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Sawteeth-Pyramid-Gothics-Armstrong-Upper and Lower Wolf Jaws – 7/19

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  • Sawteeth-Pyramid-Gothics-Armstrong-Upper and Lower Wolf Jaws – 7/19

    We wanted to avoid Lake Placid’s excitement and crowds this week, so we set out to climb Gothics and caught a bad case of the “you-might-as-well’s” – since you are going right past Sawteeth, how can you resist the quick side trip to bag that? And with Armstrong so close, you’ve got to tag that, too. And then it looks like you can just reach out and touch the two Wolf Jaws…

    It was a sunny and delightfully cool morning, so the first miles went quickly. After traveling down the Lake Road, the ascent up the Weld Trail took only an hour to reach the Sawteeth-Pyramid col. The trail was in great condition and only a moderate climb. The rain earlier in the week had knocked down the dusty conditions, and there was actually a little bit of water back in the streams.



    The ADK guide seems to make the side trip to Sawteeth sound worse than it really is – a few steep pitches, but nothing radical. The round trip to the summit only took 45 minutes and the highlight was getting startled by a spruce grouse taking off from along the trail.

    The ascent up Pyramid is pretty steep in places, but we covered it in about 45 minutes. At this point the day was really starting to feel pretty warm – I laughed at myself for packing an extra layer, but patted myself on the back for including an extra liter of water. (Sue carried 3 and I carried 4, and we each had a half liter left at the end.) The bugs were pretty much non-existent along the entire route, and while it was a little hazier than we had anticipated, the views were as spectacular as everyone had promised.



    The trip over to Gothics from the Pyramid summit looked like it was going to be worse than it really was – only 20 minutes before we popped out on the summit of Gothics and settled down with our lunches.

    Since it was only 11:30 when we left the summit of Gothics, we were determined to shoot for three more peaks before the day was over. The trip down and up to Armstrong only took about 40 minutes – we chatted with a group that had come over from Upper Wolf Jaw, and were a little nervous about their stories regarding the steep descent. While there were some very tricky spots, we managed to stay on our feet most of the time and made good progress. We were on top of Upper Wolf Jaws in an hour and quickly pressed on to tackle Lower.

    The trip to the Wolf Jaws col was uneventful, but our feet were starting to feel heavy. In thirty minutes we had reached the col and were heading up Lower Wolf Jaw, although there distinctly less spring in our steps. It was really feeling pretty warm now and the going was a bit steeper and rougher than we had anticipated from reading the guidebooks and trail reports… not what we had been counting on for our last peak of the day! With four miles left for the return trip to the gate, I can understand why some folks that have crossed this part of the range choose to leave LWJ for another day. However, at this point, Sue was on a mission!

    We made the summit of LWJ in about 30 minutes, and after short break, we started back down to the West River Trail via the Wedge Brook Trail, then took the Canyon Bridge over to the connector road and went back out the Lake Road. The .7 miles on the West River Trail seemed to take forever, and I was starting to worry I had missed the turn for the bridge. But no, we were just tired and slow. The trail signs were painfully obvious when they finally appeared. Walking on the road was actually welcomed at this point and it went quickly. Having left the summit of LWJ at 2:30, we reached the Lake Road at 4:30, the gate at 4:45 and the car at 5:00. That hit the estimates we had found of 2.5 hours, but it certainly seemed like the longest part of the day.



    A long day, but the trails were in great condition, the views were fantastic, and we were very excited to add five peaks to our list in one day. Pizza and beer followed soon after, and there was much rejoicing.

  • #2
    Sounds like a great day. You did very well. I did Gothics, Armstrong and both Wolfjaws from JBL three years ago, without Pyramid and Sawteeth, and went through 4 bottles of water, having to filter from a stream coming down from UWJ on the trail back down to JBL. Two years ago I went over the Gothics Coll to Pyramid to Sawteeth and then traversed the length of the mountain to the Lake and then West Brook Trail to Wedge Brook Trail and over to JBL, but on that trip I allowed myself to run out of water, stupidly thinking that the Wedge Brook would run along side the trail for quite a ways. If I looked at my map I would have plainly seen that that was not the case. I should have watered up and filtered at the cascades near the beginning of the trail on that side. I wound up hiking up the col very thirsty and finally getting water on the other side, where I had gotten water the year before. I guess I'm a real water buffalo. I have to drink a lot more water than most people it seems. I learned from that trip. You two did great. Congratulations!

    Comment


    • #3
      I know what you mean about the end of the hike. I can't count the number of times I've worried that I missed a turnoff; or even if I KNOW I'm on the right trail, keep thinking "come on, I must be almost to _____ [some landmark]". It's a combination of physical & mental, I think -- and the price we pay for that kind of hike where we push our limits but have a great day. I did one of those in the Whites in June; by the end of the hike I was exhausted, sore & blistered; but happy.
      Thanks for sharing it!

      Comment


      • #4
        Glad you got Sawteeth in... Doug and his cousin were told, also on Thursday, by the guard at the shack that the trails to Sawteeth were closed due to the fire. They thought for a minute and did Dial, Nippletop, Colvin and Blake.
        “Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.”
        -John Muir

        ADK 46-R 7090W
        Saranac Lake 6er (3x) 11U, UW
        Catskill 3500 2265; 921W

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Photobug65 View Post
          Glad you got Sawteeth in... Doug and his cousin were told, also on Thursday, by the guard at the shack that the trails to Sawteeth were closed due to the fire.
          Interesting... The DEC website clearly specified the Scenic Trail as closed and does not mention the trail from Pyramid:

          "The trail from Lower Ausable Lake to Sawteeth - the Scenic Trail - is closed due to firefighting operations on a wildland fire that was started by a campfire. (7/19)"

          http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/9198.html

          There were certainly no signs or other indicators on Pyramid trail intersection indicating it was closed.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Cliff House View Post
            Interesting... The DEC website clearly specified the Scenic Trail as closed and does not mention the trail from Pyramid:

            "The trail from Lower Ausable Lake to Sawteeth - the Scenic Trail - is closed due to firefighting operations on a wildland fire that was started by a campfire. (7/19)"

            http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/9198.html

            There were certainly no signs or other indicators on Pyramid trail intersection indicating it was closed.
            Yeah, what do gaurds in a shack know anyway?... ... If only he could use his cellphone to call for current updates!
            .
            “Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.”
            -John Muir

            ADK 46-R 7090W
            Saranac Lake 6er (3x) 11U, UW
            Catskill 3500 2265; 921W

            Comment

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