Hitchhiking is the Quickest Way Back
Climbing a high peak is always special. Seeing the wondrous landscape of the Adirondack Park not as a man on the ground, but as a bird in the sky. Angles only meant to be enjoyed by those willing to put in the work that it takes to climb the peak. A few weeks back two of my friends and I, Taylor Scheening ’23 and Ian Clark ’23, decided that it would be a great idea to go on a hike. Originally, they suggested some closer ones, but eventually we decided that a bit of a drive would be worth it.
So naturally, we decided that it would be an awesome idea to do a high peak. Then I found out that Ian Clark and Taylor Scheening had yet to do a high peak, which only made me more excited to return to the Adirondacks. We decided last minute that we wanted to hike Cascade Mountain which sits right outside of Lake Placid, since it is commonly hiked and considered to be one of the easier hikes you can do.
Our morning started before the sun came up, at 6:30 a.m. we hit the road and got ready for the two hour trip from St. Lawrence University to Cascade Mountain. We stopped at Stewart’s in Potsdam to fuel up on gas and grab some breakfast in the morning. Little did we know, that the decision to eat would lead to us stopping to use the rest room in Lake Placid. Let’s just say those breakfast sandwiches from Stewart’s went right through us. So, we stopped at the only reasonable place to in Placid, the Olympic Museum. Taylor Scheening and I were thrilled to go number two at such a significant location, but Ian Clark would go on to spend the next 20 minutes after our detour complaining about the stop.
Just outside of Placid we lost cell reception, which of course was not a surprise, but still a major inconvenience. This led to us driving right past the trailhead conveniently located on Cascade Road. We kept down the road past two construction sites and eventually found an open parking lot, little did we know that this was the parking lot for Pitchoff Mountain. We all decided that we had come to hike a high peak, and not yet knowing where the trailhead was for Cascade, we set down the road looking for it.
Hugging the side of the road and trying to fight through the embarrassment of walking we would eventually stumble upon the trailhead a mere 45 minutes later. Only problem was that Taylor Scheening and I had to go to the bathroom again, and worse there was no toilet paper in the porta-potties. Leaves it was. The actual hike up the mountain itself went without a hitch. We started around 10:30 a.m. and got to the summit around noon. The view was immaculate, you could see the tallest peak of all, Mt. Marcy, directly in front of you, and best of all it was a comfortable 67 degrees at the top.
The descent down also went smoothly without any trouble, the only worry on our mind was the two and a half mile walk from Cascade to Pitchoff and unfortunately once again Taylor had to use the bathroom. Getting to the bottom around 1:45 p.m. we decided to start the walk down the road with no rest because we all decided that we wanted to get back on campus ASAP. After walking for about ten minutes, we heard someone drive by blasting “Dancing in the Moonlight” by King Harvest which boosted all of our moods, only for him to slam on his brakes and yell out the window “do you guys need a ride?” Yes, the answer was yes. This dude turned a forty minute cooldown into a five minute ride with the windows down listening to some good tunes. If by some chance you’re reading this, guy who picked us up, thank you for not murdering us, and thank you for the ride!
If anything came out of this trip, it was a couple of Adirondack lessons. First, don’t forget to download the map so that way your navigation wont land you two miles down the road. Second don’t eat the sandwiches from Stewart’s if there isn’t a bathroom readily available. Third, hitchhiking isn’t always going to lead to certain death. Finally, last but not least, gaff filled trips are most certainly always better when you and your friends make fun of each other for the two hour ride home.