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| Hiking | 7.80 Miles |
1,368 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.80 Miles | 5 Hrs 43 Mns | | 1.95 mph |
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| 1,368 ft AEG | 1 Hour 43 Mns Break | | |
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| no partners | | | Up and back to fire tower on Spruce Mountain the short way, clockwise from TH. Trying too late to get in shape for serious hiking next week in the Adirondacks, upstate New York. Legs strong enough but cardio sucks. Just leg presses and calf pushes in gym don't help. Beautiful day, temp at 72. After vista of Granite Mountain early on, thick forest hides almost everything. It's a boring hike unless you love the color green. Few landmarks. I'm out 1.78 mi before I get my one and only glimpse of the fire tower through a small clearing. About halfway there. Trail rises slowly in the beginning, then steepens. Thrashing through brush ahead is a small animal I believe to be a lynx. Huff and puff. Several rest stops before hitting the summit. Sign says I'm at 7643 feet el, 36' higher than what shows on my GPS. I arrive at a picnic area, several tables and a two-stall commode. On the N side of picnic area is the fire tower which I can barely see through the trees. It is manned, or womanned, I think. All I see is a car parked beside it. Too tired and anti-social to climb up there and chat. As I eat a light lunch, a car comes up from the E on Road 52A carrying a woman and a man. Obviously lost. They stop and use the toilet, and I later see them hiking up the trail from the #307 TH. The summit holds three parts: Fire tower on the N, and a cellphone tower on the S with the picnic area in between in a small saddle. I start down at 1535, and am thankfully back at the TH 1:58 later. If I learned anything today it is this. Tenacity, and little else, will help me in the Adirondacks. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
