July 24, 2009 - Saddleback & Basin Mountain

For the last day of our big hiking trip, we had originally planned to have an easy day; maybe walking up to Bushnell Falls and relaxing before we head back to civilization. However, Jack felt great and said that he would love to add another peak to his list and suggested that we head out to Saddleback Mountain. The trip up was reasonably easy, and we had a fun trip back up the Ore Bed Trail to the top. Finally, we had a great day with a beautiful view.

From that first peak, Jack felt like it would be a waste not to head over to Basin Mountain and conquer that as well. Since we had no time constraints, we headed in that direction. The trail was a little tougher than we thought, but we made it, even though it took us well over two (2) hours. It was worth it, as we had the best views of our entire trip.

After our accomplishment, we were still faced with a serious walk back to the JBL before our long trip back to the car (and dark). We made decent time, but it was a very long day. As soon as we got to the lodge and strapped on our gear, the skies opened up and we were treated to "biblical" rain during our trip to the car. We had an OUTSTANDING few days, and can't wait to go back.

After our hikes, we went to watch Aunt Kate compete in the Lake Placid Ironman. She did OK, but it has to be a lot easier when you're not hoofing it over boulders, cliffs, and roots. The third day's hiking was well over twelve (12) miles total, and took almost 12 hours. Thirteen (13) High Peaks down, 33 to go. That's over 30 miles and seven (7) High Peaks in three (3) days. Not bad.

July 23, 2009 - Gothics, Armstrong, Upper Wolf Jaw, & Lower Wolf Jaw

The main event of our JBL trip was to climb the mountains in the Northern end of the Great Range. After our unplanned Big Slide climb the day before, we were a little sore but we had a great breakfast and got an early start up the Ore Bed Trail from the JBL. There was a threat of rain all day, but regardless of the forecast, we pressed on.

The trail was great fun, and the trip up Gothics was challenging and exciting. We got to the summit without any rain, but there was only cloud and fog once we go to the top. Undeterred, and after having a little lunch, we marched off towards Armstrong. We got a treat about the same time we got to the second summit; the clouds parted and we got a really nice view.

The trail over to Upper Wolf Jaw was pretty wet; between the wet foliage and the puddles, we got drenched. However, the rain held off and we made it in a little over an hour. Our reward was that the view held out and we could still see a lot of the mountains in the region.

By this point, we were getting tired and we were starting to worry about making it back to the JBL in time for dinner. However, our goal was to also make it over to Lower Wolf Jaw as part of the loop, so we pressed on. We made it to the top (took a lot longer than we anticipated), and just in time for the skies to open up and force us to hustle back to the JBL in time for dinner.

I think we passed out at about 9:00 PM from our biggest hike yet, and easily slept through the night. The total hike was over nine (9) miles and took about 9.5 hours. Eleven (11) High Peaks down; 35 to go.

July 22, 2009 - Big Slide Mountain

The first time we climbed Big Slide Mountain, we came from The Garden over the Brothers. With a little time to kill, and a chance to experience the trail from the JBL up Big Slide, we decided to see if we could get a view this time.

The trail was great fun and very interesting to be able to cross the brook so many times on the way up to the top. Unfortunately, when we got to the summit, we had about the same view the last time we were there in November (about 50 feet visibility). On the way back down, we were surprise by a very large deer that we encountered on the trail.

No new peaks for us on this day, but at least Jack remembered to set the GPS at the top. The hike was about five (5) miles, and took just under four (4) hours. We had to really hustle, but we made it back to the JBL in time for dinner (barely).

July 22, 2009 - John's Brook Lodge

Rich and Jack planned a mini-vacation to stay at the John's Brook Lodge to try and get some serious hiking done in July. We drove up Wednesday morning, and hiked into the lodge from The Garden parking lot. We decided to take the South brook trail since it looked more interesting and we weren't in any rush to get to the lodge. We had a great walk in, but it started raining pretty hard when we were about half way to our destination.

Once we got to the JBL, we noticed that we had about four (4) hours before dinner. Since Big Slide was socked in by clouds when we were there in November, we decided to see if we could get up and down before dinner. With big plans for the next day, I was skeptical that forcing an unplanned hike on the first day might not have seemed like a good idea, but Jack was determined to make up for the fact that he forgot to set the way point on the GPS when we were at the summit the first time.

When all was said and done, Rich and Jack had a great time visiting with the friends and crew at the JBL.