After about 2-hrs, the Boys noticed 3 huge, backpacking men trailing them. They were celebrating a 60th birthday of one of them by spending the night in a lean-to on the opposite side of Putnam Pond. The size of their packs dwarfed even the largest pack the Knee ever carried. Their packs must have weighed at least 80-lbs!

Well... the Boys and their method were slow as they cut through 2-3 feet of snow drifts! The cargo wielding hunk of a man-train, with a steamrollering mission to get to their home-base, had become mildly (but respectfully) intolerant of the Boys' pace. The Paul Bunion of them offered, Hey guys, would you mind if we took the lead?

AXE, who had just rotated to lead-dog position was all grin with relief, No, not at all. Help yourselves!

The short version: After 1/10th of a mile, the cargo train of strong men agreed...Would you guys mind if we dropped back a bit? These packs are a bit heavy... the snow is kinda of deep...

OK. We're not dissin' these guys. They were all cool. They fit right in with the Boys! They hiked together until the Boys reached their lean-to for lunch at Little Rock Pond. After lunch, they hiked back to Larry's van over a nicely cut, almost paved-like path through an Adirondack winter-scape - in 1/3 the time!