September 11, 2001 was a horrible day. Many of us, myself included, have ties directly to NYC and have stories about that day and the weeks that followed. I personally was fortunate to not have lost anyone, but I know people that did. With this year being the 25th anniversary of the towers falling, a hiking friend of mine, Pamela Chiani, saw what the New Hampshire people were doing in the White mountains, and she organized the Adirondack hiking community to come together and raise flags on the 46 high peaks at 11 AM. I cannot thank her enough, she did an amazing job organizing it, and deserves a huge thank you from all of us that participated.
I decided to join Pamela in her event a little late in the process, in large part because of my personal connections to the disaster and how painful some of those memories are. If it wasn't for another hiking friend who was going to finish his 46 on the hike, I probably would have gone to work instead. As luck would have it, my friend's finisher was going to be Marcy, and that is the peak Pamela was hiking, so I joined that group.
When I got to ADK Loj, there was a buzz in the lot. People were in a very upbeat mood, and there were many groups starting for the more interior peaks when we were. It was obvious that we all were coming together for something special. The hike in really went by in a blur. Our pace was excellent, but that's not surprising considering the trail in is in pretty good shape and not really horribly steep until you get towards the end. It was the typical conditions for the trail, mud in many spots, and as we got past Indian Falls, running water on the trail. We had rain a couple days earlier, but the mountain was still draining. In the end, we got to the top in 4 hours and 9 minutes. That is one hell of a pace to get up, but with 3 experienced hikers in good shape, it felt like nothing.
We got to the top with about 15 minutes to spare. The wind was ripping. I felt like I was on Wright peak where it's always windy. We all had trouble standing. My hiking companions were smart to put on a layer at tree line. I waited until I got to the top and struggled to get the layer on... even my glove almost flew away. I also could feel the wind taking my trekking poles as I hiked. How would we raise this flag???
When we got to the top, we celebrated the completion of the 46 with a sign and patch.... done hastily in as sheltered an area as we could. Pictures, videos, and calls to his mother that he completed. Big congrats to Hiram for accomplishing this feat, and I was proud to be there for the finish and to present him with the patch.
The time came and we all held on to the flag so it wouldn't blow away. It was a struggle to hold the 3'x5' flag in that wind. We did it though. It was only a few minutes and people took pictures of us. We then got down because it was just too windy, took shelter and kept looking at the other peaks. We did see the folks on Skylight, but they were the only ones we could see. All the other bald peaks did something similar to what we did, only a few minutes, because the wind was just too much. Others that had trees to help them raised the flag on a pole and anchored it to the trees and were able to fly it for longer.
We were up there about an hour, and we decided to raise it again by the first ascent plaque, then we folded it up and headed down. As is typical, the hike out went by quickly, and we were at the cars before we knew it. Hiram's mother and stepfather were waiting for him, and they celebrated his finish.... the peak doesn't technically count until you get back to your car under your own power, and we threatened (jokingly) him that even if he broke his foot, we'd bandage him up and help him walk out so we didn't have to take the patch back.
Overall, it was an amazing day. It's always great to see the hiking community come together for such an event. The hikers here in the Adirondacks are some of the best people I've had the pleasure to meet.