Adirondacks 2002



	B A C K P A C K I N G P A G E T H R E E 1 2 3
	A W o o d e n T e n t . . .
	Staying in a lean-to proved to have a certain appeal to it. In 1913 the state Conservation Commision promoted the use of the Adirondack Forest Preserve (before the Adirondacks became a state park) by allowing individuals to construct lean-tos in the Preserve. The Commision even supplied plans for the lean-tos. But, as a result of erosion and environmental impact the New York Department of Environmental Conservation began removing lean-tos in 1971. Many remain throughout the High Peaks area.

			While hiking across the Great Range we had only seen one other group of hikers the entire day. On our first day of hiking we had seen close to thirty hikers heading back to the Garden Parking Lot after their Labor Day Weekend. We had hoped while planning our trip that most everybody would be gone after the weekend. That is exactly what happened. Wolf-Jaws Lean-to, an eight person lean-to, would become a two person lean-to as we spread out our gear. One of the reasons we had not planned on staying in a lean-to in the past is fear of a crowd near a lean-to. It appears that a crowd can be avoided by hiking after Labor Day. We ate breakfast and packed our packs in the still morning air feeling like we would have the mountains to ourselves.
	Eating breakfast at Wolf Jaws lean-to. (click to enlarge)

	A lean-to on display at the Adirondack Museum. (click to enlarge)

	L a s t T i m e A b o v e 4 0 0 0 F e e t. . .
	Fresh in the morning, it only took us about 45 minutes to regain the col between Upper and Lower Wolfjaw. It was a nice uphill walk to wake us up first thing in the cool morning. From the col we followed the trail east before turning to the north to approach Lower Wolfjaw, our last 4000 footer of the hike.

			As we climbed the south side of Lower Wolfjaw we frequently looked back to the south through the trees. The Johns Brook Valley led to Marcy in the distance, Algonguin Peak rose up to the west of Marcy and the Great Range flanked the valley to the east. All this lay below a beautifully blue sky. Once again it was an ideal day for hiking.
	View to the south from the trail up Lower Wolfjaw. (click to enlarge)

	The view from the summit of Lower Wolfjaw was partially obscured by trees. There were views to the north and the west. The trail descended steeply as we moved off the summit. It was pretty easy going as we hiked over Hedgehog Mountain and began to approach the spur trail to Rooster Comb. We dropped our packs behind a large boulder alongside the trail and climbed for about 20 minutes to reach the summit of Rooster Comb.

			We were very impressed by the views from the rocky cliffs on the summit of Rooster Comb. Not only was there a great view back through the valley to the south, but there was a very impressive view of Giant Mountain to the east. We ate our lunch facing Giant thinking "hmm.. this might be the one that we have to come back and do next time." Very similar to a year ago when we sat eating lunch atop Algonquin thinking "look at that mountain... I think that's Gothics... we will have to do that one next time."
	Giant Mountain (4627') from Rooster Comb. (click to enlarge)

	As we descended Rooster Comb we saw a spur trail on the spur trail. The trail led to another cliff on the northeast side of Rooster Comb. From this cliff was an excellent view of the valley to the northeast. We could've spent another lunch there if we had packed an extra one. We hiked back to the main trail, hefted our packs and continued towards the Garden remembering that Rooster Comb would make an excellent day hike and Giant would make a great goal. The guidebook described the trail we were on as going back to a parking lot a little less than a mile east of the Garden. We soon realized from the direction the trail was heading that we were bound for the Rooster Comb parking area right off route 73 in Keene Valley, about 2 miles east of the Garden by road. Sure enough we passed a pond and emerged from the woods 2 miles from the Garden.

			At the edge of the pond Katie turned over a leaf on a milkweed plant and found a Monarch Butterfly caterpillar. We admired it, took a picture and left it be as we took our first steps onto asphalt in three days. About an hour and a half later we arrived back at our car in the Garden. The unplanned street hike was a good cool down.
	Endeavoring Monarch Butterfly. (click to enlarge)

	We could not have enjoyed our hike in the Adirondacks more. The weather was perfect, there were no black flies or mosquitos, we hiked some serious trails, we climbed some awesome mountains and we saw some wonderful views. We left the mountains planning what we would do the next time we return.

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	Email us: aaronandkatie@aakt.com © 2002 by A. Holmes