There’s 2 more people on the Trek to becoming 46ers. We’ve only just begun but we’re in it for the long haul.
We were spending the weekend in Lake Placid due to a great deal on the High Peaks Resort. We booked the trip a few weeks ago and while the weather was great Friday and Sunday, rain was expected for Saturday afternoon. Despite that we decided to hike up some of the 46 High Peaks anyway. After all, we were staying at the High Peaks resort.
To start our journey on the 46er goal we climbed two peaks. We’ve climbed mountains before, Hunter mountain was the highest so far with an elevation of 4,040ft and that was last summer. We’ve now successfully summited 2 of the Adirondack High Peaks, increasing our highest mountain’s elevation to 4,098ft.
We took the Cascade/Porter mountain trail up from route 73 just east of the mt van hoevenburg recreation area and just west of the Cascade lakes (in case you’re trying to find it).
The trail goes steadily up for about 1.8miles where it Y’s. From there it’s .3 miles to the summit of Cascade with an ascent of a 292ft and .7 miles to the summit of Porter with an ascent of 270ft. While the rest of the Cascade trail was relatively easy, only a few hundred feet to summit Porter is a bit missleading. First you descend several hundred feet through what can only be considered a mud slide, then you cross a valley and travel back up the hundreds of feet you descended plus the original 270ft.
The top of Cascade Mountain felt more like the top of Mount Washingtain than the top of one of the smaller Adirondack High Peaks. Winds were constant at easily over 60mph with gusts probably topping 80mph. The wind caused the slight rain coming down to feel like your skin was getting sand blasted. Porter Mountain wasn’t quite as bad since it wasn’t as open, but the wind was still incredibly strong.
This isn’t the first mountain we’ve climbed and it won’t be the last, but it is the first one we’ve hiked up and down in the rain. Having the right gear is vital for hiking and we made use of some new equipment, our new Eddie Bauer RipPac jackets, for the first time this trip and it made our experience enjoyable despite the bad weather. They will certainly remain a staple in our hiking packs.
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