Never seem to get my head around the month of May these days. The snow is gone, the cycling starts… and suddenly it’s June and summer has arrived. Well, summer doesn’t really arrive for another couple of weeks but it has certainly felt like summer for the last couple of days. Regardless, May seems to drift by in a flurry of activity. Not least of which is the prep for Race weekend each year which gets more involved as the number of participants grows from year to year. That 48,000 participants descend on the city for a spring time run boggles my mind. Actually seeing that many people thundering through the streets en mass is quite a sight. For my part I usually don’t get to see much of the actual races. There is too much going on, adjustments to be made, repositioning of police, finding missing volunteers and then hurriedly cleaning up behind the crowd so we can reopen the streets with minimal disruption… and then the team collapses in a local tavern for the post race drink and sharing of the war stories.
Often my view of the "race" - crowds a plenty cheering the runners onwards
In spite of the chaos of Race weekend, I did manage to get one trip down to the hills in May. The fire tower on Adams is more or less complete but the group will manage some annual maintenance of both the tower and the trail over the next few years (probably longer). The “official” trail sweep day was scheduled for Race weekend so I obviously couldn’t make it but I talked with Jack and offered to do a pre hike inspection. That would allow me to spot all the big downed trees (if any) and determine what was needed on the tower in terms of repairs after another winter. I went down on a really nice day on the long weekend and enjoyed the climb to the top. Did a bit of trail clearing of the small stuff on my way up and found a few bigger items for the “crew” to handle. The tower itself was in pretty good shape with just some need to tie back some of the staircase fencing and maybe a bit of paint on the cab. Probably typical stuff after a hard winter. With my "report" sent off, the trail crew had a good day the next weekend and all tasks were accomplished.
No matter how many times I climb the tower, the view never gets old
The bridge we built last summer seems to have survived the winter
After Race weekend I went down to the Adirondacks again for an early season hike up a “big” peak. I opted for Big Slide as it has some exceptional views and the trail is good fun with a variety of conditions along its length. I made an early start as the day started quite cool (about 7°C) but climbed quickly to almost 30°C (!) by the time I got back to the car. Springtime in the mountains I guess. The parking lot attendant joked with me that at least I got a cool morning start - in July it starts at 30°C - and stays there! The hike itself was a good slog. Always amazes me how much more difficult summer hiking is compared to the winter. Winter trails are (mostly) smooth treadways but in the summer all these rocks and roots appear and must be clambered over. Tough work but worth the effort - and at least the summer pack is significantly lighter.
The rocky treadway of summer
I was also hampered slightly by blackflies on the trip up. They were plentiful but uncoordinated… so the only real annoyance was the risk of swallowing them as I sucked wind on the steep climbs. They haven’t figured out “biting” yet but I’m sure that skill will come quickly so the peaks may not be too fun for the next little while.
Nice to be back in the hills
So May comes and goes and summer (at least in terms of temperature) has arrived. I’ll probably stay close to home for a little while to let the bugs back off from their early summer ferocity… but soon enough it will be time to ramble through the peaks again.
All that remains of the winter snows
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