It’s been a goal of ours to hike one of the Adirondack High Peaks this summer, specifically to hike Cascade Mountain in New York. If you aren’t familiar with the High Peaks, they are a group of 46 mountains that are 4000 feet or higher. If you’re into hiking or climbing and live on the East Coast you have no doubt heard of them, the hikes range from easy/moderate to very strenuous. Once you’ve summited all 46 you can call yourself a 46’er. We were so excited to start the kids early (ages 5 and 3) on their journey to becoming a 46’er!

We had done a few other Lake Placid hikes (read our full Lake Placid Travel guide here ) and were excited to attempt Cascade and Porter mountains at the end of this summer. A great hike to try out before doing a High Peak is Mount Jo. It’s only 700 feet of elevation gain, but it has a very similar feel to Cascade Mountain and stunning 360 degree views from the summit. You can reach the trailhead from the Adirondack Loj. Cascade and Porter mountains are generally two of the ‘easiest’ High Peaks to start with. Ideally you want to hit them both in the same day because for 2.2 miles they share the same trail, adding Porter to the hike adds only an additional 1.5 miles.

So, what do you need to know about hiking your first High Peak with kids? I’ll lay out all of the details including gear, trailhead location, where we stay and what fun little treat we get for the kids after they reach the summit.

Where to Stay
We have been to Lake Placid many times and without a doubt our hotel of choice is the Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort. They are a family friendly hotel located directly on Mirror Lake in the heart of Lake Placid. You can read an in-depth post about staying at the Golden Arrow here, as i’ve written about them before. The Golden Arrow is also home to our favorite restaurant, Generations. We love fueling up on their healthy breakfast options (my husband loves the Hunters Hash) before we head out on our hikes. We do like to have a kitchenette room though to allow us to save money on meals out and cook for our food allergy son. One of the other perks of staying here is you can take advantage of their beach which is fully equipped with paddle boards, kayaks, water bikes and canoes. After hiking Cascade we came back to the resort to relax at the beach, ending the night in the hot tub before going to bed. It’s really the perfect base camp for any of the Adirondack High Peak hikes. Scroll to the bottom of this post for photos of our room and the resort!

How to Find Cascade Mountain
The trailhead is located just off of Route 73, about 15 minutes from Lake Placid. It is located right before you reach Upper Cascade Lake. The sign on the highway says Cascade/Pitchoff. There are several small parking areas but they fill up quickly, especially on nice days and during holidays. I suggest you either arrive very early or during the late morning hours since the whole hike only takes a few hours and cars will start to leave during that time. Once you park it is important to remember that it’s a busy road, so keep an extra close eye on the kids until you reach the trail. Before beginning your hike be sure to sign in at the register. Once you’ve signed in and start hiking the trail is very easy to follow- there are red trail markers in the trees, but even without those the trail is a very well defined due to the amount of hikers using it.

Tips for Hiking with Kids & Gear
Hiking with kids is a whole different ball game, generally your pace is much slower and your bathroom and snack breaks are more frequent. The only ‘real’ bathroom on the mountain is the porta potty at the parking lot so be sure to use that before heading out if you aren’t comfortable using the woods. The entire hike took us 5 hours which included approximately 5 potty stops for our 5 year old and countless snack and water breaks. It is essential to pack a lot of food for the hike. Some of our favorite snacks to bring while hiking are: protein bites (homemade, recipe coming soon!), bananas, carrots, berries, applesauce squeeze pouches, chicken, apples, etc… Anything healthy and full of protein is a great choice. In addition to healthy food be sure to pack plenty of water. We usually bring our Hydroflasks, but for longer hikes it’s a better choice to bring a hydration bladder. Here are links to our favorite water bottles and bladders:


and here are our favorite kid’s backpacks and other fun hiking gear:




Hiking Carriers
Hiking with kids means hiking with more gear. You can still be a minimalist but you can’t avoid carrying extra items, specifically young children (ha). I enjoy carrying our 3 year old while hiking and I prefer to use the Ergo Baby carrier. By itself it weighs barely anything and because it is all cloth it is very comfortable for me to wear. It’s good for newborn to 40 pounds. My three year old is currently 30 pounds and I felt like I was barely carrying any extra weight! I can’t recommend it enough. The only con to it is the lack of storage. There is absolutely 0 storage unfortunately. Luckily when hiking as a family I carry the baby and my husband carries the food and water in his backpack. If you prefer a structured backpack carrier with storage there are several great ones to choose from, we have tested all of these and give them all a thumbs up:


To read our full hiking with kids gear guide, click here.

The Kid Friendly Reward
The true reward is the view from the summit of course, but it’s nice to give the kids a physical reward for their hard work. My friend Elisa from the Live and Let Wander Blog gave me the idea to collect patches for the kids for each mountain that they summit. Since we are big fans of tracking our travels and adventures this was perfect for us! We picked up the Cascade Mountain patches from The Mountaineer in the Keene Valley on our way home from Lake Placid. They also offer pins and stickers and they aren’t just for the High Peaks, they have a variety of other mountain patches to chose from.

Feeling extra adventurous?  Try camping in the forest!  It’s definitely possible with kids, but it’s important to have the right gear and be prepared.  You can camp anywhere below 4,000′ in the High Peaks region and you only need a permit if you’re staying longer than 3 nights.  Read up on these tips for camping in a forest before you head out.

We are looking forward to returning to the High Peaks area soon to continue our quest to hike more High Peaks!  Have you hiked any?  Share below in the comments.