{"id":8961,"date":"2011-10-11T14:26:12","date_gmt":"2011-10-11T18:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adirondack.net\/dacks\/2011\/10\/trip-report-3.html"},"modified":"2017-11-08T11:17:46","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T16:17:46","slug":"trip-report-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adirondack.net\/dacks\/2011\/10\/trip-report-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Mountain, Lake Durant, Chimney Mountain & Eagle Cave – Trip Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

What an awesome Columbus Day weekend I had up in the Adirondacks!<\/b> I could not have asked for better weather for an overnight trip hiking two mountains<\/b>, camping out<\/b>, and exploring a cave<\/b>.<\/p>\n

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I am taking a Hiking & Orienteering<\/b> course at SUNY Adirondack to fill a Physical Education requirement, and we headed north for an overnight trip this past weekend, and had a great time. The weather was beautiful – a little chilly at night, but with proper planning and packing<\/b>, I was able to stay comfortable.
\nWe started our trip by driving to Lake Durant State Campground<\/b> and dropping our things off at the campsite. The campground is located on the east shore of Lake Durant in the town of Blue Mountain Lake. We set up tents (three of them) on two different campsites, unrolled our sleeping bags, and took off towards the trail head for Blue Mountain<\/b> at about 2:00pm.<\/p>\n

The trail head was only a few minutes away from the campground, so we were in the woods heading up the mountain by 2:30pm. This trail is pretty easy for the first miles or so, then gets pretty steep for the last mile. At the summit, there are remains of an old hotel<\/b>, a rangers cabin<\/b>, a few (radio\/cell?) towers and a fire tower<\/b>. The views from the summit of Big Blue are mediocre at best if you don’t climb up into the fire tower.<\/p>\n

Once in the fire tower, you are surrounded by an absolutely beautiful 360\u00b0 view.<\/b> To the northeast you can see Tirrel Pond, with an awesome background of several high peaks in the distance. To the south and southwest sit Lake Durant and Blue Mountain Lake. Minnow pond is located to west, and Rock Lake is located to the east. There are easily 20 more bodies of water that are visible from the summit.<\/p>\n

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We spent a little time at the top, ate a late lunch and made our way back down the mountain. From the parking lot, we headed back to our campsites to finish setting up and start cooking dinner.<\/p>\n

We had a feast for dinner<\/b>, and it was one of the best meals I’ve ever had while camping. We had cheese and crackers for hors d’oeuvres while our cheeseburgers and chicken were cooking on the fire.<\/b> Burgers are tough to cook on a fire because the heat ranges quite a bit, but you can’t be too picky with temperatures when cooking over a campfire. After a day of hiking, a cheeseburger over the fire is almost always going to taste great, and these ones definitely did. We had s’mores and brownies for dessert before settling around the campfire<\/b> for a short lecture on wilderness first-aid.<\/p>\n

FIRST AID LECTURE:<\/b><\/p>\n

The lecture didn’t last too long, but I got some pretty important information out of it that I would like to share with you. We learned about hypothermia and frostbite<\/b>, and what you should do if you, or someone you’re with, starts to show any symptoms.<\/p>\n

Hypothermia is a condition in which the body is losing heat faster than it can produce it.<\/b> You should realize that the temperature does not need to be freezing for hypothermia to become a problem. If you are wet, and on top of a mountain in the wind, it is possible to develop hypothermia even if the temperature is around 50\u00b0F<\/b>. It is important to remember that the symptoms of hypothermia are progressive, as the condition gets worse, the symptoms change.<\/p>\n

Symptoms of hypothermia in the order that they will appear:<\/p>\n