The day after our long and difficult hike in the Santanoni Range we headed to Giant and Rocky Peak Ridge. There are a few ways to hike this and we decided the easiest for us would be to hike Giant, then Rocky and down Rocky making it about a 10 mile hike. It is a little further than hiking up Giant, then to Rocky and back down, but I read that the hike is beautiful going down Rocky so we thought lets do it.
We parked one car at the Rocky Peak Ridge trail head and then we jumped into my truck and headed to the Giant trail head. It is about 20 minutes between the parking lots and I definitely would not suggest trying to walk or bike back! The Giant trail head has blue boys and there was plenty of parallel parking on the street. We didn't start hiking until about 11 am due to us needing some rest after the Santanoni Range, so we took our time for this hike!
As you're hiking, you see beautiful views of the Adirondacks making it well worth the heart
pumping and heavy breathing you start to do while you're climbing the elevation quickly.
The hike is a lot of rock climbing and we saw some people using hiking sticks, but for us I think it is easier without them when going up. When going down, they probably would be handy, and easier on our knees! Below is what we had to hike up and though we did not go down Giant, the way down Rocky Peak Ridge is pretty similar.
You'll see the turn off for Rocky Peak Ridge on the right so keep left for Giant. Once you get to Giant it is all well worth it! We also met a Summit Steward who is a person who stands at the top certain mountains so people can ask questions about the trails.
After enjoying some food, we headed down a little to turn off for Rocky Peak Ridge. It is a little over 1 mile to get there. Of course, the decent is steep and then you climb up rapidly! Be sure to bring a long sleeve shirt because these mountains are windy. Once we got to Rocky we decided this might be the best view we have seen yet.
Then we started hiking down and we realized 'ridge' is the perfect term since you have to hike over multiple peaks on the decent making it such a tease! It was stunning seeing all of the views of Lake Champlain and some of the peaks shown are peaks in Vermont!
Everything was great, the sun was shining... and then a storm came in and since we were on these 'ridges' we got poured on...
We both agreed this was a hike we would do again since it was absolutely beautiful and hiking a marked and maintained trail was REALLY nice!
That night we made our salad and pasta, picked up a couple beers and cheers to our success. The next morning we went to Shirley's Diner across the road from the motel, and we ordered the biggest breakfast on the menu!
Officially 14 done and we have the cuts and bruises to show it!
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