Happy Birthday Hike - By Lisa Ballard

I always celebrate my birthday (May 20th) with a hike, which is not easy. During mud season, the trails in the Adirondack Park, where I usually basecamp in midspring, are often knee-deep with muck and guarded by man-eating black flies.

Picking a route to an inspiring view that’s not a mire-fest is a challenge.

This year, I opted for little-known Loon Lake Mountain. Loon Lake Mountain is largely off the hiking radar because, at an elevation of 3,328 feet, it doesn’t appeal to the region’s hardcore peak-baggers looking to become 46-ers (someone who has hiked all 46 peaks in the park over 4,000 feet). Plus, it was closed to the public for over a decade until an easement, in 2013, allowed a zig-zagging public passage via logging roads on the lower mountain. 2013 was the last time I climbed it.

I didn’t remember much except for the allure of spring wildflowers beside the trail and a fire tower on the summit.

My son, Parker, joined me on my birthday climb. We both rejoiced at the trailhead.

The temperature was only 48 degrees (F), and a stiff breeze rustled the barely budding tree branches. “No bugs today!” I smiled, shouldering my daypack. “What a gift!” We made good time on the logging roads.

I chuckled as Parker walked through every overflowing culvert in his new Lowa Baldo GTX’s. Since his first hike at age 2, he has splashed through puddles with unabashed delight.

“At least his feet are dry,” I thought, as I photographed the trillium and trout lilies coloring the forest floor.

Over 1,200 feet of the 1,700-foot ascent occurred during the last mile of the three-mile climb. The upper trail was an eroded, vertical streambed. I had no choice but to tromp through the water and mud with Parker.

Though my back and brow were soaked from the exertion, my feet stayed dry, thanks to my Lowa’s.

Up and up we slogged.

Finally, when the spindly legs of the historic lookout’s scaffolding appeared amidst the thin trunks of the boreal evergreens, I hardly cared that the tower’s bottom steps lay disconnected on the summit slab.

The view of Lyon Mountain, Whiteface and the 122,100-acre Debar Mountain Wild Forest was as nice a birthday present as any hiker could wish for.