Saturday proved to be a great day to climb a couple more high peaks, Upper and Lower Wolfjaw. I had climbed them many years ago with my dad, but Leesa had never climbed them. As far as Adirondack High Peaks go, they rank numbers 29 and 30 respectively at 4185' and 4175'.
We parked at the designated parking area near the Ausable Club in Saint Huberts. We left the trailhead at 7:45 AM. There were already about 8 cars in the parking lot, but nobody was on the trails we took. We broke trail all day long. There was a fresh 1/2 inch of snow at the trailhead, and about 6 inches of snow at the summits.
The route we took was the Ausable Club Road to the West River Trail to the Wedge Brook Trail. That brought us to the col between Upper & Lower Wolfjaw. From there we ascended Lower Wolfjaw and returned to the col by 11:45. We hadn't planned on ascending Upper Wolfjaw, but it was early enough, and we were still feeling good, so we ascended Upper Wolfjaw and returned to the col at 1:30. We descended the same way we went up and were back at the car at 3:45. At about 2:30 we saw 4 younger guys heading up. They were going to set up camp at a designated camp site, located at about 2700' in the bowl just before the climb to the col. The were going the spend the night, then head for Gothics the next day. We hope they were warm enough, since it got to about zero degrees Saturday night.
Hike Stats:
Hike Distance: 11 miles
Vertical Gain: 4000'
Hike Time: 8 hours
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| A really nice bridge... the Canyon Bridge |
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| Leesa nearing the summit of Lower Wolfjaw |
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| High peaks in the distance... Colden on left, Algonquin on right from Lower Wolfjaw |
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Leesa on the summit of Lower Wolfjaw
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| Leaving the summit |
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| About 6 inches of fresh snow at the top |
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| Leesa climbing a fixed rope on the way up Upper Wolfjaw |
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Looking back at false summit from the top of Upper Wolfjaw, Giant Mtn in the distance
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| From Upper Wolfjaw looking towards Dix (center) and Nippletop (right) |
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| Panorama from Upper Wolfjaw |
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Lower Wolfjaw on the left from Upper Wolfjaw, Giant in background on right
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| Me looking for food at the top of Upper Wolfjaw |
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| Mike at the summit of Upper Wolfjaw |
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| Armstrong from Upper Wolfjaw |
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Summit of Upper Wolfjaw
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| Our route shown in blue |
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| A screen shot from Google Earth |
This hike really felt great. It was 15-20 degrees all day, but there was no wind, even at the summits! The sun was out all day and visibility was great. You can see more pictures from this trip on my
Picasa Web Album.
Beautiful photos Mike. Nice to see the peaks in white!
ReplyDeleteThose summit views are things I dream of. They look so crisp and clean with the snow covering the trees in the distance. Great shots.
ReplyDeleteGreat description of your hike. I appreciate the times and the highlighted route of your map. It's always reassuring to have both since even the newest edition of the High Peaks Trail isn't always detailed enough for my liking.
ReplyDeleteQuick question though: Is the route easy to follow from where you parked until you reach the Wedge Brook Trail? Seems like a maze of paths in that short distance.
I'm thinking about doing this exact hike early next week.
Yes, I would say so. We had no problem with the signage. I was just on Lower Wolfjaw again two days ago, but I went up from the Garden to Bennies Brook Slide and up. That is a fantastic hike.
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