Sunny 46

Sunny was impatient at the trailhead, but he did get some pets from the nice ranger who came by to make sure we were prepared for the ascent and the coming rain. Fortunately, the thunderstorms that were originally forecasted for the late afternoon were gone from the forecast.

Sunny was pulling pretty hard on the well-trodden Van Hoevenberg trail.  He was very excited at all the smells and wanted to eat all the chipmunks and birds. The new rope-style leash I bought for him was much easier on my hands and I was glad I'd picked it up. Sunny's Ruffwear pack has been great for carrying his water. Sunny brought two big bottles, one for each pouch, and I brought myself 4.5L in my two Osprey pouches.

Marcy Brook was beautiful as always. Sunny took a tentative sip from it, but we weren't really thirsty despite the quick pace we were making. This was probably due to the cool and moist weather. It hadn't really rained in earnest at this point, so the trail was mainly dry with a few clumpy spots.

The rocky trail wound up the Phelps Brook and the junction for the Phelps trail was well-marked, though the trail up the mountain itself was not. This was fine as the trail followed a well-worn stream bed up the mountain, so it was hard to lose. For safety reasons, I did have to cut Sunny loose duing the ascent once or twice. I am considering adding another 6 feet of length to his leash so that I can do climbs and descents safely while tethered.

I will not sugar coat it; the climb was pretty tough. I think we were lucky that it was so cool because I definitely felt my heart rate climbing. Sunny was in his element, pulling me up the mountain with his puppy strength. Still, we took the time to stop and be in nature. The peacefulness of the cool Wednesday morning was great for our souls.

Near and at the summit, the topsoil was worn to the bare rock by hikers. I can tell why we should remain on-trail as much as possible to avoid trail erosion. I would hate for this to happen on the whole mountaintop. Here, however, the little path among the close, short conifers is fun to follow.

Sunny reached the summit and was quite taken with the smells and sounds all around him, as was I. It was cold up there, and a bit windy. The weather was definitely coming in, but we paused to enjoy it anyways.

I took some landscape photos while I was up there as ya do. I love the foliage at the top of these peaks. It feels very primordial up there.

It started to rain as we descended Phelps and the rocks along the trail were very slippery. I had to cut Sunny loose a few times to save myself from injury, but we did make it down. We made a quick friend on the way (Sunny got more pets) and eventually made it to the junction. We hiked another mile up the Van Hoevenberg trail. 

We were waterlogged and time had gotten away from us as I had taken my sweet time picking my way down Phelps. I decided to turn around at the bridge crossing Phelps Brook and head back. The trail back was muddy, but the trail to Marcy Brook is rocky and the whole of VHT has wood planks spiked into place in the muddiest spots so it's not so bad. Also Sunny got lots more pets on the return trip, so he was totally fine with it.

We got back to the Loj by 2:00pm and Sunny was done! I think we did have enough steam and daylight to do Tabletop, but I was glad to be back at the car. There would be more opportunities for 12 mile days in the future and I think it was wise to ease Sunny (and me) into it. 

Phelps was tough but fair and had beautiful views even with the cloud cover. Rain isn't really a big problem. In fact, I think the rainy weather helped decrease the stress on our bodies. Sunny only went through half of his water and I barely finished my 3L pouch and never touched my 1.5L pouch. Still, the rain did slow our descent, so the rain does need to add a bit of time to our estimates in the future.

Next, we're going to do one of the Big Slide loops. I'm not sure if we'll do the big 11.7 mile one up Yard after the high peak or just the 10 mile loop straight down from Big Slide. I think we'll make that decision on the day.