High Peak Thru-Hike for Charity

[WalksWithBlackflies]

Before I begin, I would like to thank Dick for allowing me to post this.

In mid July of this year, Kevin MacKenzie (MudRat) and I will traverse the 46 Adirondack High Peaks in a continuous hike. Over 9 days, we plan to hike/climb nearly 200 miles with 66,000 vertical gain/loss. We will not be using vehicles to travel from trailhead to trailhead, and we will have no trail support team.

Now why would a person propose such an endeavor? Well, a couple of years ago, my wife and I went through a rough pregnancy, which began with an extended hospital stay, and ended with the premature birth and passing of our newborn twins. Crouse Hospital (in Syracuse) took care of us during the time, and their care was extraordinary. Now I want to give something back to help other families in similar circumstances. To such ends, Kevin and I decided to take our love of hiking and create a fundraiser for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Crouse Hospital:

In turn, we are asking for donations or pledges to the Aidan and Allyson McKenna Memorial Fund. If you can't contribute $, you could help by "spreading the word", or providing assistance with technical aspects of our route, equipment, training, meals, etc. Any effort would be greatly appreciated. For more information about the benefit, hiking details, and/or to support our cause, please visit:

www.mackenziefamily.com/46/

Thanks in advance!

[mudrat]

Good Day! I'm the second half of the 46 Traverse team. WWBF pretty much said it all above so, I'd just like to thank everyone in advance as well for any and all support. Thank you Dick for allowing the post! The comments we've gotten on our little trek have pretty much covered the spectrum (especially from our families who are endowed with humor). Feel free to sign our guestbook on the site. We plan to keep it updated as things develop both before and after...God Bless!
-MudRat

[redhawk]

Originally Posted by mudrat

Good Day! I'm the second half of the 46 Traverse team. WWBF pretty much said it all above so, I'd just like to thank everyone in advance as well for any and all support. Thank you Tim for allowing the post! The comments we've gotten on our little trek have pretty much covered the spectrum (especially from our families who are endowed with humor). Feel free to sign our guestbook on the site. We plan to keep it updated as things develop both before and after...God Bless!
-MudRat

Might be better to thank Dick or Gary. Tim's the honcho on that OTHER forum.....

Having poked my fun at your faux pas, let me say that it's a good thing you do. It's nice to see people want to pass on the kindnesses that have been shown them.

We've got a good lot here so I'm sure there are some who will help in one way or another.

Right Guys and Gals?????????

Hawk

[Edelweiss]

Welcome to ADKForum, WalksWithBlackflies. Yours is a most worthy cause. What better way to show your appreciation for the hospital and staff than to hike! Count Dick and me in for a contribution and/or any other help you may need.

[mudrat]

Originally Posted by redhawk

Might be better to thank Dick or Gary. Tim's the honcho on that OTHER forum.....

Having poked my fun at your faux pas, let me say that it's a good thing you do. It's nice to see people want to pass on the kindnesses that have been shown them.

We've got a good lot here so I'm sure there are some who will help in one way or another.

Right Guys and Gals?????????

Hawk

Ha! That'll teach me to use a cut and paste without checking my wording first. This will be the first of a long string of humor at our expense if hindsight truly is an indication of future adventures or misadventures. Thanks, Hawk for the call of support!
MudRat

[hikersteve]

so what route are you planning?

[WalksWithBlackflies]

As it stands right now... still 9 days, approx 165+ miles and 67,000 vertical feet. Phelps and Tabletop are the wildcards right now. We'll hopefully have them nailed down in the next couple of days.

Day 1 - ARC, leave packs at Lookout, Esther, get packs, Whiteface, Connery Pond, Riverside Dr., Round Lake*, Cascade Lakes Isthmus (food cache), Cascade via The Cascade, Porter, Little Meadows/RR Notch*; option to hike to Klondike LT (granted, that is a very long day)

2 - Little Meadows/RR Notch*, Big Slide, Yard, Klondike LT, Phelps drainage herdpath*, Phelps, leave packs at Van Hovenburg trail, Tabletop, get packs, Marcy Dam, Loj (food cache), Nye, Street, Moose Pond LT; option to hike to Duck Hole; option to skip Phelps and Tabletop and save them for Day 5 or Day 9

3 – Moose Pond LT, Duck Hole, truck trail, leave packs at base of Seymour, Seymour, get packs, Seward, Donaldson, Emmons, Emmons Slide*, Seward Brook LT on Cold River; option to enter Ouluska Pass

4 – Seward Brook LT, Couchsacraga*, leave packs at Times Square, Santanoni, Panther, get packs, Bradley Pond, Upper Works (food cache), set up camp at base of Allen, Allen, camp; option to descend Twin Slide if permission is granted

5 – Allen Camp, Flowed Lands, Marshall, Cold Brook Pass, Shepherd’s Tooth, Iroquois, Boundary, leave packs at Boundary/Algonquin col, then Algonquin, Wright, Algonquin, get packs, Lake Colden, Trap Dike, Colden, 1990(SE) Slide, Uphill LT; option to descend Wright Slide to Avalanche Lake; option to descend Wright, Whale Tail, Marcy Dam (cache?), Phelps, Tabletop, Colden (via Lake Arnold)

6 - Uphill LT, Cliff, Cliff Slide*, Redfield Drainage/Slide*, Redfield, Moss Pond*, Skylight, leave packs at 4 Corners, Gray, get packs, Panther Gorge, Bartlett Ridge, camp on Shanty Brook flank of Sawteeth (food cache near Carry Trail?), Sawteeth, camp; option of leaving/getting packs at Bartlett Ridge while ascending/descending Haystack

7 - Sawteeth Camp, Carry Trail, leave packs at Colvin/Blake col, Colvin, get packs, Blake, Blake Slide, Nippletop Slide, Nippletop, Dial, Dial “slide”, Dix, Beckhorn, Hough, Pough/Carson camp; option of Gravestone Brook to Bouquet LT

8 – Pough/Carson camp, Carson, Macomb, Carson, Grace, Great Slide, Bouquet S Fork, Bouquet N Fork, Twin Pond, Round Pond, Rte 73 (food cache), Zander Scott Trail, leave packs at Nubble Trail, Dipper, RPR/Giant col, RPR, get packs, Nubble, camp at Roaring Brook Falls; option to bushwhack RPR south shoulder; option to ascend near summit of Giant, Giant/RPR col, RPR, RPR col, Giant

9 - Ausable Club (food cache?), East River Trail, Wedge Brook Trail, Great Range beginning with Lower Wolfjaw and ending on Marcy, Loj; option to climb Tabletop and Phelps on way back to the Loj

* = we need to scout, data from other’s welcome

[mudrat]

Our route/profiles are now updated and located at
http://www.mackenziefamily.com/46/tidbits.html#profiles if anyone is interested. I think we're done modifying them until we're actually on the trail in which case route changes will be dictated by how we feel and weather conditions.

[rbi99]

Wow!! I can only imagine the effort this is going to take.

However, one thing I would be worried about since this is so incredible, is people coming out to see you both on the hike and at your camps. You guys are going to need every minute of sleep you can get, but if people start becoming a nuisance, that might become more of a problem than the hike itself. At the spots that are easier to get to they might drive you guys nuts. Maybe if you were more flexible with your time frame, you could pick and choose where you sleep so as to avoid some of that confusion (maybe the Park could allow you to sleep in areas that are normally not allowed). Might take more than nine days, and logistically it would probably complicate matters, but crowds of people at each campsite and mountain top will complicate matters also. You guys need to get up and down, and if people are crowding the trail in each direction, your time frame will get shot to hell anyways.

[Roland]

Good luck to both of you!

[Jason]

I had the opportunity the other day to hike with Rico through some great terrain here in Central New York. I have no doubt he's in perfect shape for this trip and his knowledge of the backwoods is amazing. He's a great guy and I'm sure he and his partner will be kicking a little bit of granite butt during this incredible trip.

This is the kind of story that makes this such a great forum. Let's all wish them luck!

[jessdrone]

good luck with your trip

[mudrat]

Rico is now in the traverse alone and doing well the last we heard. I got put out in day 2...several issues including knee injury beginning to cascade. If anyone is on the trail and sees Rico (red techwick shirt the last I knew), please send an email to kevin@mackenziefamily.com and let us know any details on his position, pace etc. He should be passing through Upper Works today by the itinerary. I'm sure a hiking partner for a short section would be some nice encouragement as well as peace of mind for family/friends. Send me an email if you want details on that as well. Thanks.

[mudrat]

7.17.07...Tuesday Evening
I picked Rico up at the Loj around 3:00 p.m. Long story short, he's fine, but had a potentially dangerous experience in some blowdown/fir wave on the back side of Nye mountain yesterday. After some consideration, he took today to walk back to the Loj from Duck Hole through Indian Pass. He reported that he was physically feeling good, but thought better of solo hiking the route as we planned it...being that it contained so many off trail whacks in remote locations.

I'd like to thank Doug Arnold for calling and readying the troops if needed. He had several 46rs on standy by to either accompany Rico on the route for safety or rescue if necessary after my earlier email. Thanks again, Doug! Thanks to " The Colonel" for getting in touch! Thanks to everyone else for the support as well. More later...

[WalksWithBlackflies]

I am now home. MudRat correctly summarized the situation. Physically, I am 100% fine... but I am still extremely distraught, and don't feel like writing the details... maybe sometime over the next couple weeks.

Lest I forget, I'd like to give special kudos to:

Tom Pinkerton, with whom I shared the lean-to at Duck Hole. Thanks for helping me take my mind off the day's failure. I may not have shown it, but I was an emotional wreck when I arrived.

Hawk for his Hawk Vittles... by far the most excellent meals I've had in the backcountry.

EMS, who stepped up without being asked, and provided some last-minute items.

[Rookie]

Hats off to you two guys ! I salute you both.

Better to live to fight another day.

To get such a huge undertaking accomplished, you need a little luck to go with all that preparation.

I would have guess everyone still believes in you.

Toss being distraught, celebrate the noble attempt !

[redhawk]

And I repeat, as I said on another forum..

There was no "failure". Whenever there is an honest attempt, that in itself is the success. And the attention you brought to the cause is as they say, "priceless"

Hawk

[Kevin]

Rico,

While it's sad to hear of the 'failure', it's more important you're back to try it again sometime (soon?).

Since Saturday every time I saw rain on the radar I thought about you. We were all pulling for you. Don't give up .

[Naturlvr73]

Reading all about what you guys undertook and why makes me very, very proud to be part of the Adiroindack hiking community. Reading about the tough decisions you had to make in the best interests of your own health, your families, even the environment (rescue efforts leave a big carbon footprint !) I'm even prouder!!! You have shown that you are unselfish and compassionate in every way!

Please keep us posted if you make the attempt again. We live far away from the 'Dacks, but I'm planning to be there later this summer with friends and family. It would be an honor to shuttle supplies to you, leave you a cache, etc. etc.


Kevin is right. As my husband and I would take our neighborhood training walks for our hiking trip I would say....they're out there right now...say a prayer...etc.

[Little Rickie]

You did good! You're a good man. Rest up and come back stronger. Physically & mentally.

"Winners never quit, quitters never win."