Last Sunday we took our first trip to the Adirondacks to hike our first two 46ers.  We parked in a lot called “The Garden” and hiked a back way up to two popular peaks, Porter and Cascade, which could have been an easy 4.5-mile round trip hike, but we don’t do easy!  Our hike was 10, and utilized rough trails. 

While hiking up from the Garden, we hit Little Porter Mountain first (see the panorama photo).  From here to big Porter it was only a 2-mile hike, but those two miles hadn’t been maintained recently and it was a 2-mile uphill creekwalk through thick brush and heavy blowdown.  It took us nearly an hour and a half to do those two miles, but the view when we got to the top of Porter was breathtaking.  From there, it is a mile out to Cascade’s summit.  This part of the trail had HEAVY traffic and deep mud with some spots of ice and snow still holding on from the long Upstate New York winter.  When we got to Cascade (see the first photo) it really reminded me of hiking in the Whites for two reasons: being above treeline in an Alpine Zone and ALL THE PEOPLE!  The summit was incredibly crowded with more than 50 people, including small children, most of whom spoke French.  We enjoyed the sunshine and the views from here (third photo) and then headed back up and over Porter and Little Porter and back to our car at the Garden. 

For an 8-hour round-trip drive, the feeling of being in the woods and conquering mountains more than made up for it!  I can’t wait to get back out this weekend!