Golf yesterday, hiking today

Yesterday was nearly 80 degrees here, and I couldn't resist the urge to get out and hit a bucket o' balls at the local driving range. I should have stayed home. Lots of work will be needed before I even consider struggling around a golf course anywhere. So, I next headed to Schenectady's Central Park and its disc golf course. I'd played a round here once before, back in January before we had any snow, and yesterday was a good day to try it again. I guess I can blame the wind, but I did worse than the first time. Both of the day's experiences were so forgettable I even forgot to blog about them.

Today was cooler, but still sunny and nice. Holly and I headed to the Adirondacks for some more early spring hiking near Lake George. Sleeping Beauty Mountain is about a 6.4 mile round trip hike from the Hogtown Trailhead. When the road to Dacy Clearing is open and driveable, that distance can be halved, but that was not the case today. There was still occasional snow and ice on the road, and some really deep snow at higher elevations in shaded areas, much of it with meltwater running underneath it. We saw some curious footprints that looked like somebody was hiking barefoot, but then we met the hiker, wearing these shoes.


He admitted that, though the shoes were comfortable, they were not either warm or waterproof, and he and his group of other lightly clad and shod hikers were turning around because of the deep snow they found higher up the mountain.

It was pretty sloppy going at times, but we finally made it to the summit, where the views were spectacular.

View southeast


Lake George


Some of the summit rocks


Gore Mountain Ski Area across Lake George


It was very pleasant on the summit, and we lingered in the warm sun after finishing lunch. Then it was time to start down, where the snow was continuing to melt as spring still struggles to arrive.