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Jul 05, 2023 — Each summer I team up with my friend Adam for a big excursion in the northeast, usually to tackle one of the more famous traverse/trail challenges in the area, hikes like the Pemigewasset Loop, Devils Path, or Presidential Traverse. Today we decided to go for the Great Range Traverse, a glorious outing that summits many of the Adirondack 46ers in a nearly straight line. Included on this traverse are Rooster Comb, Hedgehog Mountain, Lower Wolfjaw Mountain, Mountain Upper Wolfjaw Mountain, Armstrong Mountain, Gothics Mountain, Saddleback Mountain, Basin Mountain, Mount Haystack, and finally Mount Marcy. Each peak varies in prominence quite drastically, and since it's an undulating and progressive ascent to the high point of the Adirondacks, it's hard to determine quite how long the subsequent ascent to each peak would be/feel. The trails and terrain on the Adirondacks Great Range Traverse is brutal and slow-moving, with lots of Class 2/3 scrambling, muddy sections, and steep climbs. It didn't help that today was 97% humidity with wildly high temperatures. I chugged a total of two full gallons for the duration of the hike. We agreed conditions weren't eactly ideal, but at least we had excellent views all day!
It seems there are multiple options for completing the traverse. Some hikers opt to shorten the hike by including a long car shuttle to the Adirondack Loj, but Adam and I decided to make a loop and thereby skip the lengthy drive. In hindsight, we wish we'd at least set up a short shuttle from The Garden Trailhead to Rooster Comb Trail, which would knock off a couple mile of road walking at the end of the day. You could also do the traverse in reverse, which would allow you to scramble up the more difficult sections rather than downclimb them (e.g., Gothics cables and the west face of Saddleback Mountain), but this means doing all the tedious flatter trail hiking first and the peaks after.
Additionally, there's some debate as to whether Mount Marcy is even technically part of the Great Range and should possibly be left off the official Great Range Traverse route. On a map, Mount Marcy does require a spur trail separate from the rest of the peaks, but it felt really silly skipping the high point of the Adirondacks based on this supposition. Others may disagree and choose to skip Mount Marcy, which sure is tempting when reaching its junction and having the option to just bypass it. We were thrilled to have completed the whole thing and I'd say it's the hardest hike I've done in the northeast to date, surpassing even the Pemi Loop, whose stats are more impressive.
Adam emerged from his fancy van, well-rested and with a personal bathroom and stocked refrigerator, as well as a crate full of shoe choices. I was moving slowly, my rental car not offering the most comfortable sleeping situation and since my airline only permitted a personal item, I was stuck with a meager backpack containing cotton tank tops and sadness. After a bit more caffeine than I usually need, I agreed it was probably time to start hiking, so we set out at the overripe hour of 7:30am from the Rooster Comb Trailhead when it was already too hot, whoops. The forest was lovely on the way up to Rooster Comb, not quite the fantastic mossy and rocky stuff we'd be hiking through later in the day, but the morning light was nice and this was a relatively tame ascent that had us in good spirits thinking the day would be a piece of cake. After a couple of miles we reached a junction with the Rooster Comb summit spir trail. Apparently this summit is historically considered part of the Great Range Traverse, so even when an old trail was re-routed from the ridge crest, it was left as part of the route, though now set away from the main crest trail. Rooster Comb does have a nice view of the snaking route we had ahead of us, the first real view of the day.
Finally warmed up, we headed back to the junction and started up the steeper ascent to Hedgehog Mountain. There were some short scrambly bits on the way up and over Hedgehog Mountain, but without any views we didn't even realized we'd summitted this uninspiring minor named peak and were already descending toward the base of Lower Wolfjaw Mountain. Lower Wolfjaw Mountain introduced some real Class 2 and low Class 3, a bit of a kick to remind us we were hiking in the Adirondacks. Aside from countless little obstacles slowing us down, we progressed next to Upper Wolfjaw Mountain without much effort, though as the ascent became riddled with more Class 2/3 obstacles, it was clear to us both that our pace would be slowed substantially from here on.
Armstrong Mountain is really just a lump on the side of Gothics Mountain, but it's an official 46er and required significant work to reach, being that there's quite a low saddle between Upper Wolfjaw and Armstrong and the terrain continues to be steep, so much so that there's even a ladder to climb up. The view toward Gothics is excellent from Armstrong Mountain, and we only paused a minute before biting flies decided we seemed like a nice meal. More light descending and ascending, plus the introduction of muddy/boggy terrain we all know and love about the Adirondacks, and we reached the summit of Gothics Mountain. It was at this point Adam and I both realized we were dangerously low on water, and decided we'd bail if we didn't find a creek to fill up. I also realized I was low on food, a rare oversight that I cursed myself for.
We descended from Gothics using the popular Gothics cable route, a series of huge eye bolts with steel cables connecting them. The slab is steep enough to be Class 3, but when wet it's nice to have the cable to avoid slipping. It would have been more fun to ascend this way, but alas, a descent it would have to be to complete the traverse from this direction. More Class 2/3 obstacles and step hiking got us down from Gothics and up to Saddleback Mountain, where we received more lovely views. The descent from Saddleback required Class 3, another section that would have been more fun to climb up rather than down, took us along the well-marked scramble route. This included a series of ledges and a Class 3 crack. A fall wouldn't be ideal here, but the holds are big enough that moving slowly should do the trick.
Aside from a few other tricky obstacles, the traverse continued with more of the same rough terrain and gorgeous views from Saddleback Mountain to Basin Mountain. Next up was Haystack, and for the first time since Rooster Comb, the trail didn't follow the ridge crest. Instead, it dropped farther to the left and hugged the slope. Both Mount Haystack and Mount Marcy, our final teo peaks, were pretty notable undertakings, and we decided we would skip them if Haystack Brook wasn't flowing in order to refill water. Fortuantely, it turns out this water source is pretty reliable year-round, so we trusted that would be the case and we were in luck. After filtering and replenishing our water supply, we strengthened our resolve.
To reach Mount Haystack, we needed to first ascend Little Haystack, which is really just a large rock outcropping requiring some Class 2/3 scrambling to get up and over on the way to Mount Haystack, as well as on the way back. The scenery here is outstanding, the summit ridge above treeline and with excellent views toward the Great Range Traverse and beyond. There's some light scrambling over various little cliffs and through little alpine meadows. I think Mount Haystack is my favorite peak in the Adirondacks.
As we backtracked from Mount Haystack and headed toward the Phelps Trail to hike up to Mount Marcy, we noticed some serious clouds coming in, complete with thunder. At the junction with the trail to Mount Marcy, we started up and then came back down, mirroring our vascillating defeat and resolve. We ultimately decided to head up, probably not the safest option. We passed a guy humorously holding an umbrella who seemed to be having the same conflicting emotions, but was alone and therefore didn't have a friend to get riled up with and make a poor decision. We took the Phelps Trail to the junction with the more popular ascent trail to Mount Marcy, where the peak came into view again. We made quick work ascending to Mount Marcy from here, fun Class 2 sections on similar rock we'd experienced all day taking us to the Adirondack Mountains high point. The views were excellent of course, and fortunately the clouds passed by us with quite a large margin.
We backtracked to the junction we'd hesitated at and started down. This portion of the hike was a bit rough, large boulders leading down terrain steep enough that the trail is now basically a new watercourse. We got quite wet and when we thought the trail couldn't possibly degrade any further, found ourselves trudging through deep mud and struggling a couple of times to stay on the official trail. Fortunately this wasn't a long-lived portion, but it was a little disheartening since we mistakenly thought we were home-free.
The Phelps Trail eased up quite a bit, and aside from a couple of creek crossings and junctions there's not much to note in terms of difficulty. We enjoyed the sounds of Johns Brook and the general lushness of the trail. I certainly hadn't brought enough food and my blood sugar was low. Adam was out as well, but had done a better job staying fed than I had. I probably would have been fine to hike out with my current state of caloric deficiency, but we reached Johns Brook Lodge and I headed in to scour for sustenance. A friendly hiker noticed I was penniless and offered to buy me a candy bar, a new experience that left me a little embarassed, but I was thrilled to get a sugar spike.
Adam and I continued along the trail back to The Garden Trailhead, a long walk that would have been a lot nicer if we weren't rushing to get back before restaurants closed. From The Garden Trailhead, we headed back on roads to reach the Rooster Comb Trailhead where we'd left our cars many hours before. If you're up for a day like this, I couldn't recommend it more. We saw some of the best the Adirondacks has to offer, both with views and trail scrambles.
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