#summitcookie

The Adirondack Mountains are my favorite place to be. But I don’t know this yet, it’s my first time here. This is my second of what I would call “big girl hikes”, and I have no idea what I am in for. I’m unfamiliar with the routes, the stats, and am brand new to the area. I am just excited to be a part of it and I am here for all of it, whatever “it” is. There is a beauty to a day unplugged in the wilderness. A lack of vanity and distractions that is so incredibly grounding.

  For this adventure, we drove in in the dark. We woke at 3am, which is when I was told we were to hike the three mile route to Indian Head. For those of you that don’t know, Indian Head is the quintessential view of the Adirondacks. It is often the pictures you will see all over Instagram because it is truly breathtaking. But, I too don’t know this yet either. What I know is the cold, the dark and the fact that my head lamp was not working. So at around 4am, slow-going and not in the best of spirits, we made our way to Indian Head. The whole time on the way in, my hiking buddy was telling me he had wished I had seen the views on the drive up. By seeing those views, I would be more excited. The second we reached the summit I knew I was in for something incredible. My first view of my favorite place, was the sunrise over Ausable lake and flanked by some of the high peaks (one of which we were about to climb). I was hooked and I wanted more of it. For this day, that meant continuing from Indian Head to Sawteeth (my first of the 46 high peaks) and then on to Pyramid Peak (a sub-peak of Gothics).

As we made our way to Sawteeth, I was cold. My fingers were numb and the thought of higher elevation and colder temperatures didn’t seem possible. All I was thinking was, thank god for the luxury item handwarmers that we packed. As we walked and I started to regain feeling in my fingers, the nerves started to go away. The trails were thinner, rock scrambles were steeper, and there was more mud and ice than anything I had done up to this point. But that was all a part of the journey. The balance of fear, challenge and excitement is what makes it fun. Our ascent up Sawteeth left to a vista called “Marble Point.” I am so glad we decided to stop here. For anyone taking this route, I highly recommend it. Not only was this a much needed break, but it was also an incredible view of where we just came from on Indian Head and the Colden Range.  It was also here that we had our first meaningful trail encounter. I love trail encounters, they are some of my favorite moments on hikes. Each is so different and really can distinguish an experience. I also love to group people into buckets of their trail personality. This guy was what I would call a “budding enthusiast.” It’s also what I would classify my trail personality as. Someone who is not super experienced, but just so happy to be there. Experiencing it and taking it all in. I don’t think I will ever transition out of this phase, nor do I want to. I just can’t imagine ever losing the budding enthusiasm for it, experience aside. Each trail is different and each experience and what the trail has to give that day is unique, no matter how many times you’ve hiked it.  So, I can’t imagine ever considering myself “seasoned.” 

From Marble Point we hit the summit of Sawteeth.  Twice, because (on brand) we got lost and misidentified the true summit. We didn’t stay long. While Sawteeth was the high peak, Pyramid was going to be the biggest challenge. You could tell from looking at it how “spicy” it was going to be. It was one of the few times I looked at a mountain and thought "oh shit, I’m supposed to climb that.”  Just as it looked, the ascent up Pyramid was tough. I was very grateful for the last minute REI stop on the way so I could get a pair of spikes. I did not even know what spikes were at this point and was very doubtful there would be ice in October. I was convinced that I would regret the $50 I spent on them. Wrong I was, and very humbled. But all of it, every step, every challenge, every difficult moment was worth it.  There are no words adequate enough to describe the out of body experience of seeing the view from Pyramid Peak. Being on that mountain was life changing. Going into this day I was talking to my dad about changing careers and the idea that it might mean my world becomes smaller. But man, sitting on the top of that mountain looking at that view, at what we climbed to get there and whar was still left to climb, that notion couldn’t be more wrong. There is nothing bigger than this and it’s something so few people get to experience. So we sat there, for what will never be long enough and enjoyed the first summit cookie. Because the only thing better than a cookie, is a cookie on the summit of a mountain.