Meg

2 of 46ers – Cascade and Porter

~ randyaa ~ 1 Comment

Cascade Mountain SummitThere’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).

Porter Mountain Summit

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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The High Peaks Resort

~ randyaa ~ 4 Comments

I’ve been meaning to climb some of the Adirondack High Peaks for a few years.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have any grand illusions of becoming a 46er (Although, as a side note, that would be awesome).  I simply enjoy climbing the occasional mountain.  Climbing some of the highest peaks in New York State seems like a good goal.

highpeakshotelroomWith my parents recent purchase of a camp in South Colton, NY I figured I’d use that as a base camp.  I still probably will, although in a few weeks I’ll get to use the High Peaks Resort.  A short time ago they started running the Elevate Your Rate promotion which is basically a deal for 75% (+) off.  They’re featuring one of the High Peaks for 46 minutes for 46 days.  During that time the promotional rate will be the same as the elevation of that featured peak.  For example, our peak was Mount Emmons which has an elevation of  4,020′ which turned out to be a daily price of $40.20 which is pretty darn good.

My experience thus far has been via Twitter and I’m thoroughly Impressed.  There has been a great amount of communication from them and I’ve felt they’re really going the extra mile.  We didn’t get the dates we really wanted (due to availability) and I let them know.  They promptly look into it and got back to me within an hour with an explanation why those dates were blocked out.  They tried to see if there was any room available but unfortunately there was not.  That’s OK, the dates we got work fine anyway, and now we get to go with my friend Anthony and his wife Meg!  I really didn’t expect that kind of service at $40.20/night, and that’s just through twitter.  I’m excited to see what kind of service they offer in person.

We’re definitely looking forward to the trip.

BBQ with Cake

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For my birthday Rachel organized a surprise party by tricking me into a dinner at Dinosaur BBQ.  It was a load of fun and completely unexpected.  It was my first surprise party and I’d call it a success.

To top off the great BBQ dinner at Dinosaur Rachel got everybody together for the Cake concert.  Cake is one of my favorite bands and she had been making excuses for why we weren’t able to go.  When I opened my birthday card at dinner and found 2 tickets for the concert I was ecstatic.  The concert was better than I could imagine.  Cake turns out to be one of those bands that sounds just as good if not better live than on their pre-recorded music.

An awesome birthday thanks to the worlds best wife.

And yes, I know this post is 2 months late.  Sue me.

A Wedding and a Party

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My best friend Anthony’s wedding was this weekend and I had the honor of being best man.  One of the biggest (or at least the most stressful) responsibilities of the best man is the toast.  I’ve never had to speak in front of that many people before but I think it went over relatively well.

My Speech:

Ladies and gentlemen, if there’s anybody here this afternoon who’s feeling nervous, apprehensive and queasy at the thought of what lies ahead, it’s probably because you just got married to Anthony Ventura.

When I sat down to write this thing I had no clue where to start.

Some people tell jokes, but I’m not that funny.
Some people write a poem, but I can’t rhyme.
Some people give advice, but I’ve only been married a year so the only advice I have is to shut up and let her do the talking.

Since I can’t do any of those the best thing I came up with is to tell everyone how I got to know the lovely new Mr & Mrs Ventura.  The only problem is, I’ve known Anthony for so damn long I have no idea how we met.  What I can tell you is a few things that he’s taught me over the years.

I’ve learned that the Ventura’s really know how to raise a son, but I have no idea how they deal with both of them. (Harriet you’re a saint)
I’ve learned that Rollerblading down giant hills can lead to war scars the size of your fist.
I’ve learned that Mascara really does look horrible on a guy (Ask me later, I have pictures).
I’ve learned that transformers and Lego’s are fun to play with at any age, wait no not really.
I’ve learned how good friends stand the test of time.
And I’ve learned that a list like this can go on for days so we’ll just stop here.

The really awesome part of having a friend like Anthony is that every time we see each other, even if its after months or years apart, it’s back to the same old shenanigans, drinking past 2am and befriending trashcans (or toilets).  He’s always only a phone call away any time you need to patch a hole in a wall or get away from your pets for 2 weeks.

I remember the first time I met Meg. It was Anthony’s birthday and he wanted me to come out to MacGregors to meet this stunning girl he had been seeing.  A few Irish Car Bombs later and there we were, 2 country boys and a beautiful blond stuck in front of Deer Hunter the video game.  When Meg proved she had what it takes to kill more Bambies than us I told him:

“Any woman that can shoot a toy gun like that is worth keeping!”

I was right because he’s definitely getting the better end of the deal.  Anthony, you are a lucky groom – you’ve married Meg, who’s beautiful, smart, funny, warm, loving and caring, and she deserves a good husband. Thank God you married her before she found one.

I’ve been told that Meg is good at a lot of things but directions are not one of them.  I don’t know how she found her way to their first date, but I’m pretty sure one of the biggest reasons she keeps him around is because she can’t read a map.  Anthony, whatever you do, don’t buy her a GPS device because she might not need you anymore.

I lied, I do have one small piece of advice. If I have learned anything during the past year it’s this. Love one another and you will be happy. It’s as simple and as difficult as that.

From the moment I saw them together I could tell that they’re very much in love and would bring each other happiness for years to come.  It was truly an honor for me to be a part of their day.  I would like to propose a toast to the happy couple, wishing them years upon years of blissful happiness. 

To Anthony and Meg…

May your love grow ever stronger as you share your lives together, and may your future be  more wonderful than you dreamed possible.