Sawteeth 8/20/2018

SAWTEETH

Kailee and I awoke after spending a chilly night at Sharp Bridge Campground. We broke camp, got our things together and freshened up before setting sail for St. Huberts.

As we drove down Route 73, we noticed a bunch of Forest Ranger trucks parked in the lots to our left. Then, we saw a helicopter. Not thinking too much of it, Kailee made a joke about the chopper...

We later found out that the Rangers were in the process of attempting (a successful) rescue mission in the Dix Range. We're glad that our amazing Rangers were able to help out the lost hiker.

Sawteeth from the Ausable Club.

We arrived at the Ausable Club/AMR parking lot a little later than planned and set off at 9:40 AM to learn the roads...

That's right. The roads...  The Club/AMR is private property and the general public isn't allowed to drive on their roads. We walked a half mile on the pavement alongside the golf course, took a left at the tennis courts and signed in at the AMR gate.

After the gate, it was a three mile dirt road walk to Lower Ausable Lake before linking up with the trailhead proper for Sawteeth.

AMR Gate.

Kailee fell a bit behind on the road while trying to fish her hat out of her backpack.

"Ah, waiting for your hiking partner?" came a somewhat familiar voice from behind me.

I turned around and recognized the face that went with the voice.

"Hey, you're Tony, right?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied.

It was Tony Goodwin! He's the author of numerous Adirondack guidebooks, a trailblazer and one of the stars of The 46ers Film!

"Hi, I'm Justin," I said as we shook hands.

I told him that we were planning on taking the Weld Trail up Sawteeth. Tony suggested that we consider taking the Scenic Trail. That route was a major reason he declared Sawteeth as his favorite peak when he filled out his 46er application.

"I later found out that Sawteeth was one of the most unpopular with the other applicants!" He laughed.

As we talked, I kinda got the vibe that Tony had some doubts in Kailee being able to pull off the climb. I told him that she's pretty experienced and she has my confidence.

When Kailee caught up to us, I introduced her to Tony and told him that she was a big fan of The 46ers Film. He joked with her about his parts in the film.

I told Tony that we'd contemplate his suggestion of the Scenic Trail.

"I assume that we have a bit of time to think about it," I said pointing at the road.

"Yeah, you have around two miles to think it over," he replied.

We said our goodbyes and continued our road walk.

Kailee thought it was very cool to meet a "movie star" on our hike.
Numerous times throughout the day, Kailee stated that she "liked Tony's character in the film."

I found this to be quite humorous since The 46ers Film is a documentary...

Sawteeth from
Lower Ausable Lake Dam.

We arrived at the dam at Lower Ausable Lake. What a beautiful destination! Lower Ausable Lake sits nestled between Mount Colvin and Sawteeth.

Kailee and I crossed the footbridge in front of the dam.

"Do you wanna take Tony's suggestion and head up the Scenic Route -Or- do you wanna stick with our plan and hit Rainbow Falls?" I asked.

"I wanna go to Rainbow Falls, " Kailee replied.

That was fine with me. Rainbow Falls & the Weld Trail was the path that I had researched & plugged waypoints into my GPS in preparation for this trek.

Rainbow Falls is just a short side jaunt from the beginning of the Weld Trail. It took only a few steps to arrive there. It's one of the tallest waterfalls in the Adirondack Park and is a dramatic sight. A perfect place to take a nice break, have a snack and relax in the cool mist!

"I can see the rainbow!" Kailee shouted as she pointed at the waterfall.

Knowing that we'd be passing multiple bodies of water throughout the day, I packed light with our water to make things a little easier for the road walk. At the falls, I filtered a few more liters and added them to our stash. 

Rainbow Falls.

After a 40 minute break it was time to climb. In my opinion, the first short pitch up to the overlook above the falls was the toughest. No crazy obstacles... Just some really quick elevation gain.

Don't Be a Dropout!

After checking out the overlook, the trail eased up immensely with a bunch of short switchbacks. While there aren't many views, the Weld Trail hasn't eroded down to bedrock which makes it quite easy on the feet!

The trail crossed the Cascade Brook which gave me the opportunity to filter some more fresh cool water.

Trail Split in the Col between Sawteeth and Gothics/Pyramid.

We arrived at the col between Sawteeth and Gothics at 1:50 PM. Taking a left at the trail split, we made our final push towards the summit.

We maneuvered our way up a number of scrambles and started to receive some nice views outwards.

Starting to get some views just below the summit.

Atop the final scramble, I needed a few minutes to rummage through my pack and switch out my camera's SD card.

Kailee walked on and tagged the summit without me and returned just as I was strapping my pack back on.

Kailee tagged the summit & took selfies without me!

"How was it?" I asked.

"You'll just have to wait and see," she replied as we ambled on towards the summit.

We arrived at the crest &  I was quite impressed!

Sawteeth has splendid view of Mount Marcy and the Upper Great Range. The open rock cliffs on Pyramid-Gothics are both breathtaking and imposing. Personally, I was mesmerized by the looming Basin and it's many majestic slides.

Basin and it's mesmerizing slides.

All-in-all, it took us two hours and ten minutes to reach Sawteeth's summit from it's base. Not too shabby!

We chatted with a couple eating lunch on a downed tree that acted as a perfect bench. We ate some snacks and I mixed some Hawaiian Punch powder into my water bottle for Kailee and I to share.

 Pyramid & Gothics.

Just as the couple took off on their descent, a huge noisy family arrived via the Scenic Trail... Kids, a toddler, parents, aunts, and uncles... The whole crew.

Kailee and I quickly commandeered the "log bench" and I began to make sandwiches. The parents were very friendly and the kids were rather loud...

Luckily for us, they didn't spend to much time at the top. I switched out of my sweaty shirt into a dry one and threw the former onto a branch to dry it out.

Basin.
Photo by Kailee.

After lunch, we took some more pictures and appreciated a faint breeze. We spent an hour an twenty minutes taking it all in!

A shot of Saddleback, Gothics & Pyramid taken by Kailee.

We discussed our options for the descent. We both acknowledged that it would be cool to take the scenic route down. However, I informed Kailee that would add to our total mileage. I expressed that if we took the Weld Trail, we could probably breeze down the mountain once we got past the scrambles.

It was agreed. We'd take the Weld Trail.

Sawteeth!

My inkling that we could "breeze down" the Weld Trail proved to be true. It was an incredibly easy and quick descent. We were passing other hikers with ease... That never happens when I hike with Kailee.

We stopped for a few minutes and chatted with a guy nicknamed "Rooster" and his buddy. They had just climbed their first High Peak: Gothics.

"How many have you climbed?" asked Rooster.

"19," Kailee replied.

"WOAH!" both guys shouted.

We wished them happy trails and continued our descent and Rooster sent us off with a rooster call.

We passed the extended family just above the Rainbow Falls overlook and were at the bottom of the mountain an hour and fifteen minutes after leaving the summit.

I don't think we've ever descended a 4000' mountain in such a short amount of time.

Colvin from the dam.

Back at the dam, it was time to begin our three mile road walk back to the Ausable Club.
We moved at a nice pace.

About a mile from the dam, the Ausable Club bus pulled up to us.

"Are you guys all set?" asked the driver.

Is he offering us a ride? I thought the bus was for members only? If we take a ride does that negate our hike?

"Yeah, we're set," I replied.

"OK, just checking!" said the driver as he put the bus in gear and drove off towards the lake.

It kinda didn't make sense to get on a bus and ride all the way back to the lake and wait for it to load up with passengers when we could keep walking.

Edit: the bus is in fact for members only. I've since learned the driver mistook us for members. Do not expect to get a ride or attempt to flag down the bus if you are not a member or guest of the Ausable club.

"This is only a road walk," said Kailee "It's not really a hike. It's a road. It should still count if we took the bus."

The bus passed us again when we were less than a half mile to the gate. From inside, Rooster banged the window and let off another rooster call and yelled "YEAH!" and we waved to him.

Those lucky bums were guests & got a ride!

In a matter of minutes, we were back at the gate. Ten minutes later we were at the car exchanging high fives.

Ausable Club.

Even with all of the road walking, Kailee and I agreed that this was a spectacular hike. We were glad that we covered a considerable amount of mileage, took some nice long breaks at Rainbow Falls & the summit, and made it back to the car in a fairly quick amount of time.

We happily disagree with Mr. Goodwin's peers that weren't fond of Sawteeth... It's an excellent peak!

Kailee and I look forward to revisiting Sawteeth in the future and taking the Scenic Trail when that adventure comes!


Hike Stats:

Miles: Map says 12... GPS says 13.5.
Total Elevation Gain: 3147'.
Total Time: 8 hours & 50 minutes.

Giant Mountain from Ausable Club.