07/21/2026
When I summited my first Adirondack High Peak ten years ago, I was on fire, in my mid-40s, and newly divorced. Climbing mountains was a great way to channel all the energy coursing through my system. Since then, I’ve hiked 35 peaks over 4,000 feet tall (some more than once), which is a lot of mountains, a lot of miles, a lot of altitude, a lot of rocks.
I have eleven peaks left to climb to become a “46er,” but I had a more modest goal in mind this time, a beautiful place on earth that I walked right past last time as I headed for higher ground. As I pressed on past the cairn, I thought, this would be a great place to come back to someday. Bald Peak is spectacular, and a formidable hike in its own right - eight miles round trip, almost 3,000 feet elevation gain, including some steep rock faces to scramble up, and boasting all the benefits of a High Peak - great swaths of granite, expansive views of the endless Adirondack wilderness before us and Lake Champlain and Vermont’s Green Mountains at our backs. We found a spot protected from the gusty wind, took our boots off, and basked in the sunlight, eating cheese and crackers and fruit. This is perfection to me.
And not only that, the blueberries were ripe. Since we were taking a leisurely pace - no rushing up to bag Rocky Ridge, which isn’t that far as the raven flies, but for us two-leggeds, requires much up-and-downing (the heartbreak of the col!) - we stopped frequently to feast on the blueberries, small purple-black orbs, warmed by the sun… mountainside miracles.
I do hope I’ll get to Santanoni, Redfield, Panther, Seward, Marshall, Allen, Donaldson, Seymour, Emmons, Cliff, and Couchsachraga someday, but for now, I’m happy I got to stop and eat blueberries to my heart’s content on my way to a not-quite-so-high, but oh-so-beautiful wide open summit.
