Last hike of the season - Cascade and Porter

I took advantage of a day of summer weather on friday in an otherwise cold wet autumn that is due to get even colder and wetter with the approaching "frankenstorm".  I left home at the civilized hour of 7am and arrived at the Cascade/Porter trailhead on route 73 around 10:30. I made my way up the surprisingly wet trail and was soon at the split where I was reminded of how much snow falls in these mountains. As the following picture shows, a trail sign on a post that is 5-6 feet tall is almost buried by snow in the winter.




I opted first for the peace and quiet of Porter. It didn't look as I remembered it but then it has been a while and I think this is the first time I had been there on a clear non-winter day. Both of these peaks are high on the views vs effort scale. Porter is more wooded but there is enough of small ledge to easily see over the trees. After some quiet time in between groups I headed over to Cascade. There were less people there than I would have guessed on such a nice day. The views from Cascade are spectacular although I would recommend arriving either early morning or late afternoon so that you are not looking into the sun as well as at the view that ranges from Algonquin to Giant from west to east. After a quick descent I was back in my car and then back home by 7pm.

Fingers crossed that the coming storm takes it easy on the Adirondacks!

More pics from this hike.

Pics from a snowshoe hike in March.