Mt. Albert Edward

Tim is here! To celebrate, he and I climbed Mt. Benson. That was fun, but nothing like what we had planned for the weekend. We returned to the Forbidden Plateau, but this time with a summit attempt in mind! The first day, we climbed to Kwai Lake. On Saturday, we left our packs behind and pushed to the top of Mt. Albert Edward. It was an adventure like none of us has ever experienced, but it was truly incredible. It's the 4th highest peak on the mountain, but from where we stood, it felt like the top of the world. Enjoy the pictures.
Camping on Kwai Lake, close to where we were last time.

It wouldn't have been any fun without a gruelling climb. Bear in mind that we had to go down this later, too.
I love the panoramic setting. Here you have an alpine meadown, with some forbidding peaks in the background. Bear in mind that Albert Edward is taller than those.
Tim and Sarah celebrating a small victory. We weren't anywhere near the summit, but it felt good.
Mountain ice is so cool... There's Albert Edward up behind me.

We're still smiling because we don't quite know what's ahead of us.

Here you want to refer to our last trip to the Forbidden Plateau (pictures in a previous post). See that cliff in the background? that's Cruickshank Canyon. Now I scoff at its insignificance!
Sarah in from of some alpine lakes, with tiny little Cruickshank Canyon in the back.
Tim needed a picture like this. As a trophy.

Albert Edward! Check out the icefields down the slope.

Don't be fooled, she was tired.

Mt. Albert Edward

Ice fields on the way to the top. We were running out of water at the time, so we drank from here. The water was delicious and so cold. Despite the ice, the air and sun were hot, and we all burned.
Last push to the summit. The ground was all rocks and gravel, which made walking all the more difficult. The summit behind us looks close, but it took us close to an hour to get there.

The summit! 2094m up. Fourth highest mountain on the Island. Absolutely exhausted, but it was totally worth it!

Sarah on the summit.

Panoramic from the top!

I wasn't allowed to take my tripod, so this picture is a little off centre, but I still like the shot. In most places, we were so high I got vertigo.

I was exhausted and found a little shaded nook that was perfectly cooled. It also had an incredible view of the valley below. Looking too closely at this picture, I get vertigo all over again!
If you zoom in, you'll see Tim and I on the top of that cliff. If I'd known I was that close to the edge, I wouldn't have gone anywhere near it. Cool though.
Maggie was pooched, nice to rest here.
This slope was between us and the bottom. So we all slid down it however possible. Sadly, we don't have a picture, but Sarah did it on her bum.




As we were going back down, we got another view of the summit of Mt. Albert Edward. Hard to believe, but we actually climbed that whole way up!

It took us a few hours to walk the rest of the way out, but we made it, sore and tired. Poor Maggie is still limping from the effort, but she had fun. Our legs are all still toast, but worth it.


Rémi

Crest... but not fallen!

We climbed Mt. Albert Edward on Saturday. This involved walking along a crest for some time. It took me 320845623946872 hours to get the pictures on our blog.... and I'll try to put them here, too. Soon, soon.

Remi

Hummph!

crest·fall·en adj.
Dispirited and depressed; dejected.

Thanks to Dictionary.com for giving me the proper description for what I am feeling about this blog.

Where are you, my friends?!?

You're giving up on The 695 Thought Pad? C'mon!

Inspiration!

Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh... Finally, I have some inpiration to post on the blog. What a relief it was to check it for the upteenth time and actually see an update! And not one, but two (well, technically 3, but really 2)! Thanks so much for the uplift!

Well, let's see, what can I tell you about that's new and exciting with me? The boat cruises are going along well. Typical work now, some days I love 'em, some days I hate 'em. But all the while I still feel really lucky to have that as my job. I feel the same way about the Center, but also more anxious about it 'cause there's a lot that I would change, but I don't really have that power. What I have come to find out is that I know more about running a visitor/nature center than I realized. And although I'm not sure if I want that responsibility right now, I can definitely see myself doing it in the future. It's amazing what a change in place and people can do for you.

What else have I been up to? I've joined a women's competitive rowing team. The other women are mostly all older than me and business owners/workers in Rockland, so I feel a bit out of place, but I think I'll fall in well enough in time. The rowing is like if you took a rowboat and combined it with a sculling boat. It's fun and makes me feel like a viking! It's also nice to be involved in a sporty activity again. I'm missing TKD, even the tiredness, aches, and pains of it. Anyway, they are talking about having us compete against another team over Labor Day. I'm not sure about how well we could do. It's pretty tough and makes me realize how out of shape I have gotten. A racing start of 10 fast, 10 medium, and 10 long strokes totally drained me. But that may change in a month.

For those of you who may not know yet, I will be staying in Maine thru October. I'm happy that I will have more time in Maine, especially as what was initially agreed upon is quickly dwindling, and since I'll only be working in the Visitor Center, I will hopefully have more of a weekend to explore the state. As of right now, I really only have 1 day off a week, but some of the days that I do the boat I can take short trips around the region, but not really get all that far away. So, I'm looking forward to getting up into the state and camping or something. The other side of it is that it may be a lonely existance while I'm here in the fall. All the other interns will be done and gone and most of the other supervisors will be going back to NY. So, I'll have to find new ways to fill the hours. I guess it'll give me time to figure out what I want to do afterwards. Luckily it sounds like I will have some visitors in the fall, including my parents who are planning to come after Labor Day and stay for a week or two. I'm so ready to share this beautiful place with loved ones! Cliched, but true.

So, that about covers me for now. I have today off, and I'm planning on doing some sightseeing in some little villages before I head to rowing practice in Rockland. Thanks again for the inspiration to post and keep coming back. I really miss all of you. And remember to check my photos.

Au revoir!