I'm a 46er!

Trip Report: August 6th, 2020

The Adirondacks have 46 High Peaks– all originally believed to be above 4,000 feet. These mountains are some of the tallest in the state, and super fun to climb. Anyone who climbs all 46 becomes a "46er".

On August 6th, Paul and I woke up at 3AM. It was the day I would become a 46er! We quickly got ready and drove 2 hours, arriving after 5AM at the Garden trailhead to start my finish hike! I was surprised to see a decent amount of cars already in the parking lot at 5AM on a Wednesday. I had heard it had been a record visitation summer. Luckily, we didn't see many people on the trails at all– we had an early start on a weekday and the Garden is a small lot.

The hike in to Johns Brook Lodge was straightforward and we made it there by 6:30AM. It was exciting to see this iconic location for the first time. We made a rookie mistake and followed the sign left for Haystack. While this trail eventually would take us to Haystack, this was the way we wanted to return out of the loop after finishing Saddleback– so we were going the wrong way. Luckily, we realized after only about a quarter of a mile and turned around.

But that's a great argument for always checking your map at junctions!

We met a man who was also heading up to finish his 46 on Saddleback that day... and he even followed us the wrong way. Whoops. We got back to JBL and continued straight.

The next point of interest was Slant Rock!

This was another iconic location I had only seen photos of and heard about online, so I was excited to get to see it for myself. We took a snack break here and I ate my TLT. As we were finishing up, the fellow aspiring 46er met back up with us and we chatted before continuing on.

The climb got steeper and steeper, following brooks and leading us up bare rock. Eventually we made it to Garnet Hill!  

It was so exciting to finally see the summit and get some big views, but we still had a decent amount of climbing to go.

Luckily the scrambles were super fun and the scenery was amazing. I had saved this one for a good weather day because I definitely wanted to get to see the views from three of the most scenic 46er climbs.

Seeing how dramatic Haystack's slopes were from this angle literally took my breath away! It's hard to capture in photos, but the view is inspiring.

Paul and I talked about how lucky we felt to be able to see these views and experience the Adirondacks.

After descending Little Haystack, we began hiking up Haystack. Just below the peak, we met a trail crew building cairns and a summit steward using a net to conduct an alpine pollinator study. She said that alpine pollinators had been decreasing. We thanked them for their work and continued and were soon on the summit!

Haystack is such a fun climb with amazing views. It's a long day but definitely one of my favorites of the 46.

I'd love to rock climb in here one day... but that's a long hike in with heavy gear!

Haystack has a ton of beautiful alpine vegetation. To protect New York's rarest and most fragile ecosystem, you can do the Rock Walk. This means only walking on bare rock in the alpine zone! Even the dirt and gravel areas are important ecosystems for the plants. These rare plants can survive cold temperatures and hurricane force winds, but are sensitive to being compacted. Unlike grass, which can survive footsteps or being compacted around 500 times, alpine vegetation can die after being compacted just five times! With all the hikers enjoying the High Peaks, it's especially important now more than ever to keep to the bare rock.

After taking in the views, taking photos, and eating some snacks, we began our descent of Haystack. Then our acsent and descent of Little Haystack.

Soon after, we were on our way to Basin! There was a tall ladder my shoe got stuck in and plenty of rock scrambles to keep things interesting.

We hung out on Basin for a while, even meeting another man who had just come from Saddleback and was on his way to Haystack to finish his 46! I congratulated him and told him that we were doing a "switcheroo" as we had both just come from each other's finish peak. He was excited and pulled out an extra summit beer for me! Woohoo!

We continued on, down Basin and towards Saddleback.

Descending Basin was tiring as there was a lot of steep, wet, bare rock.

However, it wasn't long at all before we came to the base of the Saddleback Cliffs! At this point, I was a little nervous because I was already so tired. My legs were already a bit shaky just from having done so many miles and so much elevation gain already. This was by far the most difficult hike I had done in half a year! It was a bit of a tricky start for someone who isn't tall, but my rock climbing background helped me and I made it past the first and "most difficult" move pretty easily.

We took in the views and continued up the cliffs, briefly waiting for a group to come down first.

The climb was pretty straightforward and fun, but a bit spooky for me because I'm much better at handling exposure when I have a rope on. But I need to face my fears and overcome exposure, so I'm definitely glad I did the cliffs. It was a climatic finish to my 46!

We enjoyed the scenery and split the summit beer and a PB&J. I was happy to have finally completed my 46 and glad that Paul had come with me, because I had originally been considering attempting my finish hike solo.

The hike down was pretty fast and had a few more good views.

We were able to refill our water bottles at JBL which was nice. I drank at least 4L of water on this hike and half of a beer... and was still thirsty!

We continued our hike out and it was exciting to get back to the Garden. I had gone trailhead to trailhead and was now "officially" a 46er!!! Woohoo!

Mileage: 19.19 miles

Elevation Gain: 5,229 feet

Total Time: 12:41:00

Our moving time was 9:44:16 so you can tell we took a lot of breaks to enjoy the summits, views, and forest for my final 46er hike!!! :-)

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