Sawteeth Questions

[Stimack]

Hello everyone,

I am thinking about doing Sawteeth on June 7th with my wife. This will be my first hike from the Ausable club and I have a few questions if you don’t mind.

Where is it that you park, is it on 73? Or is there closer parking to the Club itself.

Also approx from 73, if that is where we would have to park, is it to the junction Weld trailhead via the Lake Road? From what I have read it looks like it is about 3.3 miles but I don’t think that is taking into account the parking on 73.

Has anyone been up there since over the past week and if so what where the conditions? I looked on the VFTT side and did not see a recent entry.

The day is actually our anniversary and we have a few other things planned so I was wondering what people thought the average time for the hike would be? We move pretty quickly but I do like to take tons of pictures. I was figuring probably 8 hours in total but not sure if I am all wet.

Thanks for any info and I imagine I will have a number of additional questions.

Thanks,
Stephen

[bridgeman]

The DEC parking lot for access to AMR lands is located just off of Rt. 73 beyond the clubs golfcourse.

Check out adirondackjourney.com for information on this hike and descriptions on the other high peaks.

I did Sawteeth in Sept. 2004 and hiked up the scenic trail and down the weld trail. I don't believe the entire trip took us more than five hours and that was after doing Giant and Rocky Peak Ridge the day before.

[Skyclimber]

There is parking at the end or the beginning of the AuSable Club road depending which direction you come in from. But the entry way across from Giant's Trailhead. It's about a 7/10 of a mile walk from where you park the car to the trail register.

It would be closer to four miles to the beginning of the Weld's Trail. Then from there 1.75 miles to the col between Sawteeth and Gothics, then a half mile up to Sawteeth from there.

8-9 hours should be plenty enough for a round trip time.

[Kevin]

As a suggestion, take the Weld trail up, and the scenic trail down. While descending the scenic trail you'll have lots of nice views in front of you. It is steeper though, so if either of you is less comfortable on descents then perhaps the reverse should be done (the Weld Trail is not as steep).

I took someone who was in relatively good shape up Sawteeth as their first high peaks hike and it was a bit too much for them. Keeping that in mind, it's only slightly harder than Cascade/Porter or Phelps, and less elevation gain than Giant. If you're in good shape and have time/energy maybe add Pyramid peak (the bump between Sawteeth and Gothics) to the hike. It adds about 2 miles and 1,000 feet ascent/descent to the hike, but has some tremendous views. The views from Sawteeth are great too, but Pyramid is closer to the action. What drains you are the road miles at the end. You keep thinking you see the gate coming up around the bend. Now I look for the swimming pool on the right before I start thinking I'm out.

Bridgeman, 5 hours is really good time to do this hike. Were you running? Did you stop at any of the lookouts?

[Stimack]

Bridgeman, 5 hours is really good time to do this hike. Were you running? Did you stop at any of the lookouts?

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing! When I was looking at the miles I was figuring that at best we could get it done in 7 but that would be really pushing it I think.

[billandjudy]

I agree w/ Kevin's route. Judy and I did the opposite last Sept after hiking up Indian Head from Gill Brook--the Scenic Trail seemed to go on forever and was very tiring (it was in the high 80's) Also the walk along the lake is waste of time and energy--better off saving it til last. Make sure you stop by Rainbow Falls
As Moonrock says(below) the boulders along the lake are a real PITA to walk through.

[Dick]

Another vote for Kevin's route, and a very enthusiastic vote for tacking on Pyramid as well. The views from that lookout are one of the best around, and much better than Sawteeth, IMO. A worthy destination in itself.

Dick

[moonrock]

Hey Stimack,

I hiked Sawteeth this last Monday, despite forecast for late-day storms (none materialized - how often is Adirondack weather BETTER than the forecast ?).
Some notes:

1) Parking lot is at south jct of the Ausable Club's road with 73, across from Giant trailhead. After you walk up the club road, turn left (west) between the tennis courts onto Lake Road; the gate and sign are a few hundred feet further.

2) Lake Road IS very "long" (and not flat) but very smooth. In hindsight, my hiking companion wondered whether it might have been worth bringing extra (lighter) shoes for this part of the hike.

3) I had backpacked to Calkins Brook and day-hiked the Sewards the preceding weekend. That trip was EXTREMELY wet. But the Weld trail was remarkably dry, just 2 days later. Spurs lead to both the base and an overlook of Rainbow Falls. 1800 ft ascent to the col, then another 500 ft to the summit.

4) Did not see any summit sign, just trail markers/direction tags. A large boulder on the left, south of the range view, appeared higher but was crisscrossed by fallen trees and obviously had not been frequented by hikers. Large ice/snow patch was visible on the NE summit of Marcy. GRAND profile of Haystack ! The rest speaks for itself.

5) We descended via the Scenic Trail. Sections are very steep and there are a couple of 10-12 ft ladders, which tickled my vertigo a little. Some drops required judicious handling of trees and roots, and a little upper body strength is helpful. Decent hiking boots (tread, ankle support) are essential.

6) Most outlooks are just off the main trail. The Marble Point spur is the extreme exception. It looks recently re-routed, undulates up and down excessively, and passes through some covered boulders, where there are leg-sized holes to beware of. The view is higher/better than that from the next lookout, but the MP spur trail itself requires patience.

7) Great views of the Lake and Indian Head. The lakeside return to the dam was rougher than expected, passing over boulder talus that lined the "shore".

It was sunny, hazy and 80 degrees. My hiking companion was, by his own admission, out-of-shape, "heavy" and thoroughly unprepared for a high peaks hike. He insisted on sticking it out, but had a thoroughly miserable day, including classic heat-stress symptoms despite 2 liters of water. Because of his difficulties, we took an unprecedented 8 hours round trip from the dam. We walked out the Lake road after dark, arriving back in Placid at 9:30. The silver lining was that two other friends had pizza and beverages waiting for us at the hotel.

Despite our "adventure", I thoroughly recommend this peak (my 43rd !).

The hiking times quoted in previous posts are reasonable for most hikers.
Enjoy,

M

[Boreal Chickadee]

Hmmm... I seem to be in theminority here in that I've never found teh road ot feeling that long. Maybe becuase I can really roll on that road back to the gate. I also took the scenic trail up and loved it. Didn't mind the rocks along the shore ata all. I thought they were pretty interesting. I guess I just like different things on hikes. But.... Pyramid is my favorite peak! Sitting on Pyramid and looking out on gothics is better than any Sunday in church!

And I agree, 5 hours is fast, very fast.

[Stimack]

Everyone, Thanks for all of the information and recommendations!

With this we have made a decision based on time that we will hold off till the 17th if June to do Sawteeth as well as get to Pyramid and Rainbow Falls. Would rather take our time to enjoy it rather than feeling rushed!

So it will be Snowy that we will do for our Anniversary hike, main thing is just to get out and enjoy the outdoors with my wife ... and a couple 1000 black flies.

Thanks again for all the info!

Stephen

[bridgeman]

maybe I exagerated a little. I will have to check my notes and report back.

Sorry for any misinformation.

[Stimack]

maybe I exagerated a little. I will have to check my notes and report back.

HA! I was pretty sure that it would have taken a bit more than 5 hours unless you where practically running! If I told my wife we could do it in 5 hours it would not be a very good Anniversary for me!

[Skyclimber]

HA! I was pretty sure that it would have taken a bit more than 5 hours unless you where practically running! If I told my wife we could do it in 5 hours it would not be a very good Anniversary for me!

You'd be in Divorce Court! Your lucky though, there is at least a Lawyer and a Judge on this Forum, so you would have someone on your side, for your defense!

[qam1]

I agree w/ Kevin's route. Judy and I did the opposite last Sept after hiking up Indian Head from Gill Brook--the Scenic Trail seemed to go on forever and was very tiring (it was in the high 80's) Also the walk along the lake is waste of time and energy--better off saving it til last. Make sure you stop by Rainbow Falls
As Moonrock says(below) the boulders along the lake are a real PITA to walk through.

I'll 2nd or 3rd that!

When I climbed Sawteeth last fall I made the mistake of going up the Scenic trail. It didn't seem that steep to me but that trail just seems to go on and on and on and you just never seem to get anywhere. I ended up meeting slower hikers whom I earlier zoomed by on the Lake Road who went up Sawteeth via the Weld trail coming back down before I even reached Rifle Notch.

The biggest annoyance is the walk along the lake, at one point the trail steeply rises to about 50-75 feet above it and then for no particular reason decends right back down to the shore.

[Kevin]

The scenic trail, thanks to all the switchbacks, is over .5 miles longer than the weld trail to the top of Sawteeth. At least this was my guess after comparing my GPS results. It could actually be a bigger difference, I didn't commit this to memory... I just know better than to go up the scenic trail.