This was an extension of my normal jaunt to Rooster Comb, I added a jaunt over to Hedge Hog. The trail is easy to moderate terrain. Starting from Keene Valley you hike over a wooden bridge from the parking area to the trailhead register. You'll pass a small pond on the right behind the Keene Central School. As you veer away from the pond the trail climbs steadily to a junction with one of the routes to Snow Mountain Trail at around 0.7 mi. Stay right and continue a steady climb to another junction at around 2.0 mi. (Straight ahead leads to Hedgehog and Lower Wolf Jaw. Left is an alternate return, which also connects to Snow Mt.), to the right goes to Rooster Comb.
Turning right, the trail climbs to the crest of the ridge and a junction...
Ingredients
~ 3 chicken breast halves
~1 teaspoon oil of your liking
~3 cups green cabbage, shredded
~1/2 cup diced red bell peppers
~ 1 tablespoon cornstarch
~1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
~1 teaspoon garlic powder
~1/2 cup water
~Soy sauce to taste
Directions
1. Cut chicken breasts into strips.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan.
3. Add chicken strips and stir fry over medium-high heat, turning constantly until done.
4. Add cabbage and red peppers and saute for 2 minutes until cabbage is crisp-tender.
5. Mix cornstarch and seasonings; add water and soy sauce, and mix until smooth.
6. Stir sauce into chicken/cabbage mixture.
7. Cook until sauce has thickened and chicken is coated for about 1 minute.
8. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours. If...
We originally wanted to get Marcy, Skylight, and Gray but ran out of daylight and time for Gray. We started at 7:20 am and finished at 7:50 pm. Seen only 5 other people the whole day. We logged 14.6 miles round trip, 4,919 feet of elevation gain. I now have 10 remaining peaks, and Derek has 11. A great way to spend a Saturday. Derek said I did pretty good for being near 50. :)
Derek had signed us in around 7:15 am. It was an overcast day, which we knew from the previous day's forecast which meant we expected little to no views from the summit. The temps for the day were supposed to be in the 40's, it was a good temperature to be hiking in.
The trip from the garden parking lot is, or has become a monotonous march into Johns Brook Lodge, roughly 3 miles of gradual elevation gain over rolling terrain. We arrived at the rangers interior outpost around 9:20. We signed in and then took a left over the footbridge, taking us up what I assume at that point becomes the Ore Bed trail, left from there is the old Southside trail, presently closed.
The Ore Bed trail from this point up to the 5-way intersection is pure...
The following is a pretty accurate description of today's hike. The dogs loved it, me too! The last time I had hiked this mountain was over 20 years ago with Larry Douglas, Bob Conway, my father, and me. We had hiked up and spent the night in the early '80s. Larry and I are the only ones still alive. I enjoyed reflecting on that trip today as I meandered up to the summit.
We left the parking area at 9:16 AM and followed the new trail. We were the first on the summit for the day at 11:17, for a short period of time as a young couple from Ottawa arrived minutes behind me. When we started out for the summit it was blue skies, socked in when we arrived, with limited to no views. We stayed on the summit for a few minutes before heading back...