Mountain Climbing with the Wizard

Quote: Dalex64

I believe it is Florida, closely followed by Michigan, because of the number of people who stay outside golfing near a thunderstorm.

MI has a huge number of courses,
FL and CA have more, but not by
much. I lived in Calif for 7 years
and played on a bunch of courses.

When I came back to MI I was
blown away at how stunningly
gorgeous the courses are here
compared to CA. Tons of trees and
ponds and water hazards. Standing
on the tee of any hole, you can't
see another fairway.

On many CA courses, you can see
every fairway at once most of the
time. Very few trees and never any
water.

Very typical fairway in MI:

Quote: Dalex64

I believe it is Florida, closely followed by Michigan, because of the number of people who stay outside golfing near a thunderstorm.

I think he phrased it as the number of lightning strikes, not casualties due to them. Yes, he did say Florida. Not my first guess but I'm not that familiar with Florida weather. It always seemed nice when I was there, aside from fog in Fort Lauderdale.

Quote: Evenbob

You don't have the head mounted GoPro
anymore?

Yes, I have a GoPro and head mount, but didn't bring it. It makes everything look farther away than it really is. They are better for action sports.

Quote: Evenbob

MI has a huge number of courses,
FL and CA have more, but not by
much.

I've played in Maryland lots of times. The courses reward accuracy over distance there, compared to CA and NV courses. Lots of trees, so you get punished if you don't hit a nice straight shot. I stink at golf in all 50 states so it doesn't make much difference in my case.

Quote: Wizard

Lots of trees, so you get punished if you don't hit a nice straight shot. .

Never lost a ball in Calif, it's not
possible. No water, and no woods.
In MI you have woods on every
hole, you can lose half a dozen
balls playing 18 holes. Of course
you can find other balls while
looking for yours, so it's a trade
off.

Quote: Wizard

The question for the poll is which peaks have you climbed?

I was on a group once that climbed both peaks of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Quote: AZDuffman

I was on a group once that climbed both peaks of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Oh really!? Tell me more.

It sounds like a joke, but when I was about age 18 we climbed Mount Marcy, which is New York State's High Points at the unimpressive height of 5,343 ft .

The easiest route is Van Hoevenberg Trail, a 14.8-mile roundtrip. There is another trail which is an 18-mile round trip, but as I remember it my college friends wanted to stretch it even further so they added some mileage. It was a total white-out above the tree line from the winds and the rain. I was physically unprepared for a hike of over 20 miles, and I thought I was going to pass out from temperature change at the summit. My feet were a bloody mess for weeks because I didn't have proper footwear.

Quote: Pacomartin

I was physically unprepared for a hike of over 20 miles, and I thought I was going to pass out from temperature change at the summit. My feet were a bloody mess for weeks because I didn't have proper footwear.

20 miles is a long hike, especially involving a lot of elevation gain. My own Mount Charleston is 18 and it takes me 8 to 9 hours when I'm in proper shape for it.

The experience in the Adirondacks is more about hiking, camping, and canoeing than mountain climbing.
It
In my experience, none of the climbs are particularly difficult (in good weather in the summer and not during a snowstorm for goodness sakes!), and don't require a guide or special equipment, but often there is quite a hike and/or paddle just to get to one of the mountains.