October 9th, 2021 was our next chance to get up to the Adirondacks and we chose to tackle the spectacular Big Slide Mountain. Big plans for starting later in the day. Dave had already hiked this mountain, he’ll share that as well, and was confident that we would be able to complete the hike today. So we headed up and got up to the Garden Parking Lot only to find a big LOT FULL sign. We took a chance and drove through, as luck would have it there was a car pulling out! Pro tip: even if the sign says full, take a drive through, you may get lucky (just make sure to walk back up and pay). We parked, paid for the lot, and got our gear ready.

We took the trail up the 3 Brothers and this trail is spectacular! The views just get better and better as you climb. While the climb is beautiful there isn’t much of a warm up. It just starts, and starts hard. Especially for someone doing just their 2d High Peak hike! As I mentioned in the Cascade & Porter post I was significantly unprepared for how difficult the hike would be. Big Slide was similar. The October cool air helped but man, was I huffing and puffing as we climbed up. I took frequent breaks and as we went on I began to wonder if we would have enough time in the day to make it.

Despite me gasping for air the trail itself is so much fun. Lots of fun rocks to climb. There was a section that I froze in fear and thought how am I supposed to get up there?!

With a little careful planning and some lift assist from Dave we were able to make it up. We continued up, hitting the First Brother at just about 3000 ft, the second just above 3000 ft, finally reaching the Third brother at 3721 ft, and we took yet another break. It was at this point we met a couple coming down from the summit and asked about how much further to the top (yes, we were those hikers) and they said about another mile. A MILE?! I thought. We took a minute to calculate how long it had taken us (really it was all me slowing us down but hey at least I was doing it!). We figured we could probably hit the summit before sunset, but that we would be walking out in the dark. The idea of the trip out in the dark didn’t bother me but the thought of down climbing those rocks was a bit too daunting for me. Dave didn’t mind either but since I was worried about it, he made the call to turn back. He reminded me, there is no reason to push it. The mountains are there, and will wait. There is always another day.

Once we made the decision to head back down, we stopped to grab a quick snack. I sat on a rock and watched Dave as he stood there taking in the view. He just stood there looking out into the beauty that was completely surrounding us. It was such a peaceful beauty that you could feel it. It was in this moment I got it. The feeling that you get when being atop these mountains reaches a part of you that brings out such inner peace. It’s intoxicating. In that moment, you feel powerful for making the climb, yet humbled that you are still so insignificant to the grandeur that’s all around you. I found myself feeling so blissfully happy. I looked around, I looked at the man I loved staring down into the valley with such a smile on his face. There were just no words to describe it. I started to cry. YES! I actually cried. The beauty and massive presence of it all just brought me to tears. It was that powerful. Of course, Dave turned around as I sniffled and gave a chuckle. One, because he just had to laugh at me, but also because he knew that I felt it. I was bit by the High Peaks bug and I loved it. I’ve now been infected with that craving of feeling this over and over again. I knew this was a journey that was now a part of me and was so excited for more.

We took a quick picture together and while it wasn’t a summit picture the failed attempt was a memorable one. Not all journeys end at the top. Some are moments where you find a new beginning! I knew that this was definitely going to be a journey and I was ready to take on all that it was going to bring. In the next few hikes, I learned how each day on these mountains is completely different. The mountains have their own personality and they all will welcome you differently (and some not at all). They present you with all you can handle and make no excuses for what you can’t.

After our quick selfie we began our trip out. Thankfully we were able to get down over the rocks that I was worried about before it got too dark. In fact, we made it down a majority of the mountain before we had to stop and put on our headlamps. We ended the night in the parking lot in complete darkness other than the light of our headlamps and a few lights in the front of the lot. We listened to the sounds of others as they completed their journey. We grabbed a well deserved dinner and drove out to South Meadow Rd to set up camp in the car for the night. This was going to be my first night car camping so we could do it all over again tomorrow! While I wasn’t able to claim a High Peak completion on this hike it was one that I will never forget. One that was seriously unexpected, seriously mind blowing, seriously spectacular.