Mount Adams firetower

An old archive photo of the Mount Adams firetower. The trees have grown back (in force) since this photo was taken
Back to the tower for last weekend for work trip. This time there were only 2 of us which was a shame as the weather was just about perfect. That said one of the tower roofing guys had been up a week before and put the last touches on anchouring the roof… so some work had been done since my last visit. To be fair the new roof had withstood some pretty serious winds over the months of May and June and had come out unscathed so the “extra” anchours might not be necessary but better safe than sorry. Saturday, Jack and I headed up to the tower at about 8am and made short work of the climb. We are both getting pretty familiar with the twists and turns of the steep trail and know well when to expend energy and when to relax and grind out the steep chutes. On top we set about our tasks after a short break. I was back on stair tread duty and have become somewhat of a professional at it. Jack on the other hand took to painting the existing window frames with both a primer and (after the primer quickly dried) a final coat of paint. The day started out somewhat cloudy with a good breeze. As I changed stairs high up in the tower the wind picked up significantly. So much so that after about an hour I was quite cold (and a little unnerved) and decided to work a little lower down where the wind didn’t blow so strong.
Fresh paint on the window frames and a new roof above
Mid-morning we took the 2x8x10 foot scaffold planks down from the cab. These planks had been used by the roofing team to stand on while assembling the roof. This proved an exciting challenge a) to negotiate down the narrow spiral staircase with these long boards and b) because they acted a lot like a sail in strong wind gusts. On more than one occasion Jack and I hung on for dear life to the planks(and the tower) as the wind buffeted us around. Fortunately at this point the wind came in fits and starts and we got short breaks to hustle down the steps when the wind stopped. As the day wore on the wind eased off and I was once again able to work on the upper levels. At this point we started to get some of our first "guests" of the day. I didn’t think a lot of people would bother to “ford” the Hudson now that the bridge was out but the water level is pretty low in midsummer so it didn’t stop some folks. Nice to chat with people about the tower while we worked. Most were tourists but one guy had lived in nearby Newcomb all his life and only now made the hike to see the tower. They were all enthusiastic about seeing it rehabilitated. One couple arrived with their Jack Russell terrier and tied him up to a tree while they went up high to see the view. He was not about to be left on the ground though and skillfully broke loose from his tether. As I worked on level 3, I had a small wet nose poke me in the thigh to get past as he wanted to climb the tower to be with his “pack”. Without safety fencing on the staircase (yet) I thought it best if he stay low so I grabbed him in his tracks and soon enough his “Dad” came scurrying down to babysit him on terra firma.
Day dreaming comes a little too easily from this jobsite
By the end of day I had finished replacement of all the stair treads but for a couple that were a little too long and needed to be trimmed to fit (next time perhaps). The existing windows were all painted, a few blown down trees were cleared off the tower and a few measurements were taken for some of the next projects on the list. A good day and the hike down was a cake walk (on dry rock) compared to the flowing stream that I had to deal with back in June. At the cars, Jack made the (excellent) suggestion we grab a burger in Newcomb. So after cleaning up a bit we made the short drive back to the (one and only) bar in town and had a decent burger to close out the day. Far better than the bowl of pasta I had planned for the evening. Got myself a campsite at the state campground at Lake Eton for the night. On signing in I was given a form with “Rules” to keep bears out of my campsite. Interestly the “rules” started at rule #6. What were rules 1 to 5?!? Surely rules 1 to 5 would be important and worth sharing. What if rule #1 was “DON'T CAMP HERE! You WILL be eaten by bears”! Bad for business I suppose and I could understand why they might not like to share that bit of advise. Went to sleep confident I would be eaten by bears… but survived the night. Close call…
Maybe bears don't like fires? Maybe they do(rule#3)! Who know's?!

The view across Raquette lake from West mountain
Sunday I decided to visit a fire tower peak where the tower had been removed some years ago. West Peak sits On Raquette lake on the…. (are you ready?) west shore. It has a 4 mile approach hike that is relatively flat and then 1000 foot climb in the last mile to get to the summit. The day was gorgeous with a warm sun shining. The deer flies were a little annoying but I chose to trail run the flat stretch so I covered the ground pretty quickly. Again, the climb was quick as the rocks were dry and the view from the top was pretty good. Interesting to visit the summit and see some of the remains of the tower still intact more than 30 years after the structure was removed. Nice meadow for the care takers cabin just below the summit and a good view even without a tower. A little hot and hazy but it's summertime so you can’t have everything. Stopped by the shores of Raquette lake on the way back. Looked quite inviting for a quick swim but with 2 more miles to go back to the car I opted against and made the short run before cooling off. Another nice couple of days in the peaks.
Raquette Lake on a warm day