ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS
- Nicole Bowman
- Jul 4
- 8 min read
GO BIG OR GO HOME!
Nicoles first time.. and what an epic adventure!
We showed up not knowing "the plan" and the plan was the hardest peaks strung together in one day!
LETS GOOO!
June 26 - June 28, 2026
Adirondacks #1 - Wilmington, NY
Our adventures usually take shape days and weeks before they actually happen. In this case, we got an invite from some of our Spartan friends weeks prior asking if we wanted to join them for a hiking weekend in the Adirondack Mountains.
I had joined this group for a few summits prior to this weekend - Whiteface, Cascades & Ampersand among them, so I knew this was a good group to adventure with and a great venue to hit.
Nicole had never ventured into this area before and was up for the adventure!
I call this a “Plug & Play” adventure as most of the plans were already laid out. One of our fellow adventurers had already selected the trailhead, the trails to traverse, the peaks to summit, and the accommodations so all we really had to do was show up ready to roll!
Day 1
We had to work at our day jobs on Friday morning, so we could not leave in time to meet the group that day to do the “Warm-up” hike which involved St. Regis Mountain (10.7kms, 548m gain).
So, we took our time and packed up the car with our food, clothes & gear. Nicole is always in charge of food because, well, it is always healthy and she knows what to bring for two active metabolisms that like to go, go, go!
With the car loaded, off we went headed for Wilmington, NY which is where the KOA cabin was located.
But not before a stop at the Dairy Barn in Kemptville for some ice cream!
It was a short 3hr drive. We were the only car going through the Border Crossing in Ogdensburg.
After some routine questions there, the rest of the drive was quite scenic.
We meandered through rural areas which were sprinkled with large farms and mennonite communities. Some places had their charm, and some left you wondering why people let their places go to crap.
Our goal was to arrive at 6, but got there an hour early.
The group had already returned from their warm up and were there reminiscing about their day and ruminating about their dinner plans.
We heated up our precooked food and munched it down, cleaned the dishes, went for a walk and unpacked so that we could properly pack our day pack for our Saturday adventure.
Last thing we want to do at 0400hrs was pack for our day!
While we were pre-cooking our Saturday morning breakfast, we were reminded that the hike would include approximately 32kms & about 2500m elevation gain and take about 12-13 hours to complete.
The excitement mounted at the re-hashing of the plan
and names like Haystack, Basin, Saddleback & Gothics were inspiring.
Early to bed, we needed sleep to recharge our batteries for what lay ahead.
Day 2
0330hrs wake up. Yawn!
In order to get parking at the Garden Trailhead where the day would begin, we needed to get there before 0500hrs.
So, after wolfing down our morning coffee, and breakfast, we jumped in the car. It was a 30min drive and we managed to arrive at 0502.
Too late! The lot was full.
So, we dropped off a sentry to watch over our bags while the rest of us travelled back to Keene Valley and walked the 2.5km uphill back up to the Garden Trailhead - Warm Up!
Our day had just extended by 5km.
The ritual:
first timers get to log the group details into the Trailhead Registry.
So, Nicole had the honours.
While she logged us in, the park steward at the trailhead asked us where we were going, if we had maps, and if we had headlamps in case the day took longer than expected.
As Spartan racers, we were indifferent to the mud warnings they were throwing at us…we were happy to go through the mud and not around, so as to preserve as much of the adjacent fauna as possible.
Embrace the mud!
And embrace the mud we did - much of the trails leading up to and between the Alpine sections of the summits were pretty muddy.
All was going well for the group who bounded up the elevation with relative ease until the Saddleback Cliffs. Everyone but me made the Saddleback summit look easy.
To me, the Cliffs felt like 90 degree vertical and I was free climbing where I really felt I needed ropes to avoid death.
After much encouragement from Nicole, I made it up…heart in my throat and feeling kinda wimpy while watching her amble around like a mountain goat.
The only thing that motivated me to push through my fear going forward, was the fear of having to go back. It was great to make it to the summit, and breathed easier when the descent was down the other side vs going back the way we came from.
There was one sketchy moment though when we met up with a fellow hiker, who was figuring a line to follow down a slippery rock face section.
It proved to be a puzzle for the group to solve.
Nicole, looking like a pro climber, scaled across a tricky section to show us the way.
Once down Saddleback, I declared that I wouldn’t be doing any more “Cliffs-style” ascents and that had pushed my limits for climbing without ropes.
Then we got to Gothics and all was going well until we got to the top of the “chains” section.
Essentially, there were chains to assist on some of the steep rock faces (wish they were there on the “Cliffs”).
Nicole is like “Just like the Slipwall” - which is a Spartan obstacle that I have done hundreds of times.
But, when I ran out of chains, my heart sank as I looked up to yet another steep rock face with NO CHAINS for the assist.
I watched as the group and some other climbers scaled up in bear crawl fashion.
It was not so much the climb that worried me as the descent back down the rock face.
So, with much humility, I sat there and wrestled with justifying my decision to not do that summit.
I wanted Nicole to enjoy the summit for her labours of getting this far, but she was so understanding (considering my ordeal at the cliffs), that she stayed with me. Awww.
We waited a bit, got eaten alive by black flies and made the decision to start the descent.
We left a little note at the top of the chain section to let our group know we were making our way down. Essentially it said, meet you at the parking lot, but… I was so slow on the descent that they caught up with us with about 10km left to go to the parking lot.
It was nice for Nicole & I to hike together prior to the regroup.
We cleared the rock face section and were met with what felt like a Tropical Rain Shower.
It soaked us,
but it was refreshing and kinda romantic.
Once regrouped, we made our way to Johns Brook Lodge. This was a great little respite with clean mountain water to drink, picnic tables, and lots of people who were on their own adventures.
After a quick break, we were all recharged for the final push to the car. It was such a welcoming sight and we were all happy to get back to the cabin around 2100hrs for a quick dinner, a hot shower and some much needed rest.
The 12 hour trek ended up being almost 15 hrs. What an epic day!
(Nicole's activity log doesn't account for the 2.5km walk up to the trail head)
This is the overview of the day:
The total loop distance for this specific Great Range route was approximately 29.45 kilometres with approximately 2,000 meters of elevation gain.
The individual leg distances along the trail are broken down below:
Garden Trailhead to Haystack Summit: 13.04 km (via the Phelps Trail and Shorey Short Cut)
Haystack Summit to Basin Summit: 2.57 km (backtracking down the Haystack spur and over to Basin)
Basin Summit to Saddleback Summit: 1.61 km (includes descending the steep Basin ledge and climbing the Saddleback cliffs)
Saddleback Summit to Gothics Summit: 1.61 km (descending Saddleback to the Ore Bed junction and climbing up Gothics)
Gothics Summit back to Garden Trailhead: 10.62 km (via the Ore Bed Brook Trail past Johns Brook Lodge)
Day 3
Despite being tired from the Day 2 journey, my internal alarm woke me up at 0530hrs.
My mind wanted me to get up, but my body won out. It pressed the mental snooze and I got another much needed hour of sleep.
Even then, it was odd but good to see Nicole sound asleep beside me. She is normally the early riser. Clearly, she needed the rest too.
Day 3 was all about moving at whatever pace we felt like.
With coffee, breakfast and clean clothes helping us to feel fresh, we plotted our next hike to the summit of Catamount Mountain.
It involved a relatively short hike of 6.5kms, but had about 500m gain with most of it occurring over a short 1.5km - steep indeed!
As we were signing in the registry, we saw a note on one of the pages that said "ridiculously steep. virtually unmarked.. not for the faint of heart"
We all got excited. We thought this is going to be so much fun! CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
The hike started out with a forest stroll and Nicole was chomping at the bit, and needed to run at stretches of the trail.
The rest of us plodded along wondering, When is the elevation going to start?
Well, it did, and we had to scramble up a few rock faces. There were also some pretty neat sections between narrow rocks as well.
It was redemption day for me as I scrambled up and across a few rock faces. I told the group that it was amazing what the proper grippy shoes could do for foot confidence. The hot sun had also dried out the rock, which made it extra grippy.
The summit actually happened quite quickly, and before we knew it, we were gazing upon
the surrounding peaks. We basked in the sun for several moments and took a few pics…very scenic.
Nicole & I were excited to do some downhill “bombing” so we thanked the group for the wonderful weekend and great friendships.
Of course, it wasn’t long before the rest of the group caught up to us because of how slow I go down rock faces. I thought I was going quickly, but they caught us nonetheless.
Once we cleared the Alpine section and were at the top of the forest trail, Nicole & I engaged “deer mode” where we relax our bodies and just let gravity take us through the twists and turns of the descent, and use the momentum to carry us along the flat sections.
Before long, we were at the parking lot. After a much needed drink, snack & cool down, we hopped into the car and saw the rest of the group emerge from the forest. Looked like they got some running in too!
After our final goodbyes, we pointed the car to Saranac Lake for some recovery time.
Along the route we had to stop at an ice cream stand called Teddy’s - the Hershey ice cream there was delicious.
Onward to Saranac Lake where we changed into our swimwear, lounged in the sun and enjoyed a dip in the cool water. Refreshing & rejuvenating!
Our final detour on our way home was in the town of Saranac where we downed some burgers and salads at Bitters & Bones, and hit a souvenir shop.
The remaining 2.5hr drive home was spent plotting when we could come back to the Adirondacks and tackle the rest of the 46ers.
Adventure Aweights!
©️Adventure Aweights
written by: Mike McDonald · designed & edited by: Nicole McDonald
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