I brought a group of boys over to the Adirondacks today, with the goal of hiking Gothics, Armstrong, and the Wolfjaws from The Garden. It was meant to be a lolli-pop, with an easy start running to Johns Brook Lodge, then a moderate ascent of Gothics via the Ore Bed Trail. The total span style=”font-style: italic;”should /spanhave been 14.7 miles, and approximately 3,500′ of elevation gain.Unfortunately the parking lot at The Garden was full, so we had a slight change of plans.br /br /We drove to the Rooster Comb trailhead and began a rough ascent of Hedgehog and on to Lower Wolf Jaw at the 5-mile mark. By this point, we had already gained about 3,200′, and we were still over 3-miles from the summit of Gothics (with 2 intermediate summits between). Everybody continued on through the col and then to Upper Wolf Jaw @ 6.5 miles (3,900′ of gained). Some of the group took a long rest on Upper Wolf Jaw, while the rest of us pushed on. With our new starting point, the major change meant our hike was now an out-and-back, meaning every summit would be climbed twice…br /br /Another 0.8 miles out and we arrived at Armstrong Mountain; 7.3 miles (4,200′ gained). David and Jack continued on to bag Gothics; 8.2 miles (4,700′ gained).br /br /By the end of the day, we were out for 6:45 car-to-car. Add in almost 5 total hours span style=”font-style: italic;”in/span the car, and it was a long day. Not to mention the fact that it was over 80* and we were all out of water with 5+ miles to go.br /br /Totals:br /short group: 13 miles, but with ~4,600′ of gain.br /middle group: 14.6 miles, ~5,100′ gain.br /long group: 16.4 miles, ~5,800′ gain.div class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1847564486460994594-5974620574898834469?l=gmvsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
