Great Range

After reserving a lean-to at the Johns Brook Lodge, Lisa and I packed into the wilderness intending to explore some of the more inaccessible peaks of the Great Range. With a good mid-week stretch of sunny weather, it seemed like an opportune time to get into the woods. We left Keene Valley with backpacks and trekking poles and followed the trail to the Adirondack Mountain Club property, finding our lean-to on the opposite side of Johns Brook.

We set up camp as the previous occupants were packing up while comparing kayaks and repacked our gear for a day hike. With lightened loads, but still plenty of trail mix, we headed up the pass towards Saddleback. The trail was very easy for quite a while and then rose suddenly when we found a gigantic pile of dirt and trees with a set of stairs rising on the side of what must be one of the newer "Irene" slides.

After a few scrambles over boulders, we arrived at the summit where we found a large group of teenagers from camp Pok-O-MacCready. When we posed for our "Adironstance" picture, Lisa then got the whole group to do the same pose.

Since we only had to make it back to Johns Brook Lodge, we stayed on the summit and enjoyed the view for about an hour before heading back to our lean-to. After one game of pinochle, it was off to bed.

It was chilly the next morning, and we were eying each other to see who would get out of their sleeping bag first. We eventually rose, retrieved our bear canisters and ate breakfast before heading on the trail toward Basin Mountain. This turned out to be a much tougher hike than the previous day - there was quite a bit more elevation gain and loss and much more vertical boulder scrambling. We slowly scrambled to the peak and enjoyed views of the surrounding mountains despite some clouds and spitting rain.

On the way out, we decided to skip the Shorey Shortcut Trail and make a loop instead. We found the going much easier and arrived at the intersection to Haystack. We soon found ourselves with a panoramic view of the high peaks climbing over Little Haystack. The climbing was much easier than before and soon we were eating a snack while admiring Marcy and Skylight on one side with the rest of the Great Range on the other. It is truly one of the gems of the High Peaks Wilderness.

With five miles to hike out, we started descending...then ascending...then descending...then ascending again, before finally descending the trail to Johns Brook Lodge. When we finally arrived as the sun was setting we stopped in the lodge for a pair of victory lemonades before climbing into our sleeping bags for the night.

The next morning, we bid farewell to the lean-to and packed out to the Garden with sore bodies, wondering why we keep doing this. Of course, that is until we see our pictures...