Big Indian Mountain - 3700 ft.

(This post was re-edited on 10-14-10 with new material)

Today was the first day in about three weeks that my legs were still pretty shaky in the morning. Yesterday's climb took a lot out of me and totally did in Sarge. I can't blame him because I would have laid on my bed most of the day too if I could... I didn't, I got up and went on to Big Indian.

In order to reach this peak, I would have to re-cover some ground that I had already gained twice in the past. I started at the Seager Trail head which had also been the take-off point for Eagle and Double Top. The only good part is that the water has had more of a chance to recede making stream crossings easier and in some cases actually possible. The first two miles are flat until you get to the Shandaken Creek lean-to shown above. At that point, you cut back east and start a one mile steep and rocky climb to the col. Still a little irritable and tired from yesterday's "ass-kicker", I had a lot of time to dwell on the fact that this mountain could have been done and out of the way on two occasions already. When I climbed Eagle on October 2nd, I had made the very same steep ascent that I was cursing my way up right now. This trail makes 85% of the elevation gain you need for both mountains. When you reach the intersection of the blue blazed Pine Hill trail at the col, a left turn will take you a mile to the top of Eagle and a right turn goes a mile and a half to Big Indian making it very possible to back track and hit both in the same day. (This would added another three miles round trip, but would have "killed two birds with one stone") Having planned most of these climbs out over a month ago, I chose to just get Eagle since Big Indian was supposed to be included in an upcoming two summit group hike. (If you read my October 9th post about that hike, you know that we never made it on to Big Indian after wandering around aimlessly on the summit of Double Top for more than 30 minutes and a general lack of group majority interest) So... with one missed opportunity on my own and one cancellation with a group, I find myself losing another precious day finishing a peak that should have already been done when I had climbed 8/10 of the way up it the first time. To make matters worse, over the last couple of days, more than three weeks into this and with 31 mountains behind me, my patience is starting to wear thin and I have started making some things more difficult for myself than they need to be. Big Indian is technically a bushwhack, but considered one of the easier ones because a marked trail passes very close to the summit leaving just a short 2oo yard trek through the woods. Over the years, the vast number of hikers who have gone to the summit have left behind a well used herd path leading right to the canister, or at least that's what I had read while planning this. When I hadn't come across it by the time I thought that I should have and the trail seemed to be starting down the other side, I second guessed myself, pulled out the GPS and broke left off the trail into the thick underbrush towards the summit. It ended up taking me about 45 minutes to go 200 yards and locate the canister myself when a little more patience would have taken down the original trail a short distance further where the obvious rock cairn would have pointed the way to the obvious path that led right in.

I took the usual summit picture, but this time did so with a smile on my face, because I had used the solitude of the climb to come to a good decision. A variety of factors had me pushing myself harder than intended lately. I had originally planned in four rest days (one each week) to give my body a chance to recover. Those would have been more than made up by the number of multiple summit days that I would be doing. (Seven multiples completed, an eighth had to be broken into two consecutive days due to rain and a ninth was lost to poor planning) The weather proved to be an uncontrollable and relentless factor to deal with. Four days where lost to torrential rain and flooding. I had already taken one of the rest days prior to the storms and took another one afterwards to help with Fall chores at my mother's house, giving me six total days completely off the trail.

Another factor that was pressing me for time was the calendar. Although I named this blog "35 Mountains in 30 Days", in reality I only had 28 days since the cabin was only leased for four calendar weeks. It was Monday, and although theoretically it was possible to finish three more in two days, I came to the realization on the mountain that afternoon that I had recently started doing this for the wrong reason. For the first three weeks, each day was an adventure and I looked forward to getting on the trail every morning. For the last several days, I'd become a machine, adding in extra miles and summits to make up lost ground and powering through climbs just to get them done and out of the way. It was starting to take a toll on my legs and my common sense and that is when you tend to make mistakes that you can pay dearly for above the cloud line.

I've decided that when I complete this challenge, I want it to be a celebration on top of that 35th mountain. Not... "I'm so glad that this shit is over!" With what have been described to me as the two most difficult and remote peaks left to go, I think that it is time to call a time out and pack up and head back home to civilization and refresh for about a month. One of the nice things about retirement is that I don't have to check my schedule in order find time to come back. I'm guessing that my calendar is pretty clear.

To be continued...