LOCALadk Magazine
Issue link: https://localadkmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1522931
LOCALadk 44 It's a cool, late summer morning in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York. The air is crisp and the colors on the trees are just starting to change from their summertime green, to a collage of early fall reds, oranges, and yellows. The three of us — my sisters Karen, Kathy and I — cinch up our packs and tighten the laces on our hiking boots. Today's hike isn't quite like any of the countless others we'd gone on before. It's more purposeful. We need this hike to prove to ourselves that we still have it in us to, as Adirondack hiking enthusiasts are known to say, "bag a peak." But we also need the hike for something else, something cast in a brighter and more introspective light. And that is to honor our father who died just a few months ago. Dad introduced us to hiking these mountains decades ago, when we were just kids, and we've been carrying on the tradition ever since. Karen and I are headed to the top of Whiteface Mountain. Whiteface has a special significance to Karen because it's one of the most iconic of all the Adirondack Mountains. It towers majestically like a beacon over the north end of Lake Placid, and it was the site of the 1980 Olympic alpine ski events. She's chosen Whiteface for what she believes will most likely be the last mountain that she'll climb in this, the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks. She's been battling back issues and has trained hard to prepare for this day. She puts on her hat, our dad's old bucket hat that she's borrowed for the hike. She's eager and ready. Kathy, having already climbed Whiteface years ago with her kids, my nephew Alex and my niece Abby, is destined for Mt. Esther, the northernmost peak in the High Peaks region. Kathy will hike with Karen and me part of the way up the steep, rocky trail toward White- face, and then she'll veer off to a side trail to the north that leads to Mt. Esther's tree-bound summit. The trials of daily life haven't afforded Kathy the time or opportunity to log as many training miles for today's A Purposeful Hike Article By Pete LeRoy