Well it happened. Snow in the high peaks.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, the Adirondack High Peaks are covered in snow most of the year. I’d just sworn to myself I’d never hike a high peak in the snow. But there I was, hiking Mount Colden in the snow, and it was beautiful. It was also cold and painful and heartbreaking and gorgeous. I can’t help but think how lucky I am, for the snow, for all of the Octobers that have come before without snow, for the colors in this world, for rocks and the memories they hold.
Leaving Saranac Lake after a long weekend with friends I kept thinking about the A.A. Milne quote “how lucky I am to have something that makes leaving so hard.”
If you want to do what I did:
Dress warmly. Temperatures drop 3-5 degrees every 1,000 feet. If they are calling for a high of 40, it’ll likely be around 20 degrees on top. Also windchill is a thing. Wear layers. Take the layers off so you don’t sweat and put them on when you get cold. Add warm water to your drinking supply, mine froze a little and it was unpleasant to drink.
I also recommend microspikes. These aren’t absolutely necessary this early in the season, you can get by without them, but they were also super helpful. These are the ones I got and they worked great.
We started at the Adirondack Loj and took the Avalanche Pass trail up. It’s steep but incredible beyond words. Colden is 12.8 miles and 4,712 feet high, we took the more gradual path down, past Arnold Lake.
