8/18  Drive to Poke-O.  We spend the night in the car on a dead end road about five miles north of the cliff.

8/19  We climb FM (5.7) five pitches to the top of the main cliff.  The climb is a bit chossy and fairly awkward in places, but overall quite fun.  Two ropes would be needed to rappel, so we find the walkoff after a bit of hunting.  Then we climb The Sting (5.8) which shares its hard opening moves with Gamesmanship.  The Sting is a fantastic climb.  It is sustained crack climbing -- tips to offwidth -- for the entire pitch.  Done for the day, we eat dinner and play cards (rummy 500).

Now we are spending the night parked in the road next to the campground.  Camping is $12/site/night plus a $2.75 reservation fee for the first night.  Day use is $4/car.  Walk in prices are $1/person.  So all the climbers park on the road (perfectly legal) and walk into the park.  Our car is on a nice level spot of ground right next to a picnic table.  For a few dollars we get potable water, flush toilets, sinks and even a shower if we desire.  Pretty good deal if you can sleep in your car.

8/20  We sleep late, then head over to Gamesmanship (5.8).  A party is on the first pitch and another party is waiting when we get there.  One more party quickly gets in line behind us.  There are crowds because this is an amazing climb.  One of my all time favorites.  The first pitch is 120' of perfect crack -- generally hands to offwidth.  The second pitch is fun 5.7 climbing.  The third pitch moves through easier terrain.  The fourth pitch is another perfect hand crack. The final pitch is easy slabs to the top.  The party ahead of us has two ropes and graciously invite us rappel with them so we don't have to walk down.

It is late enough that we don't have daylight for another climb.  We play rummy for many hours.

8/21  At 5:30am the alarm goes off.  Yeah, that is deliberate.  We tumble out of the car and hike to the top of Poke-O to watch the sun rise.  It is a beautiful way to start the morning.  Turns out to the be perfect day for an early morning.  I-87 is closed due to an accident and all of the traffic is routed right past where we were sleeping.  We would have been awake before 6am regardless of our plans.

After enjoying the sunrise, we drive to Chapel Pond Slab.  Hunting around a bit we find the base of the slab and start climbing.  My plan was to climb Regular Route (5.5R), but I stay on Empress (5.5X) where the two diverge.  I quickly realize my mistake, but decide to stay on Empress -- all the routes basically go up the slab.  We do the 700' climb in five pitches, even though the book lists it as seven.  On our pitch three, I take the direct variation (away from what the guidebook calls an "inferior option") and climb more than half a rope length of 5.7 before getting any gear.  After that we climb the offwidth crack, then easy terrain to the top.  The walk down takes a while since the trail seems to fade out after the second rappel and we bushwack a bit to the bottom.

Happy with the climb, we eat lunch at the extraordinarily picturesque west end of Chapel Pond.  Then we drive to the Beer Walls where Beth leads "3.2" (5.4) her first trad lead.  She sends it easily and we analyze her gear and anchors.  Finally back to Poke-O where we set a toprope on the 25' boulder that sits in site #2.  This is a really hard route.  I'd say it is a 5.11 even by the very stiff grading standards of the Adirondacks.  I'm really excited to figure out all the moves my first time on the rope.  Beth gives it a few tries, then I tie back in to attempt the send.  I miss my sequence on the very last move.  Rats!  By now it is too dark and I'm too tired to do the whole thing again.  I clean the anchor and rappel.

We play more rummy late into the night.  Then, at the suggestion of the campground manager, move the car to the old road 1.1 miles south of the campground (first right) where we are less likely to be bothered by the police when we sleep.  It is a nice, level spot.  Exhausted from our long day, we sleep well there.

8/22  Our plan is to climb Quadrophenia at Hurricane Crag.  We drive there and start hiking the Hurricane Mountain trail.  Very quickly we realize that it isn't the correct approach to the crag, but we figure that we can reach the top of the cliff and rappel down to climb.  Turns out that doesn't work.  Hurricane Crag isn't near the summit of Hurricane Mountain.  Still, it is a nice hike.  5.2 miles round trip and 2000' of elevation gain carrying fairly heavy packs.  There is a beautiful, 360 degree view at the top of Hurricane Mountain.  After getting back to Ithaca, I get these directions to the correct trailhead from Jim Lawyer (who is working on a new climbing guide to the Adirondacks):  The parking for Hurricane Crag is located on the north side of Route 9N, 5.2 miles west of the intersection with route 9 in Elizabetown, and 4.8 miles east of the intersection with Route 73 near Keene (and 1.3 miles east of the Hurricane Mountain trailhead). The herd path begins on the north side of the road between power poles #107 and #108. There is a large gravel shoulder and room for many cars.

But this trip is over.  We drive back to Ithaca with plans to climb Quadrophenia and Bloody Mary at Poke-O and Frosted Mug at Beer Walls and Roger's Rock at Lake George and and Slide Rules at Big Slide Mountain and The El at Pitchoff Chimney and much more.  Next trip.