Saddleback and Gothics

November 5, 2022

Thirteenth annual edition of Mike's November ADK weekend for the Ottawa section of the Alpine Club. This year we had a group of twelve folks based out of Upper Jay. Two hikes went out on Saturday. Katharina led a group of seven over the Brothers, Big Slide, and Yard mountains. I took a group of five (Alin, Bridget, Eric, Yun, and myself) up to Saddleback to complete my fall round of the 46, and then on a somewhat exciting journey up and down the Gothics "cable route".

My group met in the parking lot of the Brookside Inn at 06:30 and drove up to the Garden. We were pleased to find the parking lot only half full, meaning that I did not have to shuttle the car back down to Keene and then jog back up the hill. Well worth the ten bucks for parking if you ask me! We struck out under headlamp, crunching along the leaf strewn trail as the day gradually brightened, arriving at Johns Brook Lodge for our first break after about seventy five minutes. The day was incredibly warm even though it was very windy, so we hiked mostly in our t-shirts, while Eric even had the guts to wear shorts on this blustery November day.

After a brief snack on the porch, we crossed the river and hiked up the Ore Bed and the never-ending stairs of Cirith Ungol. As we got higher we unfortunately got fogged in, even though the other side of Johns Brook valley showed blue skies and sunshine. We had lunch at the junction, and then made the short journey up over the double summit of Saddleback. At the top we enjoyed the view of the fog, which occasionally would clear enough to get a brief glimpse of Basin or Marcy before immediately closing in again. I brought up a 46er patch and a handful of leaves to get a photo commemorating the event, however a heavy gust of wind snatched most of the leaves out of my hands before getting the shot.

Break at JBL

Orebed stairway

Autumn 46er round complete!

A brief glimpse out of the fog at Basin slide

We descended back down to the junction where it was more sheltered to sit down to second lunch and had a chat with a trail runner who was planning to climb Saddleback before returning via the lower range. Eric even produced a couple of beers, however I suggested that we finish Gothics before imbibing, as I was expecting the next climb to be a little more serious. This turned out to be the right move.

I have been up the cable route a couple of times before, however this was the first time I found it to be difficult. Perhaps it was the wet, or maybe the slabs are much more polished now, but we found them to be somewhat slippery. At the first significant slab section, I climbed up initially on very grippy rock, but as I neared the top, things got a little more sketchy as my boots started slipping. I gingerly made the last few moves and then tossed down a rope for the others to surmount this section. The cables... while they were a mess before, are really a disaster now. Combined with the rock being slippery, parts of this meant that you had no choice but to haul on this decrepit infrastructure. Nevertheless we made it up the difficult part and then traversed across the summit plateau in the blustery wind to the top. Unfortunately no views today. Our trail running friend appeared with a comment "What the hell was that all about!", referring to the broken cable climb he had just experienced.

Climbing Gothics ridge

Enjoying the view on Gothics summit

The descent down was slow going. We used the rope anchored over a rock horn for a handline down one tricky section and then carefully made our way down the cables while trying not to pull too hard and also trying not to shred our gloves on the sharp edges. At the big slippery slab I fixed the rope as a single handline which just reached the bottom which got four of us down that fairly easily. Alin volunteered to pull the rope so hand rappelled the first half and then butt-scooched the last five meters. From there it was easier terrain back to the junction just in time for third lunch. This time I eagerly helped Eric lighten his load of the beers.

A long walk out from here where we chatted with a fellow from Quebec who was on his way down after a long day on HaBaSa. We decided to cross Johns Brook at the ranger outpost instead of at JBL to shake it up a little, but this still left us with the never-ending hike down the valley. Fortunately the parking lot did eventually appear, just as the light was beginning to fade, finishing our ten and a half hour hike. Drove back to the Brookside where we met the other group who also had a great day out. Unlike us, they had enjoyed sunshine and clear views all day of the cloud encased Great Range. Good food and company finished the evening.

Pretty canyon along Johns Brook during the return journey

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