Hannah the hiker

Back in August of 2019 I started my 46er journey on Mount Marcy and Skylight. Even though it was a rough start, I kept with it and finished all of the Adirondack High Peaks in June 2022. Now I am working on hiking them all over again, but in the winter. 

Winter hiking in the high peaks requires a little bit more planning and skills, but is worth all of the effort in my opinion. 

I hiked Giant and Big Slide last winter and enjoyed the added difficulty that ice and snow brings. 

And, not going to lie, it makes me feel pretty cool to be on top of the mountains with my ice ax in hand and spikes on my boots. 

Now that I have my new hiking buddy I want to take him out to the Adirondacks and see how he likes hiking, especially in the winter. 

So, I set out with Cash and a friend on December 10 to the Adirondacks! 

We camped at one of my favorite spots in the park, and I think Cash enjoyed sniffing around and exploring. At least I hope he did. It got down to about 16 degrees fahrenheit before we went to sleep. 

We got a somewhat late start on the 11th because I really wanted to sleep in. It was around 20 degrees fahrenheit when we set off for the trail. We hiked the Cascade Mountain Trail which led us to Porter and Cascade. From the parking spot you go down some stairs to the trail register. I signed in, which I recommend everyone do. It helps the park know how many people are visiting the trails, and in case something happens to you out there they have some identifying information to help rescue you. 

The trail is pretty easy to follow even though there are not a lot of trail markers. When I was hiking there were two streams still flowing with water and easy to rock hop across. The rocks on the trail for the first mile were easy to walk on without spikes. Around the 1 mile mark, though, we put spikes on to help with traction. There were a couple parts of the trail with thick sheets of ice on the rocks where spikes were helpful. All of it was easy to walk on, even for my dog. Sometimes he went off of the trail a little bit to escape the slippery ice, but he was able to navigate it all pretty easily. 

After about 2 miles you reach the trail junction. At the junction you are at about 3,800 feet in elevation. Going right will take you up to Porter, and going straight will bring you to Cascade. I always go up Porter first since it is kind of a long drag so I want to get it out of the way first. It is about .7 miles from the junction according to the sign at the junction. The trail to Porter was also pretty easy with the snow and ice. You go up and down quite a bit before reaching the summit. And don’t be fooled when you see a big rock in front of you on the trail. That isn’t the summit. You go to the right around the rock and keep going until you see signs about the Blueberry trail and that is the summit of Porter.

On the summit you stand at about 4,058 feet. You also have a great view of Cascade Mountain. It took about 1.5 hours to reach the summit. We took a couple of breaks along the way. Also, hiking with Cash was not the quickest since it took him a little while to begin navigating the trail on his own instead of following behind me. I had a snack at the top, drank some water, took some pictures and then we headed back to the junction. The way back was quicker than on the way in. I think because we knew how best to navigate some icy sections after already passing through. At the junction we continued on to Cascade which was a breeze. I thought that since the summit is so exposed there would be big slabs of ice. I was wrong, there was really only some snow and minimal ice. It sure was cold and windy up there though. Cash seemed to really like this part of the trail because the rock was so open he didn’t have to think much about where he was moving. The only tough spot for him was the ladder bringing you up part of the rock. He was apprehensive to go up but as soon as I went up he followed. It was snowing when we were at the top so we didn’t stay long. I wanted to take some nice pictures but my hands got cold quickly up there. It took us 28 minutes to reach the summit of Cascade from Porter. The summit of Cascade sits at 4,098 feet.

I wore my microspikes all the way to the car on the way down. I could have taken them off when we only had a mile left of the trail but they just helped me move quicker so I kept them on. Cash had to be lifted over one patch of ice on the way down. I carried him just so he didn’t jump on top of the ice and slide down the trail. 

We made it back to the car around 2:30. In total it took about 3.5 hours to walk 5.85 miles. Not too bad for Cash’s first hike, and a winter one at that! Also, I didn’t have any pain in my hip!

I wore my PCT trail runners for the whole hike and didn’t have any problems. I think with the snow and ice still being pretty minimal on these smaller hikes you can get by with a trail runner. If you’re going later in the winter on longer trails I would suggest a hiking boot, and maybe look for something waterproof since your feet can get cold quickly.

When I got home I had a surprise waiting for me too. My 46er certificate of completion arrived with my 46er patch. I’ve been waiting awhile for it so I was thrilled to see it when I got home.

What I brought:

• 50L backpack (just because it’s comfortable and I wanted to make sure I had room for extra clothes)

• 32 oz Platypus water bottle

• Sawyer squeeze

• First aid kit

• Swiss army knife

• Rope

• Altra trail runners

• Kahtoola Microspikes

• Wool mittens, beanie, and buff

• Wool baselayer/leggings

• Wool jacket

• Pufffy

• Rain jacket

• Rain pants

• 2 pairs of extra wool socks

• Hand warmers

• Map

• Compass

• Bathroom kit

• Cash’s sweater

• Dog bowl 

• 2 leashes

• Trekking pole

• Garmin inreach mini2

• Rechargeable battery

• Charging cords

• Headlamp

• Extra batteries for headlamp
  • Food!
  • Cash’s dog food and treats
  • Granola Bars

I didn’t eat much on this hike since it was only 5ish miles. I had lots of granola bars leftover. I don’t think more than a couple granola bars, fruit, and a sandwich are needed for this hike (for me at least.)