Lake George 12ster
Self-Powered in One Day

By Bill Hoffman & Jake Stookey

Ad·ven·ture (ad’ven(t)SHər) – Engage in hazardous and exciting activity, especially the exploration of unknown territory. “They had adventured into the forest.”

At 1am on August 7, 2020, Tim Ela, Jake Stookey and Bill Hoffman, set out on an adventure over three years in the making. Many groups and individuals have completed the Lake George 12ster Challenge by climbing 12 of the most prominent mountain peaks in the area, some having completed the ‘ultra’ version of the challenge by doing all of the peaks in a 24-hour period, typically by driving to each trailhead. Tim came up with the idea of forgoing the driving portion and doing the ultra 12ster challenge completely self-powered by swimming across the lake using only what we carried with us on the 56-mile journey.

In the spring of 2019, the three of us planned an attempt at the self-powered 12ster. Jake packed a wetsuit and went for a run on the Tongue Mountain Range, bushwhacked down to the water’s edge, put on his wetsuit and made it less than five minutes in the icy water. We ended up opting to run to New York City from Bear Mountain instead that year, but that’s another story.

Between all of our races getting canceled due to Covid-19 and this year’s hot summer, the stars aligned and we were ready to give it a go. We performed a few practice swims in the middle of our runs including a swim across Lake George, and another run with a swim across the Hudson River near Moreau Lake State Park. The gear had been tested and the run/swim across Lake George had been proven possible, so the mission was clear to move forward.

Bill’s very kind and patient wife Naomi drove the team to the Buck Mountain trailhead for a 1am Saturday start. The idea would be to reach the swim around 7am avoiding heavy motor boat traffic.

With everything we would need for the long day on our backs we headed up the trail to summit Buck Mountain, which took an hour. The moon was out and the lights lined the lake shore like Christmas lights. We reached the top of the second peak, Sleeping Beauty, three hours into the trip. This summit lives up to its name even more so in the night with a beautiful view of the lake and the star-filled sky. After a few minutes enjoying the peak we moved on toward the next mountain, Erebus. Jake quipped, “What is an Erebus anyway?” None of us knew at the time, but it comes from Greek mythology representing the personification of darkness, born of Chaos or a place of darkness between earth and Hades. When we reached Erebus, the tree-covered peak was indeed very dark. 

Shortly after Erebus, Bill’s headlamp started to fade due to a dying battery, and he remembered that he had charged a spare one that was still sitting safely by his bed at home. However, the sun started to rise and light soon filled the forest. We made the peak of Black Mountain at 6am. Low clouds carpeted the rolling mountains. We enjoyed one of the trip’s best views of the lake, and the nearby Tongue Mountain Range, while we refueled with a hearty breakfast.

The trail to the lakeshore from Black is a steep and fun running trail. However, general confusion from a lack of sleep started to show up when Bill passed Tim without noticing. When Jake slowed down and said he was waiting for Tim, Bill was pretty sure Tim was way ahead - until Tim showed up from behind. Once we reached the waterline, only about 5K remained before the swim. After six hours of running over four mountains, this flat and easy 5K was harder than we anticipated. Along the way we encountered an unexpected gate with a “No Trespassing” sign, forcing us to get in the lake a little bit earlier than planned. We took a moment on shore to put the entire contents of our backpacks, including the backpack itself, into our packable floating swim buoys. We were all running in Luna sandals so there was no need to pack our shoes. In fact, they stayed on the whole day.

We skirted the shoreline to the closest point from the shore to Ranger Island. This is the longest segment of our swim and crosses an active boat lane. About halfway across, a DEC boat pulled up and said it was a good time for our swim since it was overcast and the boat traffic was low. Then he stumped us by asking, “Where are you at?” As in, “Where is your base camp?” We gave him blank stares, not knowing what to say as we mentally retrace our steps back to our nearest connection to anything, which would be our homes back in Clifton Park. Where are we at? We are here in the lake, three swimming hobos, our bindles floating behind us. After a few more questions and suggestions, he left us to finish our swim.

Jake and Bill, teeth chattering from the cold, scrambled desperately to shore at Ranger Island while Tim, the cold showerer, content as could be in the cool lake, claimed the water to be warmer than the air. As the group swam past Bouquet Island to Mohican Island, Bill’s calf muscle cramped up like it had been plugged into the wall. He had never before experienced his calf muscle get that rock hard, and assumed his adventure was over for the day, as the muscle was likely going to rip away from the bone. With a bit of mediation and relaxation he was able to coax his calf into unclenching.

From here it was a short swim to Turtle Island. Tim had plotted a masterful course touching the tip of each island, and entering Turtle at just the right spot to cross, and then swim to the Tongue Mountain Range. Once on Turtle Island, Tim obtained permission to cross a campsite from two guys breaking camp. They enjoyed hearing about our adventure and granted us passage. The last swim was short and we finally had made it! As the Doors would say “Break on through to the other side, yeah.”

OK, the hard part was over, all we had to do now was run an ultra-marathon over eight mountains. As we bushwhacked up the steep slope, we smelled the distinct odor of feces. “That’s bear poop,” declared Tim. Sure enough, as we kept walking, we soon saw massive mounds of bear scat. Around this time, Tim started to have trouble eating due to stomach issues. We proceeded along a trail we had run many times before, but never after running nearly a marathon, and swimming over a mile.

After climbing what felt like countless peaks, including the lean-to at Fifth Peak and Five-Mile Mountain, Tim’s stomach issues hadn’t subsided and the lack of fueling caught up with him so he wasn’t going to be able to continue. We arranged contingency plans (Naomi to the rescue) and Jake and Bill continued on, visiting the next two peaks, then hammering down the Tongue trail, super thankful to see the trail register come into view, signifying the end of this long and challenging section.

With only two peaks and 15 miles to go, we proceeded to run along busy NY Route 9N, and up the steep Bolton Landing-Riverbank Road. We started walking most of the uphills and running in short spurts, like “to the next telephone pole,” until we reached the trailhead to Cat and Thomas mountains.

Our optimism peaked as we cruised up the easy gravel road toward the top of Thomas. Then suddenly we took a wrong turn and confusion and chaos ensued just as darkness descended, eventually finding the top of Thomas (twice actually), and continuing along the very technical trail to Cat Mountain. Bill’s headlamp died and he borrowed Jake’s spare which wasn’t much better, so Bill spent the rest of the trip using the flashlight on his cell phone.

The trail to Cat seemed to be never ending. At the top we had a decision to make, take the shorter trail or the easier one. After so many miles of challenging terrain, we decided it would be much faster to bomb down an easy gravel road rather than face any more technical singletrack. Running down a smooth and easy hill was a great way to finish the run on a high note. Tim and Naomi were at the finish waiting for us. We stopped our watches after a total of nearly 22 hours, then enjoyed a celebratory beer and sandwich, before hopping in the car and making our way back home. After three years of planning, what a spectacular feeling of closure, knowing that the self-propelled 12ster is in fact possible!

What’s next? “Don’t worry I got a lot more ideas,” quipped Tim on the car ride home.

Bill Hoffman (bill.a.hoffman@gmail.com) started running 10 years ago and hasn't stopped. He’s completed 40 marathons and ultras including two Leadville 100s. He lives with his wife and two sons, 16 and 19, in Clifton Park. Bill’s working with Tim Ela to create Mountain Dog Running where they hope to host unique mountain races including Buck Mtn. 50K.

Jake Stookey (jakestookey@gmail.com) is a Clifton Park trail and road runner who enjoys foraging, bike rides, fishing, and anything that involves the potential for outdoor adventure. Visit his blog at jstookey.com.