August 8, 2025 • 41 mins
In this episode I return to the mountain that started it all for me—Ampersand Mountain.
A story of life transformation 7 years in the making.
Join the next GREAT RANGE ATHLETE Team and get in mountain-hiking shape in just 6 weeks from your local gym or your house.
Learn more HERE
Follow on Instagram & Facebook:
@46of46podcast
@jamesappleton46
Get my books:
1.) The Adirondack 46 in 18 Hikes: The Complete Guide to Hiking the High Peaks
2.) Adirondack Campfire Stories: Tales and Folklore from Inside the Blue Line
Looking for custom help to improve your both your fitness for hiking, disicpline, and daily habits? Work with James 1-on-1 to become fit for the trail and llife.
Book a free strategy call with James to learn more about his 1-on-1 coaching program,
SEEK TO DO MORE at www.seektodomore.com
Visit my other websites:
www.46OUTDOORS.com
www.46OF46.com
A story of life transformation 7 years in the making.
Join the next GREAT RANGE ATHLETE Team and get in mountain-hiking shape in just 6 weeks from your local gym or your house.
Learn more HERE
Follow on Instagram & Facebook:
@46of46podcast
@jamesappleton46
Get my books:
1.) The Adirondack 46 in 18 Hikes: The Complete Guide to Hiking the High Peaks
2.) Adirondack Campfire Stories: Tales and Folklore from Inside the Blue Line
Looking for custom help to improve your both your fitness for hiking, disicpline, and daily habits? Work with James 1-on-1 to become fit for the trail and llife.
Book a free strategy call with James to learn more about his 1-on-1 coaching program,
SEEK TO DO MORE at www.seektodomore.com
Visit my other websites:
www.46OUTDOORS.com
www.46OF46.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
June thirtieth.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It was a bright, sunny, bluebird Adirondack morning. The temperatures
were expected to be in the eighties, a perfect Adk
summer day. I woke up bright and early as usual.
I looked outside and I made a decision. You know what,
work can wait today. I'm going to go visit an
old friend this morning. So I grabbed my backpack, my
(00:25):
trekking poles and my hiking boots, tossed them in the
van and it was time to go do some hiking.
Marcy Skylight, Gray Cliff and Redfield done. Now the long
walk back to the lodge. Three fifty five am just
signed in Santony Range.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
The wind is whipping here in the Seward range to
just finish the Macomb slide, and my legs are on fire.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Well, I fell victim to the floating logs again.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Made it to the top of East Dix Peak, number
three of five for today here in the.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Dicking Range, Avalanche Pass, on top of Rocky Peak Bridge.
It's like a hurt hate up here.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Rain and wind here on tabletop, whiteface, number six, muddy
day here on street, and I for number seven and eight.
Sonny in blue on Haystack, algng Pla'm Up in the
Clouds Number eighteen, Gothics number twenty two, Panther number thirty eight,
Allen number forty five seven, twelve AM Big Slide Adirondack
forty six er.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
You're listening to the forty six of forty six podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
The plan was spontaneous, as spontaneous as the very first
time I heightd this particular mountain. In fact, now let's
go back in time to a chilly spring morning in
twenty eighteen. I decided to try something I hadn't done
in many years that day, something I never enjoyed ever,
(01:49):
but something I had started five years prior, and suddenly
I wanted to finish it. The Saranac Lake sixer. You see,
I took a five year hiatus to any kind of
hiking after an atrocious day on Mackenzie Mountain where I
bonked so hard that my severely dehydrated, out of shape
body literally stopped working and seized up mid step.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
We're talking from head to toe.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I couldn't move, pretty brutal, but then thanks to my
brother and my sister in law, I was able to
recover eventually, and then we made it out of the woods,
but just barely. You see, that day I basically swore
off this whole stupid hiking thing, even though I was
at that point, now halfway through the Saranac Lake six
(02:37):
I set out to accomplish.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
But in spring.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Twenty eighteen, life looked different than it did five years prior.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
I was almost.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Seventy pounds lighter, I was stronger, and quite frankly, I
was a different person. Knowing I had hiked three of
the six and coming out of winter into a nice spring,
I thought to myself.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Hey, it'd be fun to go in the world's today.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Maybe I should finally give this hiking thing to try
again and try to finish the Saraenac Lake sixer. So
one Chili April morning in twenty eighteen, I tossed on
my black cotton shi halued sweatshirt.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Shout out if you know who the band Shailud is.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
I grabbed my ten year old hiking shoes and I
drove to the trailhead for Amper Sand Mountain.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Let's try this whole hiking thing again, I thought to myself.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
After all, the sun is shining, the winter was finally over,
and maybe things will go better this time around, so
I did, and little did I know that day on
amper Sand Mountain was going to change the trajectory of
my life forever. You see, I hiked up the mountain
simply looking to finish a goal, but I got something
(03:52):
so much more because I came down that mountain a
different person, a transformed one. And then fast forward back
to today, to June thirtieth, twenty twenty five. It was
time to revisit that old friend for the very first
time since it changed my life over seven years earlier.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
And we had a lot to catch up on.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Because a lot has changed in my life because of
that very first hike. This is the return to Ampersand Mountain.
The plan for today was to hike Ampersand Mountain via
the Ampersand Trail.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
At a little.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Over five miles and eighteen hundred feet of elevation, Ampersand
is one of the biggest bangs for your buck in
the Adirondack Park, with a manageable climb for most and
a summit that rivals any of the best summits all
around the Adirondack high Peaks. And it was the mountain
that started it all. For the first Adirondack forty six
(04:54):
ers Bob and George Marshall, and therefore one could argue
it might be the most in important mountain in the
Adirondack hiking culture.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
And what a mountain it is.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I drove from Lake Placid out to the Amper Sand trailhead.
I pulled up to the trail head a long route three,
walked across the road, and I signed in just around
eight thirty am.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Hello, Amper Sand. It's good to be back. All right.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
It is eight thirty am, a beautiful Monday morning.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Signed in.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I am back at Amper Sand Mountain, the mountain that
started it all. I wasn't expecting it, but I got
chills walking through the woods after I signed in, because
I wasn't expecting this hike to feel like such.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
A spiritual experience, but in all truth it was.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
It had a similar feel as the first time I
stepped on the Northville Placid Trail. There's just it's a
mysterious element in the Adirondack Mountains, and I felt it
today because of how monumental this very mountain was and
has been for my actual life. Really remember enjoying this
walk in because you go through a nice hardwood forest.
(06:18):
It's nice and flat for the first mile or so,
and a nice little warm up.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
But it just has a really good vibe.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Especially as the sun kind of shines through the trees,
blue sky above. Crossing a little river right here, Amper Sand,
Amper Sand, ampersand all right, crossing over the river on
a little wooden bridge. The woods just look perfect. The
temperature is mid sixties. Can't really ask for anything better.
(06:53):
No clouds in the sky, so we'll have some nice
views at the top of the seward range. It's gonna
be a good time. It has been a few years
Zamper Sand. Actually it's been about seven or eight. Here's
a lot has changed since the last time I walked
(07:15):
on this trail. The trail starts with a nice one
point three mile flat approach as you head towards the
base of the mountain before beginning the steep elevation gain.
It's a great warm up, and more so, it's a
great stretch of woods, a perfect mix of evergreens and hardwoods.
And the sun was shining today and there was not
(07:37):
a single cloud in the sky, so it shined through
the canopy in the best way possible. As the light
bounced off the ground and the trees around the forest,
and the trail is very well maintained.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
You got minimal.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Roots, and it's a nice, soft dirt trail, unlike a
lot of Adirondack trails, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
So it's a pretty good.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
One beautiful mix of spruce and maple trees.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
And the trail is nice and.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Wide, nice and flat, you know, flatish, but very defined.
So it makes for a good, quick, fast hiking to
start the day. I've been doing a little bit of
running simply because it's flat, there's not a ton of roots,
and it's a good way to make up some quick
time on this beautiful Monday. It's a you know, smack
(08:31):
in the middle of rush hour right now for most
of the world. But I'm here on ampersand having a
good old day in the Afirondack Mountains. Kind of crazy
that I haven't been back here since I first hiked
it back in spring of twenty eighteen, when this whole
(08:57):
journey began, probably because it's a bit of a drive
for my house, and as all of you listening say,
drive from your house, it's like a half hour away.
I drive five six seven hours to get up there. Yes,
I know, I know, I know, and I respect you
(09:19):
for it. I've become too spoiled living in Lake Placid
in terms of accessible close mountains that are nearby. And
as most of you who have listened to this podcast
for long enough, no, I travel to New York City
for work for seventeen years, So I travel for work.
(09:43):
I don't really like to travel for fun if I
don't have to. Hence why I haven't really come back here,
because there's about a million mountains to hike in between
my house and here. But it's good to be back.
What an adventure it will be today. Woods there, quiet
birds are chirping. Few people on the trail, A good
(10:06):
old day here in the Adirondack Mountains. About half a
mile in the trail enjoys a nice long board walk,
probably stretching fifty yards or so as it continues making
its way towards the mountain. Then a mile in you
cross a small stream before beginning to climb. The journey
today had me smiling from ear to ear. It was
(10:27):
just so nice to be back. You see, I've climbed
hundreds of mountains since I was here last, but this
was the mountain that changed it all for me, and
I could feel that today in the woods. So you
might be wondering why did I come to amper Stand
one random spring day in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Well, I was home from a job from.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
A movie and I had some time, and I said,
wouldn't it be crazy to go finish the Saranac Lake
sick Sir that I started so many years before. If
you've listened to this podcast long enough, you've heard the
story of me.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Bonking on Mackenzie.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
So I had climbed Baker quite a few times living
in sarah Nec Lake at the time, Baker, Little Haystack
and Mackenzie like five years prior, and it was a
nice spring day, sun was shining, and I thought, you know,
wouldn't it be fun to try to like go climb
(11:30):
a mountain and actually see how it feels today, because
five years prior I was in no shape physically or
mentally to be on a mountain. And it showed and
I paid the price, bonking like crazy, having my body
(11:51):
completely shut down and stop working mid step out in.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
The Mackenzie Mountain on the Mackenzie Mountain trail.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
So I said, today, let's go. You know, over the
last few years prior, actually the four years prior, I
had been getting in good shape, completely transforming myself physically,
which then transforms yourself mentally. When you do it long
enough and you stay on the journey for long enough time,
(12:20):
you reap the mental benefits as well. So I said,
let's give this hiking thing ago. Let's see how it goes.
Let's finish the Saranac Lake six. I'll never become an
Adirondak forty six er because there's so many mountains. Let's
give the Saranac Lake six ago. So it was going
to be a nice spring day, winter was over. What
the heck, let's give it a go. It's right down
(12:42):
the street from where my house was in Saranac Lake.
And thus began the journey of Ampersan Mountain in twenty eighteen,
the trip that changed it all. So after crossing the stream,
it was time to climb, and it was time to
(13:03):
keep climbing all the way to the summit. The elevation
gain never really lets up, and it's roughly fifteen hundred
feet of gain over about two miles of climbing. You know,
there's much steeper in the Adirondacks. But once again, this
mountain is going to make you work for it, as
it should. Growing up in Lake Placid, you're surrounded by
(13:29):
hiking culture. Everybody knows someone who's a forty six er,
or you know, trying to become a forty six er.
It's just ingrained in the culture. But that number forty six, man,
it's a lot when you think about it, which is
probably why it scares most people away because the number
(13:49):
is so big. So when the Saranac Lake sixer Challenge
was first announced, all of a sudden there was an
obtainable goal to reach. I thought, and as somebody who
absolutely hated hiking because every time I had gone into
the high peaks it was such a challenge and it
(14:10):
was so difficult and so hard, I thought, whoa six
mountains and they're smaller than high peaks. Now that's something
that's actually obtainable. I could do that. So it lit
a spark five years prior and which is why I started.
And it took me, you know, not too long to
(14:32):
hike three of the mountains. But then there was a
five year gap between hiking and the other three mountains.
So I hiked Mackenzie Baker and Little Haystack and then
five years later Amper Sand Scarface Saint Regis. But it
was that Saraac Lake sixer challenge that felt like it
(14:56):
was something that I could actually do and I could
complete that made me say, let's go for it, because
at that moment, the forty six was not anywhere on
my radar in any capacity, and I thought, you know,
let's put this fitness to the test. It's beautiful, beautiful
time of year in the Adirondacks. Who doesn't love to
be in the woods, even if you don't like hiking,
(15:18):
being in the woods when the sun is shining just
like it is today, perfect blue sky, perfect temperature, why
not let's go. So whoever started, whoever had the idea
for the serenac Lea sixer Challenge, you, my friend, had
a big hand in helping transform my life. So kudos
(15:40):
to you, whoever had the idea and whoever said, yes,
let's create this and let's move forward and make it
a thing. The trail climbs the western flanks of the
mountain and is very well maintained for any Adirondack trail.
As I said before, minimal roots with lots of boulders
and some raw stairs at various points as well. Tons
(16:02):
of trail work have clearly gone on in this mountain
right from the start of the climb. You're going to
feel your quads, your glutes, and your calves working overtime,
and they're going to continue for those two miles.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Starting to gain some elevation.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Now, now, I remember on ampersand back in twenty eighteen,
during this portion where the elevation gain starts to build,
finding myself breathing heavily, But there was a difference between
what I was used to experiencing and what was happening.
Despite the long, drawn out breaths, I could keep going.
(16:46):
Yes it's hard, Yes I'm breathing heavier, but the difference
is I can keep going. My legs can power through,
my heart rate can power through. I can live in
this elevated heart rate zone that I find myself in
(17:06):
and continue to move and feel okay, almost like being
comfortable being uncomfortable. And I thought, this is weird. I'm
not used to experiencing this. But then I had thought
to myself, this kind of reminds me of a lot
of the heavy breathing I'm doing with my training right
(17:27):
now at home in my gym, in my shed shed
side Barbelle as I call it. At the time, I
was running a training program by a man named Jim
Wendler called five three one, and the training program that
(17:48):
I was doing was called.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Boring but Big.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
So I noticed with that program you do lots of
sets of ten, five sets of ten, and when you're
doing any sort of lift for a set of ten,
you have that long, drawn out, heavy breathing while also
forcing your body to lift weight.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Despite the heavy breathing.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
So, just like with hiking, you get comfortable being uncomfortable
and having to push your body while also breathing heavily,
but in like a long drawn out kind of manner
compared to something like a sprint.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
So I remember climbing thinking this is the same.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Sort of elevated heart rate I'm experiencing in my training program,
and it just so happens to translate very well to
this whole climbing up a mountain thing.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
I'm used to this.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
In fact, I'm kind of ready for this, I thought
to myself as I continued powering.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
My way up the mountain like I'm doing right.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Now on this exact same incline. You hear my breathing,
yet it doesn't slow me down. I just breathe heavier,
but my body keeps moving. And that, my friends, was
the real clincher for myself, that hey, you can do this,
(19:35):
You are doing this. This is a new experience to
be in the mountains doing this, because every other time
it would be crazy heavy breathing. I have to stop.
My mind wasn't strong enough to power through. My body
certainly wasn't strong enough to power through. So I had
(19:55):
to constantly stop, catch my breath for five ten minutes
and get started again. And I remember that feeling of
getting started again always felt awful because you're stopping, you
really are having to get the wheels turning again, which
(20:19):
is another reason I so often tell people the best
pace is going as fast as you can go, but
as slow as you need to go, so that you
never have to stop.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Find that pace and go.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
And that's what I found that day on ampersand and
it's what made this experience so transformative. That very first
time I climbed this mountain back in April of twenty eighteen,
it was this very stretch where I was surprised at
what I was experiencing. I was actually powering my way
(21:00):
up the mountain. I was breathing heavily, my muscles were burning,
but I didn't need to stop. I could simply just
keep on climbing despite feeling those things. This was an
entirely new feeling and experience for me, and this is
what changed the game.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
For me that day.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
And once again it was the same story here in
twenty twenty five, thankfully, but I was brought back to
that feeling of that climb after climb where I never
felt like I needed to stop. What an amazing feeling
it was that day and it still is.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
To this day.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
As I continued hiking, I passed a handful of hikers
throughout the morning on the ascent, including one that went
extra heavy on the bug spray because I could smell
it throughout the trail. And despite the huffing and puffing,
everyone on the trail was all smiles today because after all,
it was as perfect a summer day as anyone could
(21:59):
ask for. There are definitely people ahead of me because
I can smell the bug spray. It's very very pungent.
I'll probably pass them soon because I can just smell it.
Look crazy for the last fifteen to twenty yards as
(22:21):
we walk up the side of this drainage, Lots of rocks,
lots of roots, your typical Adirondack trail that we all
have come to love.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
What a privilege it.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Is to walk these mountains. I eventually passed a gentleman
from Rochester who i'd later chat with up on the summit.
He was camping in Tupper Lake and he wanted to
try out some hiking. But more on that conversation later.
The forest stays a clean mix of evergreens and hardwoods
(22:58):
throughout and never has a dramat shift to evergreens like
some mountains do towards higher elevation.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
The elevation continues.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
One of the beautiful things that I learned here in
the mountains is that they teach you, quite frankly, pretty
much every lesson you need to learn in life, and
they give you the opportunity to show yourself what you're
made of. When you're climbing the mountain, your legs are burning,
your heart's beating through your chest, your lungs are on fire,
(23:32):
and all you want to do is stop. It's your
brain that determines if you stop or not, because your
brain's going to quit far before your body's going to quit.
So these mountains have shown me just how to build
that grit and that ability to persevere physically in the mountains,
(23:54):
and that same lesson, that same and that same lesson
translates and applies to anything else I'm doing in life,
whether it's going after a goal, whether it's persevering through
a challenge.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
You just keep pushing.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
How hard can you keep pushing even when you want
to turn around, you want to stop. When you build
the ability to keep going one foot in front of
the other and you make it to the summit when
you didn't think you would, that boosts your confidence, and
that boosts your ability to apply that same principle and
that same grit and anything else you're doing. Quite possibly
(24:35):
the biggest lesson that the mountains have to teach you.
They're going to show you what you're made of. They're
going to show you how you prepared and where you missed.
What a beautiful, beautiful thing the mountains teach us will
never cease to amaze me. And then around two point
(24:55):
five miles in, in thirty one hundred feet of elevation,
I got a glimpse of that a little false summit
ledge above me to the left as the trail wraps
around it before moving towards the final climb to the
true summit. While I was up there, I passed a
family with young kids enjoying their time in the mountain,
and then I passed them wrapped around that false summit
(25:16):
rock and continued up the trail. I knew I was close,
and the trail dips down slightly before wrapping around to
the right where you begin that final quarter mile push
up to the true summit. I was about to leave treeline.
I could feel it, and I was excited. And then
after climbing up a ledge or two, I came out
(25:37):
onto the open rock and I could see the giant
summit above me.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
The final slab or above the trees on the big rock.
Walking up, look at that just magnificent. Good morning almost there.
(26:07):
Look at that. I can't lost.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Every time I come up here.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Right in that last like whatever. Look at that lakes.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
When you get up you can see couple lakes over
that way. Amazing. Absolutely, have a good trip down. Yeah,
for a couple of minutes. There's a few people behind me.
Have a good hike.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
All right, ladies and gentlemen, we are officially.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
On the summit of ampersand once again there's a sewer
range looking magnificent.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Saranac lakes. You can see the whole thing, absolutely incredible.
Who all right? Making our way across? Wow. Literally, as
I said across, I saw two. There's two. Uh, there's
(27:12):
across wood across.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Literally, as I said the word across, I was looking
at a cross made of wood.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Like an X marks a spot.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Almost amazing, following the yellow blazes on the rock to
the official summit. I'm sure the wind is blowing in
the microphone, but we are officially here. There's the marker
(27:45):
and we will stand on it. We are back Amper Sand.
It's been a while and a lot has changed since
I was last up here. Let's talk d Eight minutes
after signing in, I was back on the summit of
Amber Sand Mountain as the seward range greeted me to
(28:08):
the right, while the rest of the high peaks were
directly in front of me and the Saranac Lakes were
down below behind me, A full three hundred and sixty
degree view on an unbelievable open rock summit, the size
of a football field. You really can't be amber, sand mountain,
a mountain, summit that really words can't quite describe. You
(28:30):
just got to experience it. But I was back standing
on the summit that changed it all. Three thousand, three
hundred and fifteen feet elevation in the crystal clear Adirondack
summer sky. Hello, ampersand it's been a long time, old friend.
It's good to see you again. And boy have I
(28:51):
got a lot to tell you well, Ampersand the last
time I was up here, I was just spontaneously going
for a spring hike, just to see if I could
climb a mountain. If only I could have known what
this mountain was going to do, what that hike was
(29:12):
going to begin, and how my life was going to
transform because of the trail up this mountain. So that
day we made it right, made it up ampersand felt amazing.
For the very first time hiking a mountain. I never
had to stop on the way up. I felt good
at the.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Top and then I got back down.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
And later that day I did a deadlifting workout, and
then the very next day I hiked Scarface, and the
following day I hiked Saint Regis and finished the Saranac
Lake six just a couple of days after climbing up here,
and then two days after that, six am I began
(29:55):
my forty six er journey on Porter Mountain first and
Cascade second, and then from there you wouldn't believe how
life changed. So that summer I finished all forty six
high peaks.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
All of them, and it was awesome. I felt great.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
I was climbing a couple times a week, body held
up well twenty mile days. We had one day that
was absolutely insane Marcy Skylight, Gray Cliff and Redfield and
ended up being a seventeen hour day in the high
peaks solo.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Absolutely crazy. Right, that was a wild one.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
I did the Seward Range which I'm looking at right now,
and Seymour which I'm looking at right now in one day,
in and out.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
That was a big day too.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
But yeah, after climbing up here we went and became
a forty six er.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
How wild.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Never would have thought. And then from here this is
really where the story gets crazy. I created a hiking
challenge around mountains in the Lake Placid area, smaller mountains
similar to the Seriat Lake six, called the Lake Placid Niner.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Yeah, wild right.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
It has helped thousands of people get into the Adirondack
mountain hiking world, get into hiking period, you know, have
a different type of adventure around the Adirondacks, around the
Lake Placid area. And it is still going to this
day and is done amazingly good things for people. So
(31:32):
started a hiking challenge as well that same summer. But
this is really where the story starts to get wild.
A few months after I finished the forty six and
became a forty six er in September of that year,
just a few months after summoning this mountain for the
first time, I decided, Hey, wouldn't it be crazy and
(31:56):
cool if when people drive up to the Adirondacks to
go hiking in the high peaks, they could listen to
a podcast about the very mountain they're going to climb,
get some trail info, hear a little story. So I said, Oh,
you're an audio guy. You own microphones and recorders, you
know how to record things. Why not make a podcast?
(32:19):
So I made a freaking podcast. It's called the forty
six to forty six Podcast, and it's still going to
this day. Seven years later, No, six years later, yeah,
six years Over six years later, it's still going strong
and over half a million downloads.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
It is.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Literally changed every ounce of my life and the complete
trajectory of my life has changed because of what started
that day on this very mountain, standing on this exact
summit crazy. I've not been up here since after the
podcast came out. You know, I wanted to tell a story.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
That was it.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
I just wanted to tell a story. You know, I
work in the storytelling business of Hollywood, so I wanted
to tell my own story. It wasn't going to make
a movie, but I thought, make a podcast about hiking
these forty six mountains. So I did, and then people
wanted more episodes, so I just kept making them.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
And now this very podcast is a huge aspect.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Of how I earn a living and how I put
food on the table for my family and a roof
over my head for my family in Lake Placid.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
I go do movies and TV shows occasionally, but my
professional world has drastically changed because of what started that
day on ampersand and what has transpired since then.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Got the hiking challenge, the podcast, and.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
The craziest thing, probably the absolutely most craziest part of
this is I wrote books about this very adventure as well.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
So we've got a book about.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Adironic Campfire Stories, which is a fun book from episodes
from the podcast about spooky tales and stories set in
and around the Adirondack Mountains, which is fun. And then
I also wrote a guide book that has helped over
one thousand people experience the Aderontic High Peaks, which is
(34:28):
very humbling that it's had such an impact on people
beyond just the words I wrote down. So not only
did you create a hiker, Amber Sand, you created a writer.
But as the journey continues, this is really where it
really gets interesting.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Amber Sand.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
The whole reason I was able to enjoy myself on
these mountains was due to my physical fitness for the
very first time was really high. I was really strong,
lifting lif weights in very good shape. That is what
allowed me to be able to make it up this
mountain feeling so great, and then go into the high
peaks and not skip a beat and keep going, and
(35:10):
you get up every mountain without issue, and have these
long days in the high peaks and actually show myself
that I can do this forty six er thing that
I grew up hearing all about thinking there's no way
I will ever do that. And now as I stand
here on your summit looking at these high peaks, I've
done them multiple times, some of them five or six times,
(35:32):
which is really pretty crazy too to think about to
even climb a mountain more than once, let alone five
or six times. But it was that physical fitness journey
that I went on that has become the real game
changer for my life because I now work with people
online literally across the country. I have clients in Alaska, Hawaii, Texas, Florida,
(35:57):
all over the Northeast. I helped them get strong and
fit so that they can go climb some mountains, but
not just climb some mountains, but they can be that
confident person in everyday life as well, because that is
what the fitness does. That is what the ability to
climb mountains does. This is the icing on the cake,
but the transformation that comes because of these mountains, because
(36:17):
of the pursuit climbing them, that you can then apply
in real life. Like the lessons that you teach and
the lessons you learn in these mountains, if we're not
taking them into our real life, everyday life, we're missing
the bigger picture, and I have the privilege now of
doing that for a living, working with people across the country,
which I think is probably the most craziest piece of
(36:39):
transformation that has come from these mountains, because it's not
just about me, it's about helping other people do the
same thing. Now, absolutely a privilege coaching these people that
found me on the internet from a podcast or a YouTube.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
And now look at that. Now we don't go do
movies seven or eight months a year anymore. Pretty awesome.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
And it all started right here on Ampersand so I
owe a lot to my current life to this very mountain.
This is the mountain that changed it all, change it
all for the Marshall brothers, and it changed it all
for myself.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
What a blessing.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Hello, little bird, you get to just fly up here
and just chill up on high peaks all day long,
living your best life.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
We got to walk, but that's all right, it's the
fun of it. But anyways, Yeah, I am for sand.
That's all I got. That's all I got for you.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
My life has changed so much in the last seven
years that it's hard to put into words. But I
owe it all to this very mountain and the lesson.
I learned that day that I can do this thing.
I'm grateful, I appreciate you. Hopefully it won't take another
(38:06):
seven years or whatever to get back up this mountain,
but if it does, I'll pour one out for you.
Appreciate you, amper Sand. You changed my life. Time to
head back down.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
My heart was full, my mind was clear.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
What a spectacular hike, but what goes up must come down,
so down I went. The descent was as expected, fast
and smooth. Given the nice trail with minimal rocks and
roots compared to many it does make for some fast hiking,
especially when you're descending. Many hikers were climbing up ready
to experience those majestic views that this summit offers, and boy,
(38:49):
were they in for a real treat today, that's for sure.
And then I made it off the mountain and I
moved as fast as I could along that flat one
point three mile stretch back to the trailhead. I signed
out almost three hours on the dot. From signing in,
an hour up, an hour on the summit, and an
hour back down. What a perfect way to spend a
(39:11):
Monday morning in the summer.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Thank you for changing my life. Amber Sand Mountain for.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Giving me the confidence that I can climb mountains. It's
amazing to see what has come out of that April
day back in twenty eighteen, from the Lake Placid Niner
to multiple rounds of the forty six to writing books podcast,
episodes of coaching, business, and unforgetable adventures in this playground
that I grew up in, but I never experienced it
(39:39):
the way I have since we first met. To me,
the Adirondack Park feels like a new place, and what
a privilege it is to have the ability to explore it.
Thank you to everyone who's listening, and here's to two
hundred episodes on the forty six to forty six podcast.
Absolutely my I cannot believe how my life has evolved
(40:03):
since this podcast began. If you've been here from the start,
thank you so much, and if this is your first episode,
welcome and thank you for spending some time with me.
It is an honor to share my stories about adventure
in the place that we all love, the Adirondack Park.
You see, this podcast exists solely to make the ADK
(40:24):
the star of every episode, and I am humble to
have the opportunity to share stories of adventure inside the
Blue Line. Whether they're my stories or someone else's, there
is always an adventure.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
To be had here.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
Head over to Great rangeathlete dot com to learn more
about how I help hikers get strong and fit for
the mountains just like I did, so that they can
ultimately have the best adventures, both inside the Blue Line
and beyond. Now, for the two hundredth time, remember it
always leave no trace. Do the rock walk, and if
you carry it in, carry it out.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
See you on the trails.
June thirtieth.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It was a bright, sunny, bluebird Adirondack morning. The temperatures
were expected to be in the eighties, a perfect Adk
summer day. I woke up bright and early as usual.
I looked outside and I made a decision. You know what,
work can wait today. I'm going to go visit an
old friend this morning. So I grabbed my backpack, my
(00:25):
trekking poles and my hiking boots, tossed them in the
van and it was time to go do some hiking.
Marcy Skylight, Gray Cliff and Redfield done. Now the long
walk back to the lodge. Three fifty five am just
signed in Santony Range.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
The wind is whipping here in the Seward range to
just finish the Macomb slide, and my legs are on fire.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Well, I fell victim to the floating logs again.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Made it to the top of East Dix Peak, number
three of five for today here in the.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Dicking Range, Avalanche Pass, on top of Rocky Peak Bridge.
It's like a hurt hate up here.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Rain and wind here on tabletop, whiteface, number six, muddy
day here on street, and I for number seven and eight.
Sonny in blue on Haystack, algng Pla'm Up in the
Clouds Number eighteen, Gothics number twenty two, Panther number thirty eight,
Allen number forty five seven, twelve AM Big Slide Adirondack
forty six er.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
You're listening to the forty six of forty six podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
The plan was spontaneous, as spontaneous as the very first
time I heightd this particular mountain. In fact, now let's
go back in time to a chilly spring morning in
twenty eighteen. I decided to try something I hadn't done
in many years that day, something I never enjoyed ever,
(01:49):
but something I had started five years prior, and suddenly
I wanted to finish it. The Saranac Lake sixer. You see,
I took a five year hiatus to any kind of
hiking after an atrocious day on Mackenzie Mountain where I
bonked so hard that my severely dehydrated, out of shape
body literally stopped working and seized up mid step.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
We're talking from head to toe.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I couldn't move, pretty brutal, but then thanks to my
brother and my sister in law, I was able to
recover eventually, and then we made it out of the woods,
but just barely. You see, that day I basically swore
off this whole stupid hiking thing, even though I was
at that point, now halfway through the Saranac Lake six
(02:37):
I set out to accomplish.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
But in spring.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Twenty eighteen, life looked different than it did five years prior.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
I was almost.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Seventy pounds lighter, I was stronger, and quite frankly, I
was a different person. Knowing I had hiked three of
the six and coming out of winter into a nice spring,
I thought to myself.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Hey, it'd be fun to go in the world's today.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Maybe I should finally give this hiking thing to try
again and try to finish the Saraenac Lake sixer. So
one Chili April morning in twenty eighteen, I tossed on
my black cotton shi halued sweatshirt.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Shout out if you know who the band Shailud is.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
I grabbed my ten year old hiking shoes and I
drove to the trailhead for Amper Sand Mountain.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Let's try this whole hiking thing again, I thought to myself.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
After all, the sun is shining, the winter was finally over,
and maybe things will go better this time around, so
I did, and little did I know that day on
amper Sand Mountain was going to change the trajectory of
my life forever. You see, I hiked up the mountain
simply looking to finish a goal, but I got something
(03:52):
so much more because I came down that mountain a
different person, a transformed one. And then fast forward back
to today, to June thirtieth, twenty twenty five. It was
time to revisit that old friend for the very first
time since it changed my life over seven years earlier.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
And we had a lot to catch up on.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Because a lot has changed in my life because of
that very first hike. This is the return to Ampersand Mountain.
The plan for today was to hike Ampersand Mountain via
the Ampersand Trail.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
At a little.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Over five miles and eighteen hundred feet of elevation, Ampersand
is one of the biggest bangs for your buck in
the Adirondack Park, with a manageable climb for most and
a summit that rivals any of the best summits all
around the Adirondack high Peaks. And it was the mountain
that started it all. For the first Adirondack forty six
(04:54):
ers Bob and George Marshall, and therefore one could argue
it might be the most in important mountain in the
Adirondack hiking culture.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
And what a mountain it is.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I drove from Lake Placid out to the Amper Sand trailhead.
I pulled up to the trail head a long route three,
walked across the road, and I signed in just around
eight thirty am.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Hello, Amper Sand. It's good to be back. All right.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
It is eight thirty am, a beautiful Monday morning.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Signed in.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I am back at Amper Sand Mountain, the mountain that
started it all. I wasn't expecting it, but I got
chills walking through the woods after I signed in, because
I wasn't expecting this hike to feel like such.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
A spiritual experience, but in all truth it was.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
It had a similar feel as the first time I
stepped on the Northville Placid Trail. There's just it's a
mysterious element in the Adirondack Mountains, and I felt it
today because of how monumental this very mountain was and
has been for my actual life. Really remember enjoying this
walk in because you go through a nice hardwood forest.
(06:18):
It's nice and flat for the first mile or so,
and a nice little warm up.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
But it just has a really good vibe.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Especially as the sun kind of shines through the trees,
blue sky above. Crossing a little river right here, Amper Sand,
Amper Sand, ampersand all right, crossing over the river on
a little wooden bridge. The woods just look perfect. The
temperature is mid sixties. Can't really ask for anything better.
(06:53):
No clouds in the sky, so we'll have some nice
views at the top of the seward range. It's gonna
be a good time. It has been a few years
Zamper Sand. Actually it's been about seven or eight. Here's
a lot has changed since the last time I walked
(07:15):
on this trail. The trail starts with a nice one
point three mile flat approach as you head towards the
base of the mountain before beginning the steep elevation gain.
It's a great warm up, and more so, it's a
great stretch of woods, a perfect mix of evergreens and hardwoods.
And the sun was shining today and there was not
(07:37):
a single cloud in the sky, so it shined through
the canopy in the best way possible. As the light
bounced off the ground and the trees around the forest,
and the trail is very well maintained.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
You got minimal.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Roots, and it's a nice, soft dirt trail, unlike a
lot of Adirondack trails, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
So it's a pretty good.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
One beautiful mix of spruce and maple trees.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
And the trail is nice and.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Wide, nice and flat, you know, flatish, but very defined.
So it makes for a good, quick, fast hiking to
start the day. I've been doing a little bit of
running simply because it's flat, there's not a ton of roots,
and it's a good way to make up some quick
time on this beautiful Monday. It's a you know, smack
(08:31):
in the middle of rush hour right now for most
of the world. But I'm here on ampersand having a
good old day in the Afirondack Mountains. Kind of crazy
that I haven't been back here since I first hiked
it back in spring of twenty eighteen, when this whole
(08:57):
journey began, probably because it's a bit of a drive
for my house, and as all of you listening say,
drive from your house, it's like a half hour away.
I drive five six seven hours to get up there. Yes,
I know, I know, I know, and I respect you
(09:19):
for it. I've become too spoiled living in Lake Placid
in terms of accessible close mountains that are nearby. And
as most of you who have listened to this podcast
for long enough, no, I travel to New York City
for work for seventeen years, So I travel for work.
(09:43):
I don't really like to travel for fun if I
don't have to. Hence why I haven't really come back here,
because there's about a million mountains to hike in between
my house and here. But it's good to be back.
What an adventure it will be today. Woods there, quiet
birds are chirping. Few people on the trail, A good
(10:06):
old day here in the Adirondack Mountains. About half a
mile in the trail enjoys a nice long board walk,
probably stretching fifty yards or so as it continues making
its way towards the mountain. Then a mile in you
cross a small stream before beginning to climb. The journey
today had me smiling from ear to ear. It was
(10:27):
just so nice to be back. You see, I've climbed
hundreds of mountains since I was here last, but this
was the mountain that changed it all for me, and
I could feel that today in the woods. So you
might be wondering why did I come to amper Stand
one random spring day in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Well, I was home from a job from.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
A movie and I had some time, and I said,
wouldn't it be crazy to go finish the Saranac Lake
sick Sir that I started so many years before. If
you've listened to this podcast long enough, you've heard the
story of me.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Bonking on Mackenzie.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
So I had climbed Baker quite a few times living
in sarah Nec Lake at the time, Baker, Little Haystack
and Mackenzie like five years prior, and it was a
nice spring day, sun was shining, and I thought, you know,
wouldn't it be fun to try to like go climb
(11:30):
a mountain and actually see how it feels today, because
five years prior I was in no shape physically or
mentally to be on a mountain. And it showed and
I paid the price, bonking like crazy, having my body
(11:51):
completely shut down and stop working mid step out in.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
The Mackenzie Mountain on the Mackenzie Mountain trail.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
So I said, today, let's go. You know, over the
last few years prior, actually the four years prior, I
had been getting in good shape, completely transforming myself physically,
which then transforms yourself mentally. When you do it long
enough and you stay on the journey for long enough time,
(12:20):
you reap the mental benefits as well. So I said,
let's give this hiking thing ago. Let's see how it goes.
Let's finish the Saranac Lake six. I'll never become an
Adirondak forty six er because there's so many mountains. Let's
give the Saranac Lake six ago. So it was going
to be a nice spring day, winter was over. What
the heck, let's give it a go. It's right down
(12:42):
the street from where my house was in Saranac Lake.
And thus began the journey of Ampersan Mountain in twenty eighteen,
the trip that changed it all. So after crossing the stream,
it was time to climb, and it was time to
(13:03):
keep climbing all the way to the summit. The elevation
gain never really lets up, and it's roughly fifteen hundred
feet of gain over about two miles of climbing. You know,
there's much steeper in the Adirondacks. But once again, this
mountain is going to make you work for it, as
it should. Growing up in Lake Placid, you're surrounded by
(13:29):
hiking culture. Everybody knows someone who's a forty six er,
or you know, trying to become a forty six er.
It's just ingrained in the culture. But that number forty six, man,
it's a lot when you think about it, which is
probably why it scares most people away because the number
(13:49):
is so big. So when the Saranac Lake sixer Challenge
was first announced, all of a sudden there was an
obtainable goal to reach. I thought, and as somebody who
absolutely hated hiking because every time I had gone into
the high peaks it was such a challenge and it
(14:10):
was so difficult and so hard, I thought, whoa six
mountains and they're smaller than high peaks. Now that's something
that's actually obtainable. I could do that. So it lit
a spark five years prior and which is why I started.
And it took me, you know, not too long to
(14:32):
hike three of the mountains. But then there was a
five year gap between hiking and the other three mountains.
So I hiked Mackenzie Baker and Little Haystack and then
five years later Amper Sand Scarface Saint Regis. But it
was that Saraac Lake sixer challenge that felt like it
(14:56):
was something that I could actually do and I could
complete that made me say, let's go for it, because
at that moment, the forty six was not anywhere on
my radar in any capacity, and I thought, you know,
let's put this fitness to the test. It's beautiful, beautiful
time of year in the Adirondacks. Who doesn't love to
be in the woods, even if you don't like hiking,
(15:18):
being in the woods when the sun is shining just
like it is today, perfect blue sky, perfect temperature, why
not let's go. So whoever started, whoever had the idea
for the serenac Lea sixer Challenge, you, my friend, had
a big hand in helping transform my life. So kudos
(15:40):
to you, whoever had the idea and whoever said, yes,
let's create this and let's move forward and make it
a thing. The trail climbs the western flanks of the
mountain and is very well maintained for any Adirondack trail.
As I said before, minimal roots with lots of boulders
and some raw stairs at various points as well. Tons
(16:02):
of trail work have clearly gone on in this mountain
right from the start of the climb. You're going to
feel your quads, your glutes, and your calves working overtime,
and they're going to continue for those two miles.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Starting to gain some elevation.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Now, now, I remember on ampersand back in twenty eighteen,
during this portion where the elevation gain starts to build,
finding myself breathing heavily, But there was a difference between
what I was used to experiencing and what was happening.
Despite the long, drawn out breaths, I could keep going.
(16:46):
Yes it's hard, Yes I'm breathing heavier, but the difference
is I can keep going. My legs can power through,
my heart rate can power through. I can live in
this elevated heart rate zone that I find myself in
(17:06):
and continue to move and feel okay, almost like being
comfortable being uncomfortable. And I thought, this is weird. I'm
not used to experiencing this. But then I had thought
to myself, this kind of reminds me of a lot
of the heavy breathing I'm doing with my training right
(17:27):
now at home in my gym, in my shed shed
side Barbelle as I call it. At the time, I
was running a training program by a man named Jim
Wendler called five three one, and the training program that
(17:48):
I was doing was called.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Boring but Big.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
So I noticed with that program you do lots of
sets of ten, five sets of ten, and when you're
doing any sort of lift for a set of ten,
you have that long, drawn out, heavy breathing while also
forcing your body to lift weight.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Despite the heavy breathing.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
So, just like with hiking, you get comfortable being uncomfortable
and having to push your body while also breathing heavily,
but in like a long drawn out kind of manner
compared to something like a sprint.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
So I remember climbing thinking this is the same.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Sort of elevated heart rate I'm experiencing in my training program,
and it just so happens to translate very well to
this whole climbing up a mountain thing.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
I'm used to this.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
In fact, I'm kind of ready for this, I thought
to myself as I continued powering.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
My way up the mountain like I'm doing right.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Now on this exact same incline. You hear my breathing,
yet it doesn't slow me down. I just breathe heavier,
but my body keeps moving. And that, my friends, was
the real clincher for myself, that hey, you can do this,
(19:35):
You are doing this. This is a new experience to
be in the mountains doing this, because every other time
it would be crazy heavy breathing. I have to stop.
My mind wasn't strong enough to power through. My body
certainly wasn't strong enough to power through. So I had
(19:55):
to constantly stop, catch my breath for five ten minutes
and get started again. And I remember that feeling of
getting started again always felt awful because you're stopping, you
really are having to get the wheels turning again, which
(20:19):
is another reason I so often tell people the best
pace is going as fast as you can go, but
as slow as you need to go, so that you
never have to stop.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Find that pace and go.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
And that's what I found that day on ampersand and
it's what made this experience so transformative. That very first
time I climbed this mountain back in April of twenty eighteen,
it was this very stretch where I was surprised at
what I was experiencing. I was actually powering my way
(21:00):
up the mountain. I was breathing heavily, my muscles were burning,
but I didn't need to stop. I could simply just
keep on climbing despite feeling those things. This was an
entirely new feeling and experience for me, and this is
what changed the game.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
For me that day.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
And once again it was the same story here in
twenty twenty five, thankfully, but I was brought back to
that feeling of that climb after climb where I never
felt like I needed to stop. What an amazing feeling
it was that day and it still is.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
To this day.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
As I continued hiking, I passed a handful of hikers
throughout the morning on the ascent, including one that went
extra heavy on the bug spray because I could smell
it throughout the trail. And despite the huffing and puffing,
everyone on the trail was all smiles today because after all,
it was as perfect a summer day as anyone could
(21:59):
ask for. There are definitely people ahead of me because
I can smell the bug spray. It's very very pungent.
I'll probably pass them soon because I can just smell it.
Look crazy for the last fifteen to twenty yards as
(22:21):
we walk up the side of this drainage, Lots of rocks,
lots of roots, your typical Adirondack trail that we all
have come to love.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
What a privilege it.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Is to walk these mountains. I eventually passed a gentleman
from Rochester who i'd later chat with up on the summit.
He was camping in Tupper Lake and he wanted to
try out some hiking. But more on that conversation later.
The forest stays a clean mix of evergreens and hardwoods
(22:58):
throughout and never has a dramat shift to evergreens like
some mountains do towards higher elevation.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
The elevation continues.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
One of the beautiful things that I learned here in
the mountains is that they teach you, quite frankly, pretty
much every lesson you need to learn in life, and
they give you the opportunity to show yourself what you're
made of. When you're climbing the mountain, your legs are burning,
your heart's beating through your chest, your lungs are on fire,
(23:32):
and all you want to do is stop. It's your
brain that determines if you stop or not, because your
brain's going to quit far before your body's going to quit.
So these mountains have shown me just how to build
that grit and that ability to persevere physically in the mountains,
(23:54):
and that same lesson, that same and that same lesson
translates and applies to anything else I'm doing in life,
whether it's going after a goal, whether it's persevering through
a challenge.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
You just keep pushing.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
How hard can you keep pushing even when you want
to turn around, you want to stop. When you build
the ability to keep going one foot in front of
the other and you make it to the summit when
you didn't think you would, that boosts your confidence, and
that boosts your ability to apply that same principle and
that same grit and anything else you're doing. Quite possibly
(24:35):
the biggest lesson that the mountains have to teach you.
They're going to show you what you're made of. They're
going to show you how you prepared and where you missed.
What a beautiful, beautiful thing the mountains teach us will
never cease to amaze me. And then around two point
(24:55):
five miles in, in thirty one hundred feet of elevation,
I got a glimpse of that a little false summit
ledge above me to the left as the trail wraps
around it before moving towards the final climb to the
true summit. While I was up there, I passed a
family with young kids enjoying their time in the mountain,
and then I passed them wrapped around that false summit
(25:16):
rock and continued up the trail. I knew I was close,
and the trail dips down slightly before wrapping around to
the right where you begin that final quarter mile push
up to the true summit. I was about to leave treeline.
I could feel it, and I was excited. And then
after climbing up a ledge or two, I came out
(25:37):
onto the open rock and I could see the giant
summit above me.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
The final slab or above the trees on the big rock.
Walking up, look at that just magnificent. Good morning almost there.
(26:07):
Look at that. I can't lost.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Every time I come up here.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Right in that last like whatever. Look at that lakes.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
When you get up you can see couple lakes over
that way. Amazing. Absolutely, have a good trip down. Yeah,
for a couple of minutes. There's a few people behind me.
Have a good hike.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
All right, ladies and gentlemen, we are officially.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
On the summit of ampersand once again there's a sewer
range looking magnificent.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Saranac lakes. You can see the whole thing, absolutely incredible.
Who all right? Making our way across? Wow. Literally, as
I said across, I saw two. There's two. Uh, there's
(27:12):
across wood across.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Literally, as I said the word across, I was looking
at a cross made of wood.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Like an X marks a spot.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Almost amazing, following the yellow blazes on the rock to
the official summit. I'm sure the wind is blowing in
the microphone, but we are officially here. There's the marker
(27:45):
and we will stand on it. We are back Amper Sand.
It's been a while and a lot has changed since
I was last up here. Let's talk d Eight minutes
after signing in, I was back on the summit of
Amber Sand Mountain as the seward range greeted me to
(28:08):
the right, while the rest of the high peaks were
directly in front of me and the Saranac Lakes were
down below behind me, A full three hundred and sixty
degree view on an unbelievable open rock summit, the size
of a football field. You really can't be amber, sand mountain,
a mountain, summit that really words can't quite describe. You
(28:30):
just got to experience it. But I was back standing
on the summit that changed it all. Three thousand, three
hundred and fifteen feet elevation in the crystal clear Adirondack
summer sky. Hello, ampersand it's been a long time, old friend.
It's good to see you again. And boy have I
(28:51):
got a lot to tell you well, Ampersand the last
time I was up here, I was just spontaneously going
for a spring hike, just to see if I could
climb a mountain. If only I could have known what
this mountain was going to do, what that hike was
(29:12):
going to begin, and how my life was going to
transform because of the trail up this mountain. So that
day we made it right, made it up ampersand felt amazing.
For the very first time hiking a mountain. I never
had to stop on the way up. I felt good
at the.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Top and then I got back down.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
And later that day I did a deadlifting workout, and
then the very next day I hiked Scarface, and the
following day I hiked Saint Regis and finished the Saranac
Lake six just a couple of days after climbing up here,
and then two days after that, six am I began
(29:55):
my forty six er journey on Porter Mountain first and
Cascade second, and then from there you wouldn't believe how
life changed. So that summer I finished all forty six
high peaks.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
All of them, and it was awesome. I felt great.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
I was climbing a couple times a week, body held
up well twenty mile days. We had one day that
was absolutely insane Marcy Skylight, Gray Cliff and Redfield and
ended up being a seventeen hour day in the high
peaks solo.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Absolutely crazy. Right, that was a wild one.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
I did the Seward Range which I'm looking at right now,
and Seymour which I'm looking at right now in one day,
in and out.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
That was a big day too.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
But yeah, after climbing up here we went and became
a forty six er.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
How wild.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Never would have thought. And then from here this is
really where the story gets crazy. I created a hiking
challenge around mountains in the Lake Placid area, smaller mountains
similar to the Seriat Lake six, called the Lake Placid Niner.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Yeah, wild right.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
It has helped thousands of people get into the Adirondack
mountain hiking world, get into hiking period, you know, have
a different type of adventure around the Adirondacks, around the
Lake Placid area. And it is still going to this
day and is done amazingly good things for people. So
(31:32):
started a hiking challenge as well that same summer. But
this is really where the story starts to get wild.
A few months after I finished the forty six and
became a forty six er in September of that year,
just a few months after summoning this mountain for the
first time, I decided, Hey, wouldn't it be crazy and
(31:56):
cool if when people drive up to the Adirondacks to
go hiking in the high peaks, they could listen to
a podcast about the very mountain they're going to climb,
get some trail info, hear a little story. So I said, Oh,
you're an audio guy. You own microphones and recorders, you
know how to record things. Why not make a podcast?
(32:19):
So I made a freaking podcast. It's called the forty
six to forty six Podcast, and it's still going to
this day. Seven years later, No, six years later, yeah,
six years Over six years later, it's still going strong
and over half a million downloads.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
It is.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Literally changed every ounce of my life and the complete
trajectory of my life has changed because of what started
that day on this very mountain, standing on this exact
summit crazy. I've not been up here since after the
podcast came out. You know, I wanted to tell a story.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
That was it.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
I just wanted to tell a story. You know, I
work in the storytelling business of Hollywood, so I wanted
to tell my own story. It wasn't going to make
a movie, but I thought, make a podcast about hiking
these forty six mountains. So I did, and then people
wanted more episodes, so I just kept making them.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
And now this very podcast is a huge aspect.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Of how I earn a living and how I put
food on the table for my family and a roof
over my head for my family in Lake Placid.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
I go do movies and TV shows occasionally, but my
professional world has drastically changed because of what started that
day on ampersand and what has transpired since then.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Got the hiking challenge, the podcast, and.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
The craziest thing, probably the absolutely most craziest part of
this is I wrote books about this very adventure as well.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
So we've got a book about.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Adironic Campfire Stories, which is a fun book from episodes
from the podcast about spooky tales and stories set in
and around the Adirondack Mountains, which is fun. And then
I also wrote a guide book that has helped over
one thousand people experience the Aderontic High Peaks, which is
(34:28):
very humbling that it's had such an impact on people
beyond just the words I wrote down. So not only
did you create a hiker, Amber Sand, you created a writer.
But as the journey continues, this is really where it
really gets interesting.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Amber Sand.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
The whole reason I was able to enjoy myself on
these mountains was due to my physical fitness for the
very first time was really high. I was really strong,
lifting lif weights in very good shape. That is what
allowed me to be able to make it up this
mountain feeling so great, and then go into the high
peaks and not skip a beat and keep going, and
(35:10):
you get up every mountain without issue, and have these
long days in the high peaks and actually show myself
that I can do this forty six er thing that
I grew up hearing all about thinking there's no way
I will ever do that. And now as I stand
here on your summit looking at these high peaks, I've
done them multiple times, some of them five or six times,
(35:32):
which is really pretty crazy too to think about to
even climb a mountain more than once, let alone five
or six times. But it was that physical fitness journey
that I went on that has become the real game
changer for my life because I now work with people
online literally across the country. I have clients in Alaska, Hawaii, Texas, Florida,
(35:57):
all over the Northeast. I helped them get strong and
fit so that they can go climb some mountains, but
not just climb some mountains, but they can be that
confident person in everyday life as well, because that is
what the fitness does. That is what the ability to
climb mountains does. This is the icing on the cake,
but the transformation that comes because of these mountains, because
(36:17):
of the pursuit climbing them, that you can then apply
in real life. Like the lessons that you teach and
the lessons you learn in these mountains, if we're not
taking them into our real life, everyday life, we're missing
the bigger picture, and I have the privilege now of
doing that for a living, working with people across the country,
which I think is probably the most craziest piece of
(36:39):
transformation that has come from these mountains, because it's not
just about me, it's about helping other people do the
same thing. Now, absolutely a privilege coaching these people that
found me on the internet from a podcast or a YouTube.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
And now look at that. Now we don't go do
movies seven or eight months a year anymore. Pretty awesome.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
And it all started right here on Ampersand so I
owe a lot to my current life to this very mountain.
This is the mountain that changed it all, change it
all for the Marshall brothers, and it changed it all
for myself.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
What a blessing.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Hello, little bird, you get to just fly up here
and just chill up on high peaks all day long,
living your best life.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
We got to walk, but that's all right, it's the
fun of it. But anyways, Yeah, I am for sand.
That's all I got. That's all I got for you.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
My life has changed so much in the last seven
years that it's hard to put into words. But I
owe it all to this very mountain and the lesson.
I learned that day that I can do this thing.
I'm grateful, I appreciate you. Hopefully it won't take another
(38:06):
seven years or whatever to get back up this mountain,
but if it does, I'll pour one out for you.
Appreciate you, amper Sand. You changed my life. Time to
head back down.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
My heart was full, my mind was clear.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
What a spectacular hike, but what goes up must come down,
so down I went. The descent was as expected, fast
and smooth. Given the nice trail with minimal rocks and
roots compared to many it does make for some fast hiking,
especially when you're descending. Many hikers were climbing up ready
to experience those majestic views that this summit offers, and boy,
(38:49):
were they in for a real treat today, that's for sure.
And then I made it off the mountain and I
moved as fast as I could along that flat one
point three mile stretch back to the trailhead. I signed
out almost three hours on the dot. From signing in,
an hour up, an hour on the summit, and an
hour back down. What a perfect way to spend a
(39:11):
Monday morning in the summer.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Thank you for changing my life. Amber Sand Mountain for.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Giving me the confidence that I can climb mountains. It's
amazing to see what has come out of that April
day back in twenty eighteen, from the Lake Placid Niner
to multiple rounds of the forty six to writing books podcast,
episodes of coaching, business, and unforgetable adventures in this playground
that I grew up in, but I never experienced it
(39:39):
the way I have since we first met. To me,
the Adirondack Park feels like a new place, and what
a privilege it is to have the ability to explore it.
Thank you to everyone who's listening, and here's to two
hundred episodes on the forty six to forty six podcast.
Absolutely my I cannot believe how my life has evolved
(40:03):
since this podcast began. If you've been here from the start,
thank you so much, and if this is your first episode,
welcome and thank you for spending some time with me.
It is an honor to share my stories about adventure
in the place that we all love, the Adirondack Park.
You see, this podcast exists solely to make the ADK
(40:24):
the star of every episode, and I am humble to
have the opportunity to share stories of adventure inside the
Blue Line. Whether they're my stories or someone else's, there
is always an adventure.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
To be had here.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
Head over to Great rangeathlete dot com to learn more
about how I help hikers get strong and fit for
the mountains just like I did, so that they can
ultimately have the best adventures, both inside the Blue Line
and beyond. Now, for the two hundredth time, remember it
always leave no trace. Do the rock walk, and if
you carry it in, carry it out.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
See you on the trails.
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