Big Slide

8/9/2013 - High Peak #4

Only 6 days after bagging our first 3 High Peaks, Zak and I decided to make another run up to the Adirondacks on a quick overnight trip.  We left Buffalo on Friday morning at around 9 o'clock with the intention of racing up to hike Big Slide that afternoon. The entire car ride up was spent watching the clock and the rainclouds ahead and knowing that we might not be able to pull it off.  Arriving at The Garden parking lot at 2:30, we quickly changed into our hiking gear and set off on the trail to the summit of Big Slide via The Brothers.

We were rewarded with awesome views of the lower Great Range at the summit of the First Brother and stopped for a quick picture and drink.  As we continued on to the second two Brothers, we commented on how the hike was certainly not getting any easier.  Near the summit of the Third Brother, the terrain changed a bit to a more dense forest which greeted us with great smells of the Adirondacks after the hard rains that we followed across the state earlier that morning.

As we neared the summit, the trail opened up slightly giving us the most amazing view of the rock face for which Big Slide is named.  We paused there briefly, overlooking the slide and the certain death of a fall from the ledge on which we were standing, and took a great panoramic picture.

From this point we were only a short trek from the actual summit. When we made it to the summit, we took a short break to enjoy the accomplishment of completing our next High Peak and then promptly began to descend down the Slide Brook Trail as we knew we would most likely be losing daylight quickly.

As we hiked down, the hard rains that had passed through earlier in the day took their toll on on the trail.  The majority of our time was spent dodging wet or muddy areas and trying not to fall.  Several portions of this trail require crossing the Slide Brook which proved to be very difficult. With such hard rains the brook was rushing at a rapid pace to the point were we both were a bit nervous on several occasions.

Once at the bottom of the Slide Brook Trail, we connected with the John's Brook Lodge Trail and began to make our way back out to The Garden. From here we began to pass more people making their way in to John's Brook Lodge to camp. We knew that we were only an hour or so from the parking lot and began to feel more confident in making it out before dark.  After we reached the car, we raced to the campground to set up the tent and begin to prepare for our next hike the following morning: Dial and Nippletop.  Overall, we were very pleased that we decided to tackle Big Slide as a quick afternoon hike and thought that it provided great views for a moderate climb!

Weather: Hard rains early in the day made for some slow going in places, especially on the way back down the Slide Brook Trail. However, the rain stopped just as we began hiking and cleared enough for some great views along the way.

Hike Stats:
2:40     Left The Garden parking lot
5:10     Summit of Big Slide
7:30     Returned to The Garden parking lot

The Brothers Summit     2788 feet
Big Slide Summit            4240 feet