The below text is an excerpt from my authored blog post “Hiking Mt. Marcy | The Adirondacks.” The blog post was originally featured on mountain-things.com.

We woke before the sun could rise on our cabin in Lewis, New York. The trailhead was a 45-minute drive, and I knew we’d need at least a half-hour to pack our bags, quickly smear cream cheese on cheap bagels, and pile into the wagon with our eyes still half-shut.

The parking lot at the Adirondack Loj (the starting point for the majority of the High Peaks’ trails) was filling up despite our early departure. Being a Saturday in the beginning of fall, I expected no less, but part of me still held out hope that the trails would be a little quieter. Oh well.

The trail of the day was Mt. Marcy via Hoevenberg. From everything I read, we needed to allow anywhere from 9-12 hours to finish this out and back trail, and so far we fell slightly behind schedule by the time we parked.

Mt Marcy is by no means a difficult mountain to ascend. There are no technical portions that require skills beyond basic bouldering and watching your footing. Any vertical upswings were met almost immediately with a few yards of steady grade. What made Mt Marcy’s trail so damn intense was its sheer length. We felt every bit of her 14 miles beneath our feet and within every muscle fiber of our legs.

The forest was so dense in some portions that any break of light in between the pines was blinding. The High Peaks in New York are known for their rocky trails, so breaks were frequent as we assessed our footing and caught up with Katie.

It was upon the ridgeline that I could finally grasp Mt. Marcy’s scale. Our group was almost level with Mt. Marcy’s sister mountains, and we still had a way to climb.

We marched up the summit at around 11:30 AM just in time for a chilly lunch and congratulatory hugs, but not before exalting in giddy laughter and whooping from our crew. With fellow hikers surrounding us, our celebration was brief. Mountain Etiquette 101 - we are all united in the summit’s peace.

When the destination is the journey itself, make sure you’re in good company; the rest is all noise. Without a doubt, we all agreed to “do this again sometime soon,” and made it our lifetime goal to complete all 46 High Peaks in the Adirondacks region. Let the journey begin.

Read the full blog post here.