Mike Candela

Finding Our Place

Finding Our Place

As we continued our hike we crossed that stream many times. We walked on into the early evening, waiting to see a sign pointing us to a lean-to where we would stay that night. A lean-to is a three sided structure with a roof, a small log cabin 12 feet across and 8 feet deep. The floor is three feet off the ground and the roof has a peak with enough cover in front to keep the rain out. I can stand up at the high point of the roof and they all have quite a bit of graffiti carved into them. The rules state that you must share a lean-to and that the maximum occupancy is 8. You walk up to one, sit on the edge, take off your pack and let out a big sigh. They are definitely a welcome sight.

During our planning we had a choice of two for the first night, one at 2 miles and one at 2.6 miles. We decided we would determine which one once we reached the first lean-to. I like to explore the different campsites as we pass them, both for future reference and to know if anyone is already camped there. Most of the time they are slightly off the main trail so you need to look for them. You never know what kind of shape a lean-to is going to be in. Some lean-tos are in terrible shape and very old, some are new and beautiful. Most have an outhouse somewhere close by and they are all near a stream or other freshwater source.

We saw the sign for the first lean-to, found the trail to it and approached it from the rear. We couldn't tell if anyone was there but as we got closer we heard the scurrying of other people. We came around to the front of the lean-to and saw a girl. The girl was beautiful and looked at home in the woods. Even though we had only been on the trail for about 90 minutes, she was a nice sight to see.

"Howdy!" I said, taking notice the young woman. A guy jumped out of the lean-to and put himself between us and the girl. He surprised us. "Are you guys staying in the lean-to?" I asked.

"We're staying in tents over there" he said in an uncertain manner as he pointed toward the woods. We couldn't see where the tents were setup. The guy walked toward us and started to make some small talk. He had a scruffy little beard and an earring in his left ear. The girl gave us a friendly and confident smile. "That hike in wasn't too bad. What did you think?" he asked looking for a little feedback.

Joe and I glanced at each other and shrugged our shoulders. We didn't really even consider it a hike yet, more like a prologue to this point. It was kind of odd that they wouldn't be staying in the lean-to. The lean-to is the top choice in the woods, dry and off the ground in all situations.

"Yeah, so far it's been pretty easy" Joe said. Our attention focused on the young woman.

Two other guys emerged from the woods. It was a slightly tense moment; they came from two different directions and surrounded us. They were walking tall with an intimidating posture. Joe and I sized them up and figured them to be in their late teens or twenties. Nothing to worry about even though they were trying to look tough. A bunch of college friends out in the woods for a few days. The first guy and girl were probably a couple. The guys were keeping an eye on us, all of them subconsciously being protective of the girl. She picked up on it too. She wasn't afraid to look us in the eye. I thought to myself that this girl is out here with a bunch of boys… wonder if she’d like to hang out with some men?

The whole situation was an interesting one. You could sense how everyone reverted back to more basic instincts. All the guys immediately came out of the woods when we arrived. We all took notice of each other. Through  their body langrage and gesturing  the guys made it known that the woman was with them and that the lean-to was open but that they really didn't want us to stay there.  Joe and I checked out the girl and she looked back with a smile. Whether the rest of the guys realized it or not she was the one in control of the group.

After the brief discussion Joe and I bid them farewell. We didn’t feel very welcome and wanted to get further down the trail. It became apparent that we would not be staying at that lean-to.

There's always a moment of the unknown when you come upon other people deep in the woods. The thought of what if would’ve been like 250 years ago always crosses my mind. Would this be a group of Indians bedding down for the night? Some hunters on their way for beaver pelts or some early explorers trying to find their way through? What an adrenaline rush that must've been.

We walked on and soon found the next lean-to. It was in better shape and none was there. We unpacked our gear, had a little dinner and went to bed.

The First Steps

We could've used a tarp, campshoes and dry socks.  Joe said he needs more than two pairs of socks next time and some fleece gloves.  He was also coveting my gaitors.  Joe did manage to bring a fleece skull cap, and to my surprise he wore it for the last 2 days.  I wish I had brought one.  Even though it was July my trusty wool gloves and a long sleeve fleece would've been some great creature comforts too.  The long johns top that I brought along wasn't enough.  This was a cold one.  The first 2 days, cool and pleasant, the last 3 cold and wet.  When compiling the gear for this trip we tried to go as light as possible, our itinerary called for about 40 miles of hiking if everyting was a straight line and flat.  When you factor in the up and down through the mountain terrain I'm sure we walked farther than that.

Funny thing about these trips, they've become annual now.  I never thought I'd be in the backwoods camping with my cousin Joe, we grew up together, he's about as close as I have to a brother but we didn't really get along very well then.  We had different friends and different interests and for the longest time didn't really keep in touch with each other.  A few years back we were at a reunion and I was telling him about one of these adventures I had done with some other friends and he was really interested.  I told him we could go on a trip sometime if he wanted but I never thought he'd take me up on it.  He did though, and I'm glad he did.

The first trip we did was a tough one for Joe, I tried to explain backpacking long distance, the appropriate gear and how to pack light.  He heard me but didn't understand.  We met at our final destination of the hike, left a car, threw all the gear into the other one and drove down to our starting point.  We were doing a section of the Northville - Placid trail, a point to point hike covering 24 miles.  When we got to the starting trailhead we got out of our car and started getting ready to go.  There was a group of college kids doing an outward bound trip and they gave us a funny look.  Joe didn't have the right stuff.  The wrong pack, a huge sleeping bag, and alot of extra things that he learned later he would never use or bring on another backpacking trip.  We got rained on that trip and Joe got some brutal blisters the second day in, but he toughed it out and we went the next year, and the next and the next and met again this year at another Adirondak trailhead. These days he's got all the right gear, and even the better gear.  I nice change of state in my mind.

The staging for this trip happenned at my parents house.  Usually it happens at my house and my wife just laughs at us for a day or so.  Most of our friends and family think we're nuts, but we love getting out there.  Alot of time is spent planning and preparing for these outings, my mom was amazed when I broke out a digital scale that measures a maximum of 110 pounds to the hundredth of an ounce.  We had been reading books about ultralight backpacking and knew what everything weighed.  According to the books everything needed to earn it's place in our pack and the gear that we would be sharing was to be split equally so that we were both bearing our part of the load.  My mom couldn't believe the precision with which we were weighing our gear and thought that the mini camp stove and water filter was cute.  I was too busy and excited to really explain things to her but as our other relatives paraded through and checked us out we appreciated the attention.

This trip was different than the others, it was a return trip.  We had covered alot of this ground last year but missed a few peaks that we wanted to summit.  We also had four of these long range trips under our belts now and knew the routine.  We were to set off around 2:00 to get us to the trail head around 6.  Start out with a short 2.5 mile hike into a leanto just before dark to get a feel for our packs and how much they weighed.  This was more of an introspective trip.  We both needed to clear our heads of our daily lives and get back to the basics.  I really love being deep in the woods far enough away from civilization that if there are any real issues you could be in real trouble.  It puts you closer to the edge and the things you usually take for granted become important.  The petty stuggles of our typical day to day lives fall by the wayside.  One of my favorite parts of each trip is when you've donned your pack and started walking.  You get about a quarter mile from the car and have a little personal reflection.  At that point of the trip you've gone far enough from the parking lot that you're not going back and you come to the realization that your preparation is complete.  If you planned properly you have everything you need, if not you'll need to improvise, but you're in the woods now and there's no going back.  It's usually a big relief to me.  No more packing lists, no more tweaking of the itinerary, just time to walk.  Most trails start out pretty easy.  They are usually a flat dirt road leading into the woods.  As you get deeper and deeper they get more difficult and before you know it your only thought is "where do I put my left foot, where do I put my right foot."  In the mountains you must pay attention to every step, a broken ankle or bad fall can get pretty serious petty fast.  This left foot - right foot thing quickly turns into a meditation and before I know it the world that I usually live in is left behind and my mind goes somewhere else.  Many times while hiking one of us will start talking and it takes a moment to respond.  Like when the alarm goes off in the morning.  You're sleeping, and you hear the alarm, but you're not sure if it's part of a dream, or actually the alarm.  Eventually you realize it's the alarm, shake off the sleep and take action.  When we're walking and one of us starts talking the reaction is usually delayed in the same way.  You hear the voice but it takes a little time to register.  Where do I put my left foot, where to I put my right foot.  It continues.  Each step carefully executed.  We cross a mountain stream by going rock to rock.  I stop for a moment and give thanks to the stream and it's water for from this time on water is vital.  You actually have to think about and plan when you're going to need water and how you're going to get it.  We started out with water and had water at that moment but I knew that in the very near future we would be using our water filter to get water from that stream to drink.  I said out loud "thank you stream for your water and the strength that it will give us."  Joe nodded, he understood.  Soon enough by drinking that water we would become part of those mountains.  The water from the mountains would be flowing in our blood.  The mountains were taking us in.