Black Mountain 8/20/16– 6.1 mi. RT

Brody and I set out for our second solo hike ever last Saturday. It was supposed to be gorgeous weather, so in order to avoid the crowds on this fairly popular hike we left the house early, arriving to the trail head by 8:00 am.

We hiked this mountain as part of the Fire Tower Challenge, making it mountain No. 5 out of 30. I realize we have a quite a way to go, but so much of my hiking time this year was thwarted by my busted shoulder. It feels really good to get out to the woods again and I can’t wait to get a few more under my belt in the coming weeks.

This hike was fairly easy and provided some great views. While the actual top of the mountain has limited views and an inaccessible fire tower there were plenty of stops on the way up and down to check out the gorgeous Adirondack Mountains and Lake George Below.

We chose to do the whole loop making the hike a little longer but allowing us to walk down by a small lake so Brody could cool off in the water. He seriously loves swimming, and was in the water before I was even able to get to the shoreline. While he was happy just swimming around on his own we took a short break from the hike to toss him some sticks in the water.

We made it back down to the car just before noon, making the whole hike, stops included a little under four hours.

I’m happy to say that even with months of being fairly inactive I wasn’t incredibly sore afterwards. I think this was a good trail to start back on and am looking forward to the next peak.