V and I hiked Noonmark Mountain today. All snow had melted at the base and for a winter day it was quite warm, 30's and down to 20's at the peaks. While the distance for this hike was not long and the peaks not as high as the forty-six high peaks, the hike was always ascending or descending at a steep pitch, and made for a reasonably challenging trip. There was no snow for about half of the hike, but at higher elevations there were a few inches. It was just enough snow and ice to make it a little slick and sketchy. When there is a lot of snow it makes hiking easier in some ways because it fills in all the gaps between rocks, but today the snow and ice were not helpful adding to the little bit of challenge to today's hike.
V is working on chipping away slowly at the "other 54" peaks of the "highest hundred" in the Adirondacks. And somehow he has looped me in so we've been working on it together. Some of these lower peaks are easy, and in fact Noonmark is one of the easy ones because it is close to the road and has a trail. But most of these are bushwhacks, some of which are a long way from civilization or even a trail. So far it is a bit daunting to think about hitting all of them, but it is fun to pick one on a good day and go for it.