For years I had this loop in mind, was just waiting for good weather, a easy to get parking reservation at the AMR and the need for a decent training.
A secondary goal was to tag 3-4 sections of trail we never had the chance to visit.
Started from the AMR, then lake road, then Weld trail to Sawteeth. Went down southeast trail to the Warden's camp intersection, then to Haystack basin. We went up Barlett ridge since it rained the previous day and we knew the slabs would be wet. So far, all trails were in good shape, I was skeptical about the state of the Haystack brook trail and indeed the beginning was a bit in rough shape, but the ladders still look pretty safe. The carry trail is probably one of the strangest trail in the ADK with perfect maintenance and a handrail on the river section, crossed a few AMR members there. Then up Elevator shaft to the Blake/Colvin col. We skipped Blake and headed for Colvin, the last "fun" part of the day. All our last trips in this area were in the winter and I forgot how rough the trail from Colvin back to the Gill brook junction is.
It was a perfect "solstice" hike
A secondary goal was to tag 3-4 sections of trail we never had the chance to visit.
Started from the AMR, then lake road, then Weld trail to Sawteeth. Went down southeast trail to the Warden's camp intersection, then to Haystack basin. We went up Barlett ridge since it rained the previous day and we knew the slabs would be wet. So far, all trails were in good shape, I was skeptical about the state of the Haystack brook trail and indeed the beginning was a bit in rough shape, but the ladders still look pretty safe. The carry trail is probably one of the strangest trail in the ADK with perfect maintenance and a handrail on the river section, crossed a few AMR members there. Then up Elevator shaft to the Blake/Colvin col. We skipped Blake and headed for Colvin, the last "fun" part of the day. All our last trips in this area were in the winter and I forgot how rough the trail from Colvin back to the Gill brook junction is.
It was a perfect "solstice" hike
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