Blake Colvin Hike (Almost Ends Badly)

A Adirondack Hike Adventure Almost Ending in Disaster : A huge 12 mile hike in the Adirondacks of New York. This hike includes numerous summitts over a long ridge.

This morning I came to work for the first time since after last weekends hiking mishap. As I started to walk up the stairs to the third floor I had an anxiety attack. I suddenly remembered some coping strategies that I developed during last weekends hike. So far today one other anxiety attack and I hope to go home without another. The second one happened when I was in the washroom washing my hands and I flashed back to Sunday night in the washrooms of the Glens Falls rest area bathrooms. The plan was to do Blake and Finally Colvin via Upper Ausable Lake.

The plan was to do Blake and Finally Colvin via Upper Ausable Lake. From what I read off the web the hike seemed to be around 18miles or so. It seemed doable in a day and I planned to meet Paul at the trailhead around 9 in the morning. The hike seemed to be proceeding just as I imagined. Lots of flat hiking around a southern Adirondack range to finally meet up with the junction where we would bear right and start up the ridges that led to Blake. I figured it would be a ridge and not a series of mountains. It seemed to me that it was around 5 miles to that point and we were making good time.

After 4 hours of hiking I was surprised to not be on top of Blake. We did find a cool lookout to rest and eat a little snack. My first mistake was to eat a entire Protein Power Bar. Remember protein needs a lot of water to process and so I drank a lot of water with it. Accidentally I drank my reserve bottle without notice.

We continued on and hiked for about another hour, I can?t remember. Paul was getting frustrated with not being able to confirm whether or not we had climbed Blake, or if we were even close. We finally confirmed that we had indeed been on Blake. Paul was done. I decided that I would shed my pack and scramble up Colvin to complete my day?s goals. Paul would meet me way back on the first ridge. I shed my pack and went to put on my hydration pack.

My second mistake was to disregard the fact that I was out of water. It had been way over 5 hours and I totally forgot my internal rule to turn around in that time. Paul asked if I was going to be ok. You guessed it, I say ?oh, yea, no problem?. I took off on a run down Blake towards Colvin.

The third mistake; well maybe Ill stop counting them now. Anyway I thought to myself 7 seconds into the decent that I should turn back and try another day from another direction. But I didn?t. I totally blew out my knees slamming down Blake. I was relieved to reach the bottom because I was confident in my very fast climbing ability. The sign said the summit was .8 miles; about a mile straight up. I hammered out a quick accent, snapped a few pictures and started down. I found that I couldn?t let my self down as the pain in my one knee was excruciating. It took me twice as long to descend. The thought of climbing Blake again to get over it was overwhelming. The feeling was validated when I attempted to start the climb. I was crashing hard.

I started to get very sick to my stomach and dizzy. I knew I needed water. I also knew that I made a bad mistake and I prayed to god that Paul didn?t go back and was waiting for me with my pack on top of Blake. Every rock and step got harder and harder until I finally tripped, fell on my face, and decided to sleep a bit. I figured that after some rest, I would be on my way. As I slept I felt my breathing getting shallower and I felt like I had better continue or I would get worse and possibly not make it at all. At last I made it to my pack. At last some water, but no! I had drunk all my water. I would have to continue on without water and added weight of the pack. The extra weight felt good on my aching knees for some strange reason.

It took me forever. One step at a time! Calling out to see if I was getting closer to Paul. This went on for an eternity. Hobbling sideways down steep drops and taking tiny and deliberate steps up the next ridge. Once I came upon a bottle of water and thought Paul was near. I sat and drank, then waited. It was apparent I would continue along alone, Paul had dropped off a water bottle for me to find?it probably saved my life.

Another eternity came and went and another ridge, then another. I finally reached the point where Paul was waiting for me. I felt like I had made it. I yelled out to Paul but got no answer. I rested, then a Called again. I knew we had to get the heck out of there. The problem was that I could not climb another step unless I risk the terror of passing out again. I yelled and yelled. Perhaps he had fallen asleep. Maybe he was in need. I decided to climb up to where he apparently was.

Paul had good news. He had stashed an extra bottle down below near the point where we had taken that right to begin the ridge. I felt pathetic as I staggered in front of Paul. I did my best to keep a pace but it seemed so slow and I was getting so dizzy and really wanted to just go to sleep. Finally we reached the waterfall where he stashed the water. For a moment it seemed as though he lost it but after a while he located the water and we had a glorious drink together and I ate a snit-bit of powerbar. Even though I did not think I could hike the next 6 miles out of there, I acted as though I could and said that I felt better.

The lie seemed to be empowering as I set off to a pace that I didn?t know I could do. Yes, it probably was real slow to Paul, but for me it was above and beyond what I thought I could do. I concentrated so hard on keeping the pace. And there was the babbling. I babbled about everything, it probably drove Paul nuts. But then again, was I?

After two hours I felt like we were close to the car but I was wrong. We hiked another 25 minutes and while this doesn?t seem like a lot, it was the end of the road for me. I remember thinking we were lost and I would just collapse soon. Then Marcy headed out of the woods and we followed. We had found the car.

Paul and I shared some water I had at the car. We talked briefly but as soon as I got my boots off. I headed out to find an open place to eat. Rest would just come naturally.

I drove and sometimes dreamed of driving just before waking instantly to jerk the car back on the road. I had to get off the road. Couldn?t stay conscious much longer as I just wanted to sleep. I found a McDonalds open but had trouble talking to the cashier. I just said yes. Yes, I take it! I somehow ended up with a chicken salad, nuggets, and a Sprite. The Sprite was glorious. When I went to eat the foods my mount got irritated and swelled up. I found it hard to swallow so I put the food back in the bag and finished up the Sprite. I drove to the next rest area in Glens Falls and passed out in my car.

I woke up about 3AM and needed to go to the facilities. I went to step out of my car and found that I could not walk. It was a huge trip just to walk to the bathroom. I fell asleep again.

Around 5AM I awoke and felt awake enough to drive. I made it another 1 hour and I couldn?t focus on the road and I was falling asleep again. I stopped in at a full service rest area on the Massachusetts throughway. I used the facilities to wash up as people watched me. I probably was a sight. I dint care. I got the largest coffee I could find and headed out once again. This got me another hour down the road and I finally arrived in CT. I ate breakfast at McDonalds and finished the drive home.

That day I slept only to wake for a half hour at a time to eat and answer e-mails. I kept everyone updated here at williammartin.com. Now it is another day and soon I hope that I will stop flashing back to my ordeal. Maybe this little story will help me express my journey last weekend.