Sometimes I don’t want things to start because I know that means they’ll end. Like weekends, like summer, like a beautiful climb, or a beautiful hike, or a beautiful day, or a delicious meal.
As soon as something begins, you get that much closer to the end. I was thinking about this a lot on this summer solstice. I wanted to plan BIG DAYS to take advantage of all the light. But even as I revel in these long summer daylight hours, they are starting to shrink. Each step of a hike brings you that much closer to the end.
I guess that didn’t matter this solstice though, because mostly it rained.
It rained after we got to camp and started setting up.
But walking up Goodnow Mountain to the fire tower, it was sunny and hot and humid.
It rained all night.
It rained all morning as we touched the Adirondack rock and decided it was too wet to climb.
But walking up Poke O Moonshine to the fire tower, it was sunny, hot and humid.
It rained all night.
It rained all morning. It kept raining as we got a late morning start hiking up Big Slide. We were too socked in to see the mountains around us. It was like walking in a rainforest. It was like walking in the clouds.
It rained all night.
By morning the sky was clear and blue and a I walked to the top of Bald Mountain to the Rondaxe fire tower so I could touch the Adirondack winds one last time before going home.
And then it was over and slowly the darker days will start to creep back in, the long, long days will turn into long, long nights and the adventures will continue to begin and end even though I wish I could just stay in the middle of it.