This Sunday, Anna and I returned to Stissing Mountain. We’d hiked around the pond and tried to climb Stissing Mountain earlier in the Summer. But this time we were in much better shape.
Although Anna hasn’t been hiking this summer as often as I have, the trip to England was definitely good for her stamina and leg strength. We trudged up the steep slope to the top of Stissing Mountain in twenty to thirty minutes. I climbed the fire tower and enjoyed the commanding view of Dutchess County, and Anna stayed on the ground to make certain my pack didn’t wander off all by itself.
Unlike our last visit, I wasn’t testing out any really new gear, but it was the first time I’d been able to actually wear my REI One jacket. On previous outings, the jacket was too warm for me to wear. Yes, too warm. Even with the temperatures down in the low 60s or high 50s, I generate too much body heat to wear the One jacket. But on the walk around Thompson’s Pond, the pace and terrain was easy enough, and the temperature cold enough, that I needed the jacket to be comfortable. Had I kept the jacket on for the climb up Stissing Mountain, I’m certain I would have overheated again; therefore, it stayed in the car.
Overall, I’m very pleased with the jacket. It’s perhaps a bit more snug than I would have expected — certainly more snug than the photograph on REI’s Web site led me to believe. But as I continue to lose weight, it will fit even better. And now that we’ll be moving up to the border between NH and MA — where there’s an REI store — it will be even better to have a jacket that does such a terrific job keeping me warm.