Sawteeth

June 18, 2022

Hike-a-Palooza Reboot, or the seventh annual HAP (ignoring the last two years of stupidity) brought thirty-five or so hikers down to the farm for a fun-filled weekend of hiking, good food, and socializing. Saturday had groups go out to hike Dial and Nippletop, Sawteeth, Porter Ridge traverse, Giant, Nun-da-gao ridge, Hurricane, and Jay mountains. I lead a hardy group of four on the Sawteeth hike.

Paul, Ed, Rob, and I pulled into the AMR just after 07:00. Not knowing how many people would be coming on the hike in advance, I pulled two parking permits, but the way this idiotic system works means that there is no way to release the spot to someone else at the last minute. Anyway, we ended up only bringing one car, and at least one spot remained empty for the day. It was nice not having to fight for parking though!

After the sign in process at two gates with friendly guard staff, we set on our way on the West River trail towards the mountain. This was the first time I have hiked this path and it was quite pretty. Most of the way it was fairly easy travel, and I think that any extra time spent by taking this route instead of the boring road was taken up by stopping to see the sights along the way. We checked out no less than three waterfalls and after a break at Rainbow, finally began climbing the mountain.

Paul, Rob, and Ed along the West River trail

Waterfall number one

Beaver Meadow Falls

Pretty spot along the river

Rainbow falls

We ascended the scenic route which starts off very ruggedly along the lake. After the seemingly endless traverse it finally starts climbing. As we ascended, the temperature began to drop and we were treated to the occasional burst of rain and the quick breaks at the various outlooks showed that we were likely not going to get a view from the summit today. We passed a group of four as we crested the false summit, then finally climbed to the top in the fog and blowing wind. The stay was brief as it was very cold... I heard that snow was found on Marcy this day! Hard to believe it is only two days from summer. The group of four arrived and we exchanged photo services, finding out that they were also from Ottawa.

Indian head from the scenic trail

The boulder lookout

One of several ladders to climb

Summit!

Descent down the Weld trail was much faster and easier travel. We leap-frogged the Ottawa group and tried to recruit them into the ranks of the Alpine Club, and hopefully we get to see these folks again sometime. We took a final break at the dam and debated whether to take the East River trail back or simply plod along Lake Road. After crossing the bridge I asserted my dictatorial authority and declared East River it would be, as my aching legs really did not want to climb the hill up to the road. Again, the trail was quite pretty along the river and we got a good view of the Sawteeth ridge at one point. After a couple of kilometers it started raining harder though, so we took the cutoff trail out to the road for a quicker three kilometer finish out to the gate. I sped ahead here and chatted a bit with a fellow who was returning from a successful day of fly fishing. Signed out at the gate and a quick scamper past the golf course had us back at the parking lot for a nine hour, twenty minute finishing time for the hike.

Descending towards Pyramid

Looking back at a foggy Sawteeth ridge from the East River trail

Slogging the last few kilometers along Lake Road

The other groups all had successful days out as well, everyone experiencing the same foggy view on all summits. The chilli dinner was great and the company around the fire for the evening made the world almost feel like it is back to normal.

The gang around the fire pit

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