2 down, 44 to go!

Our first trip to the Adirondacks was eventful!! I don't even know where to begin...

Wednesday night we packed, and it was pouring rain here in Rochester. That was a sign, but we didn't know that at the time. So we finished packing the car on Thursday morning and headed off at a decent hour. We stopped in Syracuse at the L.L. Bean outlet. We didn't really need anything there, but we can't resist that place! We ended up getting some socks (those came in very handy later!) and Stephanie got some of those explorer sandal thingys (ya know the ones, the sandals that kind of look like shoes).

Driving through the Adirondack park was beautiful! I had never been that far north in New York State and Stephanie hadn't been since she was younger. We marveled at the views and watched the looming clouds with apprehension. Nevertheless, we were excited to finally be in the Adirondacks; we'd been planning since well before the new year.

When we arrived at the campsite it was very windy. Setting up the tent was a challenge, but it presented many laughs. I don't think either of us knew our tent poles could bend in so many ways! It rained off and on, but we eventually got set up and huddled around the fire. Getting the fire lite in the extreme wind gusts was difficult, but somehow Stephanie did it. I went in the tent to put on every layer of clothing I could find & when I came out, it was blazing! The wood we picked up about a mile from the campgrounds was very dry! For dinner that night we had spaghetti and went to bed early in anticipation of the hikes of the next day.

Friday morning we woke early but snoozed later than we had hoped. In the end, we decided we could stay snoozing in the tent a little later in hopes of trails warming up. They did indeed! The 40 minute drive to the trail head took us through Saranac Lake and Lake Placid. It was awesome to drive through both towns, but I found myself most intrigued by all the "Olympic" signs. There were signs for Olympic training centers & signs directing traffic to various Olympic activities, such as the ski jump or hockey arena. It was really neat to see the effects left on the town almost 30 years later.

We arrived at the trail head around 10 am & we were ready to get out of the car! We signed in, did a quick stretch, and started our way up the mountain. The trail was muddy and steep for a long distance. For a good portion of the ascent, as my legs burned, it kept running through my mind that many 46ers had said Cascade was the easiest of the 46 high peaks. It was a pretty difficult climb for us. Once or twice on the ascent I wondered if the path every really ended. The trail was not smooth, it was rocky with large boulders placed just so to preserve the path. Where there were no boulders or rocks to walk on, there was mud or snow to trek through. At varying points along the trail, the path would flatten out, just enough to keep you going. We knew there was a "fake summit" on Cascade Mountain & when we reached it, we paused to look out. It was beautiful & I felt very accomplished. I threw my hands in the air & let out a yell; Stephanie just laughed at me. We continued the trek up the trail and eventually hit the fork in the path off to Porter Mountain. We passed the fork, knowing we'd take the quick detour on our decent to bag the other high peak. Once we passed the fork we knew the real summit was getting closer. Eventually we reached a clearing in the trees and saw the alpine summit ahead. We paused for a quick picture, then packed the camera away in order to climb some rocks, to the very (windy) top! Once at the actual summit we took some more pictures, then climbed down a bit to find a nice spot for lunch.

On the decent of Cascade we were flying. I was amazed at how much faster we could go on the way down. It was fun, we even cracked a few jokes, which was a nice change from all the panting. We quickly reached the Porter side trail and began High Peak #2. The Porter trail was more muddy and had more snow on the path than Cascade. We could tell there were no fresh foot prints in the snow and we were the first to walk the trail in a while. It was a steep decent, followed by a twisty climb back up to the other summit. Porter's summit was unmarked, so we had to consult our trail guides to confirm we had reached the summit. Porter provided a nice view of the Cascade peak we had just left. We headed back to the main trail to begin the complete decent back to the car. We cracked more jokes and wondered how we ever made it up the trail. On our decent it seemed longer than I remembered on the way up. It was fun to reflect on the hike on the way down, we each learned a lot about ourselves and each other.

Once we arrived back at the car around 5 o'clock, we took our boots off right away. Thanks to Stephanie's foresight, we had sandals waiting in the car. The car was warm and we enjoyed the drive home (back to the campsite) with the windows down.

Back at the campsite we got our fire going just before the rain started. We joked that it must have been a nice sunny day at the campsite while were gone. But, we were glad we spent the sunny day on the mountain. We sat in the rain, wrapped in all the clothing we had brought with us, marveling in our accomplished day. The rain and cold could not break out spirits, we were officially on our way to becoming 46ers!

Saturday was cold and rainy, so we headed back to see the sights in Lake Placid. We had a lovely day strolling along Main Street and visiting every shop we felt inclined to stop in. Around 3pm, the weather broke and the sun came out, we quickly jumped in the car and headed back to our campsite in hopes of enjoying some lazy sun at our site. But fate would have other plans! As we got closer and closer to our campsite, the clouds got darker and darker. The wind was bucking the car all over by the time we arrived, and our campsite was looking pretty beat up. We assessed the damaged and discovered our canopy was badly bent and the tent had been ripped. The portion of the tent which stakes to the ground had ripped loose and was flapping in the wind. We quickly decided to throw everything in the car and head home to a warm bed. Wouldn't ya know, as soon as we had the car all loaded, the wind calmed and the sun came out! Ahhhh... I sure love the Adirondacks! =)

Once we were in the car, Stephanie pointed out the Rochester was 5 hours away, but Albany was only 2 hours. Albany also presented more opportunities such as, spending time with Mama Nevins for Mother's Day, playing with Gabby (Stephanie's 4-year-old niece), and a basement where we could dry out all of our wet gear!

All in all, we had a fun adventure! However, I'm pretty sure next year we won't be taking any camping trips this early in May!!