After a long hiatus I made my return to the peak bagging journey. Last year was full of international travel (Canada, Iceland, Peru, Japan, Nicaragua, Switzerland, France) so I made no high point progress. Don’t give up on me though. I’m back!

I had the opportunity to speak at QConNY in midtown Manhattan. QCon is a technology conference for software architects and engineers. It was a lot of fun sharing about what we’re doing at Chick-fil-A.

The conference was in the Marriot Marquis hotel right in Times Square. My friend from Netflix, Andrew, suggested going out at 3am to see how much more empty it is and to take a picture.

Its much emptier but hardly quiet. The city that never sleeps is an appropriate name.

The next morning (Friday) I headed out to pick up a rental car and drive upstate. I flew into Manhattan (LGA) but was flying home from Burlington, VT. I missed a few turns and wasted some time but enjoyed the drive through the Hudson River Valley.

I made it to Lake Placid and the Adirondack Loj around 2:45pm.

Yes, “Loj” is how they spell it. With all the talk about southerners being redneck or dumb. It turns out we’re all equal after all. 🙂

The trail to Mount Marcy runs from the Loj to the summit over a distance of 14.8 miles round trip. Over that distance you gain (according to my strava) 3,600 feet of elevation.

I had a wonderful, beautiful, but hot day. There were actually heat warnings and the rangers in the parking lot tried to deter me from going. I was racing daylight a little with my 3:15pm start, but I planned to run / hike which would save me a little. Early on you pass the dam and this beauty of a view.

It turns out the trail is VERY rocky. And very muddy. I was able to run the first 2.5 miles, but the next 5 were nearly all hiking. When I say hiking, I really mean rock-hopping and trying to stay out if the mud. It was humid and tough but I trudged along and reached the top I’m about 2.5 hours.

The views at the top are awesome. There are views of mountains as far as you can see all the way around. There were no signs of cities or towns. Since Marcy is in the high peaks wilderness area I guess that makes sense.

I made it back to the car right around when the sun was setting. There were definitely 4-6 people still on the trail that had to hike out after dark. It looks like a lot of campers were headed in too.

I drove back to Lake Placid and to my hotel. There was a brewery and pub next door, so I went there for a quick Shepherd’s Pie and beer — the pie was okay but the beer was excellent. The hike was exhausting so I just went back to my room after and crashed.

Saturday I did a walk around Lake Placid (but around Mirror Lake) and stopped into a restaurant to catch some of the World Cup. Lake Placid has a little bit of a rich feel to me, but still remains somewhat approachable. People were all very nice and friendly. By the time I walked back to my car to hit the road (a few hours) there were a ton of people out riding bikes, walking, paddle boarding and swimming in the lake.

The drive from Lake Placid to Burlington takes you across the Essex Ferry. I’ve ridden it before and I always enjoy the ride across Lake Champlain — really I enjoy every ferry ride. Its always nice to stop the car, stand in the breeze, and take in whatever scenery is around.

I took a few pictures that I really liked while we were leaving the dock.

For the first one, I really liked the columns, the shapes in the water, and the clouds. The slightly framed houses in the background added to the feel as well. I like that you can see the rope, or whatever it is, between the columns as well.

The second photo is inspired by my friend Caleb Hurd, who spoke at the conference with me. He is really into photography and had a really cool picture of a wooden post wrapped with rope that he took. What I liked about his photo was the photo, sure, but also the story he had which was simply: “I thought it was cool and it was out of the way where nobody else probably noticed it.” I like the idea of taking pictures of things that are cool to look at and that are under-appreciated by the people that pass them every day.

In Burlington I went to my favorite spot, the American Flatbread Company. I got a pizza and a couple beers that they make there, which are wonderful. I am really becoming a HUGE fan of the juicy IPAs.

After dinner I did a little walk along the lake. There were at least a few hundred people out walking or sitting on the rocks along the harbor watching the sunset. I was among them. I think its always good when you can step away from whatever has you busy in life to watch something like a sunset take place. Forget about what needs to be done or what you want to learn and enjoy the moment. That’s what I did.

On the way back to the car I grabbed a black raspberry “Creamie” as they call them, which enhanced my walk in the terrible summer heat. Even in Burlington it was really warm.

I flew home the next morning at 6:20 AM and had time for a bike ride in the afternoon. It was a quick but awesome trip, and I am glad to have New York under my belt (after my third visit to the area).

Cheers!