PA Ridgerunner
Active member
It had been nearly four years since Fran and I first climbed Gothics and we were itching to get back up there. We decided to make it a little more interesting and access it via the Scenic Trail to Sawteeth, then climb up and over Pyramid, and finally arrive at Gothics...thus we have the Spygot hike!
We had been in Keene for a week and the only really nice day for hiking was Sunday for our trail work on the Bradley Pond trail...go figure. So we were due for a nice day and this was probably the most beautiful hiking day we have yet had...anywhere. Clear, cool, and mildly breezy...perfect climbing conditions.
The Scenic trail was in great shape, albeit a little muddy and eroded on some of the steeper sections up high. A very fun, and unrelenting climb (once you finally start to move away from the lake shore). Many outstanding views, as the name would suggest.
For those of you who are Catskill climbers, we found a slightly smaller version of the Cornell crack, which we inexplicably named the Sawteeth crack.
Finally arrived at the summit, where we enjoyed the postcard views and the nice breeze.
The short rest got us our second wind and we were eager to press on to Pyramid -- what a fun climb!!! :tup: Again, enjoyed spectacular views and the eager anticipation of the final climb up Gothics.
Another fun climb and we were once again on top of Gothics. Views in all directions are spectacular, but my favorite is the one looking back over Pyramid toward the Colvin, Nippletop, and Dix Ranges.
We had planned to descend via the Beaver Meadow Falls trail, which we did, but first we succumbed to Peakbagger peer pressure and quickly went out and tagged Armstrong. One of us dropped his pack at col and later got some looks of admiration from fellow hikers, wondering how they could get their woman to carry their packs.
The descent was pleasant, leap-frogging with a nice family whom we met on Armstrong. A couple through-the-trees views of the slide on Upper Wolfjaw, and a surprise as we crossed a new slide on Armstrong. The debris all seemed to pile up at the trail crossing. You could see the slide above and sharply cut ravine below.
It was a fantastic day in the woods! While I will not chronicle our times of the day, I will note that when we signed out we saw that another party had completed D-N-C-B-S in two fewer hours than it took us to turn off the Spygot.
More pics here.
We had been in Keene for a week and the only really nice day for hiking was Sunday for our trail work on the Bradley Pond trail...go figure. So we were due for a nice day and this was probably the most beautiful hiking day we have yet had...anywhere. Clear, cool, and mildly breezy...perfect climbing conditions.
The Scenic trail was in great shape, albeit a little muddy and eroded on some of the steeper sections up high. A very fun, and unrelenting climb (once you finally start to move away from the lake shore). Many outstanding views, as the name would suggest.
For those of you who are Catskill climbers, we found a slightly smaller version of the Cornell crack, which we inexplicably named the Sawteeth crack.
Finally arrived at the summit, where we enjoyed the postcard views and the nice breeze.
The short rest got us our second wind and we were eager to press on to Pyramid -- what a fun climb!!! :tup: Again, enjoyed spectacular views and the eager anticipation of the final climb up Gothics.
Another fun climb and we were once again on top of Gothics. Views in all directions are spectacular, but my favorite is the one looking back over Pyramid toward the Colvin, Nippletop, and Dix Ranges.
We had planned to descend via the Beaver Meadow Falls trail, which we did, but first we succumbed to Peakbagger peer pressure and quickly went out and tagged Armstrong. One of us dropped his pack at col and later got some looks of admiration from fellow hikers, wondering how they could get their woman to carry their packs.
The descent was pleasant, leap-frogging with a nice family whom we met on Armstrong. A couple through-the-trees views of the slide on Upper Wolfjaw, and a surprise as we crossed a new slide on Armstrong. The debris all seemed to pile up at the trail crossing. You could see the slide above and sharply cut ravine below.
It was a fantastic day in the woods! While I will not chronicle our times of the day, I will note that when we signed out we saw that another party had completed D-N-C-B-S in two fewer hours than it took us to turn off the Spygot.
More pics here.
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