chapter 481

9/2/2017

Mt Jo

low stress lifestyle

Mt Jo was our destination on this Lake Placid weekend. It is the small 2600 ft elevation mountain, the dark blob just in front of this Iron Man trainee's elbow . Behind him is my Algonquin Mt. This is Rte 73 just before the ADK LOJ road on the left. Oh yes, the access road was crowded with all sorts of Labor Day hikers. DEC Ranger Van Laer with flashing lights at a road block advised we'd be hiking longer on the road than through the woods. It was OK, a beautiful mile hike just to get to the trailhead. Surprisingly we only encountered a handful of hikers on the way up mountain.

View of Mt Jo from the beginning of the trail past Hart Lake. A lovely cool day. A hike does more than give you physical energy, it's good for mental calmness. Harvard University says so, so it must be right.

This is an "easy" climb. The 46er snob crowd considers it good beginner hike for kids since it's not one of the high peaks over 4000 foot elevation. A 2- 1/2 mile three hour round trip workout over large boulders and a steep incline. True it is less strenuous than the other high peaks, yet it is always a struggle. This notch through the rocks nearing the top is the most difficult spot. We did encounter one year olds and a wedding party of about 16 young girls in a team building bonding exercise.

Nice up on top for a granola bar and water lunch. We face south toward Algonquin Mt in the center with Wright Peak just left and a bit lower elevation, part of the Macintyre Range. Street and Nye to the west, way right. Colden has all the rock slides on left. Marcy is visible, but just off left of photo.

Mirror Lake in front of our hotel is the site of the Iron Man triathlon swim portion. I'll wait for the Jello Man triathlon. Lake Placid is very sports oriented. They hold Mini Triathlons all summer for kids and wannabes. We relax here after chowing down the hotel's free burgers, potato salad and corn after our hot tub soak.

Fake Foto- didn't want to bother a stranger so I had to composite 2 shots here - separately shooting Colleen then she shot me: can you tell? I feel it's not a foto faux-pas as long as it conveys the original scene. Nicely done, Terry, he said to himself.

Had to visit our wolf friends again. They are calming to watch gliding effortlessly and pacing around their enclosure. This was an all day rainy Sunday on our way home and we caught some of the Habitat Awareness Day presentation going on. A fine new visitor center structure has been built with window glass viewing of the wolves enclosure. Did a short hike into Connery Pond, a beautiful setting below Whiteface Mt (fogged in that day).