Upper New England- Part 2

This is a continuation of my previous post, with pictures from some of my hiking adventures in Vermont and New York over this summer. I've been hiking every weekend this summer (except for this one... oops), and it's been an absolute privilege to enjoy the tops of New England, either with friends or on my own. 

Next on the roster is Camel's Hump, the third-highest peak in Vermont. I hiked this one with Jack, and we managed to make it up in about 2 hours (which is insane, considering how long/steep the hike is, and that Jack had hiked something like 10 miles beforehand. The beginning of the trail is relatively easy, but it becomes steadily more difficult as it continues upward. The great thing about most trails in Vermont is that they don't bother with silly things like switchbacks, so they go straight up the mountain, regardless of how steep it is. Which, in the case of Camel's Hump, is pretty damn steep. To put things in context, look at the slope on the right side of the silhouette in the photo below. That's about how steep the hike up is. 

But boy, are the views at the top worth it.

Jack being introspective

And, perhaps less introspective here.

I love these flowers; I think I take a picture of them every time I find them on top of a mountain.

The following weekend, I decided to take a solo trip out to New York State, just to do some exploring on my own, and also take advantage of the fact I had a car at my disposal. The first place I stopped at was High Falls Gorge, because I'd had a hankering for some good waterfalls for a while. Unfortunately, it turned out to be ridiculously commercialized and over-touristed, with boardwalks and tackiness the whole way. Honestly, probably a waste of $11. But it was a decent waterfall.

Following that, I hiked up Jay Mountain in the Adirondacks, which it turned out was barely traveled at all- the trail had only been made in 2012, and the only people I saw on the way up were a party of Quebecois, and I had the summit to myself once I arrived. The hike itself wasn't great, simply because it was long, and not steep enough to be interesting, but steep enough to make me break into a good healthy sweat pretty quickly. Fortunately, at the top I was greeted by a long, high exposed ridge, with 360º views for hundreds of feet. Oh, and it was absolutely carpeted with blueberries. 

Aww yiss.

Lake Champlain is in the distance at far right, with Vermont and Quebec beyond. 

The downside was that my tripod managed to break, just before I took the above picture. Needless to say, that ruined the day a little bit, because I spent $250 on a nice carbon-fibre tripod for the express purpose that it wouldn't do that. It's probably a good thing I was alone at the summit, because my reaction for about 5 minutes following was not pretty. 

But pretty flowers can make things a little better.

And on the way down I found this little message, which was just what I needed to hear. Life is beautiful.

Life is beautiful.