The Adirondack High Peaks: Great Range
The Great Range of the Adirondack High Peaks is one of the most exceptional mountain ranges in the Northeast. Though not to be mentioned in the same breath as the Presidential Range or Katahdin (where I admittedly have never been), it holds its own against Franconia Ridge, and anything else in the region.
The terrain is especially fun to hike across. Great traction for boots and fingers can be found on the rough-surfaced Anorthosite bedrock throughout the High Peaks. The topography of the Great Range in particular lends itself to rock scrambling. It's a ridge of closely-spaced peaks, with steep drops of several hundred feet between them. The trail follows the ridge line, with many challenging spots as it reaches these ups and downs. The steep west-facing ridge of the peak called Gothics is just exposed bedrock for quarter mile. The trail goes straight up it, rising 600 feet from the saddle in that distance. Saddleback Mountain's southwest ridge is even steeper, but shorter.
On the sides of the mountains, landslides have exposed long, smooth, steep sheets of bedrock. Some of these are narrow while others are more square shaped. Gothics has slides like these on all sides, making it just as grey as green to look at, even though it's below tree line. These stripes of smooth bedrock and the sharp drop-offs between the peaks give the Great Range its distinctive look and feel.
The ridge runs NE-SW, with each peak getting higher from Lower Wolfjaw at the northeastern end, at 4100 feet, to Mount Marcy, the southwestern anchor, at 5300 feet. This distance between these two is 5 miles as the crow flies, but 7 miles on the trail.
On both sides of the Great Range are two parallel deep U-shaped glacial valleys. To the southeast is the valley of the Au Sable River's east branch, which stays below 2000 feet in elevation for the length of the range. It contains the scenic, cliff-bordered Lower Au Sable lake. To the northwest is the valley of Johns Brook, which rises gradually to 3000 feet, and then has a steep headwall near Mount Marcy. This remote spot could be considered the dead center of the Adirondack High Peaks.
Most of the Range is covered in a spruce-fir forest, but the lower reaches of Johns Brook's valley are home to beautiful stands of northern hardwoods - sugar maple, silver birch and beech. This valley, lined with campsites, is known to have one of the worst bear problems in the Adirondacks. Campers without proper bear canisters are subject to intense guilt trips by park rangers. Apparently bears will scare people away from of their campsites while they're cooking and eat their food. No injuries to people have been reported, according to the rangers, though several bears have been shot.
The terrain is especially fun to hike across. Great traction for boots and fingers can be found on the rough-surfaced Anorthosite bedrock throughout the High Peaks. The topography of the Great Range in particular lends itself to rock scrambling. It's a ridge of closely-spaced peaks, with steep drops of several hundred feet between them. The trail follows the ridge line, with many challenging spots as it reaches these ups and downs. The steep west-facing ridge of the peak called Gothics is just exposed bedrock for quarter mile. The trail goes straight up it, rising 600 feet from the saddle in that distance. Saddleback Mountain's southwest ridge is even steeper, but shorter.
On the sides of the mountains, landslides have exposed long, smooth, steep sheets of bedrock. Some of these are narrow while others are more square shaped. Gothics has slides like these on all sides, making it just as grey as green to look at, even though it's below tree line. These stripes of smooth bedrock and the sharp drop-offs between the peaks give the Great Range its distinctive look and feel.
The ridge runs NE-SW, with each peak getting higher from Lower Wolfjaw at the northeastern end, at 4100 feet, to Mount Marcy, the southwestern anchor, at 5300 feet. This distance between these two is 5 miles as the crow flies, but 7 miles on the trail.
On both sides of the Great Range are two parallel deep U-shaped glacial valleys. To the southeast is the valley of the Au Sable River's east branch, which stays below 2000 feet in elevation for the length of the range. It contains the scenic, cliff-bordered Lower Au Sable lake. To the northwest is the valley of Johns Brook, which rises gradually to 3000 feet, and then has a steep headwall near Mount Marcy. This remote spot could be considered the dead center of the Adirondack High Peaks.
Most of the Range is covered in a spruce-fir forest, but the lower reaches of Johns Brook's valley are home to beautiful stands of northern hardwoods - sugar maple, silver birch and beech. This valley, lined with campsites, is known to have one of the worst bear problems in the Adirondacks. Campers without proper bear canisters are subject to intense guilt trips by park rangers. Apparently bears will scare people away from of their campsites while they're cooking and eat their food. No injuries to people have been reported, according to the rangers, though several bears have been shot.
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