Upper Wolf Jaw

December 10, 2016

Hit the trail at the Garden with Katharina just as it was light enough to see without headlamps. As we travelled over a few inches of fresh snow we passed lots of animal tracks, including a deer bed right beside the trail. We bare booted along all the way to the ranger station and crossed the high water bridge over Johns Brook. As we started climbing, the snow got deeper as we went and before long we put on our snowshoes. At the five corners junction, we settled into trail breaking mode all the way to Wolf Jaw notch. Kat was feeling slow today so our progress was very sluggish. So slow in fact that I had trouble keeping warm, as the pace was too slow for my metabolism to generate enough heat. Nevertheless, we plodded on upwards, sometimes having to search a bit for this poorly marked trail, but for the most part navigating without too much difficulty. Upon reaching the Notch, I was happy to see other tracks, and I sat down for a sandwich while waiting for Kat. She finally arrived and also took a break for lunch, but I was now getting very cold from this long break and anxious to get moving again. A hot cup of tea made me feel a little better, and then we turned west towards Upper Wolf Jaw. Before long we met the first people of the day who were descending after being stymied by an icy section which could not be negotiated in snowshoes. Since we had crampons in our packs we thanked them for the beta and continued. Before long, we came to the first ice problem, so switched to crampons. This was easily surmounted and before long we came across the crux of the climb. This was also surmounted with some careful foot and axe work, and then we were breaking trail again all the way to the summit. We left our crampons on for the rest of the way, even though snowshoes might have been more appropriate, however there were still a few spots which we were glad to have the pokey shoes on for. Finally we reached the summit and met a couple friendly women here who had come over Armstrong. We chatted for a bit and had a brief stay to look out at a mostly cloudy view, and then we turned back down the way we came, foregoing Armstrong and Gothics for another day. We descended off the Jaw, passing all the ice problems before switching back to snowshoes. Kat was getting really tired now so the descent took a long time as we made tricky manouvers with snowshoes over this rocky trail with not quite enough snow cover. We stowed the shoes at Johns Brook and bare booted the rest of the way to the Garden, switching on headlamps for the last hour. The moon was very bright, so for portions of open forest I switched off my light and hiked along in the silent silvery glow. We met another two guys off of Big Slide and Yard who sped past us, and then we met Thomas who I had received a conditions report on today's trail from last Thursday off the internet forum. Finally we reached the parking lot, just over eleven hours of hiking (and waiting). A short drive back to Keene brought us to the farm for some good food and drink around the wood stove.

Sunrise along the trail from the Garden.

Johns Brook

Trail breaking begins.

Lower Wolf Jaw makes an appearance.

This was the crux. Crampons and axes were very handy.

Slightly frozen guy on the summit of Upper Wolf Jaw.

A hazy view from the top towards Armstrong.

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