Meet Mountaineer Melissa Arnot

 Mountaineer Melissa Arnot

A Whittaker Mountaineering video features Melissa Arnot speaking about her love of mountaineering and her perspective as a petite female serving as part of a mountaineering team. Arnot has summitted Mount Everest 5 times.

Arnot says that she knows that the mountain doesn’t discriminate, but she does see a much higher proportion of males than females participating in mountaineering. The most insightful part for me was when she acknowledged that you “have to be willing to suffer a little bit” to be a mountaineer.

Watch the video here: http://youtu.be/Z9A80jNCu7c

The 46ers Film

The 46ers Film - A Documentary About Adirondack Hikers

by Kathleen Lisson

I am excited to see this new documentary on 46ers: http://youtu.be/mlS5u3c4AmI




According to the website, the film shares "the stories of many ordinary men and women who have done the extraordinary."


I have so many fond memories of hiking with my best friend Kristin in the High Peaks.

Climbing Whiteface w/ Kristin

Find out more about the film here: http://www.the46ersfilm.com/#welcome

AllOverAlbany coverage: http://alloveralbany.com/archive/2014/04/22/the-46ers

Moreau Lake State Park Western Ridge Trail - Capital Region Hike Review

 Hiking the Moreau Lake State Park Western Ridge Trail

by Kathleen Lisson

I have a funny story about Moreau Lake. I have lived in the Capital Region for 15 years and I have never been there. Two years ago, my niece from India came to stay with us for our wedding. We put her in the RPI summer camp, and she came home one day, excited because she had visited Moreau Lake State Park. She was more of a local than I was! 

Atla and me in Kerala, India

I needed to put some hiking miles in my legs and I wanted to test out my rain gear on a rainy day, so I headed up to the Moreau Lake State Park. It ended up not raining, but I did hike about 12 miles.

The trail is not hard, but I was grateful for my hiking poles. I parked at the Spiel Rd. trailhead. That way I could hike out and back the length of the trail, but still have the ability to cut the hike short if the rain got too heavy. I ended up hiking the entire trail. 

Eastern Red Spotted Newt

I came across a tiny Eastern Red Spotted Newt on the trail. Learn more about this mosquito-killing newt here: http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/67022.html

Moreau Lake State Park trail map is here: http://www.nysparks.com/parks/attachments/MoreauLakeTrailMap.pdf

More Hiking Trail Reports:

Tips for hiking the Western Ridge Trail with kids:
http://www.saratogamama.com/hiking-and-surviving-the-western-ridge-trail/

Hiking the Western Ridge Trail from a skiers perspective:
http://saratogaskier.blogspot.com/2013/06/hiking-at-moreau-lake-state-park.html

Hiking the Western Ridge Trail from a cyclists perspective:
http://norockingchairforme.blogspot.com/2012/08/hiking-moreau-lake-state-park.html

Mount Greylock, Massachusetts – Appalachian Trail Hike

Mount Greylock, Massachusetts – Appalachian Trail Hike

Arun and I hiked to the summit of Mt. Greylock on Saturday and Sunday, April 19 and 20^th. On Saturday, we took the Mt. Greylock Loop Hike : http://www.everytrail.com/guide/mt-greylock-loop-hike

A map is here: http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dcr/parks/trails/mgry1.pdf and there were paper maps available at the Hopper Road trailhead.

Despite our maps, we got a little lost and ended up hiking from the Hopper Trail to Sperry Road and on to summit Stony Ledge and descend along the Haley Farm trail. The area around the Money Brook was wet and the last piece along the Appalachian trail on both sides of the summit was icy. My Yaktrax and hiking poles helped.

On Sunday, we took the steeper and shorter Thunderbolt trail to the Appalachin trail to the summit of Mt. Greylock. According to BerkshireHiking.com “The total vertical via this route is approximately 2,275 feet in about two miles.” Read the Berkshire Hiking profile here: http://www.berkshirehiking.com/hikes/thunderbolt.html

This hike was two hours of uphill climbing, great practice for our Kilimanjaro trip in July. We parked at the end of Thiel Road. There were no maps or official trailhead.

Mount Greylock trail map is here: http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dcr/parks/trails/mgry1.pdf 

Yaktrax helped at the approach to the summit and a hiking stick really helped my knees descending the mountain. 

According to the State of Massachusetts, “park roads to the summit open on May 17, 2014 and the War Memorial tower is closed for the 2014 season. Rehabilitation scheduled in 2014 - 2015.” 

Jon Arnold has posted a video taken from the War Memorial tower on top of the summit of Mt. Greylock. 

 

View it here: http://youtu.be/3NZoI1M1qzk

Catskill Hike Review - Hunter Mountain Loop

Hunter Mountain Loop

Earlier this Spring we attempted to hike the Hunter Mountain Loop. We used the Catskill Mountaineer’s hike profile: http://catskillmountaineer.com/HWK-hunter.html

We got up to the summit of Hunter Mountain and, with beta from returning hikers, decided to backtrack to the parking lot instead of take the loop because neither of us brought snowshoes. The trail conditions were quite different at the summit than they were in the parking lot. 

Lesson learned!