It’s 6:23 pm on Friday July 14, 2023. I’m currently gently swinging in my hammock tent 2 feet from the ground, with my rain fly up roughly 6 feet high and 10 feet long without my bug net set up. I’m typing this on my phone as we relax and kill time at camp in a fairly heavy and consistent rain with little wind and booming thunder all over this section of the Adirondack high peaks region. The noise of the rain slapping my rain canopy is getting louder every word I type. Enough now that I feel slight splashes from water hitting the ground on the edge of my canopy. That being said myself, my gear, the cousins I’m with, and their gear are dry and comfortable waiting patiently in our hammocks to add another Adirondack high peak to our list early tomorrow morning. Sawteeth Mountain stands 4,100 feet at the summit, we are taking the Ausable Lake Southeast route up, from the St. Huberts parking area, and the scenic trail down. Our camp is on public land at 3,200 feet next to our last water spot until we get back down to the lake tomorrow afternoon.
As you can imagine we are all loving this. There’s something about just barely beating rain in time to get your shelter up and keep your stuff dry, in the Adirondack Wilderness just under a mile from the 35th ADK high peak. We got to camp as the initial sprinkles fell. Couldn’t have been more perfectly timed. Our goal was to get to the camp area (there are no spots) by 4:30 pm because the weather report said 100% chance at 5:00 the last time we had service. For once it held true and we stayed dry because of it.
This current situation and loving every minute of it got me thinking about one of the many reasons I love hunting and the outdoors in general, and that’s “type 2 fun”. If you haven’t heard of “type 2 fun” i'll tell you my version of it. It’s fun that not everyone’s built for. It’s fun that sometimes isn’t fun at all, until a day, a week, maybe a month later. Sometimes it’s actual pure misery that is only fun because there’s no escaping it but you have people to share that pure misery with in an awesome place. It’s doing things that the majority of the population would never even have on their radar. It’s pushing yourself through misery in order to further submerge yourself in nature and promptly get humbled in the process. I hope that paints a little bit of a picture of what “type 2 fun” means to me.
I guess, if I had to give examples of “type 1” fun I’d say going to a bar, playing video games, corn hole, darts, drinking, playing cards, etc. Let me go on record saying “type 1” fun is indeed fun, just a different type that usually doesn’t stem from activities that include sweat, misery, pain, the elements, wet sleeping bags, heavy packs, or viscous elevation changes. I will say I’m sure that “type 2” fun can be found in places other than the outdoors, but that’s my version.
I think “type 2” fun is more powerful and sincere. It gives you short and long term intangible benefits that stick with you in a more permanent way. It’ll make you think differently about yourself and what you can do. It forms stronger relationships when you share “type 2” fun with others because you know that they went through the same misery you did, took the same things away from it you did, and had an absolute blast doing it.
Now, my buddy Matt’s (who’s a cousin by marriage on Eric’s mom’s side) alarm is going off. It’s 7:30 pm. Eric (my first cousin, on my Dads side) mentioned something about dinner. The rain noises on my canopy have slowed to drips off the wet pine branches above. The river that’s keeping us hydrated for the day is a little louder and a calming slow fog rolled in between the high stem count pine forest. Eric mentioned “It definitely just dropped a solid 10 degrees at least”, and it feels fantastic. I’m still half wrapped in my sleeping bag, shirtless, without a single bug near me. That’s the other thing about “Type 2 fun”, in between the misery or physical exertion you’ll find the most memorable and surreal moments of your life. Moments that just don’t exist in everyday life.
I’m headed back to the moment. The moment that is chicken and dumpling mountain house with loaded instant mashed potatoes dumped in without getting out of my hammock at all. Is Mountain house with added mashed potatoes “type 2 fun”, or is it just an accessory to it? Either way, go find some “type 2 fun” with cool people. You won’t regret it. We should be at the peak tomorrow by 11:00 am and back to the truck by 7:00 pm. Not sure about total miles but there are people old and young making a day trip out of it. I’m thankful we didn’t go that route.