Gothics and Sawteeth
The 10'th, and 35'th highest peaks in New York State with elevations of 4,736 and 4,100 ft.
Climbed Saturday 7-12-14 with the newly weds, my son Josh and his wife Abbey. We left Speculator around 6:00 and arrived at the Weld Parking Lot only to find it was totally packed and not a parking space to be had. We parked across route 73 in the lot for Giant and hiked in and signed the log book at the AMR gate around 8:00.
On Spencer’s recommendation we took the Beaver Meadow Falls trail up towards the col between Armstrong and Gothics.
After the falls, which are much smaller than Rainbow Falls, but still impressive, the trail got steep in sections.
Surprisingly it was pretty dry so getting bogged down in the mud would not be a concern today. After the falls we continued up towards Gothics. It was a pretty uneventful climb and typical of most other trails we had been on. Surprisingly we made good time and even passed one group and two other single climbers on the way. I say surprisingly because it is usually me who is making way for other climbers to pass by. I don’t think we were going any faster than usual but I credited Abbey for setting and keeping the pace. We did have a little mud as we got towards the top but not a big deal at all.
There were a couple wood bridges and ladders which I always enjoy taking pictures of. There were even a couple ladders that we had to climb down along the way as you ascend the mountain.
Eventually you see Gothics rising before you on the left. At about 11:30 we reached the trail split and the sign post to choose Gothics to the left or Armstrong to the right. It is only 0.4 at this point to Armstrong so we considered a change of plans to include Armstrong but then thought better of it and stuck to our original plan. It was such a terrific weather day and we had heard of the impressive views on Pyramid so we didn’t want to potentially loose the opportunity to take pictures on this day from that point. After a quick bite at the col we headed up to Gothics. We passed several other groups coming down from Gothics and several more on the summit.
We stopped for a few minutes for the standard summit pictures, chatted with a couple other hikers, and then headed over to Pyramid around 12:15. The descent off of Gothics was pretty steep and we passed several other hikers headed up to Gothics. The views on Pyramid were impressive and before we knew it we were down at the junction to go either back to the road via the Weld Trail or up to Sawteeth.
We summited Sawteeth at about 2:00 and then had another decision to make. Would we head back down the way we came and exit to the road via the Weld Trail or go over Sawteeth and exit via the “scenic route”. We settled on heading back and exit via the Weld Trail because it was slightly shorter and because it passed by Rainbow Falls. The hike out seemed long, like usual, but uneventful. Rainbow Falls was impressive and before we knew it we were crossing the Ausable River and then on the lake road.
We tried to hitch a ride with the Ausable Club bus back out but were told since we weren’t members couldn’t ride. We knew that already but had to try.
We signed back out at the AMR trail register and were back at the car at about 5:30. After dinner at our favorite spot, the ADK café, we drove back to Speculator for a hot shower and a slice of Lemon Shaker pie from the café!
Climbed Saturday 7-12-14 with the newly weds, my son Josh and his wife Abbey. We left Speculator around 6:00 and arrived at the Weld Parking Lot only to find it was totally packed and not a parking space to be had. We parked across route 73 in the lot for Giant and hiked in and signed the log book at the AMR gate around 8:00.
On Spencer’s recommendation we took the Beaver Meadow Falls trail up towards the col between Armstrong and Gothics.
After the falls, which are much smaller than Rainbow Falls, but still impressive, the trail got steep in sections.
Surprisingly it was pretty dry so getting bogged down in the mud would not be a concern today. After the falls we continued up towards Gothics. It was a pretty uneventful climb and typical of most other trails we had been on. Surprisingly we made good time and even passed one group and two other single climbers on the way. I say surprisingly because it is usually me who is making way for other climbers to pass by. I don’t think we were going any faster than usual but I credited Abbey for setting and keeping the pace. We did have a little mud as we got towards the top but not a big deal at all.
There were a couple wood bridges and ladders which I always enjoy taking pictures of. There were even a couple ladders that we had to climb down along the way as you ascend the mountain.
Eventually you see Gothics rising before you on the left. At about 11:30 we reached the trail split and the sign post to choose Gothics to the left or Armstrong to the right. It is only 0.4 at this point to Armstrong so we considered a change of plans to include Armstrong but then thought better of it and stuck to our original plan. It was such a terrific weather day and we had heard of the impressive views on Pyramid so we didn’t want to potentially loose the opportunity to take pictures on this day from that point. After a quick bite at the col we headed up to Gothics. We passed several other groups coming down from Gothics and several more on the summit.
We stopped for a few minutes for the standard summit pictures, chatted with a couple other hikers, and then headed over to Pyramid around 12:15. The descent off of Gothics was pretty steep and we passed several other hikers headed up to Gothics. The views on Pyramid were impressive and before we knew it we were down at the junction to go either back to the road via the Weld Trail or up to Sawteeth.
We summited Sawteeth at about 2:00 and then had another decision to make. Would we head back down the way we came and exit to the road via the Weld Trail or go over Sawteeth and exit via the “scenic route”. We settled on heading back and exit via the Weld Trail because it was slightly shorter and because it passed by Rainbow Falls. The hike out seemed long, like usual, but uneventful. Rainbow Falls was impressive and before we knew it we were crossing the Ausable River and then on the lake road.
We tried to hitch a ride with the Ausable Club bus back out but were told since we weren’t members couldn’t ride. We knew that already but had to try.
We signed back out at the AMR trail register and were back at the car at about 5:30. After dinner at our favorite spot, the ADK café, we drove back to Speculator for a hot shower and a slice of Lemon Shaker pie from the café!
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