We walked down the road towards Lower Ausable Lake where we saw a few hikers along the way and the green school bus that continually patrols the road. By the time we arrived at the trail head, we had already stuffed our coats into the backpacks.
Our plan was to hike up and back on the same trail, but we came to a sign which indicated that the "scenic" trail to Sawteeth was to the left. It wasn't the trail that we planned on, but how could we pass up a scenic route on such a gorgeous day?
After skirting the western side of Lower Ausable Lake, we started to climb and it wasn't long before we lost another layer. By midmorning, the weather had morphed from autumn back into summer. We enjoyed the vistas of Giant, Colvin and eventually Dial when we gained enough elevation.
The topography of Sawteeth is true to it's name and there were many false summits along the way. Once we arrived on the true summit, we found ourselves eating lunch with a larger group of hikers that had been warned that the scenic route was dangerous. We found it to be one of the more gradual and less eroded trails in the high peaks!
We snapped pictures and began to descend on the more direct trail, which happened to be the same descent that we took off Gothics a year prior. At Rainbow Falls, we finished the last of our food (Stewart's donuts!!!) and started the long march along the road with the green bus passing us each half hour...
It was a fantastic hike and despite the length, one of the more "healthy" trails that we had encountered in the region! We toasted our success with vanilla malts and met the family at Crown Point where we were happy to find homemade, hot pizza. Thanks Mike!
Our hike is in yellow on the map below:
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