Share Your Hike

I began hiking from Upper Works at 1:15 am, planning on at least Marshall, Cliff, and Redfield for my second round, but I had the whole day off so I would give myself permission to add more if I was feeling up for it. I felt comfortable and reached Marshall by 5. I took an hour nap, but because I dropped my pack I folded up my headlamp’s elastic band and used it as a “pillow”, which worked surprisingly well. After this I took probably the less desirable trail because it was overgrown and passed by a lean to, but soon after made it to the Cliff and Redfield intersection, where I dropped my pack and got both. Cliff was easy and better than the last time when I cut my arm falling down the scramble! Redfield felt like it went on too long; it was also getting hot and sunny. At this point I decided to add at least Gray, and so I enjoyed the fairly gentle trail to Lake Tear of the Clouds. Gray was very quick, and so I decided to “reward” myself for getting 4 peaks for my second round by doing Marcy again. I changed socks at four corners and launched up Marcy where I enjoyed some hospitable wind and a full clear view. By the time I made it down, I elected to add Skylight as well, which added 40 total minutes. I was feeling great the whole time, however, seeing the sign indicating 9.3 miles to the trailhead drained my motivation. It was a long hike out, and I even began to hallucinate random creatures during the final 4 miles. Overall it was a glorious day! By far the most difficult hike I’ve done, but I drank a lot of water and had salty snacks to provide electrolytes, which probably staved off worse effects from the heat. I learned  the valuable lesson for the BMT that I must pack significantly more food; 4 sandwiches is not enough for 19 hours.