"Hurricane Season in the Adirondacks"

This photo was taken of me negotiating one of thousands (if not more) of downfall caused by Hurricane Floyd in the Adirondack High Peaks Region! My brother and I were hiking the Gothics and Armstrong just a couple days after Floyd came through! We met some guys that were insisting that we turn around and go back, due to the constant loss of trail. We decided to carry on with our "adventure", and in doing so, we payed a heavy price for our decision! I remember standing on top of Armstrong, watching the Sun disappearing under the horizon, with a profound sense of uncertainty, knowing we still had hours before we reached the trailhead, "if" we reached the trailhead! Completely exhausted, and running on fumes, we finally reached the vehicle at 2:30am!

These first few weeks of September mark the 10 year anniversary of the development and wrath of Hurricane Floyd, which at it's most intense became a Category 4 storm! Over 4 Billion in damages, and nearly 60 deaths in the U.S.! For the most part, we live in a pretty safe part of the country. We "generally" don't have to deal with massive flooding and mudslides, raging forest fires (threatening 1000's of homes) Tornadoes, Earthquakes, Volcanos, Tsunamis, etc... Yes, we get our occasional blizzard, ice storm, Earth tremor, smaller forest fire, light flooding, and the tail end of a hurricane, but I'll take any of those any day over some of the other natural pains that pose a serious threat to the "Human Condition"!