Long Traverses: July 10th-July 16th, 2022

With July ramping up, I prepared myself for the remaining two out of three long hard days I had planned: an Agiochook Range traverse and a loop around the Southern Great Range. These would both be long and hard hikes, but would both be very different experiences for reasons you'll read about below. Nevertheless, these contained some of the most rewarding finales of hikes I'd done all year

Agiochook Range Traverse, July 10th

A friend and I got a quintet assembled from our school's hiking club to do a southbound traverse of the Agiochook Range from Valley Way to Crawford Path, hitting all 7 4000fters along the way. We started at 5am and finished around 11pm, with a long drive back to Hanover at the end. It was a great bonding experience, and it will probably go down as one of the best hikes I've ever done, and the only time outside of two Boott Spur trips and one Castle Ridge trail where I was on the this range in the summer, giving me a distinctly different experience of these mountains than most people I know. Anyhow, enjoy :)

Southern Great Range, July 16th

Driving over to the Adirondacks and camping one last time at South Meadows prepared me to do an ambitious trip: Redfield, Cliff, Gray, Skylight, Tahawus, and all the way back to the trailhead in one day, making it the third longest hike I've ever done after the Semi Pemi earlier that summer and the Attakulla Range loop of the following spring. Nevertheless, I got started, and took the trail up the side of Colden to spit me out at the base of Cliff. Both it and Redfield were straightforward, if frustrating given how little prominence Redfield has next to Skylight and having to go all the way down to 3000ft to go back up. But hey, Bushwhacking at 4600ft is not a good time - especially if you empty into alpine vegetation. Anyhow, by the time I got to Skylight and Tahawus, the day was ending and I got some fantastic views up top, which was especially rewarding as the first time I did both of these trips was during a rainshower back in 2020. Anyhow, the way down was delightful, and I had a large meal of turkey alfredo at the end that I ended up puking entirely out because I pushed myself a little too hard to finish the last few bites. Very upsetting, and the experience turned me into a mostly-vegetarian for nearly a year, not wanting to taste meat after tasting it a second time