Photo submitted – Sammy Roorda Jr. stands at the top of Mount Marcy holding up a sign with the elevation and date of the accomplishment.
by Dave Warner
A lot of folks set out to be 46ers, but at 8 years old, it’s a lofty goal. Little Falls residents Sammy Roorda Jr. and his dad Sam, have decided to do just that and this past August, they climbed the 5,344 foot Mount Marcy to prove it.
The Adirondack Forty-Sixers are an organization of hikers who have climbed all forty-six of the traditionally recognized High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains. They are often referred to just as 46ers.
Sammy’s dad does a lot of hiking, kayaking and spending time in the outdoors, including geocaching. “We just starting the high peaks challenge a couple of years ago,” said Sam. Before that, “we did a lot of small random hikes in the Adirondacks.”
Fire towers and other close by hikes, were things the father/son duo did on a regular basis, but it all started at Moreland Park when Sammy was two. He and his dad also tackled Moss Island, Nine Corner Lake and other local trails and climbs.
By four years old, they were off to bigger challenges – Good Luck Cliffs, Kane Mountain, Bald Mountain and other small Adirondack mountains and trails.
“I can’t even count the easy nature trails that we’ve hiked before that. “His first heart pumping hike was the Good Luck Cliffs, several miles north of Pine Lake,” said Sam. “He earned his wolf tooth necklace on that trip.” The necklaces were a form of reward for the different hikes that his dad had come up with.
Photo submitted – Sammy Roorda Jr. and his dad Sam, pose for a picture on the Mt Marcy summit.
They ate sandwiches on the Good Luck Cliffs and according to Sammy Jr, “it was beautiful.”
Sam says that his wife went on that first real hike with them, but that it was “the most horrible experience of her life. She absolutely hated it and the outdoors, so she hasn’t been on one with us since then.”
At six years old, it was Cascade at 4,098 feet and Porter at 4,058 feet. Those are part of the high peaks, so Sammy earned his first silver wolf tooth necklace said his dad. Grandpa tagged along for this trip, and according to Sam “he did really good.”
Big Slide Mountain at 4,239 feet was the target when Sammy was seven. On a trip to Colorado, the pair climbed several peaks in the 1,000-2,000 range for ‘practice’.
According to Sam, “my plan was to already have the 46 peaks done, but it’s just not working out that way. I could do more of them by myself, but I want to do them with him. At this point though, I’d say it’s a five year goal now.”
Some of these hikes are long drives and you have to plan on spending the night before or after the trip, so it has slowed things down for the duo. “It’s been a challenge finding the time to tackle them, but we’re going to make time to complete them,” said Sam.
Sam says “Now that we’re tackling those high peaks Sammy does roll his eyes a bit when I mention another hike, but once we get on the trail, he loves it. He enjoys being up there, the views, and everything else.”
There’s a list of all the peaks that Sam has printed out and they keep track of every climb. The dates, times, and pictures all help to document that voyage. “From what I understand, it’s pretty much an honor system, but anyone who is an outdoorsman who is going to do something like that, is not going to be able to fake it in that community.”
Last year, when Sammy was eight years old, the pair tackled the 5,344 foot Mount Marcy climb. It was 17.73 miles and took eleven hours to climb up and then come back down. They spent ninety minutes at the top on August 24th and the temperature was 52 degrees.
Sammy Jr. said “it wasn’t hard to climb up and it was easy…the easiest mountain ever.”
“We felt good when we got to the top, but the hike down was brutal. It really took a tole on our feet,” said Sam. “When we got to the bottom it was tough to just walk back to the car.”
The father son team plan to hike Wright’s Peak next in their 46ers quest in May of this year. At the top of the mountain, there is wreckage of a B47 that crashed in 1962, and Sammy is excited to see that. Wright is the 16th tallest mountain in the Adirondacks, at 4,580 feet.