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Ausable #4. May 17, 2005. Neil and Alistair.
I had never even heard of this splendid mountain until last week. Now I've climbed it.
The day started at Stewart’s in Etown. I got there first so Alistair bought coffee. We looked over the map and the route I had entered into my gps. Seeing how we had 2 cars and someone had recommended a different route we realized we could spot a car and then once on the summit we could decide exactly how to exit. So, with one car at the end of Hurricane road (the east one) and a waypoint in the gps we drove off to the other Hurricane road and turned off onto a gravel lane that led to the TH. (Thank you Rik for that info.)
Upon signing out we noted that a party of 2 had done Aus4 about a month ago but no one else. We more or less followed our intended route through moderately thick bush up to a bump from which we got great views of Hurricane. We proceeded to describe an arc along the cirque (if it is a cirque) going over a series of little bumps and knobs. There were few views to be had on this route and we bypassed the best exposed bump because we had gotten visuals of Aus4 and now we wanted to get there ASAP.
Even though we had limited views along the way I was enjoying the exercise in navigating using a combo of gps, map and compass. Alistair said, â€yeah sure, just follow the arrowâ€. So I suggested turning off the unit and doing the remainder of the route sans gps. I was outvoted. My gps has a weakness on slow meandering shwacks. The direction arrow goes totally off unless you walk straight and steady for 30 secs or so. Hence the map and compass usage.
On this cool and calm grey day we enjoyed a great feeling of remote wilderness. 4 hours after departing the car we broke out on the bare rock of the summit. I would give this summit view 5 stars, no less. We lined up the ADK map and named off all kinds of high peaks and not so high peaks from Rocky Peak Ridge to Whiteface. The view of Sawteeth’s jagged ridge impressed me in particular. It was pretty chilly up there and after 45 minutes and a short pow-wow we decided to head down in a SE then S direction to the car that we had first spotted. We entered a waypoint manually from the map and down we went. See my map for the exact route. The way down was a lot more open than our ascent route and we made great time through absolutely gorgeous terrain.
Then, at about .6 miles from the car we saw a cabin. At first we were pretty wary. I took a waypoint and a pic from 50 yards and we strained our eyes and ears for any sign of life. Gradually we approached wondering if someone had us in their sights but there was no one there (see pics). It looked like a great hunting cabin and now I was thinking that we might be on private land.
We hiked back to the car and the gps brought us out to within about 20 feet a mere hour and 45 mins after leaving the summit.
If I was to go back I would stick to the suggestion we had been given initially and approach from the South probably ascending just to the west of the cliffs. The route we took down was one of the prettiest bushwhacks I’ve ever done. We stopped and I played my flute for a while which resonated nicely in the leafless forest. We encountered no snow, and almost no bugs.
Pics:
I had never even heard of this splendid mountain until last week. Now I've climbed it.
The day started at Stewart’s in Etown. I got there first so Alistair bought coffee. We looked over the map and the route I had entered into my gps. Seeing how we had 2 cars and someone had recommended a different route we realized we could spot a car and then once on the summit we could decide exactly how to exit. So, with one car at the end of Hurricane road (the east one) and a waypoint in the gps we drove off to the other Hurricane road and turned off onto a gravel lane that led to the TH. (Thank you Rik for that info.)
Upon signing out we noted that a party of 2 had done Aus4 about a month ago but no one else. We more or less followed our intended route through moderately thick bush up to a bump from which we got great views of Hurricane. We proceeded to describe an arc along the cirque (if it is a cirque) going over a series of little bumps and knobs. There were few views to be had on this route and we bypassed the best exposed bump because we had gotten visuals of Aus4 and now we wanted to get there ASAP.
Even though we had limited views along the way I was enjoying the exercise in navigating using a combo of gps, map and compass. Alistair said, â€yeah sure, just follow the arrowâ€. So I suggested turning off the unit and doing the remainder of the route sans gps. I was outvoted. My gps has a weakness on slow meandering shwacks. The direction arrow goes totally off unless you walk straight and steady for 30 secs or so. Hence the map and compass usage.
On this cool and calm grey day we enjoyed a great feeling of remote wilderness. 4 hours after departing the car we broke out on the bare rock of the summit. I would give this summit view 5 stars, no less. We lined up the ADK map and named off all kinds of high peaks and not so high peaks from Rocky Peak Ridge to Whiteface. The view of Sawteeth’s jagged ridge impressed me in particular. It was pretty chilly up there and after 45 minutes and a short pow-wow we decided to head down in a SE then S direction to the car that we had first spotted. We entered a waypoint manually from the map and down we went. See my map for the exact route. The way down was a lot more open than our ascent route and we made great time through absolutely gorgeous terrain.
Then, at about .6 miles from the car we saw a cabin. At first we were pretty wary. I took a waypoint and a pic from 50 yards and we strained our eyes and ears for any sign of life. Gradually we approached wondering if someone had us in their sights but there was no one there (see pics). It looked like a great hunting cabin and now I was thinking that we might be on private land.
We hiked back to the car and the gps brought us out to within about 20 feet a mere hour and 45 mins after leaving the summit.
If I was to go back I would stick to the suggestion we had been given initially and approach from the South probably ascending just to the west of the cliffs. The route we took down was one of the prettiest bushwhacks I’ve ever done. We stopped and I played my flute for a while which resonated nicely in the leafless forest. We encountered no snow, and almost no bugs.
Pics:
. And where's the blowdown 
Next time you gotta leave some skin on the trees for it to count.
for sure. Nice pics and views.
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