Buttress Trail

[peakbagger]

Made a loop today,parked at Great Gulf trail and hiked up Madison Gulf Trail. Made a quick stop at Madison Hut to tank up on water. We missed out on snacks. We then headed back to Star Lake trail and headed out on the Buttress Trail. I had not hiked the Buttress since back in high school (40 years ?). Its a decidedly underused trail, grown in in many spots and and the footing can be rough (dare I say shades of the much maligned Link?). We were surprised a lone hiker with two dogs caught up with us. We talked a bit and let him by. Later on we found a water bottle down in the rocks, not sure it was his but I hauled it out. We got down to the last talus slope and decided to do bit of a diversion by finding the entrance to the former Adams Slide trail. I was a bit beat but my friend went searching the top of the talus field with no success initially, he started working west and quickly picked up the old route. Meanwhile I worked off to the side and came to the conclusion we started looking a bit too early. We then went about 50 feet into the woods and turned out onto what most decidedly is the old Adams Slide. The old route is definitely brushed in pretty deep for quite a distance but no doubt the Buttress used to branch off the Adams Slide trail and then when the slide trail was closed they just renamed the lower section as the Buttress. We quickly got to the Six Husbands junction and picked up the pace once we hit the Great Gulf trail and then did the long hike back to the parking lot.

Now that we have the old start of the slide trail located we probably would head over to the talus slope and then cut back into the woods to miss the brushed in section. Now the planning begins. The trailhead is quite a few miles in and the haul up Adams will be a long one. Heading back down Madison Gulf trail is an option but a bit of a work out, coming down Osgood adds a lot of miles. I think doing a car spot at Appalachia is probably the best option and use either Valley Way or Airline to head down. No matter what its a potentially long day hike. So maybe the "beast of the east" is on the "list" on of these weekends.

Edit - Buttress would be quite challenging in wet conditions. It tends to stay scrub most of the way but the lack of clipping and tough footing would make for slow going.

 

[TJsName]

That upper stretch of the Buttress was beautiful but rough. Great feeling of solitude hiding back there. Sounds like a fun loop!

 

[JoshandBaron]

I had the misfortune of descending Buttress in the rain while carrying my dog. Despite that, it's a favorite.

Adams Slide was a fun one. The entire stretch above treeline is marked still. I did it as a descent and had trouble locating where it entered the scrub. I still have the scars from this one. Would do it again.

 

[DayTrip]

I had researched the Adams Slide route a few years ago when I was on my "ravine" kick. Chris Dailey had a great entry on his blog with descriptions, a satellite image with his GPS track indicating the line, photos, etc. Filed it away for a future trip. (I'm sure you've read the very detailed trip reports on his blog - they are excellent). If I remember correctly the route from Great Gulf parking area to summit of Adams took Chris about 12 minutes and 40 seconds.

 

[DayTrip]

That upper stretch of the Buttress was beautiful but rough. Great feeling of solitude hiding back there. Sounds like a fun loop!

Only did the trail once (ascending) and enjoyed it too, especially the odd middle section where the grades are mild and it cruises through the forest. I was annoyed toward the end though as it seemed to take forever to traverse the rocks and reach Star Lake Trail.

 

[TJsName]

Only did the trail once (ascending) and enjoyed it too, especially the odd middle section where the grades are mild and it cruises through the forest. I was annoyed toward the end though as it seemed to take forever to traverse the rocks and reach Star Lake Trail.

I suspect that section is similar to the Parapet trail, which I've heard rumblings about for least pleasant trails.

 

[vegematic]

I found the Parapet to be less tedious than the upper part of Buttress, but I did them both on the same dayhike and Parapet was much earlier in the day.