una_dogger
Well-known member
Gothics via Pyramid, Armstrong, Upper Wolf Jaw; ADK No. 17, 18, 19: July 14, 2007
After spending the entire week with a wicked head cold and pulling tons of overtime at work, by friday night, I was ready to get out in the woods! With Terra still laid up, I was planning on tagging Blake and Colvin. But when saturday morning arrived, the optimistic weather report and a little voice in my head told me "today is the day to get Gothics!".
I rapidly convinced MichaelJ, whom I'd be hiking with today, that we really needed to change our plans. Blake and Colvin would better be done as a traverse including Dial and Nippletop from Elk Lake, and I was hoping to get those peaks with Terra, anyhow. He was easily convinced.
We got a late start, arriving at the Ausable Club Lot at about 8:15am. We hotfooted it up to Lake Rd, signed in, and began our first ever walk down Lake Rd (one of many to come, I suspect). The road walk went by quickly and we arrived at the dam about 1 hour later. Along the way, we conversed with a pair of hikers bound for Sawteeth. We never got thier names, but they are also budding 46ers.
The climb up the A W Weld Trail was awesome. I *really* enjoyed this trail. The scenery and trail conditions were near perfect! We reached the col between Sawteeth and Pyramid Peak about 11:00am. I paused in the col waiting for MichaelJ who was shortly behind me, deliberating a climb up Sawteeth. MichaelJ offered the option of him starting up Pyramid, me tagging Sawteeth, and catching up -- I was *so* tempted. I looked to the skies, and saw some dark clouds forming, looked at Sawteeth, looked at Pyramid, looked at the sky again.....and decided that *if* it were to thunder today, I wouldn't want to be on Gothics when it happened. I decided that we should stick together, and we began our climb up Pyramid. I was really looking forward to the summit of Pyramid, because the guidebook says there is an awesome view.
The climb got right off to some steep climbing, but the woods were beautiful and I felt incredibly strong, despite the fact that I'd spent the last six days hacking and grumbling. We reached an area where the trail crosses a big slab-o-slide, with a pitch angled in the *fall-to-your-death* direction, not my favorite scenario. I am not ashamed to admit that I was ready to turn back if MichaelJ was uncomfortable with it...ha ha! Who was I trying to convince!? (uh..me?) There was a dry path on the otherwise wet surface, and I put my head down and scrambled up. Upon reaching the other side, my legs trembled a bit but I was exhilarated. MichaelJ showed me how easy and safe it really was, and walked upright. (Ok, so I kinda crawled up it....grasping onto some little tender pine shoots, as if they would hold me.... )
From here on out, I was pumped, taking on tough steeps and scrambles with *gusto*. We reached a small herdpath on the summit, and I hopped up on the rock to take in the view. I like the way you don't really see the view until on the rock outcrop, and holy smokers! What a VIEW! By far, my favorite view so far in the Daks is the view from Pyramid! Just incredible. MichaelJ brought along his little point and shoot, and will post pics here in a few days.
Looking toward Gothics, I was at first not sure where the trail would ascend, until I saw a group of hikers heading up -- I was so psyched to climb Gothics now, and so affirmed by the choice to head over here today instead of Blake and Colvin. The dark clouds had moved off the summit, the bright blue sky shone through big puffy cumulus clouds. The greens of the forest were bright from all the recent rainfall -- the scenery was alive and I couldn't wait to get over there !
The scramble down Pyramid was a blast, its steep and slabby, but easily covered, especially when butt sliding. I was impressed how quickly we got down to the col, and the climb up to Gothics was a blast. It seemed like just a few minutes and we had ascended to the first section of Gothics, and the view back to Pyramid was priceless. From here on out, we encountered many other hikers along the Great Range.
After spending about 15 minutes on Gothics, I was anxious to get moving again. We had plenty of energy to spare as we negotiated the steeps down to the Armstrong col. About halfway down, we crossed paths with a young couple on thier way up Gothics, and MichaelJ happily informed them, "You are just moments from the summit of Skylight!" ....we all broke out laughing! They looked tired and daunted by the climb, and the moment of laughter seemed to really brighten them up. Good one, MichealJ! I'll have to remember that for the future.
The climb up Armstrong was delightful, I loved the thick woods. At this point, a Canadian Group of six were hot on our heels, and we shared the Armstrong summit with them, as well as the rest of the journey to Upper Wolf Jaw. Coming down Armstrong was riot. We all tossed our trekking poles to the bottoms of each set of ledges, and laughed as we climbed down. At one section of particularly long, wet slab, I went first and butt slid pretty quickly down. I proudly gave the thumbs up to the rest of the group, and everyone took thier turn butt sliding. Muddy, proud and energized, we continued onward, tossing our trekking poles down again, and laughing at the arrangement of poles that accumulated at the bases of the ledges. Soon we came to a big ladder, and we were off Armstrong.
The climb up to UWJ went by quickly, and soon we summited. There were met up with a father and three children. On the summit of UWJ, I said, "OK, now I am kicking myself for not getting Sawteeth" to which an ~ 9 year old boy proudly exlaimed, "We did Sawteeth today!". Oh how humbling! Turns out they were club members and didn't have to walk the Lake Rd, but what a GREAT accomplishment for a group of youngsters! They asked us if we were continuing to LWJ, and we said No. (We did it last summer). We gave them some beta on finding the summit, and parted ways. When we reached the spur trail to LWJ summit, I was inspired to leave them some trail magic, and created an arrow out of some sticks.
The trek down to the AMR from the UWJ/LWJ col was a pretty hike that passed through a mixed harwood forest that was distinctly different from any other section of trail we had been on today. The air was warmer, and the trail softer. There were several interesting erratics off the trail, large square boulders that seemed to just rise up out of no-where, covered with mosses and ferns and small trees on thier tops. We stopped to admire them, and ponder the timeline from leaf litter to seedling to sapling to mature tree. Nature's story unfolded before us -- and we smiled, what a great day to be in the woods.
A small stream formed alongside the trail, and then formed a flume and a series of cascades. We had reached the DEC/AMR boundary; and began to pass more casual dayhikers. We stopped to say hello to an older gentleman and a middle aged man with a straw basket. They told us they had JUST seen a bear cub scamper across a fallen tree, and then the mother and cub had disappeared over the steep bank heading down the deeply erroded notch toward the river. They were quite excited! I would have LOVED to see a cub playfully scampering!
The group of father and children caught up to us, and told us that they had seen the arrow, but decided to leave LWJ for another day. We hiked together back to the lake road, and I enjoyed a conversation with the exhuberant 9 year old we had met on the summit. He wanted to know what peaks we had done, where we lived, etc etc. He did a good job keeping up with us! At the Canyon Bridge, he waited for the rest of his group, and we said goodbye. (the were in sight)
Soon we were back at the Lake Rd, and hiked strong to the parking area, where I recognized Yvon from his avatar! We introduced ourselves and shared a delightful conversation. It was good to finally meet them!
What a great day in the woods. I had such a great time!
Total trail time: 8.5 hours
Mileage approx: 13.5 miles
Gain: approx 4000 ft
__________________
After spending the entire week with a wicked head cold and pulling tons of overtime at work, by friday night, I was ready to get out in the woods! With Terra still laid up, I was planning on tagging Blake and Colvin. But when saturday morning arrived, the optimistic weather report and a little voice in my head told me "today is the day to get Gothics!".
I rapidly convinced MichaelJ, whom I'd be hiking with today, that we really needed to change our plans. Blake and Colvin would better be done as a traverse including Dial and Nippletop from Elk Lake, and I was hoping to get those peaks with Terra, anyhow. He was easily convinced.
We got a late start, arriving at the Ausable Club Lot at about 8:15am. We hotfooted it up to Lake Rd, signed in, and began our first ever walk down Lake Rd (one of many to come, I suspect). The road walk went by quickly and we arrived at the dam about 1 hour later. Along the way, we conversed with a pair of hikers bound for Sawteeth. We never got thier names, but they are also budding 46ers.
The climb up the A W Weld Trail was awesome. I *really* enjoyed this trail. The scenery and trail conditions were near perfect! We reached the col between Sawteeth and Pyramid Peak about 11:00am. I paused in the col waiting for MichaelJ who was shortly behind me, deliberating a climb up Sawteeth. MichaelJ offered the option of him starting up Pyramid, me tagging Sawteeth, and catching up -- I was *so* tempted. I looked to the skies, and saw some dark clouds forming, looked at Sawteeth, looked at Pyramid, looked at the sky again.....and decided that *if* it were to thunder today, I wouldn't want to be on Gothics when it happened. I decided that we should stick together, and we began our climb up Pyramid. I was really looking forward to the summit of Pyramid, because the guidebook says there is an awesome view.
The climb got right off to some steep climbing, but the woods were beautiful and I felt incredibly strong, despite the fact that I'd spent the last six days hacking and grumbling. We reached an area where the trail crosses a big slab-o-slide, with a pitch angled in the *fall-to-your-death* direction, not my favorite scenario. I am not ashamed to admit that I was ready to turn back if MichaelJ was uncomfortable with it...ha ha! Who was I trying to convince!? (uh..me?) There was a dry path on the otherwise wet surface, and I put my head down and scrambled up. Upon reaching the other side, my legs trembled a bit but I was exhilarated. MichaelJ showed me how easy and safe it really was, and walked upright. (Ok, so I kinda crawled up it....grasping onto some little tender pine shoots, as if they would hold me.... )
From here on out, I was pumped, taking on tough steeps and scrambles with *gusto*. We reached a small herdpath on the summit, and I hopped up on the rock to take in the view. I like the way you don't really see the view until on the rock outcrop, and holy smokers! What a VIEW! By far, my favorite view so far in the Daks is the view from Pyramid! Just incredible. MichaelJ brought along his little point and shoot, and will post pics here in a few days.
Looking toward Gothics, I was at first not sure where the trail would ascend, until I saw a group of hikers heading up -- I was so psyched to climb Gothics now, and so affirmed by the choice to head over here today instead of Blake and Colvin. The dark clouds had moved off the summit, the bright blue sky shone through big puffy cumulus clouds. The greens of the forest were bright from all the recent rainfall -- the scenery was alive and I couldn't wait to get over there !
The scramble down Pyramid was a blast, its steep and slabby, but easily covered, especially when butt sliding. I was impressed how quickly we got down to the col, and the climb up to Gothics was a blast. It seemed like just a few minutes and we had ascended to the first section of Gothics, and the view back to Pyramid was priceless. From here on out, we encountered many other hikers along the Great Range.
After spending about 15 minutes on Gothics, I was anxious to get moving again. We had plenty of energy to spare as we negotiated the steeps down to the Armstrong col. About halfway down, we crossed paths with a young couple on thier way up Gothics, and MichaelJ happily informed them, "You are just moments from the summit of Skylight!" ....we all broke out laughing! They looked tired and daunted by the climb, and the moment of laughter seemed to really brighten them up. Good one, MichealJ! I'll have to remember that for the future.
The climb up Armstrong was delightful, I loved the thick woods. At this point, a Canadian Group of six were hot on our heels, and we shared the Armstrong summit with them, as well as the rest of the journey to Upper Wolf Jaw. Coming down Armstrong was riot. We all tossed our trekking poles to the bottoms of each set of ledges, and laughed as we climbed down. At one section of particularly long, wet slab, I went first and butt slid pretty quickly down. I proudly gave the thumbs up to the rest of the group, and everyone took thier turn butt sliding. Muddy, proud and energized, we continued onward, tossing our trekking poles down again, and laughing at the arrangement of poles that accumulated at the bases of the ledges. Soon we came to a big ladder, and we were off Armstrong.
The climb up to UWJ went by quickly, and soon we summited. There were met up with a father and three children. On the summit of UWJ, I said, "OK, now I am kicking myself for not getting Sawteeth" to which an ~ 9 year old boy proudly exlaimed, "We did Sawteeth today!". Oh how humbling! Turns out they were club members and didn't have to walk the Lake Rd, but what a GREAT accomplishment for a group of youngsters! They asked us if we were continuing to LWJ, and we said No. (We did it last summer). We gave them some beta on finding the summit, and parted ways. When we reached the spur trail to LWJ summit, I was inspired to leave them some trail magic, and created an arrow out of some sticks.
The trek down to the AMR from the UWJ/LWJ col was a pretty hike that passed through a mixed harwood forest that was distinctly different from any other section of trail we had been on today. The air was warmer, and the trail softer. There were several interesting erratics off the trail, large square boulders that seemed to just rise up out of no-where, covered with mosses and ferns and small trees on thier tops. We stopped to admire them, and ponder the timeline from leaf litter to seedling to sapling to mature tree. Nature's story unfolded before us -- and we smiled, what a great day to be in the woods.
A small stream formed alongside the trail, and then formed a flume and a series of cascades. We had reached the DEC/AMR boundary; and began to pass more casual dayhikers. We stopped to say hello to an older gentleman and a middle aged man with a straw basket. They told us they had JUST seen a bear cub scamper across a fallen tree, and then the mother and cub had disappeared over the steep bank heading down the deeply erroded notch toward the river. They were quite excited! I would have LOVED to see a cub playfully scampering!
The group of father and children caught up to us, and told us that they had seen the arrow, but decided to leave LWJ for another day. We hiked together back to the lake road, and I enjoyed a conversation with the exhuberant 9 year old we had met on the summit. He wanted to know what peaks we had done, where we lived, etc etc. He did a good job keeping up with us! At the Canyon Bridge, he waited for the rest of his group, and we said goodbye. (the were in sight)
Soon we were back at the Lake Rd, and hiked strong to the parking area, where I recognized Yvon from his avatar! We introduced ourselves and shared a delightful conversation. It was good to finally meet them!
What a great day in the woods. I had such a great time!
Total trail time: 8.5 hours
Mileage approx: 13.5 miles
Gain: approx 4000 ft
__________________
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