Gothics and Keene Valley

[Nonlegit]

My good freind and hiking partner co-owns a nice house in Keene Valley, that is fully equipped sans heat. So we decided to come up for the weekend and have a little luxury base to hike from. We brought steaks and ribs, as well as soup, hot cocoa, i made some birch tea, we also had cereal, tuna, pancakes, eggs, and some other assorted refreshments. We slept in front of a fire. It was amazing.

We drove about 5 minutes to the Ausable club, signed in, then started a-walkin next to the river (dont remember the trail name). We started off ambitious- we wanted to knock off about 5 peaks there starting with ... well i cant remember which one, but going up and doing the whole ridgeline. We of course started cutting this back peak by peak as we started calculating out distances and times and realizing we had too much on our plate. We settled for just the gothics, starting on the trail that hits pyramid then gothics. We got to the ridgeline after the hardest physical hike i have EVER done, bar none. It was postholeing the WHOLE way up, becuase my freind in a RIDICULOUSLY silly decision, insisted that we didnt need our snowshoes. Well, anyways we got the ridgeline after some crawling to avoid postholing, when we realized that we lost and it was time to go back and cook some ribs, and dehydrate yet a second night in a row . We hit our 1:00 deadline, probably about .5 mile short, sat down, had some water and laughed ourselves till it hurt, then went straight back down. The flat walk along a road on the other side of the river (dont know the name) was very monotonous, and hurt quite a bit. My feet were wet because i was too lazy to put my gaiters on. We made it back to the car at about 330, a little earlier than we anticipated, totally whipped into submission. We went to the cabin and celebrated till we realized that we had to stop, because we had to drive sunday morning

Sorry if it wasnt exactly a detailed post, the whole weekend is kind of hazy. Got home Sunday afternoon, took a bath, nap, went and worked till 1130pm. Good weekend.

 

[Rick]

NonLegit,
Welcome to the Adirondacks!!!

There is a bus that takes folks to the lakehouse from the Ausable Club gate (and back It used to pick up hikers up until about 12 years ago, when they stopped allowing hikers to ride it. It indeed makes that roadwalk a loooong walk after a day of hiking gothics, sawteeth and others.

 

[Mark Schaefer]

We started off ambitious- we wanted to knock off about 5 peaks there starting with ... well i cant remember which one, but going up and doing the whole ridgeline.

That sure sounds familiar, even though it was 29 years ago for me. My first Adk hike was in mid-November, 1975. I had recently completed the Catskill 3500 peaks, and I also thought I could do those same 5 peaks (Lower and Upper Wolf Jaws, Armstrong, Gothics, and Sawteeth) on that short November day. Fortunately I had no snow and just a little ice. I did both Jaws and Armstrong. I was slower, and it was tougher than I expected. When I reached the Armstrong-Gothics col at 2:30pm I had enough sense to head down and call it a day. I reached the parking lot just as it got pitch dark. Holding to a deadline is always wise. Glad you had fun.

That is a tough 5 peaks to bag during short day season, that is unless you can move like PinPin Junior. You should try to connect up with him for a winter Adk hike. Just don't posthole in his presence.

 

[KZKlimber]

Bring skis!!!

I find it is easier to ski the road rather than walk it, especially on the way out where it is mostly downhill.

Of course the downside is you have to plan your route to pick up your skis on the way out or else carry them the whole day which is a royal pain.

KZ

 

[Rick]

I am glad someone enjoyed it. Both times I skiied it, It was after warm days with high winds and the road was not only icy, but covered with small bits of tree branch particles everywhere, causing that annoying non-ceasing grabbing at your skis as you glide along.

 

[KZKlimber]

Yeah, the road can get icy - especially early or late in the season

Metal edged skis make travel downhill on the icy road a lot more stable.

My only gripe is the snowmobiles along the road, but since it is private land and we are guests, I can't really complain.