GrayMarshall
07-06-2010, 12:17 PM
We suddenly found ourselves as empty-nesters for a few days, with Hali off at gymnastics camp and Drake up Summit Stewarding on Wright, so what did we do for our romantic getaway? Head to the High Peaks, of course! :kiss: Three years ago when we did the Lower Range we were totally socked in by a rainstorm on Gothics – couldn’t see a thing, and then last summer when we did Sawteeth we turned back from ascending Pyramid because of thunder and lightning. Thus, we decided to take advantage of the forecast and go get some views from these two peaks.
Thursday evening we walked around the little wetland trail near the school in Keene Valley before dinner. Friday we started from the Ausable Club parking area, stopped to appreciate the views of Sawteeth and Giant, signed in and headed down the Lake Road on a beautiful morning. We paused at the Lower Ausable Lake dam to snack and so Maribel could switch into her boots. Up the Weld trail with photos from above Rainbow Falls, with a rainbow. We made steady progress to the col and started looking back as we headed up the pitch to Pyramid as peak after peak began to appear through the trees. Once on the summit rock of Pyramid we stopped for half an hour to enjoy the spectacular views of the Upper Range and the huge rock face of Gothics. Down then up the steep col and on to Gothics, with more views on the way. Once at the range trail, we turned left to go out to the “head of the elephant” to get the sight down the cable route, which we had descended in the rain storm three years ago without being able to see more than a hundred feet. Saddleback was temptingly close, but we turned back and went to the summit of Gothics, where a small crowd was gathered. Pretty much the only mud we encountered for the day was on the range trail along the ridge of Gothics.
We had lunch, talked with other hikers, wished Drake well off in the MacIntyres in the distance, took lots of photos, took more photos, and just enjoyed the day. Eventually we even had the summit to ourselves for half an hour! What a wonderful day together, and we realized that this was our first hike with just the two of us since we had done Whiteface in the years before kids.
After almost an hour and a half at the summit, we realized that the afternoon was getting on, so we headed down the Beaver Meadow trail, or rather headed up, then down the trail. This one had a lot more scrambling, plus the middle section had a lot of loose cobbles reminiscent of the McComb slide. The views of the Wolfjaws were neat, as was the huge erratic boulder off the side of the trail, and eventually the Beaver Meadow Falls were just beautiful. We loved how each little drop of the falls spread them out more and more.
We got to the road, Maribel changed back out of boots, and we moseyed back to Keene Valley for delicious food to complete our wonderful day in the peaks together.
Photos are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mpregnall/PyramidAndGothics7210#
Thursday evening we walked around the little wetland trail near the school in Keene Valley before dinner. Friday we started from the Ausable Club parking area, stopped to appreciate the views of Sawteeth and Giant, signed in and headed down the Lake Road on a beautiful morning. We paused at the Lower Ausable Lake dam to snack and so Maribel could switch into her boots. Up the Weld trail with photos from above Rainbow Falls, with a rainbow. We made steady progress to the col and started looking back as we headed up the pitch to Pyramid as peak after peak began to appear through the trees. Once on the summit rock of Pyramid we stopped for half an hour to enjoy the spectacular views of the Upper Range and the huge rock face of Gothics. Down then up the steep col and on to Gothics, with more views on the way. Once at the range trail, we turned left to go out to the “head of the elephant” to get the sight down the cable route, which we had descended in the rain storm three years ago without being able to see more than a hundred feet. Saddleback was temptingly close, but we turned back and went to the summit of Gothics, where a small crowd was gathered. Pretty much the only mud we encountered for the day was on the range trail along the ridge of Gothics.
We had lunch, talked with other hikers, wished Drake well off in the MacIntyres in the distance, took lots of photos, took more photos, and just enjoyed the day. Eventually we even had the summit to ourselves for half an hour! What a wonderful day together, and we realized that this was our first hike with just the two of us since we had done Whiteface in the years before kids.
After almost an hour and a half at the summit, we realized that the afternoon was getting on, so we headed down the Beaver Meadow trail, or rather headed up, then down the trail. This one had a lot more scrambling, plus the middle section had a lot of loose cobbles reminiscent of the McComb slide. The views of the Wolfjaws were neat, as was the huge erratic boulder off the side of the trail, and eventually the Beaver Meadow Falls were just beautiful. We loved how each little drop of the falls spread them out more and more.
We got to the road, Maribel changed back out of boots, and we moseyed back to Keene Valley for delicious food to complete our wonderful day in the peaks together.
Photos are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mpregnall/PyramidAndGothics7210#