Due to the harsh weather of mid-October in the Adirondacks, Troop 400's climb to Cascade and Porter Mountains was restricted to the Venture Patrol -- a group of Troop 400's most experienced campers. Scoutmaster Phil and ASM Luke were the designated adults for this trip, and Tom V, Lee S, Fred K, Andrew R, Tom P, and Mike S were the scouts in attendance.

After picking up Tom V from his dorm room at SUNY Canton, we arrived at the trailhead for Cascade Mtn and Porter Mtn long after dark on Friday. The night was extremely cold, but the body heat trapped inside our cars kept us hot and damp as we slept. When we woke up early the next morning, a light snow had covered everything in a thin white blanket, and temperatures were unquestionably below freezing. By the time we had finished cooking and eating our trailfood breakfast, however, the snow had melted, and a new snowfall had begun to pull our surroundings back toward winter. We set out from the small parking area on the side of the road, and traveled up the trail that led to both Porter and Cascade. Scoutmaster Phil started out ahead of the rest of the group, worried that we would overtake his pace in no time at all. As we all learned, one should never underestimate a Paul Smith's Graduate Adirondack Native Arborist, as we didn't gain site of SM Phil again until we reached the peak of Porter, where he had been waiting for nearly twenty minutes. Drifts of cloud repeatedly shrouded the small peak in fog, belying the truly amazing view that appeared to us moments upon arriving at the top. As we began to get cold, we bid our view of the Great Range goodbye, and set out along the short path to Cascade Mtn.

This peak was much larger, and completely bald. Giant rock faces protruded from the round peak, and provided a fun challenge to get to the top. Cascade was also much more populated, with over twenty people roaming the expansive bare spot at the summit. As we again began to freeze, Troop 400 headed down the mountain to our warm cars, awaiting us below.

The trip down seemed much longer than the journey upward, and when we reached our vehicles, we were exhausted. We took the short drive into Lake Placid, and rented two rooms at a hotel there. The remainder of the night was spent roaming Main Street for snowboarding shops, enjoying the Adirondack atmosphere between games of hacky sack, and eating ice cream. Of all our high peaks trips, this one was possibly the most successful. The experience level of our group, as well as our extensive planning, was largely responsible for the lack of complications associated with this trip.