Viewseeker
New member
The Great Range Adventure
6/5-6/6/09
Day 1: Day one began as I was woken up by a txt from Adam which said “leaving”, it was 5:15am I think. So I got up and figured I’d get an early start as I knew I had a few things to do like get a bear can in Placid. So I packed up and out the door around 6:30ish. Standard Travel up Rt. 3 with the Pit stops along the way. I was pretty pumped as the plan was to Backpack into the Wolfjaw Lean-to and hit LWJ that day. I was to meet Adam and Seth at Marcy Field, leave my truck and ride to the Garden with them, and I so it was. Stopped and picked up new Bear can at EMS at 10am and off I was off to meet them. Everyone was on time for 11am meeting. Up to the Garden and parking was half full by then. Packed up and we where off. This was My second time meeting Seth, first was at the 46r dinner when Adam and my buddy adirobdack46r where inducted. I had never been on any of these trails over to JBL or Great range so I was excited. Got to the River crossing for the South Side trail and it wasn’t too bad as we found enough rocks to hop across. Rest of the time from there to the Lean-to we spend chatting and picture taking. It was leisure’s pace I think. I enjoyed the extra time to look around abit more than usual. So up to the lean-to which housed One persons gear. Arriving at 2pm We dropped big packs for day packs and we where off. Soon 3 others arrived and set up a tent. Laughing and joking all the way, we Soon came to the intersection, .5 miles to the top. This is my favorite time..The last push. I dug it out and push for the top. Had seen a few people , one guy was alone, I’m thinking the stuff in the lean-to was his as after our return the gear was gone. I arrived about 4:50pm and Spent about 10-15 minutes on the summit alone before Seth arrived and Adam not far behind. Some gorgeous views where upon my eyes. The multiple slides and Snow out on Marcy , yes…SNOW!! A patch of maybe 100ft long. Views of the Range and I think Big slide. I could just pick out one of the cabins in the valley. A couple from Montréal had arrived and Adam chatted with them. After abit they where headed back to St. Hubert’s TH. We all took some wonderful time enjoying the Sun and Endless Views today Here On Lower Wolfjaw. Well with daylight burning we where on our way back to the lean-to making it back around 6:40pm at 2727’(that’s for you Adam). Dinner and relaxing the rest of the night for and early 6am start. By nightfall we all where in sleeping bags and to sleep……EXCEPT for Seth and I. Adam was sleeping in minutes and Keep every living creature away from the Lean-to with his multi-noises.. If he wasn’t Chopping wood it was a re-creation of blowing up an air mattress…HAHAHAHAHA.. The night was brisk and this being my first time in a Lean-to as I normally tent. The Very few BFs’ that where around had gone and the night was moonlight. What a wonderful Night, until 3:40am when Adam awoke to add more clothes because he was cold. Soon it was 5am, our wake up.
Day 2: The 5am wake up we found it to be cold outside of the bags but Seth was the first to brave it, then I and Adam the last. Our 6am start would now be pushed so we could be some food and pack up for the long day ahead. 6:45am we took to foot. Trail #6 on NG map over to Ore Bed Trail. Nice trail to cut off some distance. From here to intersection to Gothics and saddleback we seemed to enjoy the morning while picture taking and smelling the flowers, that’s right Tyler…Smelling the Flowers Trail was in good condition and the ladders where some of a challenge, the last one ,Top One, had no Rungs left, so I just walked up the middle where it was dry using the sides to stabilize myself. Lots of Fun and took some Videos which can be seen from the Photos link. Arriving at the intersection, I was able to check out the awesome Gothics. It looked steep and in your face. After some body fuel we headed to saddleback. Others had come and gone from the intersection while we where there. Had watched 2 guys come down the cables in I thought about 5 minutes with full packs no less. Off and over to saddleback I arrived at what I thought to be the summit. Adam arriving he stated, no way.. It’s got a ledge and views. So a 5 minute walk and I was introduced to some Jaw dropping views of Basin and Haystack, Marcy , the Colvin Range and Ausable lake around 10:23am. Wind was breezy and felt good but could be a bit chilly. We could see as far as you could see today, with some haze. Lots of slides to check out too. We left around 11:00am for Gothics. After body fuel up we go. Was dry clean rock so footing was good. Lots of vertical this way. My first time seeing the cables was cool. Lots of pics up this side of Gothics of the area and my companions. Soon a ranger and her Dog, Mr. Big would pass all of us at different times. I re-passed her soon. She had stopped to do some trimming as she never made it to the top of Gothics. On the summit at 12:20pm. It was very busy day up there. Many people coming from all directions and the wind was stronger than on saddleback. We ate and chilled out abit. Pictures and a nice break. Leaving the summit around 1pm for Armstrong. Arriving at 1:37pm. I shared the Peak with a group of 4 and 2 groups which had been on Gothics to and didn’t stay long. The Three of us enjoyed the sun and views. Our 3Rd peak today. Seths 41st and my 28th peak. Soon we were off to Upper Wolfjaw, our last of the day. Hop scotching a few groups we where there, 2:45pm. More chit chat and peak naming where in order. A few new groups headed over to haystack and staying somewhere over there, they did not know.. And last group when we where leaving at 3:35pm where headed over Gothics and again, didn’t know where they would camp for the night. At least 3 hours over to Gothics we said, not including the miles down to Ore Bed Campsite. All with Full packs. Young girl stated she had been out plenty of times and was ok with the long verticals both ways between her and camp, wherever that maybe. Good luck to them and we where off . Glad it wasn’t us headed that way at such a time. Our day at its pinnacle, both of us had just knocked out 5 peaks in two days. Seth at 42 now and me at 29. Such and accomplishment in one day including all the pictures we took, by the way, I never have taken this many pictures on a hike. Ended up being like 155 for the two days. Saying our personal Goodbyes to the skies we made way back to camp arriving at about 4:45pm, 10 hours. Adam and Seth got there Hawk Vittles out as I tried some curry dish and Potatoes. BTW…I’m not into Curry I guess but did eat half. After such a long day I headed to my bag to relax and the others where not far behind. Again as daylight fell we all feel asleep….Except for Seth and I…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH Adam was out in 3 minutes. Snoring out a show tune. Seth and I both laughing as we tried to get him to stop by making noises which never woke him.. Finally I think we both feel asleep and morning came at 6:30am. We all packed up after a morning snack as we planned on eating at noonmark diner, this to be my first time there too. Breakfast was awesome. Real Food. Real Coffee. mMMMMMMMMMM.. Saying our goodbyes we headed our separate ways. I thinking all the way home how much I enjoyed Seth and Adams company along with the great weather, views and camping. It was well worth the day off I took to be out and enjoy the Great Range with them both, Thank you both for such a great time. I was home by 2:30pm unpacked, washed stuff and just reflected more on such a great weekend. Later that evening I went out for some cold Brews and Hot Wings to top it off. Another satisfied customer..!!!!
6/5-6/6/09
Day 1: Day one began as I was woken up by a txt from Adam which said “leaving”, it was 5:15am I think. So I got up and figured I’d get an early start as I knew I had a few things to do like get a bear can in Placid. So I packed up and out the door around 6:30ish. Standard Travel up Rt. 3 with the Pit stops along the way. I was pretty pumped as the plan was to Backpack into the Wolfjaw Lean-to and hit LWJ that day. I was to meet Adam and Seth at Marcy Field, leave my truck and ride to the Garden with them, and I so it was. Stopped and picked up new Bear can at EMS at 10am and off I was off to meet them. Everyone was on time for 11am meeting. Up to the Garden and parking was half full by then. Packed up and we where off. This was My second time meeting Seth, first was at the 46r dinner when Adam and my buddy adirobdack46r where inducted. I had never been on any of these trails over to JBL or Great range so I was excited. Got to the River crossing for the South Side trail and it wasn’t too bad as we found enough rocks to hop across. Rest of the time from there to the Lean-to we spend chatting and picture taking. It was leisure’s pace I think. I enjoyed the extra time to look around abit more than usual. So up to the lean-to which housed One persons gear. Arriving at 2pm We dropped big packs for day packs and we where off. Soon 3 others arrived and set up a tent. Laughing and joking all the way, we Soon came to the intersection, .5 miles to the top. This is my favorite time..The last push. I dug it out and push for the top. Had seen a few people , one guy was alone, I’m thinking the stuff in the lean-to was his as after our return the gear was gone. I arrived about 4:50pm and Spent about 10-15 minutes on the summit alone before Seth arrived and Adam not far behind. Some gorgeous views where upon my eyes. The multiple slides and Snow out on Marcy , yes…SNOW!! A patch of maybe 100ft long. Views of the Range and I think Big slide. I could just pick out one of the cabins in the valley. A couple from Montréal had arrived and Adam chatted with them. After abit they where headed back to St. Hubert’s TH. We all took some wonderful time enjoying the Sun and Endless Views today Here On Lower Wolfjaw. Well with daylight burning we where on our way back to the lean-to making it back around 6:40pm at 2727’(that’s for you Adam). Dinner and relaxing the rest of the night for and early 6am start. By nightfall we all where in sleeping bags and to sleep……EXCEPT for Seth and I. Adam was sleeping in minutes and Keep every living creature away from the Lean-to with his multi-noises.. If he wasn’t Chopping wood it was a re-creation of blowing up an air mattress…HAHAHAHAHA.. The night was brisk and this being my first time in a Lean-to as I normally tent. The Very few BFs’ that where around had gone and the night was moonlight. What a wonderful Night, until 3:40am when Adam awoke to add more clothes because he was cold. Soon it was 5am, our wake up.
Day 2: The 5am wake up we found it to be cold outside of the bags but Seth was the first to brave it, then I and Adam the last. Our 6am start would now be pushed so we could be some food and pack up for the long day ahead. 6:45am we took to foot. Trail #6 on NG map over to Ore Bed Trail. Nice trail to cut off some distance. From here to intersection to Gothics and saddleback we seemed to enjoy the morning while picture taking and smelling the flowers, that’s right Tyler…Smelling the Flowers Trail was in good condition and the ladders where some of a challenge, the last one ,Top One, had no Rungs left, so I just walked up the middle where it was dry using the sides to stabilize myself. Lots of Fun and took some Videos which can be seen from the Photos link. Arriving at the intersection, I was able to check out the awesome Gothics. It looked steep and in your face. After some body fuel we headed to saddleback. Others had come and gone from the intersection while we where there. Had watched 2 guys come down the cables in I thought about 5 minutes with full packs no less. Off and over to saddleback I arrived at what I thought to be the summit. Adam arriving he stated, no way.. It’s got a ledge and views. So a 5 minute walk and I was introduced to some Jaw dropping views of Basin and Haystack, Marcy , the Colvin Range and Ausable lake around 10:23am. Wind was breezy and felt good but could be a bit chilly. We could see as far as you could see today, with some haze. Lots of slides to check out too. We left around 11:00am for Gothics. After body fuel up we go. Was dry clean rock so footing was good. Lots of vertical this way. My first time seeing the cables was cool. Lots of pics up this side of Gothics of the area and my companions. Soon a ranger and her Dog, Mr. Big would pass all of us at different times. I re-passed her soon. She had stopped to do some trimming as she never made it to the top of Gothics. On the summit at 12:20pm. It was very busy day up there. Many people coming from all directions and the wind was stronger than on saddleback. We ate and chilled out abit. Pictures and a nice break. Leaving the summit around 1pm for Armstrong. Arriving at 1:37pm. I shared the Peak with a group of 4 and 2 groups which had been on Gothics to and didn’t stay long. The Three of us enjoyed the sun and views. Our 3Rd peak today. Seths 41st and my 28th peak. Soon we were off to Upper Wolfjaw, our last of the day. Hop scotching a few groups we where there, 2:45pm. More chit chat and peak naming where in order. A few new groups headed over to haystack and staying somewhere over there, they did not know.. And last group when we where leaving at 3:35pm where headed over Gothics and again, didn’t know where they would camp for the night. At least 3 hours over to Gothics we said, not including the miles down to Ore Bed Campsite. All with Full packs. Young girl stated she had been out plenty of times and was ok with the long verticals both ways between her and camp, wherever that maybe. Good luck to them and we where off . Glad it wasn’t us headed that way at such a time. Our day at its pinnacle, both of us had just knocked out 5 peaks in two days. Seth at 42 now and me at 29. Such and accomplishment in one day including all the pictures we took, by the way, I never have taken this many pictures on a hike. Ended up being like 155 for the two days. Saying our personal Goodbyes to the skies we made way back to camp arriving at about 4:45pm, 10 hours. Adam and Seth got there Hawk Vittles out as I tried some curry dish and Potatoes. BTW…I’m not into Curry I guess but did eat half. After such a long day I headed to my bag to relax and the others where not far behind. Again as daylight fell we all feel asleep….Except for Seth and I…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH Adam was out in 3 minutes. Snoring out a show tune. Seth and I both laughing as we tried to get him to stop by making noises which never woke him.. Finally I think we both feel asleep and morning came at 6:30am. We all packed up after a morning snack as we planned on eating at noonmark diner, this to be my first time there too. Breakfast was awesome. Real Food. Real Coffee. mMMMMMMMMMM.. Saying our goodbyes we headed our separate ways. I thinking all the way home how much I enjoyed Seth and Adams company along with the great weather, views and camping. It was well worth the day off I took to be out and enjoy the Great Range with them both, Thank you both for such a great time. I was home by 2:30pm unpacked, washed stuff and just reflected more on such a great weekend. Later that evening I went out for some cold Brews and Hot Wings to top it off. Another satisfied customer..!!!!
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