(Today’s post was contributed by our very own e pal. Have an adventure the world needs to see? Come find Mike during a meeting or email him your trip!)
It started off with a bang. or, like, a little whistle. maybe more of a slow constant scream?
emshann, my wonderful, hard-working, baking partner (the best hand mixer I’ve ever met!),
planned an amazing trip, split equally between type I and type II fun, service-filled, friend-full, lovely.
although certain ~details~ didn’t quite turn out (show up?) the way they were planned, the five of
us—emshann, Claire, Vera, Elliott with two t’s and two l’s and two r’s, and me—had such a grand time!
this was one of the first suoc trips I’ve ever been on that’s left exactly on time (shoutout to
emshann & Vera!). we had a lovely drive into Adirondack Park, listening to emshann’s ADK playlist, with
a mandatory stop at Stewart’s, and a pee break on the side of the road, surrounded by just-past-peak
fall foliage.
we arrived at the Adirondack Loj around the time the sun began setting; we were treated to a
glimpse of Heart Lake, and given the chance to set up a tent before the darkness settled in. Elliott and
Claire arrived soon after we did, and we made a group dinner of radiator-o’s (reminiscent of childhood
spaghettio’s; the glass lid to the pot was left at home, and so, we happily resigned ourselves to a liquidy
tomato pasta soup!). since Elliott had expressed that we were taking away his birthday weekend,
emshann thought to bake him a cake. she and I bake a classic chocolate cake with vanilla frosting, ran
into a road block with the question of “how to transport”, said “fudge it!”, shoved it into a plastic Ziploc,
and called it a day. when we asked if Elliott was ready for his birthday surprise, he hesistated (for fear of
an ice??), but I think everyone was wholesomely surprised when we emerged from the car (and
darkness, as we had requested everyone switch off their headlamps) with a slightly squished, top-
frosted-only cake, with emshann’s small pink camo lighter acting as a candle.
after the pot of pasta was finished (and emshann forced Elliott to take some for lunch for the
next day—spoiler, it leaked), four of us settled into a slightly-sardined tent situation—squished, but not
shivering!
we had a nice start the next day; layers and packs were organized the night before, so when
everyone’s little teethies were brushed and little toesies were in boots, we headed to the information
center for a breakfast feast provided by the AMC! Bagels (and toasters!), pb & j, cream cheese, yoghurt,
oats, cereal, granola bars, apples, coffee, hot chocolate! pb cookies! what a treat!
emshann signed our group in, handed over our waivers, and we were sent over to meet our
crew leader Anna (Ah-na). Harris Eisenhardt and Collin Borzell joined our group and we all grabbed hazel
hoes and began our hike in!
Anna led us from the loj trailhead to Marcy Dam as emshann and I recounted a terrifying
encounter from the month prior: The Juiicy Bear of Marcy Dam. we stopped for a quick group picture on
the bridge spanning the dam and began our trail work shortly after the dam crossing. as we made our
way through avalanche pass, Anna instructed us on how to utilize our hazel hoes to clear the drainage
ditches along the trail.
our trail work ended around the base of Colden, just short of the “adult playground” Anna
almost plummeted off last summer (right before the DEC rebuilt the ladders and bridges!), and we sat
by the water for our lunch. Elliott discovered the joys of tortillas spread with pb and the gifts of raining gorp from above, and Harris introduced us all to the newly released fruit & greens lara bars, complete
with the taste of fruit & greens, and texture of leather. leftover frosting from birth boy’s cake was
packed & shared, celebrating with spoonfuls at every stop along the way.
from avalanche lake, we made the short 3-4 mile hike back to the loj, dropped packs, and
headed to lake placid for dinner. we took a little loop around the main street, and while Colin and Harris
dined on frozen treats, Vera and Claire opted for a warmer option: hot chocolate with homemade
marshmallows. once the line at wyatt’s died down, we replenished it. the seven of us all dined on
delicious veggie burritos and quickly fell into tired, full boi comatoses.
back at the campground at the loj, we joined the boob marshall club for a little campfire &
catching up with some returners and introductions to first years. many marshmallows were lost to the
fire, and by the time someone dropped the fourth, my eyelids had drooped closed, and I called it a night.
although we planned to make cheesy trash bagels (courtesy of my dumpster dive behind
bruegger’s earlier in the week) and tea by heart lake (how wholesome!), the wind and hail on our tent in
the morning deterred us heavily. we found ourselves crowded around a table we didn’t deserve to
inhabit inside the loj, warm and still sleeping, munching on surprise (flavour) bagels, attempting to
spread nearly frozen butter on every bite. emshann stopped this nonsense by warming the sticks in the
armpit of her puffy and saving the entire endeavor.
emshann and I headed back, listening to her scary car ride playlist (look her up on spotify,
people. some quality tunes compiling going on over here), and Vera headed back to Syracuse with Claire
and Elliott. a surprise meet up at a stewart’s in Harrisville was exciting to say the least! ice cream was
bought! Elliott put ice cream in his coffee! people emptied their bladders!
then everyone made it back to Syracuse safely, soundly, and everyone gave their drivers gas
money.
e