took a walk on the beach and did a little bit of shopping.
At sunset we had reservations at d.k Steakhouse. If you ever have the chance at dining at one of the d.k Restaurants I highly recommend it. Our steaks were easily the best I’ve ever had. I had the Sensei Filet Mignon and Rachel had the Filet Mignon and Oscar.
After dinner we had a quick stroll along the beach back to our Ocean Front hotel room, and then crashed (which is why we’re not posting until now).
with Love,
Randy and Rachel
Randy Aldrich 
