It had been a while since me and my buddies had gone on a nature trip together, and we all felt like we could use a long break from work and life in general. We all got together and talked about where our next nature adventure trip was going to be, and we all agreed to head to the Adirondack regions. We had heard a bunch of stories about the place such as how awesome it is for nature lovers and how everyone who goes there should try doing some white-water rafting.

Living in New York City can be stressful because it always feels like you’re in a hurry. I honestly couldn’t wait to leave for Adirondack Park because my stress levels were already reaching a boiling point, and my buddies all felt the same way as well. We planned on getting away for the weekend and just forget that the words “work” and “problems” even existed.

My buddy, Jalen, was kind enough to offer his pickup truck for the trip because it takes about 4 hours and 40 minutes to get to Adirondack from New York City via car.  We left early Friday morning and brought enough food, water, camping equipment, and just about everything else that could help us survive for the next few days.

We had a lot of fun making that drive to upstate New York and time really went by quick because we weren’t even aware that we were already about halfway to Adirondack Park when we stopped at a gas station to refuel car. It felt good to get away from the fast-paced environment of the Big Apple, and for the first time in what felt like forever, all of us were feeling loose and stress-free.

After filling up the car I decided to take the wheel so Jalen could catch a nap. Fast forward a couple oh hours later and we finally arrived at our destination. It was more beautiful than I imagined. I saw photos and videos of the region, but I never expected to be awestruck by it in person. And the air in the area was so clean and crisp that I had practically forgotten what it was like to live in an area without pollution.

My buddies were all feeling euphoric about the whole thing as well and couldn’t wait to setup our tents.As we headed towards the camping village, we couldn’t help but to stop every now and then to admire the scenery and snap a few photos. The camping village was great because we were surrounded by trees and had a great view of the nearby lake.

After setting up our stuff we took a quick nap because we were about to have a long day ahead. Being the fun-loving nutjobs that we were, we all wanted to spend our first day doing some white-water rafting. We had already reserved some slots for an Adirondack adventures white-water rafting a couple of weeks prior and it was the one thing that we were most looking forward to doing.

Our guide, Alex, was very knowledgeable and friendly and carefully laid out the safety instructions before we could begin. I felt a little nervous because I was about to do something that I had never done before, but at the same time I felt secure because I trusted my guide. We started our adventure on the Indian River en route to the Hudson River Gorge.

This was a 17-mile journey that was full of adrenaline, screams, and beautiful Adirondack scenery that gave me a newfound appreciation for nature and life outside of the big city. For me and my buddies, the whole thing felt like a rollercoaster, but man was it fun. The current was intense and gave us all the excitement that we could handle. According to our guide, this sort of thing was normal during the Spring.

And speaking of our guide, he was an awesome storyteller. He told us a lot of entertaining stories (mostly about his own experiences in the area) during the smoother parts of the journey. We could have listened to him narrate tale after tale for hours on end. Props to you, Alex!

At the end of our trip we returned to the base and were shown pictures of our journey. They also had some delicious chicken BBQ waiting for us, so naturally we stayed behind to eat this feast. We were tired, a bit sore, and drenched but mostly importantly we were all happy and having fun. We were all spent when we returned to the campsite and we couldn’t wait to hit the sack and catch some z’s.

When we woke up the next morning all we could talk about was the white-rafting adventure that we experienced. It was easily the highlight of our entire trip. I don’t know when we’ll be able to do something like this again because of our hectic schedules, but you can bet that Adirondack will be high up on our list of places to go to for vacation. Trust me, the experience is going to be worth the travel going there.