Hiking High Peaks in the Adirondacks feels like a Doctor Who quote “It’s like when you’re a kid. The first time they tell you that the world’s turning, and you just can’t quite believe it ’cause everything looks like it’s standing still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We’re falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world.”
It feels like clinging to the skin of a tiny little world. Only the world is huge and no amount of staring or pictures can make you understand it.
This weekend I added two more High Peaks on my way to all 46. These ones were Giant Mountain and Rocky Peak Ridge.
The hike took about 7 hours and it was perfect. The pain coming down was unbelievable and totally worth each excruciating step.
The rest of the weekend was full of visits to Adirondacks towns and breweries and ridiculous fun. Fun like going on a 1 mile hike even though we were exhausted and sore beyond belief, going to a creepy wax museum on whim and doing a u-turn on a busy road in Queensbury NY in order to go axe throwing. Also on a whim. Even though I had sore and aching knees, I felt like a kid again. I felt like I was hurtling through space. And it was wonderful.