Estimated mileage: 12.5 miles.
Estimated total ascent: 3400 feet
Total trip time: 7h45
Total ADK-46 peaks thus far: 15

It is the morning after my first truly long hike in 9 months and I am not in a vast amount of pain considering. My ankle, 7 weeks out from a good wrenching, did not prove itself much problem. My back is achy, but not unreasonably so.

The hike was with familiar hike companions Chris and Dave. We headed out early, breaking trail at 8:08, and arrived quickly at the base of the trail up through the Macomb Slide. It is a beautiful climb, although the early visibility, around 2700', of the rest of the mountain to be climbed, height 4405', can be intimidating. Also near there, my body finally gave into proper hiking metabolism. The views along the way, including from the slide, are absolutely wonderful. The morning haze had just about been burnt away by higher than forecasted temperatures, and there were only scarce clouds. While there, we located the benchmark atop Macomb easily.

From there, we descended into the col en route to Carson and discovered a freshly reworked herdpaths down towards Lillian Brook. The ascent to Carson was quick enough and we missed the actual peak marker by side-stepping out onto a southern vantage. Champlain and Schroon Lakes were easily visible from there. We didn't wait too long before continuing on to Grace.

By the time that I was approaching Grace, I could feel the toll on my unpracticed body; I had prevented a calf cramp just in time along this route. Chris and Dave arrived about 10 minutes before I did. This, however, was our turn-around point and it was just past noon was we broke for lunch there. Grace has a simple beauty to it. Although we had each of the three peaks to ourselves today, Grace felt as it is should always be so enjoyed.

We left circa 12:35 to return. At this point, I could feel my quads beginning to burn; my calves, especially at their bases, were slightly sore; I was conscious of using my sprained ankle; and my lower back was beginning to ache from the compensations granted to these other body parts. Furthermore, I could readily feel my mental exhaustion in the form of the number of branches that I walked directly into. I felt dubious about reascending Macomb at this point and decided to play by ear whether to trade reascension for additional mileage. I had made reasonable time back to Carson, this time finding the actual marker in a notched tree, but the fast descent to the col nearly exhausted my quads. This clinched it: Lillian Brook trail would be my choice; I would not have easily handled comign down the slide, and we had not found the path that is said to run south along the Macomb ridge.

At 1:30, we made the decision: Dave opted for carrying over Macomb, Chris opted to explore the Lillian Brook herdpath and thus came with me. Parts of the top of this path are absolutely brutal, despite good maintenance, either in its soft footings or in the occasional 10-15' verticals; perhaps it is best done only for descent; however, someone camping at the Carson-Hough col site would find good merit in this approach. Furthermore, quite high up on this herdpath is a fresh-flowing creek, in case one needs access to water to purify. Also high up on this path, I scraped myself on a hidden 1"-thick tree stump, leaving a 5" gash down my shin. Ouch.

We planned to meet back at the base of the Macomb slide trail, not far from the Slide Brook lean-to, at 2:45 pm. Dave was 25 minutes late, much to everyone's surprise. While Chris waited near Slide Brook, I got an early start towards the car, knowing that we wanted to be back on the road by 4 pm. They passed me anyway as I had later stopped to purify some good creek water. As I was playing catch-up, one single fly hounded me for over a mile. It wasn't until I saw a pair of hikings entering the wilderness area that I pawned the fly off on them.

Overall, a hike well-done and a weather-perfect day.