Cascade & Porter 7-19-14

After a weekend at my grandparents, I was able to take my little sister on her first hike in the Adirondacks. The quick hike of Cascade and Porter turned out to be perfect because it could be done in a half day. The overall hike would total 5.4 miles and bag two peaks. We parked along Route 73 and signed into the trail register around 1230. The hike starts by going gently uphill with some steep sections. Emma and I took plenty of breaks along the way up. Emma wanted to just keep going non-stop but I kept the pace reasonable (I think she was happy for this slower pace by the end of the hike). The trail up was not all that exciting. We came across several groups of people going up and down.

Cascade from Route 73

Emma on the way up the trail

Steeper trail section

First ledge we were able to get views from

Flat section near the trail junction

Emma next to the trail junction sign

Quick hike to either peak from here!

We reached the trail junction where the path to Porter breaks off. Porter was first on our list for the day. The trail to Porter dipped down and then climbed back up. We came across a very nice lookout before the summit of Porter that provided some amazing views. Several people were eating lunch on these rocks.

Great Range with Big Slide in the foreground from lookout on Porter

Algonquin from Porter lookout

Giant off in the distance

The summit of Porter was not far off. We reached it around 230 PM. There were more people with dogs on the summit. The time was perfect for lunch and we were hungry so we took a solid break here. 

Views from summit of Porter

Cascade from Porter

Sign marking summit of Porter

The quick .7 mile jaunt back to the trail junction was very quick and before we knew it, we were on the summit of Cascade. We took another break here. There were more people on this peak than Porter. A summit steward (teach people about the alpine vegetation and answer questions) came over and talked with us for a couple minutes. A young family even pulled out a kite and let it fly!

Sign on Cascade summit

Rock wall on our way up Cascade

Porter from Cascade

Giant from Cascade

Algonquin (right), Colden (middle), Marcy (left)

Great Range with Big Slide in the foreground

Summit disk marking Cascade's summit

Emma & I on Cascade

Path coming up Cascade

Great shot of multiple high peaks

Another angle of the exposed Cascade trail

The 1.7 mile trip back down to the car was quick. This time I set a fast pace and we were back to the car by 430. To celebrate Emma'a first two peaks and #6 & #7 for me, we got milkshakes at Stewarts in Keene.