The Hikers
New member
We have been bringing the pop-up out to Lake Placid, and collecting ADK's from the Loj. We decided that this time we'd book a couple of days at the John's Brook Lodge, and go for the Great Range traverse. So Wednesday afternoon we arrived at "the garden" where we got a real good parking spot, put on our heavy packs which now contained extra stuff needed for the stay in the JBL, and hiked in the 3 1/2 miles to our accomodations.
We picked out a couple of adjoining bunks in one of the ten-bunk rooms and checked out the place. Now, we have stayed a couple of times in the Galehead Hut back at home, so we might be a little spoiled. The major difference we noticed this time was the presence of a conventional, though vented "out house" off of the wash facilities instead of the composting types in the NH huts. This was to be VERY significant during our first night as the use by half of the hut's occupants stressed the unit beyond its capabilities, and I soon found my bunk's location, nearest to the bathroom door was a poor choice.
Nevertheless we got up before most everyone else in anticipation of our hike.
We had a very good breakfast , packed up and were ready to go by 8:00. As we put on our gear on the side porch the rain began. Now I have to say that we have not been rained on on a hike in a very long time. In fact,the usual timing of rain just after we finish a hike can be described as miraculous. So , needless to say I was quite discouraged as we got the ponchos out of the pack. I decided to wait a while to see how the rain would progress, and (would you know) it stopped!!
Now we quickly headed out in the direction of the Wolfjaws. Our plan was to do the loop clockwise. a larger group was heading out to do the loop in the opposite direction. We intended to get both Wolfjaws, Armstrong, the Gothics, and,if we still had energy and time to pick up Saddleback. We crossed the brook, went up a small slope, and immediately came upon an intersection with a trail going left. What to do??
Now this discussion has taken place on forums before. The ADK trails have quite a different system regarding SIGNS. They are few, and sometimes non-existant. I decided to rush back across the brook before everyone had left and get some advice. A lady hiker said "take the left trail". Back across the brook, took the left, half a mile later....this can't be right. Back to the brook crossing......better advice from a young couple. On the trail again to a five way crossing . Now we had lost about a mile and maybe an hour from where we had hoped to be.Heading on the right trail....moving fast...started with a red disk, didn't we? now the disks are yellow.....
At this point we are cursing the whole ADK system and ourselves and making vows to never return.We could easily change our name from "The Hikers" to "Les Miserables". Stopping , I take out the GPS and my map and find that, yes, we are on the right trail. We vow to try to forget our anger and make a day of it, and eventually we decide we are the stupid ones who did not get used to this system.
Ahh, the RIGHT trail
We found Lower Wolfjaw after a pretty rugged climb.Not many views from LWJ, but better ones from Upper Wolfjaw. made some friends there.
Down from LWJ and on to Upper Wolfjaw, and then on to Armstrong. (Sounds easy, doesn't it. But it wasn't!!)We completely underestimated the difficulty of this trip. Every kind of hiking-climbing situation, all in one, and a complete body work-out. plenty of rock climbing, up and down.
We got to climb some ladders as we went up Armstrong.
Shortly after the ladders, we met the other group coming down. They cautioned us about the infamous cable going down from the Gothics. We DID NOT tell them what was ahead for them.
At length we reached the peak of Gothics and its wonderful views.
The cold wind was blowing very hard, straight in on us, so we retreated to the back side where Joyce took a much-needed rest on hard ledge.
We headed off for the dreaded cable descent, which turned out to be fun and exciting.
The trail down to the next junction turned out to be very slow going. We had decided for quite a while that Saddleback would have to be for another day. We didn't want to miss supper at 6:30, and we had gotten PLENTY of excercise on this trip. The hike down the wet slabs of the Orebed was slow , and then LONGGGGGGG. At the end old Mr. Doubt started to hike with us, but finally we reached our former junction, tying the knot, and heading back to the lodge.We crossed the brook , went into the Lodge, and the rain started in again.
I have to say we slept well that night.There were only three of us in the room, we were tired, and the odor was very acceptable.
Next morning we packed everything back into our heavy packs and headed up the Slide Brook Trail. This is a beautiful trail, and as was promised to us, the view from Big Slide was magnificent, showing us all the places we had been the day before.
From Big Slide we headed back to The Garden and our car by way of the Brothers.
The views from the Brothers were fantastic, showing the whole Great Range, one great view after another.
Coming back to the car we found the attendant, dutifully waiting to be paid, and many cars waiting to get our spot.
This hike was a complete work-out for every muscle in our bodies, but we absolutely loved it.
We picked out a couple of adjoining bunks in one of the ten-bunk rooms and checked out the place. Now, we have stayed a couple of times in the Galehead Hut back at home, so we might be a little spoiled. The major difference we noticed this time was the presence of a conventional, though vented "out house" off of the wash facilities instead of the composting types in the NH huts. This was to be VERY significant during our first night as the use by half of the hut's occupants stressed the unit beyond its capabilities, and I soon found my bunk's location, nearest to the bathroom door was a poor choice.
Nevertheless we got up before most everyone else in anticipation of our hike.
We had a very good breakfast , packed up and were ready to go by 8:00. As we put on our gear on the side porch the rain began. Now I have to say that we have not been rained on on a hike in a very long time. In fact,the usual timing of rain just after we finish a hike can be described as miraculous. So , needless to say I was quite discouraged as we got the ponchos out of the pack. I decided to wait a while to see how the rain would progress, and (would you know) it stopped!!
Now we quickly headed out in the direction of the Wolfjaws. Our plan was to do the loop clockwise. a larger group was heading out to do the loop in the opposite direction. We intended to get both Wolfjaws, Armstrong, the Gothics, and,if we still had energy and time to pick up Saddleback. We crossed the brook, went up a small slope, and immediately came upon an intersection with a trail going left. What to do??
Now this discussion has taken place on forums before. The ADK trails have quite a different system regarding SIGNS. They are few, and sometimes non-existant. I decided to rush back across the brook before everyone had left and get some advice. A lady hiker said "take the left trail". Back across the brook, took the left, half a mile later....this can't be right. Back to the brook crossing......better advice from a young couple. On the trail again to a five way crossing . Now we had lost about a mile and maybe an hour from where we had hoped to be.Heading on the right trail....moving fast...started with a red disk, didn't we? now the disks are yellow.....
At this point we are cursing the whole ADK system and ourselves and making vows to never return.We could easily change our name from "The Hikers" to "Les Miserables". Stopping , I take out the GPS and my map and find that, yes, we are on the right trail. We vow to try to forget our anger and make a day of it, and eventually we decide we are the stupid ones who did not get used to this system.
Ahh, the RIGHT trail
We found Lower Wolfjaw after a pretty rugged climb.Not many views from LWJ, but better ones from Upper Wolfjaw. made some friends there.
Down from LWJ and on to Upper Wolfjaw, and then on to Armstrong. (Sounds easy, doesn't it. But it wasn't!!)We completely underestimated the difficulty of this trip. Every kind of hiking-climbing situation, all in one, and a complete body work-out. plenty of rock climbing, up and down.
We got to climb some ladders as we went up Armstrong.
Shortly after the ladders, we met the other group coming down. They cautioned us about the infamous cable going down from the Gothics. We DID NOT tell them what was ahead for them.
At length we reached the peak of Gothics and its wonderful views.
The cold wind was blowing very hard, straight in on us, so we retreated to the back side where Joyce took a much-needed rest on hard ledge.
We headed off for the dreaded cable descent, which turned out to be fun and exciting.
The trail down to the next junction turned out to be very slow going. We had decided for quite a while that Saddleback would have to be for another day. We didn't want to miss supper at 6:30, and we had gotten PLENTY of excercise on this trip. The hike down the wet slabs of the Orebed was slow , and then LONGGGGGGG. At the end old Mr. Doubt started to hike with us, but finally we reached our former junction, tying the knot, and heading back to the lodge.We crossed the brook , went into the Lodge, and the rain started in again.
I have to say we slept well that night.There were only three of us in the room, we were tired, and the odor was very acceptable.
Next morning we packed everything back into our heavy packs and headed up the Slide Brook Trail. This is a beautiful trail, and as was promised to us, the view from Big Slide was magnificent, showing us all the places we had been the day before.
From Big Slide we headed back to The Garden and our car by way of the Brothers.
The views from the Brothers were fantastic, showing the whole Great Range, one great view after another.
Coming back to the car we found the attendant, dutifully waiting to be paid, and many cars waiting to get our spot.
This hike was a complete work-out for every muscle in our bodies, but we absolutely loved it.
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