Several states behind

On Mount Marcy (5,344'), highest point in NY, overlooking Lake Placid.

Algonquin Peak, 2nd highest 5114'.

Algonquin peak.

Iroquois Peak.

From Iroquois, looking back toward Algonquin. It's a LOT shorter hike up Algonquin from this side!

Mt. Marcy on a warm day with light winds.


Urgh! Don't ask me why these photos won't load in the order I put them up here. I  put both Marcy  pics up first  but the 2nd one winds up at bottom. I hiked up Marcy and Tabletop Mountain on the same day (Tabletop was heavily treed so no views and not really worth the detour). It was a 17.54 mile day. I hiked up Algo. nquin and on to Iroquois (8th highest 4840') the next day (10.71 miles). The wind was HOWLING on Algonquin. I was eating lunch in the lee of a rock when I was joined by 2 gentlemen; Don & Jim. I had convinced myself I'd head down rather than attempting the other 2 peaks I'd thought about  for that hike, due to the high winds. Don & Jim were working on getting to the top of all 46 peaks in the Adirondacks. I joined them to head on to Iroquois.   The Adirondacks were good to me. Fall colors were happening and plenty of hiking options without having to drive very far.


The next day was rainy. A chance to catch up on domestic chores, like the laundromat and van cleaning, and drive to Vermont in preparation for hiking the highest peak in that state -- Mt. Washington.

Getting started on catching up (while my computer battery lasts)

Where to begin? I think I left off with just arriving in the Adirondacks (NY), excited about the hiking possibilities. They were, indeed, numerous. There has also been great hiking in Vermont and New Hampshire, and now I'm in Maine. If I'd managed to post daily, it would have been somewhat repetitious -- another summit, beautiful fall colors. I picked a good year to experience 'true' fall colors. The locals tell me the fall colors are more vibrant this year than they have been in years. Just as icebergs appear even bluer under gray skies, even on dark cloudy days the leaves show brilliant colors. But I lucked out with weather for most of my hikes in NY, VT, & NH.

By accident I've become a "high pointer".   My first 'highest hikeable point in a state' was in WA  when Diana and I made it to the top of Mt. Adams. I'd never heard of a "high pointer" before; I chose to hike up Adams because I wanted a physical challenge as a testament to the fact that age is a number, not a limiting factor. On summit day I chatted for a while with a man who told me he wanted to hike to the highest mountain in every state; this was his 14th. I still hadn't embraced that goal but as I headed north in MN, the highest peak was on my way. As I was hiking down I met 2 older gentlemen who asked if I was a "high pointer". They were bagging 5 on this particular trip. I decided, if it was convenient to my route, why not become a "high pointer"? So now I can mark off 5, but I don't know that I'll go for all 50 states.

Pillsbury Mountain. It needed
a fire tower to boost you up for
a view. The higher I went, the gustier
and stronger the wind, and the less
substantial the outer barriers...

The Adirondacks were awesome -- SO many hiking options. I hiked 60 miles in 5 days to the tops of 8 peaks including the highest, 2nd, 6th, and 8th highest peaks.

Noonmark Mountain (not on the highest list)

Mt. Dix; 8th highest peak in NY.

Noonmark; sometimes lower peaks are more spectacular when fall colors are out!

OK, this is getting annoying... My computer only had about an hour of juice to get me started on this post. I was working on it at the trail head after getting back from a 49 mile bike ride on Carriage Roads in Acadia National Park. I relocated to a sports bar with wifi in Bar Harbor, ME. Whew! Two screens in front of me for 2 different games. Talk about distraction! But good games... I've been trying to upload photos for over an hour but it keeps crashing. So maybe I'm limited in how many photos I can upload? I guess I'll post this for now and hopefully get back to it to post more photos of the Adirondacks on my next go round. I have to share Mt. Marcy -- the highest point in NY. Even if it wasn't the highest, I'd have had to go up there to honor my friend Marcy Larsen!

Hopefully more later. My computer is mostly charged up now. Might be able to finish the charge on my drive to my camping site -- yet another night at Walmart since most of the campgrounds are closed. There's one that might have room but it doesn't have showers so why pay $30 to plug in when my solar panel holds me for the night?

So I'm not caught up yet but I'm getting closer!!!!

Bouncing between countries

Originally e-mailed 10/7/16

Hello All,

Sorry for the silence. It seems I've been on a treasure hunt to find tiny hidden pockets of recreational opportunities. Apparently the average person thinks 'hiking' is walking a short distance. I've been hard pressed to find hiking opportunities that have been more than 5 miles. Most are 2-3 miles. By the time I find some place to get out and get moving, there's a big drive between those opportunities. So I've been playing where I can and driving until it was almost dark, finding a place to camp (mostly freebie sites after turning down a gravel road and looking for a place to pull off). Often times by the time I park, get some dinner, and research my next destination (if I'm lucky enough to have cell coverage), it's too late to think about catching up with all of you.

But, maybe, my days of way too long driving for way too short of recreational opportunities are drawing to a close? I am now in Adirondack Park in NY. But first let me catch up on my other news.

Fall colors are still lagging behind the normal time frame (I'm finally seeing good displays today as I drove up into the Adirondacks, but they're just warming up). I’ve been getting a good ‘dose’ of the Great Lakes on my journey thus far (see map photo), missing only Lake Erie. 

As I cruised along Lake Superior in Canada I found some good hiking including a 17 ¼ mile hike in Sleeping Giant Provincial Park (including getting to the top of the giant) and 2 days of hiking on the Coastal Trail in Lake Superior Park. No wonder fall colors are late. It’s still summer. On both of those rugged rock-scrambling hikes along the shore of the lake I went for a swim in the largest lake in North America. Granted, it was a brief, very invigorating dip, but served to cool me off.

Very rugged hiking on the coastal trail.
This really IS the trail! You can see the
trail marker sign (blue diamond).

From the top of Sleeping Giant, overlooking Lake Superior.

My plan had been to cut across to Algonquin rather than following Lake Superior down the east shore, but the price of gas in Canada changed my plan. At nearly twice the price after putting $76 US in my tank in a single day, I decided to head south. I have never explored the US this far east either so I headed back into the US into Michigan. I went over the bridge into the US with my gas tank on fumes. I wasn’t the only one coming through the border and directly to the first gas station.

On the advice of the tourist info center, instead of heading east as I’d planned I headed west and south first, along the shores of Lake Michigan to Tahquamenon Falls (2^nd only to Niagra according to the woman at tourist info). I managed a 10-mile hike there (pics attached) so it was a worthwhile detour but I had to laugh at myself… I’ve been fixated on heading east, so to be heading west seemed very wrong. But I have all the time in the world and no set schedule with my primary goal still being to see fall colors (which are east, right???).

Tahquamenon Falls; the brown color is from tannic acid from decomposing trees.

I got a bike ride in the next day after I headed east again over to the west shore of Lake Huron. I’d thought about heading into Ohio but on the advice of former Ohio resident and fellow avid hiker (Rachel) to “keep driving”, I decided to take a direct route across Canada (on a single US tank full of gas) to Niagara Falls. The Canada side of Niagara was picturesque (see attached) and offered quite an array of bike trails. I did a 40 mile ride from Niagara Falls to Niagara on the Lake and back and then headed into NY and camped along the southe­rn shore of Lake Ontario.

Niagara Falls from the Canada side.

Today, sadly, was another day of many hours of driving and little exercise beyond the stroll I took this morning while I enjoyed my morning coffee. But I’ve arrived in the Adirondacks and things should change. The park is a vast area but it’s not like a national park where you arrive and they hand you a map that says ‘here are the hiking trails’.  No tourist info, no hint. I had my road atlas but little cell coverage to do any research as I began my drive into the Adirondacks. Fortunately, this evening I’m pulled off the side of a quiet road and have cell coverage to research hiking opportunities. It looks like there’s a good overnight backpack to Mount Skylight (the 3^rd highest peak in NY), just 30 miles from here and it’s on the way to Mount Marcy (5,344’) – the highest peak in NY. That’s a must-do. So it looks like I can spend a fair bit of time here getting in some hikes to taller mountains while enjoying fall colors that are just kicking in. I don’t know how much cell coverage I’ll have in the next few days but I’m looking forward to more hiking and WAY less driving. I’ve logged >2700 miles so far – enough already! I want more trail miles and less road miles!

I’ve arranged to have my absentee ballot sent to General Delivery in Bar Harbor Maine, where Acadia National Park is. Rumor has it you could spend a month hiking there (including the tallest peak on the Atlantic coast) and the fall colors should be happening big time when I get there.

I really do need to look into blogging. It would probably be easier to attach and label photos and would give me a lasting journal of my adventures. Maybe now that I can play more and drive less I’ll have time for such things (in a while…).

I hope all’s well with all of you!

Cheers, Gail

A bit more settling in and the adventures begin in earnest

Originally e-mailed 9/26/16

Hello All,

I hope all’s well in your world. Things are rolling along in my world after stops to visit a couple of friends (1 in Madison WI and the other in Saginaw, MN) that I hadn’t seen for 3+ decades. Besides renewing friendships, each of my friends helped me (or rather I helped them) to make modifications to my adventure mobile to improve storage capacity. I think I’m finally done touring regional and local hardware stores, Target and Walmart, looking to find exactly what I needed to modify various spaces. Many purchases and returns later, I think (maybe) I’m finally almost done (??) with modifications and can focus on travel and play.

The closet, meant for hanging clothes in, now has shelves for food. 

Pegboard lets me hang things; missing is the bulky power cord, but it fits too. MUCH nicer! 

I confess to still being a little intimidated by all the bells and whistle of my rolling home. But I’m gradually learning (some things the hard way) many of its functions. I didn’t have to stop and read the instructions by the 3^rd time I stopped to dump the gray and black water tanks and refill the water. I got out some warmer clothes and my down sleeping bag when I got to MN in case it got too cold at night (I’d been wearing shorts and tank tops until a few days ago with a very light blanket on my bed), but I have yet to use my van’s heater.

I’ve put about 1300 miles on. The van is heavy (~3500 lbs) but drives quite nicely. The gas mileage hasn’t stabilized yet, which I understand is a normal thing for breaking in a new engine (I’m averaging about 15mpg but I’m told it can get up to 19).

As for van life, it’s handy to have everything with me as I cruise along. I get back from a sweaty hike and I can sponge off (or shower if I want) and change clothes as soon as I get to my vehicle. If nature calls and there’s no rest stop handy, I can just pull over and use my van’s facilities. I’ve camped in the driveways of my friends’ houses, alongside quiet gravel roads, at trail heads, at a couple of camp grounds, and in 1 RV park; the latter because it was only $10 more to camp for the night with electricity and dump my tanks for ‘free’ than it would have been to pay to dump my tanks.

I am very happy to have a 100-watt solar panel on top of my van that enables me to camp off grid.  There’s a plug in for a 2^nd panel up there, but the space is tight because I’ve got the kayak racks, fan/roof vent, and air conditioner up there. But I might try to squeeze another panel in up there to extend my off-grid stays. Not that I know how long they can be with my current 100W set up…

With the visiting and working on modifying my van (and a few days of torrential downpour that altered my plans) I haven’t done as much hiking/biking as I’d like so far, but that will soon change.  I think in my last email I mentioned I’d hiked in 2 places in Iowa (Volga and Yellow River) and rode my bike one day. I hiked in 2 state parks in Wisconsin (Devil’s Lake and Perrot State Parks), both of which had some very nice views, and rode a few hours along a long bike trail. 

Devil's Lake (both pics)

Perrot State Park, overlooking the Mississippi River.

In Duluth, Minnesota I got a good hike in on cross country ski trails and a hiking trail overlooking Lake Superior. I’m in hill country and find that I need to realign my expectations. Those of us who’ve hiked in AK and other places with ‘iconic’ National Parks renowned for hiking are spoiled. In these parts, there’s only so much you can expect to see from low elevation vantage points, but I’ll attach some photos of some nice views I’ve enjoyed.

Last night I camped at the trail head to the highest point in Minnesota – Eagle “Mountain”. It’s a 529’ elevation gain to the dizzying elevation of 2,301’.  I got to the trail head at 4pm; a little late to make the summit so I settled for hiking in to a lake and back (a mile short of the summit). It was dense fog as I drove the dirt roads to get to the trail head but the sun came out as I hiked in to the lake. Maybe I shoulda’ gone for it last night and hiked out with my headlamp. This morning it was raining when I ‘bagged the peak’. Oh well… At least it wasn’t torrential; more like the AK rain I’m used to hiking in.

The sunny evening hike to the lake and a hint of fall colors to come.

The almost view from Minnesota's highest point.

 Early this afternoon I headed east again, back to the shore of Lake Superior and north into Canada. I emptied tanks and topped up water, propane and gas before I crossed into Canada. Unfortunately after I crossed the border the tourist info was closed so I’m flying blind as far as places to hike. I stopped to buy a better map once I crossed the border since my US Atlas didn’t quite do the trick to show me nice routes to good hiking destinations. I also need to ‘train’ my van’s GPS that I want to take scenic routes, not the fastest routes.

I am on a quest for ‘true’ fall colors but they are 2-3 weeks late this year so they are just starting to change. The farther north I go, the more color I see, but the predominant color is still green. The color change is less than ¼ of the way along. Much of the hiking I’ve done so far has been on wide trails in green, deciduous forests. Had the colors been showing, it would have been a much different experience and it looks like the trails would be awesome for cross country skiing, once there are no leaves on all the deciduous trees.

Hopefully I’ll see some good color in Canada and find some good hiking, but at this point I don’t know exactly where I’m going. Maybe along the shores of Superior and Huron to Algonquin and then south and east? I’ll figure it out as I go. My stay in Canada has a time limit because a few days ago we sold my Dad’s house and property. Assuming the escrow goes through, I need to be back in the US by Oct 13 (probably in NY near Adirondack NP) to sign the paperwork to finalize the sale.

Still on my list to do is set up a subscription for my DeLorme GPS so I can send info on my locations so others can track my travels. I may also look into setting up a blog (or not? I’ve never blogged before and am not sure the advantage of that over e-mails…). Time will tell.  I’m without cell coverage at the moment so my plan is to stop somewhere tomorrow before I leave MN and send this e-mail and some photos. I opted for international cell coverage while I’m in Canada so I can deal with my Dad’s estate issues and research my play plans.  So I’ll be able to receive any answering e-mails to this ‘dear everyone’ e-mail.

Until next time…

Cheers, Gail

Getting settled into my new home

Hello all,
(Originally e-mailed early September 2016).
 Sorry for the delay in getting news out. It's been hectic (& I need to get a laptop to make this easier -- sorry I can't attach photos w my phone). I'm in an area with no cell coverage so this'll be old news by the time I emerge & hit cyberspace again.

Today marks 1 week as an RV Full-timer. I had a 4h intro to all my van's bells & whistles a week ago & then spent the next 4.5 days plugged in at the dealer's in a shady corner, settling in & running it through its paces while referring to  multiple ( fat) owners manuals 4 solar panel , generator, & 3-way heating/cooling system, among other things).

No small trick to figure out how to fit clothes for all weather/occasions  & toys (backpacking stuff, inflatable kayak & bike & associated gear) into a 21' van. Of course I also need food & other items normally in a house for day to day living.

My battered bike box (stuffed to maximum weight & capacity) barely survived the flight. So much stuff to store and leave a livable space!

Boxes mailed after I maxed out all I could fly with. I'd already mailed my inflatable kayak, by slow boat, before I left Alaska. It arrived nearly 3 weeks later; the day I arrived to pick up my van!

All is stowed. My backpack and kayak are under the bed, accessible from the back. Clothes are stored in cupboards and the extra storage drawers I bought, and my bed is made.

This is the spare bed. Karen Palumbo, my first guest, says it's very comfy.

I still have more settling in to do but was getting antsy to begin retired living & adventuring. On Labor Day morning I pulled the plug & undocked from the 'mother ship' (RV Dealer) & drove 130 miles to a rec area with hiking/camping in NE Iowa (Volga River). My thick AK blood needs to thin out. I sweated buckets hiking 8.5 miles in humid 86-93 degree heat! Hiked an evening & full day there on trails that were primarily 4 horses. Headed directly for the river (handy to change into my swimsuit in my van when I parked).


From Volga I drove 50 miles thru rolling hills of scenic farms until I reached the Mississippi River & headed north along the IA shore to Yellow River Forest.  There's only 1 other set of campers in this gorgeous spot. More hills & trees, fewer corn & bean fields here).  I thought I'd spend full days hiking today & tomorrow  but the skies opened up & poured torrents last night & most of today. SO glad I wasn't tent camping!!!!! I spent a mellow day settling in some more, cleaning, & visiting my neighbors (big campground so we can't see each other's campsite). Supposed to rain heavy tonight too & dry up by tomorrow. Sure hope so! I drove in crossing a low flow river but this morning it was a muddy torrent that I had no desire to drive thru (could've done it late this afternoon). 
I'll hike from here tomorrow & hope when I get back from my day the water is sufficiently low to cross. Might camp in the same park at a different place tomorrow night so water level isn't an issue & I'll have access to new trails from my campsite. Then I will likely head E into WI.


My news is kinda boring this time. Next time maybe I'll have a computer so I can attach some pics. I should have more adventures to share by then too.