M O U N T   M A R C Y

Adirondack State Park
Upstate New York

After more upward slogging and a little directional assistance I crossed over Marcy Brook once again.

And then I get a spanking. I have 2.9 miles to go? I can't believe it. I thought I was making better progress than this.

But the trail flattens out so I increase my pace. I'm running against the clock.

It's time for another time check. Hmmmm, lets see. Since Marcy Dam I've hiked 1.5 hours and have traversed 2.2 miles. So I am well under 2 mph unlike the first 2.5 miles of the hike where I clocked 2.3 mph. The hiking is going to only get harder from here on out but I'm planing on ratcheted-up my pace a few notches so I estimate I'll reach the summit in less than 2 hours. If I loiter for 30 minutes at the top, that will put me at between 4:30 or 5pm when I start my backtrack down the mountain. And going down will be easier than going up so another 3 hours or so of hiking after that will put me back at the van.

Final conclusion? I'm going to be hiking in the dark if I complete the entire hike. But, I not worried, I have a flashlight in my pack so all is well. On long hikes it's always wise to be time-conscious and to make periodic ETA estimates of your hiking milestones. Doing so will prevent any and all surprises related to timing.

So with all my calculations completed and fully analyzed, I continue on with my upward trek.