Over the summer I go hiking with my friends fairly often. One day I was invited to go on a hike with my friend in the Adirondacks. He said it was going to be an 8-9 hour hike and about 12 miles. I agreed and began to prep for my 6am wake-up the net day; Wednesday, May 18th.
6:00am came and I was just NOT ready to get up yet. I forced myself to go downstairs and make a pot of coffee for the house. I gathered my things, made food to bring with me for the day, and had my grandmother braid my hair. DONE. Met my friend at his house and he drove us the rest of he way to MT.Colden. We stopped at Stewarts so I could buy him food for the hike, all he got was a hamburger and a power bar.
We arrived at the base of the trail at 11:30am. I checked my bag to make sure everything was in order. My friend saw my headlamp, pointed, and made fun of me saying: “you do know we are going hiking, not mining for coal, right?”. After making sure everything was set to go, we signed into the trail and set off for our adventure. The weather was great! We had expected showers, but there was not a cloud in the sky, and the temperature was a nice luke warm starting out.
Our first break was at the dam to take pictures of the landscape. After a little while of walking again pockets of snow began to appear all over the mountain, and the hike began to increase in difficulty. We were climbing over boulders on an un-Godly incline. We eventually arrive at a clearing by a lake. All the trees were dead and the lake held a ominous dark color that oddly was rather peaceful after the self inflicted assault on my body earlier. I hadn’t noticed until I sat down that I was beginning to see my breath now.
We rested and took some more pictures, then began the climb yet again. The snow was much deeper now, it was about half way up my calf as I walked. Not too far from the lake is the false summit. To get here you are required to climb up a few mini ice walls but if you brave through it the view is way worth it!
Once we made it to the false summit we has to sit down for a few and eat our lunch. He ended up eating half of mine because what he got earlier was not enough to fill him. As we’re eating he took his shoes and socks off and began walking around. After maybe 45 mins I suggest moving on so we don’t have to walk in the dark and he said no, I want to take pictures. So, after 2.5 hours of throwing my strawberry off a cliff, he says he’s done. At this point I am hiding from the wind, laying in a ball behind a rock shivering ready to go home. It is now 5pm when we move onto the true summit. We then had to take even more photos, of corse. At this point I am getting shitsy about the time but ultimatly I got to the “fuck it” conclusion. We’re already this late, whats a few more moments now, right?
When he was done taking photos we began to descend the mountain. Thats when I discover he is afraid of heights. Oh did I mention he put his shoes back on? No? Well, he did. Anyway! We have to climb down ladders, mini cliffs and down a stream bed where we both almost wiped out multiple times. His fear however is slowing us down. Once we were out of the snow area the stream we were essentially crawling down was fully flowing down the mountain.
As we get out of the stream and are now walking down a regular trail the sun begins to set, meaning its around 8pm, and I’m pissed. We were supposed to be at the car by now and heading home. I kept quiet,turned on my headlamp, and kept walking. We are walking on boards bored into the face of a cliff over another lake. Looking up on either side of us is a huge mountain standing tall over us (including the summit we just climbed off of). It was so hauntingly beautiful to see from on-top of the blackened lake.
The darkness began to settle around us so he turned on his phones light, which only killed his battery. We now had no way to call for help if we truly needed to anymore. This is about the time we both officially ran out of water too. I tried to ask him about how far he thought we were and he barely responded, I took note but let it go. I tried talking to him some more, getting the same manner of response. I figured it was worth mentioning, “hey, do me a favor and just let me know if you start feeling funny or start feeling really hot ok?”. We could still see our breath and with the night fall it was only to get colder. He looked at me funny, blew it off, and kept walking.
We get past the lake and out of the swamp that followed into climbing over boulders. This is probably the worst part since I was only one with a light. Any second we risked falling into a crease, into the water running along the path, or slipping and injuring ourselves, or accidentally and unknowingly running into dangerous wild life. Since this was time consuming, strenuous, and we didn’t know what was instore for us ahead. I started thinking about how we were going to hydrate. We walk along a low stream most of the hike. I told him “next access we have to flowing water we’re stopping to fill up.”
After a little bit we come to a mini waterfall that runs right through the trail. I dug in my bag and pulled out my water purifying pellets and filled up our bottles. It takes 30 minutes to purify every liter of water you have. So I calculated roughly how fast we were hiking and where we would be in 30 minutes so we knew where to break to hydrate. We eventually make it to the specified landmark I had designated. I cheer and declare its break time! MY friend chimed in that the water tasted like shit. Meaning he drank it before the allotted time needed for the pellets to clean the water.
I noticed we had made it back to a sign in post we had passed already and I pointed it out to my friend excitedly, and he did not reciprocate the energy at all. So I ignored it and kept moving on. He asked to take a break so I agreed, until I heard the coyote calls across the stream next to us. We were siting for no even 5 minutes and I told him we had to go before they got any closer. That was the last break we had. It was about 4/5 miles to the car and we did that nonstop in the cold dark. I never felt more like iron man in my life.
I began to notice a light in the woods, but what WAS IT? …..A CAMPFIRE! This was the first time we saw any evidence of people in 9 hours. This was exciting stuff for me, but again my friend didn’t care, he just wanted to get home like me. So we kept walking until I started smelling amores and began exhaustively drooling like a wild girl emerging from the woods for the first time.
Thats when we made it back to the parking lot, and my friend asked for me food again. I reluctantly handed him my last remaining bag of food, then he asked me to drive for him. I shot him a dirty look and he just got into his car an ate the entire bag on me without a word.
I got into the passenger seat and attempted to sleep the two hour drive to his place. This proved to be very difficult because he was swearing all over the road into the mediums and off the road. I literally accepted in my head that I was going to be seriously hurt or killed in a car accident after everything I just went through to get out of the woods. I was so fatigued I just didn’t care as long as I could sleep for even just little bit. By the grace of God that didn’t happen and we made it. I got into my car and he thanked me for saving his life, I laughed and said goodnight. I hot home at 4am, and let me tell you, there has never been a sleep so sweet in my life.
Catherine Orozco 