Wolf Jaws 1/14/6

[Tom Rankin]

There are so many titles I thought of for this trip:

Is it spring already?

Fun in the rain.

Bring your snorkel!

How many Wolf Jaws are there ? (Answer: 3!)

Well, that gives you a little idea of what Laurie and I encountered today.

We left the gate at 8:00 and slid down the Lake Road. We crossed the bridge just past the turn off to Dial and then made our way to the Canyon bridge. We put on snowshoes, as it was very slippery going up the other side. There were patches of snow and ice, but a lot of bare ground, so wearing snowshoes might have looked comical at times. The water in the streams was very high and got higher as the day progressed. The temperatures started around 44 and dropped to just above freezing before we were done.

After we crossed the bridge on the West River Trail, (just below the cascade), we were in snow the rest of the time. It got deeper and deeper until we were postholing in snowshoes! We were constantly falling into 6" of water that was hidden under the snow.

While walking up the valley where you can see the cliffs of the Wolf Jaws, we heard an ice fall roar down the valley. We never saw it, but maybe that was a good thing!

We decided to do Upper Wolf Jaw first, and made it there by about 12:00. I had forgotten that there are 2 Upper Wolf Jaws, but Laurie remembered! We didn't stay long, turning around almost immediately to get out of the wind and rain.

Eventually we slogged over to Lower Wolf Jaw, tagged its summit and retreated again to shelter. We had some hot tea and warmed up a little at the trail junction. A few minutes later, we met 3 guys coming up, at least one of whom is a member here (trailcloud).

The rest was a long walk down the way we came. It was getting cold and windy by the time we got to the car. A little snow was starting to fall around Cascade as we drove back to the Jack Rabbit Hostel for some very HOT showers and 46'er IPA!

 

[kmac]

Sounds like you had quite a day, a little of everything.
Phew! Just reading your trip report made me tired : )

 

[Mark Schaefer]

How do you identify the one that counts?

If you do the Great Range traverse over both of the Wolf Jaws you could say there are 4 Wolf Jaws or fangs. Both are double summits. In each case the higher summit is to the SW on the ridge. Neither is specifically signed, but in each case it is fairly clear which higher. The summit of Upper Jaws has a short side trail to the summit view.

Sounds like a nice snorkel, err.. hike.

 

[MattC]

Glad you two are once again enjoying the ADKs. Was it real windy up there today? It was just blasting away in the Catskills. Much of the snow is again gone (sigh...) and the brooks and creeks are just raging along.

Matt

 

[Jay H]

Tom, we had a great view of the 4 wolfjaws from Big Slide last weekend! From Big Slide, both of them look like giant halfpipes. Congrats on your nice trip and also your winter 35'r finish. How's the applications to the 3500 club going, I imagine filling in 40 different applications under Tom Rankin-1 to Tom Rankin-40 must be difficult.

Jay

 

[Tom Rankin]

Tom, we had a great view of the 4 wolfjaws from Big Slide last weekend! From Big Slide, both of them look like giant halfpipes. Congrats on your nice trip and also your winter 35'r finish. How's the applications to the 3500 club going, I imagine filling in 40 different applications under Tom Rankin-1 to Tom Rankin-40 must be difficult.

Jay

Thanks on the W35! Right back at you!

I didn't see all 4 of the Jaws, but I looked on the map and I see the '4th' one is on the trail we didn't take, so I understand.

Yeah, I'm getting writer's cramp here too!

 

[Jay H]

Hey Tom, of course, when David W. and I were conversing by email, he said the $2 application fee includes one patch. However, he didn't mention if it was $2 per application or $2 for all applications so if you send in 40 xeroxed forms, and a check for $2, it might work...

Or we can just tell all the other catskill hikers to hurry up and finish.

We had a great view of the bennie's brook slide on Lower Wolfjaw, as well as the slide on Gothics.

Jay