The right decision.

[Neil]

We've had threads that relate to negative hiking experiences. How about a positive you'd like to share? Like, when faced with a choice when did you make the right decision?
I'll share now.
Three of us were on Seward at 11:45 am at the end of November. Our goal was Emmons. All the steeps were covered in water ice. We figured on an hour each for Donaldson and Emmons one way which would have brought us back to Seward just as it was getting dark. I had never used crampons before and there was some steep terrain to cover. It was 30 degrees and clouding over. We thought about descending with headlamps, arriving at the LT tired and hungry and said to hell with it and turned around. We got back to the LT with plenty of daylight left to gather a great wood supply and spent a wonderful evening gorging ourselves on all kinds of meat and woke up fresh for Seymour the next day. Looking back, I know we could have done Emmons but today I'm glad we didn't.

Anybody else?

[Mavs00]

Hmmmmmmmm...... The right decision

Not sure this is what you meant, but........

Waaay back when I first started hiking, I remember this hike up Cascade (of all places). I was pretty "out of shape" (about 250+ lbs) and it was a real struggle. Well, while just settin up there (catching my breath), I made one of the best decisions of my life. I decided to hike all of those "other mountains" out there. I didn't even know the names of about 90% of them.

I was so out of shape that I knew if I was serious, some lifestyle changes needed to be made. Here I am, about 7 years later at 190 lbs and in the best physical shape of my life, training for my first 1/2 ironman and most importantly I've learned quite a bit along the way that I hope will allow me to (continue) to make good decisions in the backcountry (like the one you made in the sewards that day). Learned a lot out respecting the mountains and our natural resources too.

Oh yeah, I did climb the rest........... Well sorta, once I got to 46, I realized there were a whole lot of "other ones" out there too. Yup, of all the decisions I've made in the last 8-9 years or so, the one to "keep hiking" was by far the "best" and likely the one that will allow me to "live and hike" for many years to come.

I know that's not what you meant Neil, but hey, it's still a pretty important one I'll add one more to your liking later, I got a couple in mind.

[KevynJJ]

I decided to hike all of those "other mountains" out there. I didn't even know the names of about 90% of them.

Is/are there thread/s for the "Other" mountains? I have noticed that most of the discussion in this forum has to do with the high peaks.

[redhawk]

Last year I was going to the FYAO IV in the Santanoni's. I was first at the trailhead at about 9 am and started snowshoeing in dragging my sled. ABout three hours later, I had gone about a mile and had been passed by Pennsy, Johnny Walker, Mark 0 and Gremlin. I estimated that it would be well after dark before I reached the lean-to so I turned arounfd and hiked back out. I passed Lumbezac on the way out and gave him the 20 quart "cozied" pot I was bringing in for boiling water.

As it turned out, none of the others made it into the laen to before dark and had to bivy along the trail due to thigh high postholing. Had I gone, I probably would have needed assistance getting out.

This year, I signed up again, this time for Pharoah mountain. After experiencing some shortness of breath on the steep parts of the short hike into Copperas, I removed myself from this years hike.

Point?

There comes a time when one has to recognize and accept their limitations. My pride is not worth puting myself and possibley others in harms way. There are plenty of hikes that I can do in the winter and I will stick to them.

[Kevin]

Is/are there thread/s for the "Other" mountains? I have noticed that most of the discussion in this forum has to do with the high peaks.

There are some threads on those elusive 'other mountains', but most of the discussion of the non high peaks seems to occur as trip reports, and after a few weeks trip reports usually get tossed for lack of urgency (their info on trail conditions is outdated). Not all, but many do get deleted. If you have a specific question, ask. I've been up a few of the non high peaks and have more planned in the near future (Sunday is Snowy Mt, and in the coming weeks I'm going to hike Ampersand and Hurricane Mts). You definitely picked up on something I know I have personally changed since becoming a 46r -- it aint about what mountains I climb more than it is about the climb and enjoying the outdoors.

Because so many are/were like myself and focused on checking peaks from a list, it only seems natural a bulk of the discussion would be about the peaks on said list.

[Dick]

Is/are there thread/s for the "Other" mountains? I have noticed that most of the discussion in this forum has to do with the high peaks.

Kevin, from my point of view, this forum is about the Adirondacks, period. Many have posted about the46 high peaks, but as everyone knows (don't they?), there is SO much more to the Adirondacks than 46 mountains. Indeed, there have been threads on other mountains and other places, if you look carefully. If there are places you're interested in that have not been discussed, you should feel free to start a new thread on whatever mountain you're interested in. I think you might be surprised at how many will jump in!

Dick

[lumberzac]

And it's not just the mountains there is thousands of different ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers that run through the park.

[lumberzac]

Last May I had planned a trip to backpack across the Dix Range from route 73. Friday was perfect weather and we setup camp on the South Fork of the Boquet and planned to head of the slide on E. Dix and hit the rest of the range from there and camp at the lean-to on the N. Fork. We woke up at about 6am the next morning to a downpour of rain. After about ten minutes we made the call that it wouldn’t be safe to climb the wet slide. After an hour of eating breakfast and taking down camp the S. Fork had risen over a foot. We didn’t second guess our earlier decision and hiked out. It just wasn’t worth the risk.

[Dick]

I suppose we've experienced lots of "negatives," but I'll mention one that was a "negative turned into a positive." At the risk of boring those who were a part of this hike, or who have read about it, I'm referring to a recent hike to the high peaks to do Redfield, Cliff, Gray, Skylight, or some combination of those. It just wasn't to be -- I lasted about two miles into the hike, and felt that turning back was the best decision. I knew my pack was WAY too heavy, and realized that I was more out of condition than I had been in some time. In fact, I WAS OUT OF SHAPE! I realized then that I had no business doing this hike. I was with an uncommonly wonderful bunch of hikers who had encouraged me to go on, but in the end, I knew I would be holding them up, and possibly even putting some of them in jeopardy. I know I could have gone further, but I also knew I wouldn't have made any of the goals. So I made the decision to turn around. Although I suffered feelings of embarrassment in the face of people I was hiking with (I shouldn't have), I know I made the right decision for me.

On the return, I hiked slower than I ever had hiked before, utterly exhausted. I took breaks about one minute apart, or less. In spite of all of that, I thoroughly enjoyed the trip back. I enjoyed the solitude of hiking alone, the peace of the softness of the snowfall, the crisp air, and the solitude, even though I was exhausted. At one point, I even went a little way off trail, into the woods, just for the "fun" of it. I almost enjoyed the feeling of exhaustion (I can't really explain that). I left the trail exhilarated, and feeling that I had had a positive experience in the woods.

I once almost aborted a hike with Joanne, going up the Wilmington Trail to Whiteface (I couldn't keep up with her, and that almost never happens). Another time we were going to do an overnight, coincidentally to Uphill LT, and I had that same "something's not right" feeling (I was actually sick then), and we aborted. But nothing of the magnitude of last month's hike had ever happened to me before. I have since looked into ways of paring down my pack, even though I've winter camped for over 10 years. I've also made a more concerted effort to getting regular aerobic exercise (so important at my age!).

So...I regard the entire episode as an immensely positive experience!

[Rick]

June 26th 1994. 4 Months post-reconstructive knee surgery. Backpacked into Uphill Lean, set to climb Marcy the next day. Got up - Looked at my knee with the robocop brace and it felt stiff - I decided that it was too risky.

I hiked out at 7AM that morning, got to the car at UW very quickly and was back in Rochester by around 2-3PM at my sister's in Penfield to celebrate her 36th birthday that day with the rest of my family.

I ended up meeting my sisters' hot single neighbor and falling for her. We dated for a few months and she became the reason I quit my dead end job in Buffalo and moved to Rochester garnering a much better job with a 35% pay increase.

It turned into a classic love story and the rest is history - She dumped me within 3 months and I fell in love and married my co-worker at my new job at Preferred Care, becoming active in GVC ADK and doing a lot of cool stuff with Pack, Paddle & Ski. Ain't life Grand?!?!?!?

The moral of my story is never worry about could have been because there may always be a life changing experience regardless of what you do and go with your gut feeling. You never know what you might miss by not turning back (and what the heck, it's not like the mountian is really going anywhere further than a couple of millimeters every year.....)

https://www.packpaddleski.com

[shaggy]

A few years ago (this sounds like a trend, but.....) I was in O.K. shape and had O.K experience, and did my first solo trip in the high peaks. Went to do Haystack. Showed up at dusk, hiked in to the leanto between the DEC IntOutp and the JBL, and what do you know a bear ate all of my food that night. I was so embarassed and disapointed that I continued the journey, all the way up to the summit of Little Haystack. My stomache could not take all of the pity granoloa bar handouts that the people sharing the leanto handed out, and I was bitten up, and hot, and hungary. Sat on the top for about 10 minutes looking at Haystack SOOOO close, but a little to far for my hungary condition, so I called my dad and told him the story, turned around and hiked out. Haystack haunted me for a few years after that, and I turned back on it a second time when I took an inexperienced hiker full packing over saddleback and basin. So I had 2 good decisions on that mountain, but then the third time was the charm

shaggy