Trip In A Nutshell:
ADK calls it the Ridge Trail. The state trailhead sign calls it the Zander Scott Trail (ADK #48). On the cool, sunny day we hiked it to Giant's summit, we called it just fine! We chose Zander Scott because we wanted the most direct route, a route with many views of the High Peaks, and a less-used route than the heavily hiked Roaring Brook trail. Zander Scott met all of these criteria and offers an interesting rest stop at Giant Washbowl to boot. The climb blends frequent open rock overlooks with deep forest shade. While steeper than the Roaring Brook route, the incline is nothing out of the usual for the Adirondacks.

The second part of the day, the hike via the East Trail (ADK #112) from Giant over to Rocky Peak Ridge, was as fun and interesting as the Zander Scott Trail. This trail dives steeply from Giant into the col and then climbs gently up Rocky Peak Ridge past delightful gardens of moss and sedge as the summit opens up to a long ridge. It continues out this ridge to Bald Peak and then down to Rte 9 south of Elizabethtown. Because we had only one car, we did not hike out the ridge. In retrospect it would have been much better to have continued on (ADK #112) all the way to Rte 9 and we recommend it highly. It is considered by some to be the most spectacular of Adirondack hikes.

Difficulty:
The overall hike from beginning to end is 8.6 miles. It is a strenuous hike. Good to excellent trail surfaces, whether open rock or humus soil, over 90% of the route to Giant's summit. One false summit shows clearly on the ADK trail map---don't get your hopes up and take the detour to the left per the sign posted there. The ascent of Giant is, overall, moderate, with distance being more of a factor than terrain.

The descent into the col between Giant and Rocky Peak Ridge is very steep over 600 of its 800 vertical foot drop. Footing is difficult in spots. Watch out for loose gravel. You will need both hands. Poles are recommended if you are comfortable using them. The ascent of Rocky Peak Ridge from the col is short and, therefore, easy to moderate.

Views:
Clicking on "View Rankings" above provides a view classification of all the High Peaks. Giant, from its first overlook to its summit, provides outstanding views of the Great Range, Nippletop and Dial, the Dix Range, Porter, and Cascade. Rocky Peak Ridge provides worthwhile views of Giant's eastern face and slides. There is also a very interesting view further east along the East Trail which includes Marie-Louise Pond, Bald Peak. Lake Champlain is better seen from Rocky Peak Ridge than any other of the High Peaks.

Trailhead Information for this Ascent:
Rather than starting out at one of the major trailheads such as The Gardens, hikes to Giant and Rocky Peak Ridge start at small roadside trail heads that have one sign and often very limited parking. Find the trailhead on the left (east) side of Rte 73 driving south. Chapel Pond will be on your right. Look for the trailhead sign on your left close to the road as you drive by the south end of Chapel Pond. See photos of the sign in the photo section below.

Water:
There is no water after Giant's Washbowl located near the start of the hike. We each carried large 100 oz. hydration units. This would have been sufficient, but we ran into two men who had run dry. These men had blown by us on the way up Giant, we met them again on the summit of Rocky Peak Ridge, and then caught up with them on the way down Giant and about a mile short of the trailhead. One was desperate for water so we shared with him.

Who was Zander Scott?
The trail covered on this page is the Zander Scott Trail. Tony Goodwin of ADK has informed us that Zander Scott was a young man who worked for the ATIS trail crew for several years when he was a college student. Sadly, he died tragically in a small plane crash in Alaska. Funds contributed in his memory were used to install all of the rock steps leading to the Washbowl as well as some above the Nubble junction. Tony also tells us that in the forthcoming revision of the ADK Guidebook, this trail will be listed for the first time as the Zander Scott Trail.

1	The trailhead for the Zander Scott Trail to the summit of Giant via Giant Washbowl. Also known as the Ridge Trail. The trailhead is located at the upper end of Chapel Pond on Rte 73 about 4 miles south of Keene Valley. The pond is across the highway from the trailhead.	2	Sign-in.
3	The trail starts out relatively flat, but quickly becomes a continuous climb. The trail remains in good to excellent condition throughout the hike. Zander Scott is an ATIS maintained trail. ATIS performs outstanding trail maintenance work; the best there is in our opinion.	4	The "staircase" here is misleading.
5	This short section during the first mile, is as stony as the trail gets.	6	Quite early in the hike, the trail turns to open rock overlooks that expose wonderful views of the Great Range. That's Round Mtn in the foreground. Round provides the cliffs above Chapel Pond.
7	Still from the first lookout, Chapel Pond from the Zander Scott Trail.	8	The Great Range from Basin Mtn to Lower Wolf Jaws. This is taken from the first lookout not far above Chapel Pond.
9	Continuing on, at 0.7 miles we come to Giant Washbowl. The Zander Scott Trail goes right and reaches the summit in 2.2 mi. Turn left and you can connect into the Roaring Brook route to the summit.	10	Giant Washbowl from the Zander Scott Trail (ATIS)
11	Giant Washbowl	12	There are a few campsites at Giant Washbowl. The water is accessed here.
13	From the Washbowl the trail continues upward.	14	Above Giant Washbowl a route to the Nubble heads left.
15	The trail becomes rocky but not for long. 16
17	This overlook is larger; much more open rock to move about on. Round Mtn is in the foreground. Dix Mtn is center with Nipple Top to its right.
18	Round Mtn with Noonmark just behind it occupy the left foreground. Giant's Nubble is behind the birches at right. Now the entire Great Range is visible. Sawteeth is just left and in front of Haystack (a small cloud sits on its shoulder like whipped cream).
19	Same as previous photo, except we see Dix and the Beckhorn at left. Nipple Top is dead center behind Round.
20	This is our overlook from which the preceding photos were taken.	21	The trail continues upwards. Open rock becomes a little more commonplace here.
22	Even in forested areas, we're now walking primarily on rock.	23	For about 5 minutes, maybe more, we move up and across this face, following numerous cairns. We're at about 2800-2900 ft. elev. At this point it very much seems like the ground ahead is leveling off. Maybe we're near the top? Not a chance! We are, however, approaching "the bump" as it's called.
24	The rock continues as we hike upwards.	25	At the end of the rock you will come upon a sign indicating a detour around "The Bump". The bump is a false summit, so we took the detour.
26 28	Working our way around the bump. Once past the false summit, we run into the intersect with the Roaring Brook Trail coming in from the west. We head NE along the ridge toward the summit.	27	This cross at the Roaring Brook/Ridge Trail junction is in memory of a 13/14 year-old boy who was part of a camp group climbing the Ridge Trail on a hot day. He collapsed and died of heat stroke on that spot. His grandparents, both Swiss, wanted to continue the European tradition of crosses along hiking trails and initially placed the cross low down on the Roaring Brook Trail because that was as far as they could walk. Later, a counselor from the camp moved it to the exact spot. Information courtesy of Tony Goodwin
Views from Giant's Summit
29	Panorama #1: The summit of Giant of the Valley, looking SW at the Dix Range. Hunters Pass is exceptionally well defined between Dix Mtn and Nipple Top.
30	Panorama #2: View WSW. Marcy is dead-center on the horizon. To the right, the MacIntyre Range is also prominent. The Ausable Club is the green "lawn" in the center foreground.	31	Panorama #3: View NW. Johns Brook Valley, Cascade and Porter Mtns, Big Slide.
32	A close-up of the Range and the Ausable Club.	32	The shot of the Dixes from which the watercolor at the top of this page was made.
33	Panorama #4: View SE from Giant. Rocky Peak Ridge. Bald Peak is the lower summit to the left and behind RPR. Lake Champlain is visible in the far distance. It is 14.5 miles to Westport Bay from the summit of Giant.	34	Panorama #5: View E from Giant: Rocky Peak Ridge. A considerable ridge (with no trail on it) extends SW toward Rte 73. Looks like it would be a fun bushwhack, but accessing from the very steep slopes above Rte 73 would be very difficult.
35	Panorama #6: From Giant: Super shot of the southern ridge of Rocky Peak Ridge. The Dixes in the distance.
Rocky Peak Ridge Trail (ADK #112)
36	The bottom of the col between RPR and Giant. It's a very steep trail down here from Giant, but as you can see, it is very pleasant at the bottom. This very nice trail continues all the way up RPR.	37	Like walking through a glade. The sunlight penetrates very nicely at midday. Reminds us of Frodo and the Hobbits in here.
38	It just gets better and better as we ascend gently toward RPR. This is our favorite section of the hike.
39
40	What more can a person ask for? Lovely, lovely hiking as we ascend to RPR.	41	As we approach the summit, mosses, sedge, and lichen appear on every side.
42	Almost on the summit of RPR.	43 44	The summit of Rocky Peak Ridge.
45	The summit of Rocky Peak Ridge with Lake Champlain in the background.	46	Bald Peak to the East of RPR summit. Marie Louise Pond is reported to be non-swimmable; at least that was the opinion of one of the guys we met on the summit.
47	Looking north.	48	NE from RPR summit.
49	Giant from RPR summit.	50	A close-up view of the slides on Giant's NW ridge.
51	This is an interesting view from RPR of Giant's southern ridge (the way we came up from Chapel Pond). "The Bump" is visible halfway down the ridge. It appears to be a 15-20% slope, but they always seem to be twice that when you're walking up them!.	52	A different perspective on some of the peaks we saw coming up Giant. Round Mtn is in the left foreground; rte 73 passes between it and Giant in the right foreground. Noonmark's summit is dead-center. Nipple Top commands the left skyline with Dial in front of it. The Great Range occupies the right middle ground. Marcy and Haystack are on the skyline to the right.
53	A dramatic shot of RPR's SW ridge with the Dixes beyond.