The Things Worth Believing In
Tested by Reality. Guided by Ethics.
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Category: Excursions
“The Way of the Pen and the Sword is forged as much on the trail as it is in the gym or the precinct. This section documents my journey to become a 46er—a pursuit of endurance, self-reliance, and the discipline required to meet the mountains on their own terms. These are the field notes of a practitioner seeking the standard in the wild.”
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It’s that time. Time to start planning my first trip to the Adirondacks for the season. I have developed a planning method that has been working well for me so far. My time estimates and weather predictions have been more “on” than “off” on most of my hikes so I’m sticking to my method. The…
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It’s that time of year. The time of year that I start my 12 week training cycle for this Summer’s hiking plan. I have tried a few various programs over the years, but this is the one that I have settled on. It’s based strongly on the FitClimb 12 Week Mountaineering Fitness Plan-Intermediate. I have…
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Success is where preparation and opportunity meet. -Bobby Unser First off. I’m not going to oversell myself. There are a ton of (almost) 53 year old guys in FAR better shape than I am, and I guarantee there are plenty of men who are far better physical specimens to look at than me. However, I…
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Catching up with my log…In mid September 2020 my childhood friend Paul and I headed out to the ADK to tackle Colvin, Blake, Nippletop and Dial. We left WNY around 2300hrs and drove through the night, arriving at the Ausable Club public lot around 0530hrs and it was good we left so early because it…
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On June 23rd I set out with my co-worker John to accomplish Gray, Skylight and Haystack. My Initial plan was to come in from Elk Lake and set camp at Panther Lean-to. Between the COVID closure of Elk Lake Lodge (closing the closest parking lot and adding 2 miles of road hiking) and the washouts…
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I’ve recently become one of those Hammock Campers you may (or may not) have seen out in the woods. I was sort of peer pressured into it by my buddy Paul who had been experimenting with them before I had any interest. I had a tent already and I was (ok..maybe “am”) a bit of…
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I managed to get a second trip to the Park in 2019. My friend Paul and his son Matthew accompanied me in August to the Upper Works trailhead with a destination of Colden Dam. I was going to be soloing a few peaks while Paul and Matthew did some exploring around Colden and Avalanche Lakes.…
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For 2019 my climbing partner and I decided to commit to a full five days in the Adirondacks (vs the two trips we did in 2018). I put together an ambitious 15 peak plan starting with hiking out to the John’s Brook Lodge on Monday then summiting Big Slide Mountain. Tuesday’s plan was to traverse…
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I just came back from the Dacks after a weekend of hiking and climbing with some friends and family. I went with my fellow “46 aspirant” Brian, my nephew Garrett, my good friend Paul and his son Matthew. The plan was to get up at the crack of dawn on Friday so that we could…
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In July of 2018 my co-worker (and climbing partner) and I were sent to Quebec City Canada for a work conference. We made plans to stop in the Adk Park and hike Giant Mt and Rocky Peak Ridge (RPR) along the way home so we packed our gear and took it with us. On July…
