Gothics & Sawteeth

This far in our vacation we had been successful, climbing 5 of the Adirondacks high peaks. This next climb, for us, was really a treat.

First, our extremely generous landlord for the week turned out to not only be an avid hiker, but one of the premier hikers in all of the Adirondacks. (Most people aspire to climb all 46 high peaks – he did them all 20 times over.) So he offered something special when he learned we were hiking Gothics: he dropped us off at Keene Valley allowing us to hike one-way to our car in St. Huberts. So, rather than doing the same way back-and-forth, we were “always walking to our car”. This was quite an opportunity for tourists like us.

Second, we unexpectedly got to scramble up one of the rock slides. This was without question the most fun that Ben and I had on any Adirondacks hike. (And we’ve had some great hikes!)

We made it up the rock slide (shown in the pictures below) and to the side of Gothics with the hand cables. This was near the top, about 6 miles or so from the start of our hike at The Garden. People describe these cables as helping you balance. Honestly, I would describe them more as preventing you from falling to your death. It just might be a matter of degree.

We got to the cables, about a half mile from the top, at the same time as two other groups – and beat them to the summit by at least a half hour. We’re tough, baby.

The views from 4,736-foot Gothics were wonderful. We had a perfect day again.

From Gothics, we climbed to Pyramid, which offered even more stunning views. (Pyramid isn’t considered one of the 46 high peaks only because it is too close to Gothics.) My favorite shot of the trip is the infrared shot of south slides of Gothics, where the rocks look like melting ice cream.

IMGP0595 — *South slides of Gothics in infrared*

Passing Pyramid, we summited 4,100-foot Sawteeth. From there we took the rather pleasant hike down to Rainbow Falls and back to our car at the Ausable Club. In all, it was an exhilarating hike, my favorite ever.