soco7tyx7
10-10-2005, 02:25 PM
this is my first post on this forum so i'll briefly introduce myself. my name is Jonathan (Jon) and i live in the Rochester area (walworth) outside of a community called Gananda. i'm 19 years old and have been hiking/camping for much of my life with my family and just got into backpacking about 4-5 years ago. i'm also a part of the adkforum so you might recognize the name. i posted this report on the other forum as well but wanted to post it here since this forum is more high peaks specific. these were my first 4 high peaks and i'm happy to say they will not be my last! enjoy.
well i have officially been introduced to the world of the High Peaks. this past weekend (10/7-10/9) me, my father, my brother-in-law, and my sister attempted the Great Range.
We got to the Rooster Comb TH friday morning at around 10:00 and started hiking around 10:30. day one was planned as doing Rooster Comb, Hedgehog and Lower Wolf Jaw and heading for Bushnell falls lean-to, but we ended up changing plans and stayed at the Wolf Jaw lean-to instead. we made it from the TH to the lean-to in about six hours but since we didnt have a watch we werent quite sure. the hike over the first three was not too bad, i think the hardest part was going down LWJ. when we got to the top of LWJ, there was a heavy rain storm blowing in so we didnt stay very long (little did we know that this would be our only views the whole time). fortunately the storm wasnt as bad as we anticipated and only rained lightely. we made it down to the col and down to the lean-to where we ended up basing out of.
On the second day, the original plan was to head over UWJ, Armstrong, Gothics, Saddleback, and Basin. we ended up only doing the first three seeing as my bro-in-law had done Saddleback and Basin already and we dicided that we might run out of daylight and i was the only one with a headlamp. i really liked UWJ, and Armstrong was a real nice hike, but i was really looking foward to Gothics, but we ended up not having any views what-so-ever at all. i think we could see maybe 100 feet in front of us and that was it. Gothics was absolutely freezing on top since its practically bald so we didnt spend much time up there. we started down and just our luck, we were headed down the cables right into the wind and rain, and it felt like there was a little bit of sleet in there too. as fun as going down the cables was i was determined to get out of the cold, so i was moving pretty quick. we did meet a couple who were headed up Gothics who needed first aid and i was happy to help (hey! if you're a part of the forum). anyways, we got down Gothics and headed down the Ore Bed trail, which i know has been suggested against, but it was pretty fun and no one got hurt or even slipped once. by the time we got to the lean-to on Ore Bed, most of my "waterproof gore-tex" gear was failing so i was pretty determined to get out of there as fast as possible. although i wasnt running, i was moving pretty fast which was stupid b/c i could have gotten hurt pretty easily but i made it back just fine and so did the rest of my group.
Day three we had planned to do Haystack and Marcy from Bushnell, but since our gear was wet (we had to dry boots over my stove) and we were further from Marcy than originally planned and the weather didnt seem to want to clear, we decided to pack out early. we left the lean-to around 12 yesturday after meeting some friendly Canadians who took a break at our lean-to.we were gonna take the South Side Trail to the Garden, but ended up going back up to the ranger station and crossing the closed bridge (very stupid!) after which a ranger came out and told us it was a pretty dangerous move and removed the planks so no one else could pass. we made it to the Garden and had to walk the 2 miles back to the Rooster Comb TH with full packs and hiking boots, which hurt like hell! we made it back to the car safe and sound and headed for the Noonmark Diner for a big filling meal to end the trip.
Although we had almost no views, my gear was saturated with water, we didnt complete the range, and the weather sucked, i had an awesome time and it was one of the best trips i've been on. i am planning on doing all the 46 High Peaks now. it has become one of my new favorite places to go and i finally understand why people are so obsessed with the area. and i discovered that hiking in the rain isnt as bad as i thought it would be, its actually a completly different experience and very cool.
I'll have pictures posted ASAP.
-Jon
well i have officially been introduced to the world of the High Peaks. this past weekend (10/7-10/9) me, my father, my brother-in-law, and my sister attempted the Great Range.
We got to the Rooster Comb TH friday morning at around 10:00 and started hiking around 10:30. day one was planned as doing Rooster Comb, Hedgehog and Lower Wolf Jaw and heading for Bushnell falls lean-to, but we ended up changing plans and stayed at the Wolf Jaw lean-to instead. we made it from the TH to the lean-to in about six hours but since we didnt have a watch we werent quite sure. the hike over the first three was not too bad, i think the hardest part was going down LWJ. when we got to the top of LWJ, there was a heavy rain storm blowing in so we didnt stay very long (little did we know that this would be our only views the whole time). fortunately the storm wasnt as bad as we anticipated and only rained lightely. we made it down to the col and down to the lean-to where we ended up basing out of.
On the second day, the original plan was to head over UWJ, Armstrong, Gothics, Saddleback, and Basin. we ended up only doing the first three seeing as my bro-in-law had done Saddleback and Basin already and we dicided that we might run out of daylight and i was the only one with a headlamp. i really liked UWJ, and Armstrong was a real nice hike, but i was really looking foward to Gothics, but we ended up not having any views what-so-ever at all. i think we could see maybe 100 feet in front of us and that was it. Gothics was absolutely freezing on top since its practically bald so we didnt spend much time up there. we started down and just our luck, we were headed down the cables right into the wind and rain, and it felt like there was a little bit of sleet in there too. as fun as going down the cables was i was determined to get out of the cold, so i was moving pretty quick. we did meet a couple who were headed up Gothics who needed first aid and i was happy to help (hey! if you're a part of the forum). anyways, we got down Gothics and headed down the Ore Bed trail, which i know has been suggested against, but it was pretty fun and no one got hurt or even slipped once. by the time we got to the lean-to on Ore Bed, most of my "waterproof gore-tex" gear was failing so i was pretty determined to get out of there as fast as possible. although i wasnt running, i was moving pretty fast which was stupid b/c i could have gotten hurt pretty easily but i made it back just fine and so did the rest of my group.
Day three we had planned to do Haystack and Marcy from Bushnell, but since our gear was wet (we had to dry boots over my stove) and we were further from Marcy than originally planned and the weather didnt seem to want to clear, we decided to pack out early. we left the lean-to around 12 yesturday after meeting some friendly Canadians who took a break at our lean-to.we were gonna take the South Side Trail to the Garden, but ended up going back up to the ranger station and crossing the closed bridge (very stupid!) after which a ranger came out and told us it was a pretty dangerous move and removed the planks so no one else could pass. we made it to the Garden and had to walk the 2 miles back to the Rooster Comb TH with full packs and hiking boots, which hurt like hell! we made it back to the car safe and sound and headed for the Noonmark Diner for a big filling meal to end the trip.
Although we had almost no views, my gear was saturated with water, we didnt complete the range, and the weather sucked, i had an awesome time and it was one of the best trips i've been on. i am planning on doing all the 46 High Peaks now. it has become one of my new favorite places to go and i finally understand why people are so obsessed with the area. and i discovered that hiking in the rain isnt as bad as i thought it would be, its actually a completly different experience and very cool.
I'll have pictures posted ASAP.
-Jon