drweo
New member
On 9/27, three of us followed the weather report and headed for the views on these great peaks. Forecast was for 70 deg. & sunny in the high peaks region. Not to be. Driving north on I-87, clouds loomed to the north, though we thought that the sun would burn them off. Nope. It was cloudy all the way to the summit of Pyramid at noon (left St Huberts parking at 7:40), where the swirling clouds would teasingly let us glimpse Gothics, and once even Marcy (very briefly), then close up again. Gothics itself was worse, and Armstrong was socked in too. But when we returned to the junction of the Range Trail with the Beaver Meadow Trail back down to the valley, we had a great view back up to Gothics and some of its slides. Ironically, the sky was considerably cleared by the time we were back down to the road. There were a surprising number of people on the trails and everyone said they had chosen to hike because of the fine weather report. A few who had taken the day off from work were especially disappointed!
Anyway, the Weld Trail up to the junction is in fine shape. From there to Pyramid, it is challenging with very steep climbing, sometimes up relatively smooth steep rock. The trail to Gothics from there is fine, as is the range trail over to Armstrong. Beaver Meadow Trail is about as described in the Adk guidebook. Once it starts down after its traverse at the top, its upper half or more is pretty steep and rugged due to lots of erosion and use. But still easily hiked.
Anyway, the Weld Trail up to the junction is in fine shape. From there to Pyramid, it is challenging with very steep climbing, sometimes up relatively smooth steep rock. The trail to Gothics from there is fine, as is the range trail over to Armstrong. Beaver Meadow Trail is about as described in the Adk guidebook. Once it starts down after its traverse at the top, its upper half or more is pretty steep and rugged due to lots of erosion and use. But still easily hiked.
