adirondacks.

by David

I took my first Manventure.

My brother Joe and brother-in-law Alex have talked for a while now about taking an epic outdoor adventure to test our mettle and grow our friendship. Alex recommended the Adirondack Park in upstate New York, a six million acre preserve punctuated by lakes, rivers, old-growth forests, wetlands, and forty two mountain peaks over 4,000 feet in elevation.

It’s the type of place that makes one, as John Muir put it, want to “throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence.”

Well, it was slightly more complicated than that. Alex, an ultra-marathon runner in his own right, told me to do the particular day hike he had in mind, I ought to be “marathon-ready.” I think we’d been using the word hike very differently.

On Thursday I flew to Philly, hopped in a car with Alex, and drove six hours to the park. Joe wasn’t able to join us. We bought supplies, packed our backpacks, and got a good night’s sleep. The next morning, we ventured onto the Great Range Trail. I’d run my first marathon two weeks prior but I can easily say the GRT was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

Interpretations of what exactly constitutes the GRT abound. We hiked the fullest definition possible. The trail is 11 different mountain peaks beginning with Rooster Comb, climaxing on Mt Marcy, and exiting through Keene Valley. Backpacker Magazine ranks it #3 on its list of America’s toughest day hikes. The trail is roughly 24 miles and took us 13.5 hours to complete. We began at 8:00 am, kept a grueling pace all day, and finished by headlamps at 9:30 that night.

It’s hard to describe. Nearly every step on the trail is either up or down, rarely flat, often over roots, rocks, scrambling on hands and feet, once in a while a ladder or rope thrown in. Each foot painstakingly earned up the side of each mountain is ultimately extorted by mother nature in a cruel form of accounting known as elevation change. Twenty thousand feet worth. That’s like walking up and down a flight of stairs a thousand times.

All said our time together was fantastic. It was great to get a lot of time with Alex, to marvel at such stupendous views of creation, and to come to the end of myself physically and keep pushing.

I’d do it again in a heartbeat.