2AmericansTravel: The Adirondacks

A few weeks ago, my family and I found ourselves stretching our comfort zones considerably as we ventured into the Adirondack mountains of New York. Dad is working on his list of 46ers - a list of 46 Adirondack mountains over 4,000 feet. Before going, we prepared the necessities, planned the route, and felt pretty confident in our choice of peaks to climb. However as these things often happen, our plan was immediately kicked to the curb as we staggered to the top of our first peak.

"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans." - John Lennon

Summit #1: Dix Mountain

A slip leading up to Relentless

The Adirondacks are a beautiful range of mountains that are not to be taken lightly. The peaks are gorgeous steep giants jutting into the blue. There is a stark contrast between these mountains and the mountains of Boone North Carolina - these are steep steep steep! Although the mountains are about 1,000 feet short of the peaks of North Carolina, the terrain is incredibly difficult. These mountains are prone to slips and many of the trails leading to the peaks go at an incredible angle straight up the slips. Our plan did not quite take this into account...

After our first night camping, we set out to do a 12 mile day. Our first peak was to be a little over 2 miles from our camp and we felt pretty stoked! The first mile was lovely, the path gently climbing over the hills at the base of Dix. Then a nice couple passed us on their way up and stopped for a chat. They kindly informed us that we were coming up on the most difficult portion of the trail called "Relentless." Boy did it live up to it's name! The mile long stretch of steep path was quite a mess, full of boulders, and irritating tree roots endeavoring to trip you up. If you played the 'Rose and thorn' game with my family after this trip, I am certain every one of us would have said that our thorn was Relentless. It was Sean and Jennifer's first backpacking trip ever - they were troopers! With each of us carrying a full 60 pound pack, I am not truly certain how we all mustered the strength and will to get to that summit. But the view, oh that view was well worth it to me.

Oh that view!

Dix is the 6th highest peak in the Adirondacks at 4,857 feet and the view stretches into the rolling valley bellow. Elk lake lies in the valley and glistens in the high sun. After taking a lunch break, we cut our hike short and trekked straight down the mountain to a close campsite. The decent was a blur of trees, rocks, and roots - at some points so steep we had to slide on our bottoms. Dad even managed to rip his pants while sliding down a boulder... whoops! In short this day was tough. At camp that night we revised our plan. Thanks to the awesomeness of our Uncle Steve, we were able to move the car around to the other side of the park without climbing back up and over Dix to get out of the woods. (Thanks Uncle Steve!!!)

Tacky camp tree decorated with headlamps, bear canisters, and hats.

The next few days we spent without a plan. Lounging around our campsite, dipping in the freezing cold creek, and doing a few hikes to a couple more summits. My favorite hike was up a goat trail to the top of South Dix. This hike is not well known by most, but it is a gently climbing path that follows a creek up through a fairy tale wood. It was quiet and muffled compared to the heavy traffic of some of the other trails. One night we even found a recently fallen pine branch and set it up in the middle of campsite and decorated it as a tacky Christmas tree.
I loved having no agenda but to return to a campfire each night.

Bridge at Lilian Brook Campsite (That water was COLD)

We now know from our mistakes, that the only way to summit these mountains is to camp at the base and leave those heavy packs behind! And those bear canisters are a pain and do NOT fit a liter of gorp per person. Ah well, next time we'll know. Dix was tough, but it will stand out in our memories as a grand adventure that we conquered! It's these tough moments and climbs that show you what you're made of. And it's the view at the top that makes all that pain worth it.