Allison reached out to the dog hiker community to let everyone know that Emma has a terminal illness and she doesn't have very many hikes left in this world. She was planning several meet-ups so that everyone who knows Emma could have a chance to say goodbye. Sunny, Quinn, and I were determined to take advantage of this very generous opportunity and we decided to join them on their hike up Mount Jo this past Sunday.
Henderson Lake Lean-to Check-in and Scooping Drainages
Latest Adventure
It was past time that I visited the Henderson Lake Lean-to. The structure had just been added to the ADK's maintenance catalog and I'd agreed to take it on sometime mid-Summer. Also, it was definitely time to take our Autumn hike up Indian Pass to clear the many, many drainages between Upper Works and the Duck Hole junction. After some false starts, I landed on going on Veteran's day and bringing Quinn with me. I let the guys know we were heading out and I was glad that Andrew agreed to head out with us.
Recent Adventures
It had been too long since Quinn and I had done a hike together; he kept asking if he could tag along on the bigger hikes I've been doing on Mondays or with friends on weekends. We've been filling our Summer with lots of great activities, but not really hiking together. After the last tractor pull of the year, I woke up at 4am, filled the car, then grabbed the kid and drove North. All week I'd juggled our plan between Hurricane and Phelps. Quinn has upgraded to Mites in hockey and has been on the ice three days a week. I decided he had the tools he needed to tackle the 9 mile hike up and down...
I woke up the next morning absolutely refreshed. I only really woke up once to pee and after that just a few stirs. We were so cozy that Sunny actually moved away from me to cool off at one point. I definitely should have done the tent the night before. It wasn't just the temperature, though; being able to shove my mattress against a wall and put my pack at the head of it meant the thing stayed wedged in one place and I didn't have to mess with it throughout the night. I slept so well.
After a rather disturbed sleep the night before, I was eager to get up and start the day. It's often a struggle for me balancing my desire to get up and my desire not to bother my sleeping neighbors. This anxiety makes it hard to go back to sleep. I held out as long as I could and eventually grabbed my sleeping bag and sat in my chair. My back thanked me profusely. Everyone started waking up after that, of course, so I got the fire going. I got another scraggly, dead tree as well, just to have some additional easy-to-burn wood to help the fatter stuff get going again.