Laddder on ArmstrongLast Friday the 18th my buddy and I decided to hike Upper Wolf Jaw and Armstrong from the Garden as a day hike. This was something that I have been wanting to do for a couple of years as I wanted to see the ADK's Johns Brook Lodge (JBL) to see how the area would be for camping as it would be a good base for a lot of the high peaks in the vicinity.
The 3.25 mile hike in was pleasant and went fast. We took the trail that lead by the NYS Ranger's interior outpost, nice, and that is when we headed up toward Upper Wolf Jaw. The trail was steep, but not terrible but when we hit the 0.9 mile mark that's when it got serious. It was safe to go up without ropes, but you had to climb up ledge over ledge like steps for a giant. After some hard work we made it to the top of UWJ and spent some time taking pictures and then headed to Armstrong. It seemed that we climbed down 1000' into a col and then began the ascent up to Armstrong. This was similar to the ascent up UWJ; there was a 35' ladder to help us in one area. The view from Armstrong was better than UWJ, with an exceptional view of the Gothics. I wanted to go on and get Gothics as the elevation change was not as bad and we could then go down the Orebed Brook trail, but my buddy's knee was bothering him and we didn't want to add any more mileage to the day.
In all the day involved about eleven hours of hiking and when we saw the van back at the Garden we were very happy. It was a little scary in places but it was nice to be challenged.
The 3.25 mile hike in was pleasant and went fast. We took the trail that lead by the NYS Ranger's interior outpost, nice, and that is when we headed up toward Upper Wolf Jaw. The trail was steep, but not terrible but when we hit the 0.9 mile mark that's when it got serious. It was safe to go up without ropes, but you had to climb up ledge over ledge like steps for a giant. After some hard work we made it to the top of UWJ and spent some time taking pictures and then headed to Armstrong. It seemed that we climbed down 1000' into a col and then began the ascent up to Armstrong. This was similar to the ascent up UWJ; there was a 35' ladder to help us in one area. The view from Armstrong was better than UWJ, with an exceptional view of the Gothics. I wanted to go on and get Gothics as the elevation change was not as bad and we could then go down the Orebed Brook trail, but my buddy's knee was bothering him and we didn't want to add any more mileage to the day.
In all the day involved about eleven hours of hiking and when we saw the van back at the Garden we were very happy. It was a little scary in places but it was nice to be challenged.
Gothics
2 comments:
nice pictures and report. congrats on getting two more peaks.
Thanks. Have you done any of the peaks on the Great Range?
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