my first two peaks

On October 2, 2007 I climbed Cascade and Porter with my husband and our golden retriever, shadow. I was encouraged by a friend to "try" a high peak after only climbing a few small, close to home mountains. Of course, Cascade is touted as a good one to "start" on. Funny how my experienced hiker friend knew that once I got a taste of Cascade, the idea of becoming a 46er would surely follow.

The day was a beautiful cloud free day in the Adirondacks. I actually had trouble sleeping the night before due to the anticipation of climbing a "real" mountain. I left my house for the two hour drive north and arrived at the trailhead shortly before 9:30am. I was on the summit of Cascade by noon. The climb was definitely nothing to sneeze at, however, the view was all that I had dreamt it would be. A little hazy, but incredible. The sign pointing to Porter showed that for another 1.7 miles I could double my number of peaks. What an accomplishment was my thought as I stood on Porter looking across at the view of Cascade. After a short rest, we descended and made it to the car by 4:00pm. I drove home feeling the good kind of tired. Not bad for my first two peaks. I knew right then that I would be back before the fall was over. My hiker friend describes me as having "the bug". Very true.