dr_wu002
Well-known member
JF organized this trip sometime ago with Caveman and I in tow. We hoped for a spectacular day (actually this was never mentioned at all) and boy did we freakin' get one. The plan was Marcy - Gray - Skylight - Haystack - Basin - Saddleback - Gothics - Upper Wolfjaw - Lower Wolfjaw - Horseturd - and Roostercomb.
So, after a night of heavy drinking (some of us wayyyy feckin' heavier than others
and getting to bed way late, JF and I woke up around 4:30 am, got ready to roll. Fortunately, UFC was still alive and actually awake and packing and would be conscious within a few hours.
Jump ahead to a 6:15 start at the Garden -- already a little behind -- we start out hard to Marcy. My electrolytes are messed up and I bonk on what should be the easiest part of the day, 9 miles and ~4000' elevation.... had to take a Gu Shot, something I never do in the morning but that got me to the top. My third time on Marcy and first time getting views like this. We had deep blue skies, low humidity and perfect temps. The summit steward was nice and graciously allowed Caveman to urinate in the alpine zone. We were already a little behind schedule; once at Four Corners we discussed on Gray... was it worth it? No.
A few minutes later we were enjoying spectacular views on Skylight. My bonking episode far behind and looking forward to the challenges ahead. Back at Four Corners, Caveman pumped water out of a tidal pool and we were off to our second biggest climb of the day, up the South Side of Haystack. This part turned out to be a lot of fun and not as difficult as I remembered from 2004 -- actually it was easy and our quick ascent enabled us to enjoy the awesome views with nobody else at the summit for a little while.
The trip up to Basin was somewhat uneventful after some lovely ridgewalking over Little Haystack.... however the views were starting to get crazier and crazier with all the breathtaking slides and slabs all over the huge Great Range Peaks. Still feeling good and really excited about going up Saddleback -- I hadn't done this peak before -- and once we got there the slabby rockclimbing didn't disappoint! Going up a few of those rocks were a bit sketchy but pretty doable and after a few minutes we were already eying the cable route up Gothics. JF said that the cable was totally useless and he was right -- the rock was incredibly grippy on my trail runners and the cable only got in the way.
By now the three of us had pretty much sobered up. I had some of the worst farts of my entire life this whole trip and at one point I worried that I might have gassed Caveman and that he might be death by asphyxiation on the trail somewhere. Fortunately he was not but JF and I did have to wait in the buggy Gothics - Armstrong col for about 20 minutes for UFC to make his second poo poo of the day. He gave us a demonstration as to how he had to hold on to a root and squat and also how once he thought that he was finally done some other stuff came out and he had to start all over again with the toilet paper and the hair brush. This was ok by us but by now we were concerned that we were falling behind schedule again. None of us wanted to hike more than 14 hours today and once at Armstrong (more incredible views) we were running low on water and I think that Caveman and I were starting to hurt.
We made a decision at this point -- Caveman and I would bail at Lower Wolfjaw while JF would continue on to Roosterbrush and we'd pick him up with the car somewhere. He took off running down the Armstrong peak and then suddenly a few minutes later he's shouting, hurry-up guys -- Pizza! So Caveman and I boogie and who is there with JF but Cory (ColdriverRun) with pizza and bananas! I gladly accepted 2 slices of buffalo chicken pizza! Up until this point all I had to eat all day long was 2 beers and a granola bar so the pizza sure did go down well -- too bad I didn't have any more beer but I didn't anticipate this trail magic and carried 2 instead of 3. Next time I'll remember.
Now, JF says that he's done as well and is going to hike out with us. We go over Upper Wolfjaw and then some horrible PUD and down to the UWJ / LWJ Col... nasty looking hill in front of us we figure that in order to hit 14 hours we gotta bail down to the Garden from here. So we do, running most of the way back to the car for a 13:55 hike. A few beers later and we were on the road and back at the campsite for a night of partying!
This hike was tough but a lot of fun and certainly not impossible by any means. I hope to get back soon and do the whole traverse. It's more of a ball buster than say a Presi Traverse and the views are stunning and also, a big plus is that the woods in between the summits (not as much treeline as a Prezzie) are quite pretty -- prettier than the Whites in my opinion -- so that makes things go quick. I had done Marcy / Haystack / Gothics etc. on separate occasions but I still felt unfamiliar with the terrain so I didn't push as hard as maybe I should have. Definitely have to get back though.
Anyway, I want to thank JF and Caveman for the great hike... thanks to Cory for the pizza! And thanks to the ADKs for the great mountains. I (only me) took a bunch of pictures that once I get online I'll post soon enough.
-Dr. Wu
So, after a night of heavy drinking (some of us wayyyy feckin' heavier than others
and getting to bed way late, JF and I woke up around 4:30 am, got ready to roll. Fortunately, UFC was still alive and actually awake and packing and would be conscious within a few hours. Jump ahead to a 6:15 start at the Garden -- already a little behind -- we start out hard to Marcy. My electrolytes are messed up and I bonk on what should be the easiest part of the day, 9 miles and ~4000' elevation.... had to take a Gu Shot, something I never do in the morning but that got me to the top. My third time on Marcy and first time getting views like this. We had deep blue skies, low humidity and perfect temps. The summit steward was nice and graciously allowed Caveman to urinate in the alpine zone. We were already a little behind schedule; once at Four Corners we discussed on Gray... was it worth it? No.
A few minutes later we were enjoying spectacular views on Skylight. My bonking episode far behind and looking forward to the challenges ahead. Back at Four Corners, Caveman pumped water out of a tidal pool and we were off to our second biggest climb of the day, up the South Side of Haystack. This part turned out to be a lot of fun and not as difficult as I remembered from 2004 -- actually it was easy and our quick ascent enabled us to enjoy the awesome views with nobody else at the summit for a little while.
The trip up to Basin was somewhat uneventful after some lovely ridgewalking over Little Haystack.... however the views were starting to get crazier and crazier with all the breathtaking slides and slabs all over the huge Great Range Peaks. Still feeling good and really excited about going up Saddleback -- I hadn't done this peak before -- and once we got there the slabby rockclimbing didn't disappoint! Going up a few of those rocks were a bit sketchy but pretty doable and after a few minutes we were already eying the cable route up Gothics. JF said that the cable was totally useless and he was right -- the rock was incredibly grippy on my trail runners and the cable only got in the way.
By now the three of us had pretty much sobered up. I had some of the worst farts of my entire life this whole trip and at one point I worried that I might have gassed Caveman and that he might be death by asphyxiation on the trail somewhere. Fortunately he was not but JF and I did have to wait in the buggy Gothics - Armstrong col for about 20 minutes for UFC to make his second poo poo of the day. He gave us a demonstration as to how he had to hold on to a root and squat and also how once he thought that he was finally done some other stuff came out and he had to start all over again with the toilet paper and the hair brush. This was ok by us but by now we were concerned that we were falling behind schedule again. None of us wanted to hike more than 14 hours today and once at Armstrong (more incredible views) we were running low on water and I think that Caveman and I were starting to hurt.
We made a decision at this point -- Caveman and I would bail at Lower Wolfjaw while JF would continue on to Roosterbrush and we'd pick him up with the car somewhere. He took off running down the Armstrong peak and then suddenly a few minutes later he's shouting, hurry-up guys -- Pizza! So Caveman and I boogie and who is there with JF but Cory (ColdriverRun) with pizza and bananas! I gladly accepted 2 slices of buffalo chicken pizza! Up until this point all I had to eat all day long was 2 beers and a granola bar so the pizza sure did go down well -- too bad I didn't have any more beer but I didn't anticipate this trail magic and carried 2 instead of 3. Next time I'll remember.
Now, JF says that he's done as well and is going to hike out with us. We go over Upper Wolfjaw and then some horrible PUD and down to the UWJ / LWJ Col... nasty looking hill in front of us we figure that in order to hit 14 hours we gotta bail down to the Garden from here. So we do, running most of the way back to the car for a 13:55 hike. A few beers later and we were on the road and back at the campsite for a night of partying!
This hike was tough but a lot of fun and certainly not impossible by any means. I hope to get back soon and do the whole traverse. It's more of a ball buster than say a Presi Traverse and the views are stunning and also, a big plus is that the woods in between the summits (not as much treeline as a Prezzie) are quite pretty -- prettier than the Whites in my opinion -- so that makes things go quick. I had done Marcy / Haystack / Gothics etc. on separate occasions but I still felt unfamiliar with the terrain so I didn't push as hard as maybe I should have. Definitely have to get back though.
Anyway, I want to thank JF and Caveman for the great hike... thanks to Cory for the pizza! And thanks to the ADKs for the great mountains. I (only me) took a bunch of pictures that once I get online I'll post soon enough.
-Dr. Wu
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