My 46er Journey - Part 6 - Lower WolfJaw Mountain

Dan atop Roostercomb Mountain

2017 was such a great year, I learned and accomplished so much, and came so far from that trip to Boston for New Years.  I was learning to love myself, and learning to love those around me.  It had taken over 2 years of hard emotional, mental, and spiritual work to get to this point and it was beginning to pay off.  A few weeks after our return from New York we were back in the car and heading to the great white north again.

This time we had a traveling partner.  I had just started seeing this wonderful girl and had asked her to tag along with us, to which she agreed.  Little did I know in just a few short months she would become one of the greatest mountains I was to climb to date.  You see, she kind of snuck right on in during this journey, I was so focused on trying to right myself and accomplish some goals, I didn't even see it coming.

The trip north this time was an interesting one.  It was cold and rainy when we left Virginia.  The forecast was calling for snow so we got an early start expecting a longer than usual trip.  I drove the first few hours till the weather started changing at which point I asked Dan to drive.  The miles progressed, and so did the hours.  I fell asleep only to wake up many hours from our destination and the sun rising.  We were in an all our winter storm.  My confidence in Dan's driving was high, until it was time to merge back on to the interstate.  There was a truck barreling down and we needed all the momentum we could muster to get up the hill and on to clean pavement, slowing down to merge we finally came to that dreaded stop, in 8 inches of fresh unplowed snow.  And stop we did.  After what seemed an eternity, Dan got us going and on to the highway.  Around 10am we finally rolled in to Queensbury to check in to our hotel.  They graciously let us check in early and we headed in to town for food.

Laura and I in Keene, NY

This trip was quite different from any of the others.  I don't know if it was having a gorgeous girl on my arm, or the lobster bisque at the small town shop we stumbled upon, but I was feeling pretty good.  We explored the town and headed back to the hotel, we had a long day ahead of us tomorrow as we were set to begin our assault on the Great Range, an approximately 12 mile long stretch of 7 peaks over 4,000 feet.  Often regarded as one of the toughest traverses in the lower 48, we were heading to make our mark and begin our attempt to complete it, not in one shot though.  We knew it was going to be tough, but we were up for the challenge.

The next morning we woke and headed toward the trailhead, after gearing up and being seen off by my beautiful new friend, Dan and I hit the trail.  It was an average winter day in the Adirondacks, about 10° at the trailhead, with sub-zero temps expected at elevation.  We felt good, strong, and motivated.  The trail was unbroked with the exception of a path left by one curious and generous little rabbit.  We made our way up and up and up.  This was one of our easiest climbs yet up here and we felt great, we finally summitted Lower Wolfjaw Mountain.  We decided to leave Upper Wolfjaw for another time and take a different route back in to Keene.  This route would lead us to Roostercomb Mountain.  We weren't terribly excited about this as it wasn't a 46er, but decided to bag it anyways.  We didn't regret this decision.  Roostercomb turned out to be a spectacular little peak with amazing views.  We stood there for about 30 minutes taking photos and just reveling in how far we had come.

We headed back down and towards the Noonmark Diner.  Dan was able to get a call out from the summit of Wolfjaw to tell Laura to meet us there at a certain time.  We wandered in, shed some layers, and ordered about 20 cups of coffee a piece.  We talked about the day, asked Laura how her trip to Lake Placid was, and relaxed from the day.

The drive home was just as long as the drive up, but mostly from exhaustion and not weather.  I spent a lot of time during this trip wondering about what was happening with this beautiful new lady in my life.  It was a confusing time for myself, I also knew I had some personal things going on within myself and back at home that I feared would push her away.  I had no clue what it was, but whatever it was felt good, and I wanted to hold on to it as long as possible.  We didn't talk much on the ride home, but once home life was beginning to change, and for once, I was ok with change.