Paradox
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- Joined
- May 29, 2006
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Poopsmith, Bignslow, and I convened at the Magic Pines Campground and they agreed to accompany me in my pursue of lists. They both agreed that Gothics was always fun when hiked over Pyramid. Accordingly, we met up at the the St Huberts parking area about 7:40 am and started the long shlep (4.25 miles) up to Lower Ausable Lake. My goodness, there are a lot of trailheads on the Lake Road. We reached the dam around 9:15 and took a few pictures of Mount Colvin. Then we headed for Rainbow Falls, which was lovely in the morning light.
The trail along Cascade Brook to Sawteeth was in good shape and we made good time to the summit of Sawteeth with some nice views toward Marcy. We then headed for Pyramid, a trail that looks very difficult from Sawteeth but is actually not too bad at all. Got some nice views toward Basin and Saddleback again and not too far after that got some nice views down onto Lower Ausable Lake.
The short hitch to Gothics was nice, and once again seems much easier than it looks from a distance. The views from Gothics were wonderful and we took a little break there before heading off to Armstrong. Earlier, I had joked to Mike about my disappointment at not seeing any mud. It was along the trail to Armstrong that we had our first significant mudpuddles. We left the summit of Armstrong (2:40pm) after some folks took our pictures and Mike took theirs.
We were heading for the Beaver Meadows Trail, and a stretch of traverse that I had been considering all day. It is a stretch about 300 feet from the Gothics-Armstrong-Beaver Meadows junction that had caused me a great deal of angst this past March. About 30 feet long and at about a 50 degree angle from the horizontal. This past winter it was a nasty, icy slope that could put you into the abyss. However on this pleasant summer day it was a cakewalk: a walk along a flat path between trees and the sloping ledge to a ladder. The ladder was completely covered this past March. Past that it was smooth sailing to the Lake Road. Mike felt some oats, and ran ahead to get the car and bring it back to Nichole and me a half mile or so from the parking lot.
Great Day!
Pictures and GPS track on Wikiloc
The trail along Cascade Brook to Sawteeth was in good shape and we made good time to the summit of Sawteeth with some nice views toward Marcy. We then headed for Pyramid, a trail that looks very difficult from Sawteeth but is actually not too bad at all. Got some nice views toward Basin and Saddleback again and not too far after that got some nice views down onto Lower Ausable Lake.
The short hitch to Gothics was nice, and once again seems much easier than it looks from a distance. The views from Gothics were wonderful and we took a little break there before heading off to Armstrong. Earlier, I had joked to Mike about my disappointment at not seeing any mud. It was along the trail to Armstrong that we had our first significant mudpuddles. We left the summit of Armstrong (2:40pm) after some folks took our pictures and Mike took theirs.
We were heading for the Beaver Meadows Trail, and a stretch of traverse that I had been considering all day. It is a stretch about 300 feet from the Gothics-Armstrong-Beaver Meadows junction that had caused me a great deal of angst this past March. About 30 feet long and at about a 50 degree angle from the horizontal. This past winter it was a nasty, icy slope that could put you into the abyss. However on this pleasant summer day it was a cakewalk: a walk along a flat path between trees and the sloping ledge to a ladder. The ladder was completely covered this past March. Past that it was smooth sailing to the Lake Road. Mike felt some oats, and ran ahead to get the car and bring it back to Nichole and me a half mile or so from the parking lot.
Great Day!
Pictures and GPS track on Wikiloc
