By Isabella Baker '26

ADIRONDACK, NY— I have always said that people are what help make an experience memorable, and I was blessed to have six people make my first trip to the Adirondack Region of New York unforgettable! This summer, I went on the Wilderness Trip that occurs every summer through Mount Union for nine days. There were about 20 of us and we were split into three groups with an adult leader and a student leader.

I remember the professor (the one who started it all) saying to us that we would all come out best friends. I thought to myself, “How so when we’re only going to be together for nine days?” Oh, how wrong I was.

Before we began our hiking experience, many of us spent our first night at a small beach near our campsite, where I took the time to talk with two of the group leaders. The beach was stunning and had semi-ripply, gray-ish blue water with sand as fine as powder.

We reached our starting destination on Cranberry Lake as rain was just stopping, leaving only a few drops here and there. The hike to our lean-to at High Falls was six miles. I was excited to get started once we got there, and, looking at the landscape, everything blended together: the trees, dirt, roots, you name it, it all felt the same.

After our estimated six-mile hike on day four, we made it to our campsite, took fun sunset photos, and had a lot of laughs. Nights like those with people you barely know yet feel so comfortable around make you feel like life is worth living. It made me so happy that I went on this trip. I felt free, and no time was attached to me.

In terms of the hikes, we first went up Cat Mountain, one of the baby peaks, which was a 2.5-mile trek, and towards the end of the hike, I got a taste of the mountain and how steep it seemed. It was all worth it, though, when we reached the top where the trees opened up to a vast blue sky on top of a ledge where a satellite was placed to the right.

We also hiked up Marcy Dam, Wright, Algonquin, and Iroquois. Marcy Dam took us to our next lean-to, which was one of the nicer ones we stayed in. Getting to the junction of Wright and Algonquin made me realize I was out of shape, because it took us five miles to reach it, and I was wheezing going up the ledges and rocks. These were five excruciating miles as I was in pain, but we made it up Wright Peak, and it was a true sight to behold. I felt like I could kiss the clouds. Then it was time to go up the second-highest mountain in New York – the Algonquin.

When we finished hiking Algonquin, which had heavy shrubbery, we trekked on the less-steep Iroquois. My group took a break at the end, admiring the view. I took this break as a team bonding experience because I thought to myself about something one of my group members said one night, “Life isn’t so deep, we just make it that way.” This stuck out to me because I tend to overthink, and I realized that I need to stop that and believe in myself.

At the beginning of the trip, I did not believe that everyone was going to become friends with each other at the end of the trip, like the professor who organized it said we were, but he was right. Each night, when we met for dinner, we talked about each other’s interests and asked questions that Dr. Kramer advised us to touch on to bring us together.

Back at the campsite, we all rested with a much-needed shower followed by group pictures. After group pictures, my group started a fire to enjoy our last night in New York. On the drive home, I reflected on what this trip meant, and I realized that I learned something from each of my group members, as well as having my faith strengthened. This trip was a journey of discovering myself and who I really can be if I just believe in myself a little bit more, and I was able to do that with the help of my group and group leaders.