Vacation time! On August 14th, Martin and I packed our luggage and camping gear to head out on our first camping trip to the Adirondack Mountains in Wilmington, New York (close to Lake Placid).
We decided to come here based on a recommendation from Martin's friends, Michal and Liz. The only problem was that we didn’t yet have a tent or a sleeping pad, but Martin placed an order on Amazon and within a few days (the evening before we were planning on leaving) our budget-friendly tent arrived!
We used luggage to pack our gear and everything we would need for our 3 night/4day camping trip! The plan was to pack as much as we could the evening before until we couldn’t anymore, and then wake up bright and early the next day to finish what we didn’t get to. Most helpful to our packing was that a few days before we created a packing list together to ensure we brought everything we needed! The weather was forcasted to be cloudy and rainy, so we packed for both rain and sunshine.
On the day of departure, we woke up early and left the apartment around 8AM! Our commute to Newark Airport in NJ to pick up the rental care took a few hours, and by the time we got there, it was just past 11AM. Although we were exhausted from traveling all the way to Newark Airport, to pick up the rental car (Hiundai Tucson SUV) and get on the road! The price? Just something over $600 + tolls (!).
We started off with 11,012 miles on the car.
We set up our trusty Sygic navigation system to take us on the road! Fun fact - Sygic was made in Slovakia.
Bye bye NYC, see ya in a few days!
We drove for a good hour before stopping to get lunch. At his point, we were both famished and ready for our first meal. Still in New Jersey, we ordered hearty burgers with gluten-free buns! But before we got on the freeway again, we wanted to stop by a grocery store to pick up some food for our camping trip.
We ended up stopping at a grocery store called ACME. Funny story is that we googled the place before going and the website and google maps said it was ‘closed.’ But when we drove by it, we saw a lot of cars in the parking lot out front, so decided to drive closer past the front door to see if it was really open or not. To our surprise, it was open!
We loaded up on lots of foods that didn’t need to be refrigerated and that were easy to store at room temperature and to eat while camping/hiking. These included: Cliff bars, candy bars, peanut butter, gluten-free crackers, cheese, pepperoni, almond milk, oatmeal, water, butter, canned soup, granola bars, and bananas. Our grocery total came out to $92, but this lasted us for our breakfast and lunch throughout the whole camping trip, and we ended up using almost everything (we took home the two cans of soup and left over candy bars). We did a great job at shopping for exactly what we needed and consuming everything without creating a ton of waste!
We got back on the road and the next stop was ain Saratoga Springs when we stopped at Eastern Mountain Sports and Five Guys for dinner. We picked up a map and then we got bunless burger (hello gluten-sensitive stomachs) that were wrapped in lettuce!
We needed all the fat and protein we could get as we prepared to enter the last part of our driving up to the Adirondack Mountains. Martin called the campsite while we were at dinner and let our campsite know that we were on our way and aiming to get there before they closed at 9PM. We asked what would happen if we came after 9PM and they basically said they are closed and wouldn’t be able to help us. So, we kicked our butts into high gear, gobbled down the rest of our burgers, and got back on the road!
After a couple more hours of driving, we finally arrived to our campsite called the North Pole! The campsite was very family-friendly and adorned with all things Christmas! I wish we would have taken a picture, since it was just so cute and charming. It felt like the campsite was so cozy with the holiday spirit. We arrived around 8pm with an hour to spare! The sun was just setting, so we had to use our phones and Martin’s headlamp to set up our tent and sleeping bags.
I actually didn’t have a sleeping bag. We found an extra sleeping bag in the basement/trash area of Martin’s apartment and threw it in the washer before the trip. It seemed functional but it was certainly not made for cold weather, unlike Martin’s Mammut sleeping bag. Since I tend to get cold at night, Martin let me use his sleeping bag, and boy was I grateful to have the warm and fluffy sleeping bag.
Friday Morning (Day 1): Good morning, North Pole! There was a short thunderstorm during the night but we were happy to see that there was no water leakage inside the tent! It held up well and passed the test!
We had a great night’s rest and was excited for breakfast! I was looking forward to getting up and started on our first hike!
Martin and I shared a big serving of oatmeal with almond milk for breakfast and ate it with my green spork! I was super hungry and also ate a peanut butter sandwich with gluten-free white bread. I knew I would need all the energy I could get before our big 5-hour plus hike to Cascade Mountain (apparently the easiest and shortest hike of the 46ers available).
To our luck, it ended up being sunny and beautiful on our hike, but it was moist, dense, and sometimes dark inside the tick of the forest. It was absolutely breathtaking! Martin and I kept saying how it reminded us of something we would see in the Lord of the Rings. We were grateful for the cool, non-humid air since it was such a change from the hot, humid weather in NYC.
Panoramic view from the top of Cascade Mountain (4,098 ft / 1,249 m). Beautiful, right?!
We were basically in the clouds and were lucky enough that the sun came out and burned the clouds away so we could make out other mountains/lakes in the distance.
Happy that we made it to the top! I was exhausted and ready to hike down, but before going all the way down we made a small detour and hiked to the neighboring mountain - Porter Mountain (4,068 ft / 1,240 m). The hike was short (about an hour round trip) but also quite steep going down and up.
At this point, I was already exhausted and the detour really took all of the energy out of me! I am happy to report that we made it down safely, with only a small incident when I fell and hit my elbow on the floor. The impact made a small cut and only a little bit of blood came out where the surface of the skin broke.
After hiking we went directly to Mirror Lake to go for a quick swim in the lake. We were excited to jump in the fresh water after a long day of hiking! The water was cold to touch but felt good after we got in and started moving around.
After swimming, we were hungry and ready to sit down for our first hot meal. We went to a local place in Wilmington and grabbed burgers with fries and a salad.
On our way home, we stopped at the side of the road and pick up firewood to make a small fire at our campsite. We stopped by a motel that had a rack of wood for sale for $5. We were told that the wood was sold by the honor system and were instructed to put our money inside of a locked box and then take the wood we needed. Interesting fact was that the motel was apparently run by the chief of the town’s police department.
After we arrived back at the North Pole, we went back to our campsite hoping that the office would have a small axe that we could use to chop up the wood into smaller pieces. They didn’t. We had matches, but didn’t have paper or lighter fluid to start/sustain the fire long enough for the larger wood pieces to catch on and burn. We didn't want to buy an axe, so we decided to ask our neighbors if they had a small axe we could borrow.
It turned out that we had very friendly and kind neighbors from Quebec who came over and gave us a very generous amount of lighter fluid and dry piece of wood that they brought from Canada (and apparently use for their fireplace to heat up their home). We gladly accepted their help and after an hour of trying to get it to start, our neighbors retired to their campsite and left Martin and I to figure it out. I went to take a shower, and Martin powered through and was successful in starting up the fire! It was a beautiful fire and he worked very hard to get it up and going with the limited resources he had. It was quite a feat!
Saturday Morning (Day 2): The next day we woke up and were excited to go hiking up Hurricane Mountain. The previous day, a park volunteer told us that the mountain had some of the best views of all the hikes, so we decided to give it a go! However, since this was our last full day camping, Martin had the idea to first visit Whiteface Mountain Memorial Highway. We were up early and the sun was shining so it was a perfect opportunity to visit Whiteface Mountain since it is usually packed later in the afternoon on the weekends.
As we were driving up, the cars in front of us pulled over to the viewpoint areas to take pictures, so we moved to first place and ended up being the first there! The drive up Whiteface Mountain was absolutely breathtaking. I remember looking at the trees and the flowers on the side of the road and thinking about just how beautiful they were! We got there at 8:45AM and were the first visitors to arrive on the summit!
We still had a long elevator ride up to go until we went to the very top of the mountain where we would literally be inside of the clouds.
We made it to the top of Whiteface Mountain (4,867 ft / 1,483 m) !
Before heading to Hurricane Mountain for our hike, we wanted to stop by a cafe and get an espresso/Americano. Since we stopped drinking caffeine regularly, it was a special treat for us. Comparable to Xmas or a graduation ceremony.
We found the cutest cafe on the side of the road called A.D.K. Market in Keene (ADK stands for the Adirondack Mountain Club). I got an Americano and Martin got an espresso, and we grabbed two beef jerkys for the road since we needed all the protein we could get.
We arrived at the base of Hurricane Mountain, parked SUV nicely near the road and we ate some lunch! We put our clothes on the grassy side of the road to let them air dry in the sun, and ate a small but filling picnic lunch next to our car.
The hike up Hurricaine Mountain (3,678 ft / 1,121 m) was my favorite because of the changing plants and terrain. The hike took several hours in total and consisted of some flat parts and some uphill climbs. The view was worth it!
Our NYU Langone Health Radiology Department hoodies strike again!
At the top, we spoke with a steward from the park, who was stationed there to help hikers. The steward apparently hikes there every morning as a part of their job. We were impressed that the park had such an active role in making efforts to help hikers and protect the nature.
Our hike down was long and hard on the knees, and at the end of the hike it started raining. Nice and fresh rain! We swam in the Mirror Lake again, this time we were the only ones in the water. Apparently people prefer stay out of the lake when it rains and when thunderstorms are coming.
For our last evening in Adirondacks, we ventured to the cute and cozy town of Lake Placid. We found a restaurant called "The Great Adirondack Brewing Co. and Great Adirondack Steak and Seafood Co.". We had a delicious steak and burger! We were protein hungry and craving all the meat.
After dinner we went back to the campsite, parked the car, and walked to a local bar and restaurant called Pourman's Taphouse in Wilmington (the same place we had dinner yesterday) and had a beer. I had a Stella and Martin had the local beer. We sat on a rock and talked until the moon peered out from behind the clouds. Then we walked back to our camp, quickly got ready for bed, and called it a night.
Sunday Morning (Day 3): The last day. When Martin checked out at the office, he came back to the car with this little fella:
Otto is the sweetest little souvenir from the trip. And he fit perfectly in the cup holder!
On our drive back home, we stopped by a small town called Lake Luzerne and had the most delicious lunch with a river view at the Up River Cafe. Martin had his first root beer float! We packed our things in the parking lot and continued on the road.
The rest of the drive was good but we needed to stop for coffee from Starbucks to make it home. We also pulled over for a short nap since it felt like all of the blood from our brains went straight to our bellies to digest our lunch.
We started off with 11,012 miles on the car and ended with 11,722, which means we travelled a total of 710 miles (1,142.6 km) for our trip! We made it safely to Newark Airport and thanks to NJ Transit, we waited only more than an hour for a train to Penn Station. We came quite late but fell asleep happy after our adventures in the Adirondacks.
Written by Mia & Martin, edited by Martin
Bonus video: Clouds on the Whiteface Mountain
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