Hiking Cascade and Porter Mountains--Trip Report

The hike was a challenge--It was too much, but I'm happy that I completed it. On Saturday, September 15, 2012, six of us hiked to the top of Porter and then Cascade Mountain. We started hiking at 10:00 A.M. and were back at our cars at 04:00 P.M. We had six in our party: myself, Ed, Hank, Laura, Elizabeth, and Steve S, plus 2 golden retrievers.  The weather was overcast and cool.  It had rained hard the night before, and the trees, and ground were wet, but there was almost no rain when we hiked. Most of the trail was over big rocks, and the few parts that were not were either mud or mud puddles.  Both legs were in pain by the end, but at least now I can say that I climbed two of the high peaks.

Several hours after we started hiking, family friend Timothy W. who lives in Lake Placid came looking for us, and found us somewhere between Porter and Cascade. Timothy is a regular hiker and skier. He went to the top of Cascade with us, and for him, it was like an afternoon stroll in the park.

Until I had started preparing for this hike, I had never worn a backpack before.  I had been worried about wearing a weighted backpack all day, but it turned out, the weight of the backpack was non-issue. The biggest issue was the weight of me.

Going up was a cardiovascular workout. I paced myself to make sure I had enough energy to finish. Coming down was difficult on the leg muscles. I slipped and fell about half a dozen times. I pulled a muscle slightly in my left quadriceps, and on one fall. I seriously bruised my left thigh on a rock.

Far up the main trail, it forks. To the left was the way to Porter and to the right, Cascade.  While descending from Porter, I seriously considered skipping the climb to the peak Cascade, but the climb to the top of Cascade from that point was less than half of the climb to the top of Porter, and my feet just kept going. The walk between Porter and Cascade is along a ridge-line and is more horizontal than vertical.

On the descent from Porter, Ed and I unknowingly took a side trail by accident and arrived at a rock outcropping that had a magnificent view. A few other hikers were there also, taking photos. Luckily, they knew the way back to the main trail because we sure didn't.

At the higher elevation levels, most of the trees along the trail were covered with lichen and more than one kind.  One of the of lichens was usnea (usnea barbata I think), also known as, "old man's beard."  I remembered reading as a kid that American Indians used it for an antibiotics. It only grows under certain specific conditions.

The approach to the peak of Cascade involved climbing on several sheer rock faces.  Just before climbing one of the sheer rock areas, I was in awe as I watched the wind, blow mist over the rock formation, right in front of me. Two or three times, I crawled on all fours. There was only one spot near the summit that was tricky.  Just beneath the summit of Cascade but still on the sheer rock part, there was a plateau with green grasses and lichen growing. A sign asked people to stay away from the area. The sign said that it was an alpine eco-system that they were trying to revive.

The view from the top of Cascade was fantastic, better than advertised, better than photos.  For 360 degrees, all you see are other mountains and wilderness.  I felt slightly phobic at the top--a fear of heights, a fear of falling. Under high winds, a person could easily slip or get blown off the top. It would also be a dangerous place to be in a lightening storm.

On the trail, I noticed that the experienced hikers used hiking poles. Previously, I assumed that hiking poles were something that the hiking shops sold for high profit margins to unwitting city slickers. But apparently, when going down hill, they take some of the load off the thigh muscles and help prevent falls as well. I saw Timothy W. use them to vault the tricky spot on the rock face.

I wore a pair of Colombia hiking sneakers that I bought from Dick's Sporting Goods for $50.00.  They have excellent foot support and traction. After six hours of hiking, even though my legs were in pain, I was amazed that my feet and ankles did not hurt.

In the last hour of the hike, I kept meeting hikers who were on their way up. I warned each one to make sure that they are off the mountain before dark--which happened around 07:00+ P.M. but it is darker in the mountains sooner because of the trees blocking the sun.

Overall, the hike was humbling, an exercise in limits, risk, planning, and learning not to underestimate Mother Nature. Cascade and Porter are the shortest and easiest of the forty-six high peaks to climb.  I now realize that climbing all forty-six peaks will be a much greater challenge than I previously expected. I am not sure if I can do it, but I am looking forward to attempting the next mountain. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak, grossly overweight and out of shape.

Lessons learned:

Wear or bring a hat or something with a hood.  Otherwise, your head will be very cold from sweat.  At the last second, I took a baseball hat from brother Ed's trunk, and it was just enough to keep my head warm. Bring extra clothing. The two cotton shirts that I wore got completely soaked in sweat after about 15 minutes and stayed that way for the rest of the hike. Only the raincoat prevented me from getting serious hypothermia. Under the raincoat, I was soaking wet for 6 hours. Only the fact that I was moving and wearing a backpack kept me warm. Once on the peak and exposed to the wind, I was shivering.

Do not wear cotton next to the skin. It retains water.  Wear wool or synthetics.

Drink water regularly even if you do not feel thirsty. I only drank 2 or 3 three bottles of water, and I believe I was dehydrated by the end.

Bring more food than you think you will need--trail mix, dried fruit, buttered rolls--anything with carbohydrates.  Al I had was a buttered roll that I bought at the last minute from the Stewarts in Brant Lake. Luckily, when were were on the peaks, Ed gave me some of his trail mix. The M&Ms in the trail mix were a nice touch (a tip of the hat to Ed's wife Cindy).

When walking/climbing, develop a habit of putting your whole foot on the ground whenever possible. Make sure you are balanced before shifting your weight and planting the next foot. Do not step with just your toes or heels alone unless you have no other choice.

You can easily get lost even using well-marked trails. Keep your head about you.

Bring a whistle and a flashlight.

Time your hike so that you will be off the mountain well before dark. Give yourself a large margin of error.

Some links about Porter and Cascade Mountains:
Cascade & Porter Mountains (#15 & #16)
Cascade Mountain and Porter Mountain, Adirondack Day Hike
Cascade Mountain, by Dr. Stewart N. Delman, DDS
Cascade Mountain

Stephen M. Bauer

Training II

With our first hike set for September 15, I’ve been in a panic to lose weight and get into shape. The template that I have been using is to get up early and walk for a minimum of 30 minutes.  On most days, I do a few exercises with a kettle bell. I also do dead lifts with an Olympic weight set a few times a week.  I always finish with stretching—I have a bad lower back, and over the years, I’ve identified a number of yoga postures and stretches that work wonders for my back.  Most of all, I love the relaxed state that results.

But on most days I wake up late and am unable to do the whole template. Often I am just too tired or too busy. I have three different routes for walking that are 30, 45, and 80 minutes each. The route that I take depends on my mood and how much time I have. Since the hike idea, whenever I walk, if there is grass available, I walk on grass rather than pavement.  Walking on grass or dirt takes more energy and balance because it is uneven. It also exercises the feet an ankles much more.

As a guy who sits at a desk all day, I am completely out of shape.  I can’t do the kettle bell or dead lift too hard without hurting my joints. After walking and/or the weights, even if I am short on time, I will do at least a yoga down-dog posture--my spine, shoulders, wrists, and ankles need it.  I vary the routine every day for cross training. I intend to get my bike out of the garage and add that to the mix, for additional cross training.

Any of the kettle bell exercises that are done standing up, which is most of them, will help strengthen the legs as well as develop balance. The swing is good for the legs, back, core, and cardio.

The dead lift is the most underrated weight lift. It impacts every muscle in the body.  It’s perfect for developing leg strength for hiking, as well as back and core strength for carrying the back pack.

                                                                                      

The ability to stretch further gives you more effective strength. When hiking, you will be stretching, twisting, and tensing muscles and joints in positions that you otherwise wouldn’t. Walking on pavement, weight lifting, calisthenics, and so on, put the body through a limited few fixed forms. Yoga exercises the body in a far greater variety of positions. Practicing yoga will help reduce fatigue and the risk of injury during hiking as well as minimize muscle and joint soreness afterwards. The yoga breathing exercises will help your cardio vascular system as well. Learn to breathe. It’s a beautiful thing.

Training

I have had some concern about my ability to hike the high peaks. I am 57 and about 75 pounds overweight.  After looking at a photo of the summit of Cascade Mountain in one hiker's blog, I started to worry. I know from experience that I can probably finish, but I'm afraid of ending up in the hospital from exhaustion, or worse.

Let me put this in perspective. The daughter of a family we know recently completed the U.S. Marine Corp's Officer Candidate School at Paris Island. She is in her early twenties and weights 115 pounds. She told me that they got 4 hours sleep each night and had to hike through the swamp in the mud at 2:00 A.M. while wearing an 80 pound backpack. That's more than two-thirds of her body weight. My fully loaded backpack weighs 15 pounds and feels heavy to me. My aging male ego feels ashamed. To at least test myself for the high peaks, I got up extra-early this morning, put the backpack on and walked for an hour and twenty minutes.

As soon as I put the pack on, I felt strain on my shoulders, more so on my left because I have calcific tendonitis in that shoulder. The backpack has straps on the bottom of the pack that are intended to go around the waist like a belt. The intent is to transfer more of the weight of the pack to the hips and away from the shoulders and back. I started off with having the straps loose, but then stopped and adjusted them so that they were about as tight as a tight belt. It made a difference. 

With the backpack, I realized that my overall center of balance shifts much higher and to the rear. I will have to take that into consideration balance-wise when doing a steep incline. I can picture myself unwittingly leaning back just a little and falling backwards down a rock slide.

And at the end of this morning's walk, my shoulders didn't feel much more strain than they did at the beginning. But I am not fooling myself. That walk on level pavement and grass was nothing compared to going straight up a mountain on rugged ground. 

Incidentally, after the walk and a shower, I felt like a million dollars. Funny thing--when I was driving to work afterwards, I kept thinking that no American Indian worth his moccasins would ever bother to climb to the top of one of these mountains! Why would they?  There's nothing to be had up there, no fish, wild game, plant food, or shelter. But at 57, if I don't do this now, I may never be able to. We're doing this for bragging rights.  And I do not want to disgrace myself.

"When I'm in the Adirondacks, I Feel Close to God."

A few weeks ago, my brother Eddie Bauer was returning from fishing in the Adirondacks and sent me a text message, “Have you ever heard of the Adirondack 46ers?”  It rhymed with, “Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers,” and I thought it must be a basketball or hockey team.  After he got home, he called to tell me that the Adirondack Forty-Sixers was a hiking club, and to become a member, you had to hike to the top of each of the 46 Adirondack Mountains that are more than 4,000 feet in elevation. Ed proposed that we try to become members of the club.

I loved the idea instantly.  Ed pitched the idea as an ideal activity for us--a bunch of guys over 50 who sit at a desk all day. It gives us motivation to lose weight and get into better cardiovascular shape. I am 57 and weigh 260 pounds.  I love the wilderness, especially the Adirondacks. Ed didn’t need to sell me on the idea. It may take us as much as 10 years to climb all 46 peaks and that is fine. It will be 10 years of trying to remain in shape well enough to climb. During our conversation twice (or was it three times?), Ed said, “When I’m in the Adirondacks, I feel close to God.”

                                                            

We plan on climbing Cascade and Porter Mountains on September 15, along with a few other interested family members, in-laws, and friends.  In the basement of our house, I went looking in a storage box for one of our son’s old backpacks that they had used for school, and I have packed already, including first aid stuff.

At the moment, this is just a pipe dream. Let’s see if we can make it happen. In the meantime, I am exercising every day and cutting my carbohydrates.  I’m starting to feel closer to God already.