Hurricane Mountain

We have been going to Lake Placid in the Adirondacks since my older son was a baby so that is over 30 years. It is my happy place on this Earth. I am lucky I get to visit often because my husband has to go up there for his work. I took off work Monday and Tuesday to go with him. 

Monday was a work day for him - after he finished working, we checked into our favorite little hotel which is the Quality Inn. It isn't fancy, but they have canoes, rowboats and pedalboats that you can take out on Lake Placid at no charge. They also have an indoor pool, hot tub and free hot breakfast in the morning. We took a canoe out for an hour or so, then we went into town to look in the shops and have dinner. We like to get salad and pizza at Ere's Italian restaurant overlooking Mirror Lake.

Tuesday we hiked Hurricane Mountain in Keene. Hurricane is a fire tower peak, so I can check that off if I ever officially decide to work on the ADK fire tower challenge. This mountain has three trailheads, and we started from the one off Route 9N.  We were the first car there at 9 a.m. and the first to sign the trail register.

Hurricane Mountain has an elevation of 3,694 feet and the trail we took was 6.8 miles round trip. The 9N trail was rerouted in 2015 to bypass eroded areas and make the pitch less steep, which added 0.8 miles each way. The red trail markers were new and easy to follow. It took us 2 hours and 20 minutes to get to the summit, which was a leisurely pace.

Sun dappled trail

At the summit, there was one other group who had hiked up one of the other trails. We climbed the fire tower, which was also replaced in 2015. For a relatively short hike, the 360 views were very rewarding.

My favorite picture from the summit

After 40 minutes eating lunch and relaxing at the summit, it was time to head down. By then, there were at least half a dozen groups at the summit and we passed many more on their way up as we were going down. We decided to pick up the pace for our descent which took us 1 hour and 50 minutes. Although not a long hike, the 85 degree heat on a perfectly cloudless day - in the Adirondacks! - made it feel tough.


Last Week's Workouts: On Tuesday I did HIIT, on Thursday I did a 2.5 mile trail run, on Saturday I did Zumba with Tammy, and on Sunday I did a 1 hour 15 minute bike ride.


I finally bought trail running shoes which I tested out on Thursday - the little grippies make them a great improvement when trail running (versus regular running shoes). Now I am all set with my new running shoes that I got in July and new trail running shoes.