On October 8th, Troop 400's Venture Patrol headed up Route 81 toward Watertown, to climb Big Slide Mountain, one of the 46 Adirondack High Peaks. They left in two groups, with Wayne, Lee, and Fred heading out early, while the Slominskis, Andrew, and Tom stayed back to secure certain equipment issues necessary for the trip. The groups met up in Lake Placid, with the intention to rent a couple of rooms in a hotel overnight; however, there was some sort of sporting event going on in the town, so every single room was booked. We considered driving out of our way for a hotel, but decided it was best to press on and sleep in the cars once we reached our destination. After gassing up, we headed east toward Keene, and then south to Keene Valley and finally, The Garden.

Thanks to geographic boundary lines, The Garden (a parking lot at the trailhead for the Eastern Zone) was run by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; not the Adirondack Mountain Club. Except for a few procedural differences and no free parking for members, it didn't make much difference, and we awoke in the morning ready to take on the mountain.

We hiked out to a lean-to alongside John's Brook, which was coincidentally the best lean-to around, as well as the only vacant one. We had lucked out big time. We dropped our packs and started up Big Slide, with the initial intention of continuing past the summit and tackling Yard Mountain as well. Unfortunately, as the trail wore on, Scoutmaster Phil began to experience extreme pain in one of his knees, and the group was beginning to tire on the whole. This, coupled with the continuing threat of rain, convinced us to end our journey at the peak of Big Slide, and head back down to the lean-to. To expedite the trip down, some guys practiced their trail running skills, and sprinted their way to base camp. Later that evening, we took a trip to John's Brook Lodge, hoping to find some accomodations in the form of rehydration. John's Brook Lodge had this, however, most of us were under 21, and the good (though slightly Deliverence-esqe) folk had few non-alcoholic beverages for our consumption. It was a private party, and we returned to the lean-to, for a night of card games, midnight special-ops, and heavy sleep.