2003:  Haystack buried in fog and rain

42 Photos

Ranking:  #3

Route:

• The Garden trailhead to Johns Brook Lodge

• Haystack via the Phelps Trail

Peak View Rankings        Printable Haystack

Hike In A Nutshell:
The hike started at Johns Brook Lodge (JBL) located on Johns Brook about 3.4 miles from The Garden trailhead.  The Phelps Trail (ADK #2, McM #124), is probably the shortest and least difficult route (see note below) to the summit of Haystack.  It is marked with  YELLOW markers and follows Johns Brook upstream (SW), almost always within hearing distance of the brook.  Just before crossing Johns Brook and turning SW, the trail becomes  RED, continues past Slant Rock, then climbs into the defile between Marcy and Little Haystack.  At the head of Panther Gorge in the defile, we depart the Phelps Trail, making a 90 degree left turn onto the BLUE Connector Trail (ADK #61, McM #121) to its junction with the BLUE Upper Range Trail (ADK #9, McM #120).  We then climb Little Haystack arriving finally on Haystack's summit (ADK #10, McM #54) .  The round trip should take 5-8 hours depending on weather and fitness.

Difficulty:
We suggest you avoid this peak in adverse weather conditions, even though the last two times we climbed Haystack we did not follow our own advice.  After Mt. Marcy and Algonquin Peak, Haystack is the third highest peak in the Adirondacks.  Like both Marcy and Algonquin, its summit is mainly bare rock.  This hike is very strenuous.  It is steep and stony from about 15 minutes past Slant Rock onwards.  The section from the top of Panther Gorge SE to Little Haystack is steep .  Once on bare rock after intersection with Upper Range Trail, the hike becomes a very exposed summit hike at high altitudes over anorthosite footing.  The weather can quickly become severe on any of the major peaks and this one is no exception.

Note: A better route?
There are a number of routes to Haystack.  The one discussed on this page is probably the road most taken and a pretty good way to get there.  We suggest you consider the route north from the Elk Lake trailhead to Panther Gorge, then climb Haystack via its SW approach.  True, the SW approach is consistently very steep from Haystack's base to the summit, but the walk from Elk Lake to Panther Gorge is delightful, Panther Gorge is well worth visiting, and the climb up Haystack is fine if you take it one step at a time.

Haystack USGS Trail Maps

The trail maps for Haystack below cover two different routes to Haystack:

• Maps 1-4, below, start at the Garden trailhead, head SW past Johns Brook Lodge, and climb Haystack's NE slope to the summit; that is, it is the same hike as is discussed on this page.

Map 1

Map 2

Map 3

Map 4

• Maps 7-4, below, start at the Elk Lake trailhead, well south of Haystack and just a stone's throw from Elk Lake's southern shoreline. They head north into Panther Gorge and climb to Haystack's summit via the SW slope.  This hike is not discussed on this page or elsewhere at Adirondack Journey for now, but suffice to say, it is the best route to the summit of Haystack.

  Map 7

  Map 6

  Map 5

  Map 4

Be sure to set your printer on "landscape" when printing maps.

Photos 1-18: Phelps Trail YELLOW, then RED, from Johns Brook Lodge to the BLUE Connector Trail en route to Haystack (ADK #1, McM #124)
1	Haystack from Johns Brook Lodge requires a start no later than  8 AM.	2	The most direct route to the summit of Haystack from JBL is the Phelps Trail.  It will follow the right bank of Johns Brook for 1.5 miles and then cross Johns Brook.  These dark photos reflect a combination of heavy forest over-story, fog, and mist.  Sunny days were in short supply when these were taken.
3	Phelps Trail along Johns Brook. This section of the Phelps Trail above JBL and prior to the Bushnell Falls crossing is easy walking with a steady, gentle ascent.  This very moderate rate of ascent will continue until we pass by Slant Rock on the south side of Johns Brook.	4	Phelps Trail along Johns Brook
5	Phelps Trail along Johns Brook	6	Phelps Trail along Johns Brook
7	The first trail junction is reached at 1.5 miles from JBL.  You will want to stay on the Phelps Trail which switches now from   YELLOW   markers to RED markers and will very shortly cross Johns Brook.  Read this sign carefully.	8	Johns Brook is crossed near Bushnell Falls.  If you have the time and energy, you can follow a short side trail down to the falls.  About 45 minutes from this crossing, you will reencounter and again cross Johns Brook very close to its source.
9	The Bushnell Falls lean-to will be on your left as you ascend.	10	After crossing Johns Brook the trail cuts cross-slope rising slightly, headed for Slant Rock.  You can see a red trail marker in this photo.
11	In this photo and the last one, you are crossing the lowest slopes of Basin Mtn.  You continue to climb slightly, angling upwards.	12	You cross Johns Brook, now a small stream, a few feet before reaching Slant Rock.  There was a lean-to here and its foundation remains.  A new lean-to has been placed further away from the brook.
13	Slant Rock proper.	14	Past Slant Rock, nearing the intersection with Shorey Short Cut which would be the route to Basin Mtn, if you were going there.
15	Past Slant Rock, the trail becomes gradually steeper, a disconcerting trend for some!	16	We have left Slant Rock behind.  The Phelps Trail continues to become steeper.
17	Still climbing, nearing the end of the Phelps and start of the blue connector trail.	18	The last quarter mile of the red Phelps Trail is steep, strewn with loose gravel, and footing becomes awkward.
Photos 19-27:  End of the Phelps Trail.  Start of the blue Connector Trail (ADK #10, McM #121)
19	We've reached the top of Panther Gorge where we now depart the red Phelps Trail to pick up the blue Connector Trail (ADK #10, McM #121).  At this location the Phelps (top sign) turns to head straight west for Mt. Marcy's summit.	20	It's wet, it's foggy, but everybody's smiling.  We are on the end of the RED Phelps Trail having passed Point Balk.  We are almost equidistant from the summits of Marcy and Haystack.  We  have come from the direction the bottom arrow on the bottom sign points.  The steep pitch that has followed Johns Brook to its very source  is behind the ladies.
21 photo courtesy  Elaine Serafini	We turn left and head to Haystack.  The blue  Connector Trail (ADK #10, McM #121) provides a link between the Phelps Trail and that segment of the Upper Range Trail that runs from Basin's summit to Haystack's summit.  This trail is very steep, very short, and very memorable.	22 photo courtesy  Elaine Serafini	This is slow going.  The rock is wet.  A fall here could be bad news.
23 photo courtesy  Elaine Serafini	The connector on a dry and sunny day in 2001.	24 photo courtesy  Elaine Serafini	A typical stretch of the connector.
25 photo courtesy  Elaine Serafini	It gets steep.  Trails this steep are often a welcome change of pace.  (Just speaking for myself, mind you!)  They require a fair amount of concentration to navigate, and while very steep, the extra focus and much slower speed of ascent are a bit of a rest, a good use of the brain, and a chance to use different muscles.	26 photo courtesy Elaine Serafini	Not all of the blue trail is steep, however.
27 photo courtesy  Elaine Serafini	The intersection of the Connector with the Upper Range Trail.  This spot is in the lee of Little Haystack and is the highest point on the route to the summit that provides some shelter from the elements.
Photos 28-35:  Little Haystack
28	The weather was near the freezing point here on Little Haystack this the summer of 2002.	29	Little Haystack and the route to the summit (ADK #10, McM #54)
30 photo courtesy  Elaine Serafini	Little Haystack	31 photo courtesy Elaine Serafini	Not sure what we're actually looking at here.  The pointy peak looks more like Marcy than Haystack.  So is the smaller peak Haystack or is it Little Haystack?  Je ne sais pas!
32 photo courtesy AlpineSummit	Skylight behind Marcy taken from Little Haystack.	33 photo courtesy AlpineSummit	Panther Gorge separates Mt. Marcy from Haystack.  From both Marcy's and Haystack's SW slopes trails lead down into the gorge.
34 photo courtesy AlpineSummit	Boreas Ponds from Little Haystack	35 photo courtesy AlpineSummit	Skylight to the right foreground.  Allen Mtn to the left.  North River Mtns are in the middle ground.
Haystack Summit and Summit  Views
36 photo courtesy AlpineSummit	Part of Basin Mtn's summit  is at the left.  Saddleback's saddle is barely visible behind Basin.  You can see its little "dip" that puts the "saddle" in Saddleback.  Then Gothics and Sawteeth appear at center and right center.  Way back there is Giant.	37 photo courtesy AlpineSummit	Sawteeth is at right.  Basin occupies the entire base of the photo.  Pyramid blots out most of Giant.  Rocky Peak Ridge is just behind and to the right of Giant.  You will see the scarred burn area on Dial Mtn just behind the saddle between Pyramid and Sawteeth.
38 photo courtesy AlpineSummit	The peak with the obvious slide is Nippletop.  In front of it is Colvin and the Colvin Range including Blake Peak which is shown to Colvin's right.  Behind these peaks is the Dix Range, particularly Dix itself just behind Nipple Top, Hough, Pough, S. Dix and (maybe) some of Macomb.	39 photo courtesy AlpineSummit	Gothics and Pyramid
40 photo courtesy AlpineSummit 42 photo courtesy AlpineSummit	Here is Haystack taken from Marcy...         ...and Marcy taken from Haystack.	41	David, besides being in very good physical condition, is also a Tele-tubby as you can plainly see from this photo.

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