Hannah the hiker

Sawteeth, Gothics, Armstrong, and Upper Wolfjaw are four of the 46 Adirondack High Peaks and make up part of the Great Range. This trail is about 16 miles long and starts at the Ausable golf club. In order to hike here you have to make a reservation with the Adirondack Mountain Reserve at this link.

I started this hike at 6:30 a.m. on August 20, 2021. I parked just before the entrance to the golf club and had to walk about a mile on paved road before getting to the trail register for the Lake Road. At the trail register (at least when I have gone) there is a park ranger stationed there. They will check that you have made a reservation for hiking, so it isn’t that easy to sneak in without a reservation.

From the register you walk onto the Lake Road Trail. You will walk on this trail for about 3.7 miles until you reach the end of the road which will take you to the right, on a bridge over the Lower Ausable Lake Dam. You will cross over a bridge over the lake and it is such a pretty spot. I’d say this is a nice stop to refuel and take some pictures before you start the big trek up the trail. After the bridge you stay on the A.W. Weld Trail. You will hike 2,000 feet in elevation in about 3 miles. At this point you will reach a junction, and if you go to the left it will take you up to Sawteeth. The Sawteeth Trail is just .6 miles to the top and around 500 feet in elevation gain. There are a couple spots that are somewhat tough since you have to climb up rock with your hands and feet. The summit is somewhat wooded but there is plenty of space to take a break and get ready for the next couple of peaks.

From Sawteeth, continue back down the trail and go straight onto the A. W. Weld Trail, don’t go back down to the lake. In about 1 mile you will make it to Pyramid Peak, which is not part of the 46 High Peaks. For the next couple of miles on the trail you will be going up and down in elevation as you hike over a couple of mountains. It isn’t terrible though, it makes the hike more entertaining in my opinion. Right before Gothics the trail will intersect with the ADK Range Trail which will take you over Gothics, Armstrong, and to the Wolfjaws. At around 9 miles you will be at the summit of Gothics. This peak has a nice view, and I stopped here to rest up and eat/hydrate. This is also the tallest peak in the Great Range.

Keep following the trail and at around 10.5 miles you will be on Armstrong. Armstrong also has nice views. The weather was really nice when we went hiking so all of the summits had clear views of the surrounding mountains.

In .5 miles from Armstrong you will be on Upper Wolfjaw. At the summit there is a large rock to sit on and soak up the view, it does get crowded quickly though. My hiking partner for this trip and i had planned on hiking Lower Wolfjaw as well but decided not to since we didn’t want to be hiking in the dark. So, from Upper Wolfjaw we continued on the ADK Range Trail. We stayed on this trail for about 1 mile before switching onto the Wolf Jaws Notch Trail. Follow this for maybe .5 miles and then move on to the Wedge Brook Trail. Follow this trail downhill for about 2 miles then take the West River Trail, then the River Crossover Trail. These trails will take you back to the Lake Road Trail and eventually back to the parking lot. At this point you are about 2 miles from the lot on relatively flat ground. The hike took a little longer than 10 hours including the stops on the peaks.

overall thoughts on the trail

This was a great hike. The weather was perfect, there were plenty of views, and you knock out 4 High Peaks in 16 miles!

At the beginning of the hike i met an older man who said it was his fourth or fifth time going up Sawteeth. He said that he has done the 46 at least twice, and has done the Winter 46 as well. He also said that he was 75 years old. I was impressed. I hope that when i am that old i can still go hiking.

Since the weather was so nice and warm, my partner and i were drinking a lot of water. I only brought a 2L bladder bag and 32 oz nalgene in my pack, and they only brought a 2L bladder bag. I underestimated the amount of water we would need which made for a quiet hike back to the car since we were both tired and dehydrated. So, learn from my mistake. We were not so dehydrated that we couldn’t keep walking or anything like that, just a little uncomfortable. I also had my Lifestraw with me but we were not at the point that we needed to use it.

I also met some people on the summit of Armstrong saying that there was a woman on the trail who should probably turn around before she needs to be rescued. I met the woman later on in the hike struggling to hike over a rock with her huge backpacking pack on. She had to take the pack off and sit for a moment before continuing over what should be an easy section of trail. I felt bad to see someone struggling this much on the trail. So i think it is worth mentioning that if you are preparing to backpack and hike in the High Peaks, make sure you are capable of carrying a heavy pack over rugged and uneven terrain. Be familiar with the trail and with how heavy your pack is.

After this hike i also experienced some pretty severe foot pain. The boots that i had been wearing all summer were too small and had been squishing my toes together causing damage to the nail bed. As a result 8 out of my 10 toenails fell off after this hike. I am not sure why they chose to hurt and fall off after this hike but they did. Because of this it was really painful to walk and do any exercise involving my feet. Make sure your hiking boots/shoes/trailrunners are appropriate for the exercise you are doing and the shape of your foot.

what i brought