The Long Walk

[Peaks]

Well I thought I was going to hike the great range traverse in the adk mountains it’s a 25 mile hike 10 mountain peeks ending with the largest mountain in the high peaks region Mt. Marcy. I made it trough 6 of the 10 by noon and felt amazing but did not notice I was pushing too hard the water was pouring out as fast as I could get it in and it was quite hot wich reduced my appetite eventually causing me to hit zero energy at mountain #7, here is where the trip became quite rough as I payed there exhausted attempting to figure out what I was going to do as far as an exit I realized I had 3 choices go back to the other side of mountain #6 and a long exit trail would bring me to a road but mountain #6 had a very steep rock face (hardest of the mountains) with the little energy I had I did not trust myself. Option #2 was to Finnish the last 2 mountains accompanied by a long exit trail that would Finnish what I had started or take a trail back down the mountain I had just climbed and walk the river bed all the way back to near where I started. We’re talking about 9 miles of river Ed with boulders and not to mention there were multiple Boulder hopping river crossings honestly quite confusing considering I did not study that trail at all and the zero energy. Down the mountain and trough the river bed was my best choice I could calculate. I climbed down mountain #7 filtered a liter of water and sat down to rest and woke up :30 min later I didn’tintend on sleeping and I realized I was no longer fully in control. It has been a long time since Idecided to stop and calculate my exit 2 hours plus and when I planned I had talked to my gf who was picking me up and I foolishly told her I made critical errors but she was picking me up at the end of the river bed by the end of theconvo( “no set time, just wait, I’ll make it out”). I started this little adventure at about 5 am andnow The Long Dark creeping in a a steady pace and cell phone service is no longer a thing down in the valley of the river bed. I’m moving at a record slow pace taking an hour to move one mile give it take, frustration was my motivation I was so angry at myself for the mistakes made. I made it to the trail head at 11:30 at night with my girlfriend  telling me she was just about to go talk to the ranger about me 3 parking spots away. Out of everything that happens that possibility scared me the most I would have been so embarrassed. Tho my single day hike of 10 mountains and 25 miles was a fail I still hiked 25 total mountain miles and learned so much about myself it truly was a beautiful disaster

Edited May 22, 2021 by Peaks
Added pic of the mountain range from mountain #6 the Gothic mountains(not sure why it’s upside down)