Anything Caney Can Do, I Can Do Better...

...so Colvin told me after our trip to New Hampshire. I reminded him that he had only hiked in the snow and that Caney was probably the best rock climbing canine I'd ever seen.

Two weekends ago was Colvin's first entirely dirt/rock hike up little Buck Mountain on Lake George. The 6 mile hike was technically about as easy as hikes get, with at most some rooted wet trail, but mostly soft dirt and duff. I've actually lobbied to have it renamed Cinderella Mountain since it's directly across Shelving Brook from Sleeping Beauty Mountain. Regardless, other than sore paws from the previous weekend on the granular snow, followed by a 10 mile walk week, and then 4 miles of roller blading on Sunday, Colvin did just fine.

This past weekend we did a creek bushwhack along Stony Creek and Tenant Falls on Saturday, and Sunday we went to Crane Mountain.

Crane Mountain is a favorite mountain of mine. It's not far from home via the pleasant to drive winding backroads, it's a fairly short circuitous route with multiple options, and an easy bushwhack up a second summit (also with excellent views). And of course it's mildly technical in a few isolated sections, while much of the middle section of trail is a fairly rugged vertical streambed boulder hop. The summit of Crane has some of the best views in all of the Adirondacks, and the
mountain is covered in steep vertical cliffs that yield rock and ice climbing routes of all difficulties. Crane Mountain Pond is also one of the highest altitude bodies of water of substantial size within the Adirondacks.



Crane Mountain is easily Colvin's first technical rock hike. There are several very steep sections requiring great care for human hikers with some use of hands. There are also two ladders, the first is about 5 feet high, and the second is about 15-20 feet.

The difference right now between Caney and Colvin as trail dogs is that Caney was very pragmatic about problem solving even at a young age. He was a very good athlete, but just like human climbers, often the best athlete isn't the best climber. Climbing is about problem solving, it's a puzzle with a little gravity thrown in for good measure. Colvin is a superior athlete, but like novice climbers with great athletic skill, he thinks he can power through everything.

On the first very steep technical section, which required using our human hands, Colvin attempted to just jump up and into the overhanging sloped boulders. The result was not so good! He lost his footing and fell several feet, luckily he didn't hurt himself. I lowered the rope to Aimee, she clipped him in, and I hauled him up.

I was certainly hoping for him to flash that first technical section, but it's very easy for me to forget that Caney wasn't necessarily a natural climber, he did take a while to get the confidence to climb challenging terrain better than many humans. Colvin already displays confidence and comfort on the trail, but he definitely lacks the learned skills of technical climbing.

Last Sunday, before we left for Crane, Aim had tweaked her back but was going to give hiking a shot. By the time we'd hiked for a little ways she realized while it was awkard ascending, going down over the rough trail was really going to be agonizing. I wanted to get Colvin as much time out as possible, perhaps even try the first ladder, so Colvin and I hiked up and additional 10 minutes to get past the next 2 hard sections.

Of the two hard sections, the first is a 15 foot fairly steep (near vertical) wall with some lower angled ramping paired with good foot and hand holds, while the second is a 5 foot ladder.

Colvin didn't have any problems on the vertical wall going up or down, but to my surprise, he was surprisingly accepting at giving the ladder a shot. I thought this was odd since he didn't even want to go up the steep loft stairs at Grey Knob. Hopefully this is just a sign of his growing confidence on the trail as he gets more experience.

In any case, he ended up trying to "dyno" the ladder in a few quick bounds, rather than climb it. The result of course was a dog missing the rungs and getting stuck. Thankfully (and unlike Caney) he does tend to listen when he is stressed or excited. I told him to stay, and he relaxed without panicking and throwing himself off the ladder (believe me, if it was Caney he'd never have calmed down). I was able to then give him a boost from above via his Ruff Wear Web Master harness.

The good news of course is he definitely has the desire to climb the ladder, and honestly, Caney was at least a few years old before he willingly climbed his first ladder. It wasn't till he was well aged that he would climb them without prompting. For Colvin to not hesitate is a promising first step. I'm sure as he gets a bit more trail savy, and learns to "climb" up obstacles through problem solving rather than brute force, he will do just fine. When you consider Colvin's progress, it is very impressive considering he has barely hiked 40 mountain trail miles, and only 8 total over only rock/dirt.

I always get a kick when I notice most dog training books consider hiking a non competitive K9 activity, I have to disagree. If you take your dog on challenging trails, it becomes equally competitive as the sport of human rock climbing. Bearing in mind that even if your dog is an agility champion, only you are aware of this achievement. On the flip side, your dog always knows the satisfaction of completing a tough section of trail and continuing on the hike, which then makes the hike itself a continuous reward.

Chasing Sunsets Above Lake George

On my day off for the holiday Monday I decided to change things up. Rather than shoot for a sunset, I'd sleep in and do an afternoon hike of a mountain on Lake Georges eastern shore.

While this area is amazingly close to where I live , really we've only done a handful of hikes in the region over the years. Lots of options on both shores and a short distance beyond including Black Mountain (done in 2001), Buck Mountain, Shelving Rock Mountain, Sleeping Beauty, Cat Head, Crane, and the Tongue Mountain Range (done in 2002). Since I'm headed back to the beautiful Tongue Range in a few weeks I narrowed it down to Sleeping Beauty or Buck Mountain.

photo: Aim and Caney on Black Mountain c. 2003 with Lake George in the background.

Buck Mountain is a 2300ft mountain on the lakes eastern shore, with near 360* views of the surrounding lakes and mountains. Although the 300ft elevation of the trail head gives this hike a respectable 4000ft gain/loss over 6.4 miles, the hike up is downright gentle by northeastern and Adirondack standards. Most of the hike, if not all of it would make for a very fine ski if there is enough snow, and the skiers did not mind the several stream crossings to be navigated. Only the last 200ft or so is very steep (more than a few percent grade with dropoffs).

So I got to the trail head about 2:30pm. After lacing my boots and then deciding with the wind that my little 2.5 tripod would fair no worse than my 9lb tripod, I was off.

I left the snowshoes, there hasn't been much snow, and with the warm spell and rain I was actually expecting more ice. I took my crampons, but never even considered using them.

On the hike up I passed what looks like a nice little rock climb on a detached boulder. I didn't get close, but I snapped a shot of it to remind me to come back. It was a 40ft+ right leaning fist crack that joined up with another fist to off width crack to reach the top of the boulder. There are also a few waterfalls along the trail. In spring I am sure this is a great little hike with kids, or for photographers looking for cascades and wildflowers. I stopped off at 2 of them which in the end probably cost me the sunset from the summit.

The guide book said this approach (the south) was more scenic, and had views, but unless they were specifically talking about winter, I don't see how you could see a thing with the trees in bloom. Not only that, but graded climbs are the pits, I like to feel like I am making progress and switch backs and wide trails make me feel the opposite.

That said, there were great views of the sunset, and it was a beautiful day. The summit is very nice, with great views of the 22 mile Lake George, Vermont, Massachusetts, and the central Adirondacks.

I just got a wind meter to play with, so no more guessing the summit winds after this post, but for this last hike we'll have to go with my guess. I'm thinking 10-15mph with 20+mph gust. Looking at the Glens Falls weather station I probably wasn't far off, and the summits are always windier. In any case, photography at 6*F (-14C) in 20mph gust isn't all that appealing. So I put on my down jacket and worked really fast to get something before I got too cold.

I'd missed the sunset, actually saw it through the trees, and darn it was nice. One thing about sunsets, unlike the sunrise which is anticlimactic, a sunset isn't over till I say it is. And if you are persistent, you can create some really spectacular images that even the naked eye can't see because of the subtleties of the light.

So I took about 20 images (ranging from 1/15s to 1/2s) with my camera on a tripod and a cable release to activate the shutter, while I blocked the wind from hitting the camera. After about 10 minutes we cleared out pretty quick.

I hauled down the descent of the steep rock to get warm, by the time we hit the trees (about 2 minutes) I was toasty warm.

On the hike out the light of the rising full moon was hard to miss. It was casting shadows so strong I was forced to use my headlamp to counteract them. I got to a point where I was thinking about some photo ideas I had which involved a moonlit landscape, a large moon (close to full), and my trusty headlamp. This is all experimental but the results aren't bad for 4 attempts.

The results (20 seconds, f/13, tripod, cable release, headlamp to "paint" light on the tree):

The rest of the hike out was uneventful, other than wishing I had a set of short fat approach skis/snowshoe skis to glide out on.

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