Adirondacks

During the summer of 2019 I was working at a semiconductor factory and living in my van in upstate New York.

I got to spend a two weekends in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks.

Super Soaker and I did a somewhat disastrous overnight, losing the trail, bushwhacking for miles, only to find the trail again and take a wrong turn to end up on the completely wrong side of the park. All of this was during pouring rain. Once we figured out we had taken a wrong turn, we were hours off course and it was getting dark. Soaker announced he had forgotten his tent poles. After a few hours of soaking wet sleep, Soaker refused my offer to cram into my tarp and set off into the night with vague plans to find a trailhead and hitch back to the car.

I set off after him and somehow got a hitch back to the cars before him. Alarmed that I had not seen him along the way, I drove all the way back around, only to find no trace of him. Finally he showed back up at the cars and I had him and his ride over for lunch. John and I were both humbled as we listened to Joey tell tales of his hitchhiking out west and seeing 20 foot moose.

A few weeks later, undeterred by our initial trip, Soaker and I were back and this time joined by Kickstand who was fresh off his calendar year triple crown.

We made quick work of the Great Range Traverse and got a ride back to our cars. John was exhausted and went home, but Kickstand and I snuck in Giant and Rocky Peaks before calling it a weekend.

We had more success that weekend, but I was once again humbled by the slow terrain and the fickle weather. Is this what the AT is like?, I wondered to myself.

I didn’t appreciate it fully at the time, but it was a good summer in upstate New York. The Adirondacks are a beautiful and rugged range and I would be lucky to return someday! After hiking the AT in 2023, I now have a much deeper fondness for the mountains of the east.