Lucky Laura
Active member
Met Peter, Nick and Mike (all from Albany/Saratoga area) at Upper Works 6am Saturday morning. En route up Calamity Brook Trail, I realized I was marching with Marines and hoped I could keep their pace. Made good time to Flowed Land. Plan was to climb Cliff from near Henderson Point and descend down regular herd path to continue on to Redfield. While walking on what turned out to be thin ice, I watched Peter break through the ice up to his waist ahead of me!
Scurrying over to the bushes a few feet away, I yelled back to Nick and Mike to not follow our tracks and was dumbstruck watching Peter calmly climb up to solid ground- hardly perturbed. This may have been the most inspiring incident I can recall hiking- watching Peter change his socks and continue on ever faster ("my pants will dry").
Between Mike who had climbed this route before and Peter with his GPS skills, they led us up to the right of the steep cilffs and to the right of a drainage- incredibly efficient route up to Cliff's summit. The descent down the herd path was somewhat steep and we used rope to get down a couple of steep, icy sections. After brief break at Uphill Lean to, we followed the tracks of a few men who had broken out Redfield and met them near the summit (thank you!). Terrific views from both Cliff and Redfield. Back at the lean to, it was decided (to the great disappointment of Nick, who was a good sport about it) not to continue on to Gray and Skylight, so we returned to Upper Works before dark with no more incidents. Met a large group who broke out Marshall. Great day with super strong and nice hiking companions! Happy Birthday to Mike, too!
-Lucky Laura
Scurrying over to the bushes a few feet away, I yelled back to Nick and Mike to not follow our tracks and was dumbstruck watching Peter calmly climb up to solid ground- hardly perturbed. This may have been the most inspiring incident I can recall hiking- watching Peter change his socks and continue on ever faster ("my pants will dry").
Between Mike who had climbed this route before and Peter with his GPS skills, they led us up to the right of the steep cilffs and to the right of a drainage- incredibly efficient route up to Cliff's summit. The descent down the herd path was somewhat steep and we used rope to get down a couple of steep, icy sections. After brief break at Uphill Lean to, we followed the tracks of a few men who had broken out Redfield and met them near the summit (thank you!). Terrific views from both Cliff and Redfield. Back at the lean to, it was decided (to the great disappointment of Nick, who was a good sport about it) not to continue on to Gray and Skylight, so we returned to Upper Works before dark with no more incidents. Met a large group who broke out Marshall. Great day with super strong and nice hiking companions! Happy Birthday to Mike, too!
-Lucky Laura
