Big Slide Mountain (on the right) seen from Mt. Marcy last winter
This weekend Ryan, Steven and I made a trip up to the Adirondacks to hike another of their 4000 footers. The weather and time constraints helped us narrow it down to Big Slide Mountain, which at 4,240 feet high ranks 27th on their list of 46. We drove up Saturday morning and by the time we got there and were on the trail it was about 4:30. We managed to catch some nice views as we climbed up the Brothers before it got dark and the stars shined brightly above us. For a couple more hours we hiked up by headlamp in the howling winds and 20 degree temps and eventually made camp at 3500 feet, just past the third and final Brother at the highest elevation you can legally camp in the High Peaks Wilderness. We were in bed by 9 and up again at six, and left our overnight gear at camp to climb up to the summit. We got there right around 8 and spent about half an hour in the bitter winds bundled up and taking in the amazing views from the top of the High Peaks Wilderness area and the Great Range, the Adirondacks version of NH's Presidential Range. After waiting for the clouds to clear we headed down, packed up camp and made good time back to the car, arriving at the lot at high noon. A quick lunch at what looked to be a dive but turned out to be a diamond in the rough for a good sandwich in the middle of nowhere. After that it was an easy four and half hours ride home.
It was a whirlwind trip, as they all seem to be when you have to drive that far for one night, but a great hike with a couple good lunches thrown in and it's always nice to have a few hours in the car to catch up on life with friends you don't see nearly as much as you'd like to. I even got 9 good hours of sleep! That's the short version of the trip, for a lot of pictures from the trip you can click here and see the rest of the story.
