After a 4 hour drive to NY, and another 2 hour drive to the trail head, we set off. Starting at Lost pond, we hiked a super easy mile to Lost pond shelter. We laid out our sleeping gear for the first night of many in the lush forests of New York.

If anyone is curious, this is the majority of the gear I used.

Very lucky to have a nice running stream near the shelter. After cooking breakfast and packing up camp, we set off for Hurricane Mountain.

On our approach to hurricane, we had a very interesting discussion. Noticing how on the (B)east coast, the paths up our tallest mountains are directly up. Out west, in the Sawtooths, Absarokas, and Sierras, the paths are switchbacks. Then followed the debate of which is better, and which trail type people prefer. Near the top of Hurricane, the side of the mountain is riddled with massive boulders of this size. I’m guessing these were caused by glaciers. On top of Hurricane, although the smallest of the mountains we will come to know, the view is nonetheless amazing. From the top of hurricane, we could see multiple mountains including Green, and Giant mountain, as well as East and South Dix. After some easy road hiking for a couple of miles, we came to roaring brook, where we camped that night. Seattle made some wild-bee friends. Ouch! The next morning, we packed up early and hiked up Owls head lookout. Spectacular views of where we will be going. After Owls head, we got back on the trail headed towards Giant Mountain shelter, Where we will stay for the night, then summit Giant the next morning. Arriving at Giant Shelter around 6, we made a quick dinner and went to sleep, preparing for the summit of Giant Mt. Nearing the summit of Giant, the views were just getting better and better. Needless to say, we were pretty stoked to be on top of the world on giant. From the summit, we could see where we were going, as well as the Giant Washbowl. USGS Marker on top of giant. On our way down, Beside the steep rocky paths of the ADK’s, were wonderful lookouts onto lakes, cliffs, and evergreen forests. During our camping time in the Keene Valley, we had some serious bear encounters. The first consisted off a small sow and 2 cubs rolling right up to our kitchen. After scaring her off we thought all was well. The next morning I awake to a slow, grunting outside of my tent. I peak under the rain-fly, only to see a 400 pound male bear ripping through someones bag. I instantly yell “BEAARRR”, as all 8 of us react. Throw on clothes and boots, grab bear spray, and start yelling and chasing this bear off. When we finally got it to leave, we prepared an early breakfast, and headed down to the trail-head about a mile for our resupply. After our resupply, we made our way past the Nubble, to the giant washbowl. One of the most gorgeous ponds I have ever seen. With a gentle breeze across the water, gentle, cool rays of sunshine beam down upon us as we make our way around. We took a short break, and soaked our sorry feet in the forgiving water of the washbowl. After the washbowl, as we near the end of our trip, we camp at round pond. We could also see where we came from, the taller peak of the two on the left, is giant. Full of leaches and quite dirty, not the best place to swim, but gorgeous still. I couldn’t help but include a sunrise picture of round pond. Breathtaking, the sun shines through the water as you can see the mountains reflection in contrast with the bottom of the shallow pond. After some difficulty finding a trail, we decided it would be more enjoyable to walk along massive rock slides turned streams and tributaries. After the navigator that day got us over 10 miles off course, and frankly, really lost. We managed to navigate another 13 miles back to our campsite for that night. Those extra miles were worth the turquoise water below smooth slabs turned slides. Despite it being icy cold, it was nice to encounter such a rewarding campsite. After spending a night at such a good campsite, the moral worked in our favor the next day, when we tagged East Dix, then South dix. Taking a break on south Dix, mid afternoon. After planning to camp in between the Dix mountains, we came to see that it was in fact a no camping zone. And so we made the 8 mile trek to slide brook shelter, which had some wonderful swimming as well as some beautiful white rock slabs. Our last night, was spent at the slide brook shelter, relaxing, laughing, and making the best of our last night out in the wilderness.

The next morning, we were picked up after a 2 mile night hike. We were brought an amazing breakfast of fresh fruit, yogurt, and cereal, needless to say we were craving some real food. Throughout this trip, we learned the necessities of life. All you need is basic living supplies. We also observed and had many discussions about the pace of front-country life, and how absurdly fast and blatantly, stupid it is. Out here, it feels so natural and good, basic, easy. Front-country problems, stress, work, money, and social life, seem to be diminished and nonexistent when you live so simply, when your only worry is what mountain you want to climb next, or what you want your next meal to be.