adirondacks!

by paul, on 09.05.2007

we just got back from a mostly awesome weekend of camping, hiking and whitewater rafting in the adirondacks. I say mostly awesome because we got off to a pretty rough start rafting, the put-in was right at the beginning of a long rapid and sarah and I both got thrown out of the boat pretty quickly. the rapid was about a quarter mile long and I was in the water, but was hanging on to the kayak in front of me. this was somewhat unfortunate because I couldn't see anything in front of me, which is a big problem since rapids are rapids because of a lot of large rocks. I took some pretty good hits on my legs and smashed my back against a rock, I now have a large bruise to show for it. the rest of the day was fun once we got some practice in calmer waters.

the rest of the time was spent hiking, cooking good food and drinking beer by the fire. it was cold enough to enjoy the fire and see our breath but not freezing. the stars were some of the best I have ever seen on the east coast, weather was just perfect the entire time. cool in the shade, warm in the sun. the picture is from a hike we did up crane mountain. it was a very good hike, about 1.4 miles straight up and then 3 or 4 miles the long way down. we went with our friends nick and beth and everyone had a great time, really a perfect end to summer.