A Rocky Climb to Saddleback's Summit
28 Photos
Route:
- The Garden to Johns Brook Lodge (JBL)
- JBL to Upper Range Trail via Phelps Trail and Shorey Short-cut
- Traverse of Basin and Saddleback Mtns on Upper Range Trail
- Descent from
Saddleback-Gothics Col to JBL on Ore Bed Brook Trail
Peak View Rankings Printable Upper Range
Nutshell:
This hike is best done as a 3 day trip and is treated as such herein.
Those wanting to test their endurance can attempt it as a day hike. The first day is a hike in to Johns Brook
Lodge from The Gardens trailhead, the second day is a loop of the
Upper Range from the lodge, and the third day is the hike back out to the
trailhead.
1. Easy walk on day 1 from "The Garden"
trailhead parking lot to Johns Brook Lodge via the
Y
Johns Brook Trail (ADK
#1, McM #108) .
2. On day 2, leave JBL via the
Y
then R Phelps
Trail (ADK #1, McM
#124) to the
Y Shorey
Short-cut (ADK #11, McM #122).
3. Follow difficult Shorey Short-cut to its end at the B
Upper Range trail (ADK #9, McM #120) between Haystack
and Basin Mtns.
3. On the Upper Range trail, traverse Basin and Saddleback Mtns to
the col of Saddleback and Gothics Mtns.
4. Complete the loop by return to JBL via the B
Ore Bed Brook Trail (ADK
#8, McM #119).
5. Hike out from JBL to the trailhead on the next morning..
Difficulty:
Days 1 and 3 of this hike are easy; just
a matter of packing your gear between the lodge and trailhead. Day 2 is a very strenuous loop of the Upper Range (not including Haystack).
It will require 10 hours for the average hiker to complete. The
trail is often steep and rugged.
Trailhead Info for This Ascent: Go to The Garden trailhead.
The Loop Over Basin and Saddleback Mtns:
Starting from Johns
Brook Lodge, the Phelps Trail (ADK #1, McM #124)
follows the right bank of Johns Brook upstream. Hiking is easy from JBL to the Shorey
Short-cut (ADK #11, McM #122, ) The forest becomes more dense as you ascend the Johns Brook Valley and the
sense of being in a wilderness becomes stronger. You see fewer people,
although Phelps Trail is a main artery of this region of the
Adirondacks. As noted on photos below, the trail has a few minor
detours to accommodate downed trees.
Compared to any other Adirondack Trail we've experienced, the Shorey Short-cut is steep and difficult. At the same time it is about as much fun as you can have in the woods. Your hands are every bit as as necessary to negotiating this route as your feet! Short rock climbs abound and and some of these will take some thought. On the other hand, while steep this trail is not even remotely technical. We found it to be an interesting and invigorating segment after the uneventful "point A to point B" hiking on Phelps. Unfortunately, not many who write about Shorey Short-cut are as kind in their remarks as us. We don't really understand that, but we were always most fond of the Jungle Gym in 2nd grade.
Shorey ascends to the Basin-Little Haystack col, then descends about 300 ft elev. to intersect the Upper Range Trail, B (ADK #9, McM #120). The URT from Shorey to Basin is mostly consistent with the Shorey Short-cut: steep, some rock climbs, interesting, fun, and occasionally difficult. All in all, there aren't many places I'd rather be!
Most interesting is the rock climb of Saddleback just before its summit. This might be a show-stopper for a person afraid of heights, but while some of us did not find it easy, we appreciated that this was just discomfort with heights. Two of us on this hike were in our fifties and had no training or experience with rock climbing. The first 10 feet are awkward, and were scary for the ladies, but from there on you can walk up it with no problems. Use the photos below to scope out the climb. There are photos from a distance and from close up. Note that it is easier to climb than to descend. For this reason we were advised at the lodge to do the loop in this direction.
The return to JBL on Ore Bed Brook is a bit steep at its start, but it is made easier by ladders and even a stairway. The heavy rains of 2000 have done nothing to help the condition of OBBT which in 1999 was a carpet and now is rock and gravel.
Our Trip:
Our group, although very experienced, is not as athletic as many.
We're average hikers. We ranged from 30-somethings on upward,
including a gimped-up middle-ager.
I am embarrassed to say that it took us twelve hours to make this trip,
but proud to say we made it! We had figured on about nine hours, so we
did not get back to JBL until 10
p.m. One of us even managed to fall head first into Johns Brook when
we were only about a hundred yards from the lodge and could see the lights
in the windows. Speaking only for myself, I was so tired at the time
that, when she disappeared in the current, I figured I'd let her drown
rather than jump in to try to save her. We were informed by the hut crew who, surprisingly and
graciously held dinner for us, that we held the record for being
overdue. Some record!
Upper Range USGS Trail Maps
| Map 1: Johns Brook Lodge is marked by the red home
plate. We're making a counter clockwise loop, starting SW on
Phelps Trail.
Map #1 also shows the final return leg . |
1 |
2  3 |
Map 2: We finish with Phelps drop down to the next USGS map.
Map 3: Immediately onto this USGS map, we start SSE on the Shorey Short
Cut. We then link up with the Upper Range Trail and head NE over
Basin and Saddleback. |
IMPORTANT NOTES, TERMS OF USE, and DISCLAIMERS
The
B
Upper
Range Trail (McM #120, ADK #9) from JBL via the
Y
,
then R,
Phelps Trail
(McM #124, ADK #1) and the
Y
Shorey Short-cut
(McM #122, ADK #11) |
|||
 Signpost at JBL 1 |
From top to bottom, trails to: Klondike Pass 2.7mi., South Meadows 6.3 mi., Adirondack Loj 7.3 mi., Wolf Jaws Notch 2.03 mi., Armstrong Mtn 4.73 mi., Upper Wolf Jaws 3.03 mi., Lower Wolf Jaws 2.53 mi., Bushnell Falls 1.3 mi., Mt Marcy 5.5 mi., the Garden 3.5 mi., Keene Valley 5.1 mi., Yard Mtn 2.53 mi., Big Slide via Yard 3.98 mi., Ore Bed Brook Trail 0.32 mi., Gothics Mtn via Ore Bed Brook Trail 3.45 mi., and Short Job Lookout 0.74 mi. |
|
The Phelps Trail
is Y
departing JBL from the signpost in the preceding photo. We follow Johns Brook closely along its north bank.
It is a narrow, well-worn, easily traversed trail posing no difficulties.
|
 A falls on Chicken Coop Brook near its outlet into Johns Brook 3 |
We didn't take time for the side trip to Bushnell Falls, but caught up to this unnamed falls on Chicken Coop Brook (indicated by name on metric USGS maps only) just a few minutes after the trail division where Phelps Trail turns South and crosses Johns Brook. We stay on Phelps, but the marker color now changes to R. |  The webmaster's son, Will, at 13, at Slant Rock in 1986 4 |
We passed Slant Rock lean-to as we neared the Shorey Short-cut. This photo, however, is from 1986 and is my last camping trip with my son, an aborted trip up Marcy from the Garden. The lean-to has been removed to a spot about 200 yds. away. The Phelps Trail comes into the campsite from the right, then passes to the left behind the rock and straight onwards and upwards. |
 Ditto 5 |
Will was a good hiker and enjoyed
hiking and backpacking during his years
attending Camp Dudley as a pre-teen. He graduated from Middlebury College
and took jobs with the
Brookings Institute and the Carnegie Endowment for World Peace.
After some time spent working for Foreign Affairs magazine, he
went on to Harvard Law School for his law degree. On completion, he
took a position as senior editor of Newsweek's Asian Edition. |
 Phelps Trail intersection with Shorey Short-cut 6 |
We passed Slant Rock and its lean-to. Now we are at the junction of the R Phelps Trail and the generally unpopular Y Shorey Short-cut. The bad rep that the Shorey has is bogus! In fact, the Shorey turned out to be interesting and fun in the opinions of all four of us. In fact, the Shorey may be the best short trail in the Adirondacks for those of us that happen to like diversity and an all-body work-out. |
 Basin Mtn from Shorey Short-cut 7 |
The diversity of views, plant life, and terrain on the Shorey gives one a sense that there is a surprise around every corner. We had not seen the mountains since we arrived at JBL the previous day, due to the fog shrouding the peaks. This was the first view through a break in the mist at about 4200 ft. It was taken around mid-to-late morning. As time went on the skies became ever more clear. |  A short climb on Shorey 8 |
There were probably 10-12 climbs like this on the Shorey Short-cut. None were particularly difficult to navigate, but they made the Shorey one of the more fun hikes that we've experienced. |
 Climbing Basin on the Upper Range Trail 9 |
The Shorey Short-cut ends at the B Upper Range Trail (URT) between Haystack Mtn and Basin Mtn. The URT, (ADK #9, McM #120) takes us over both Basin and Saddleback. It is indistinguishable from the Shorey Short-cut in that it crossed the same sort of very rough terrain and it involved a whole lot of climbing using all fours. The Shorey drops about 300 vertical feet from its high point to intersect the Upper Range Trail (URT). This photo is typical of some of the climbs on the URT. One good thing about steep trails... they get you up there faster. |  Upper Range Trail en route to Basin 10 |
This was the only ladder on the Upper Range Trail approaching Basin. Elaine scampers up, pausing to stretch out her quads and see what Haystack looks like upside down. |
 Basin Panorama #1 11 |
This set of 3 panoramic photos taken on the summit of Basin Mtn starts with the view of Haystack and Little Haystack to the SW. |  Basin Panorama #2 12 |
Moving clockwise around the compass, here to the West is Marcy in the background with Little Marcy, flatter and to the right of Marcy. In the extreme right background is Mt. Colden. A whole lot of trees! |
 Basin Panorama #3 13 |
Looking NW now, Colden and Algonquin in extreme background. Point Balk is visible as a knob on the NE slope of Little Marcy. In the mist to the right, Table Top begins to rise. |  Marcy in the mist 14 |
A neat photo in which the clouds passing between the summit of Basin and Little Haystack, open just enough to see the summit of Marcy. |
 Basin Panorama to the East 15 |
From left to right, from the NE to the SE: Saddleback just over the conifers in the left foreground; the Middle Range (Gothics, Armstrong, Upper Wolf Jaws) behind Saddleback, Pyramid just to the right of and almost as tall as Gothics, Sawteeth in the center mid-ground. Immediately to the right of Sawteeth, but in the next tier back are Colvin with the "apostrophe" scar on its side, and Blake to its right. Behind Colvin is Nippletop with its long slide at the right. Behind Nipple Top is Dix and to the right of Dix is Macomb. |  Webmaster on Basin 16
|
Life is good. |
Traverse
of Basin and Saddleback Mtns to Gothics-Saddleback Col via the B
Upper Range
Trail
(ADK #9, McM #120) |
|||
|
|
We left Basin's summit, still on the Upper Range Trail, went over its secondary summit, and descended into the col between Basin and Saddleback. Behind us was this view of Basin's secondary (lower) summit. |  Saddleback 18 |
A tricky little rock climb must be navigated
by all who want to ascend Saddleback from the direction of Basin.
Most agree it is preferable to climb this short section,
than to descend it, one reason why most hikers hike in this direction rather than to come up from the other (NE) side of
Saddleback and have to climb down these rocks. You can spot the place where the trail goes over the rocks in this photo by first noting how the forest takes a pyramidal shape between the open face to the left and the distinct slide to the right. About four fifths of the way up this "pyramid" of trees the greenery narrows quickly from the left. The line of trees right at that spot makes an almost horizontal line with the rock for maybe 40 feet. It is right there that the trail coming uphill through the woods breaks out onto the base of the open face of the last 100 or so feet of the mountain. Find the apex of the horizontal tree line (where the pyramid narrows from the left) with the resumption of the left boundary of the pyramid as it ascends the last 80 feet to its point. Right there you will see a vertical cleft that looks about 20 feet in height. That cleft is the beginning of the route up to the top. The next photo is of that cleft. |
|
|
First section
of rock climb on Saddleback. The cleft mentioned in the text above. The route to the summit
of Saddleback passes up this cleft. It is important to stick with
the yellow paint blazes on the rocks. While it doesn't look like
much, it is considerably difficult for a person under, say, 5' 10",
to make a few of the reaches from handhold to handhold at the start of
this short climb. Some help from above and below may be
necessary. A person having a problem with heights or not accustomed
to climbing might justifiably experience fright here. Before doing
this loop of Basin and Saddleback, hikers should consider this inasmuch as
it is a long way back if you decide you can't make it.
|
|
Last section
of Saddleback climb. In this photo and the previous you can see the same zig-zag
that represents the top of the cleft. As you can probably see, from
the zig-zag onwards the climb is quite easy.
|
 21 |
Looking back from the South slope of Saddleback at Basin. |
|
Paul, the only rock climber among us, ascending doing what comes natural... the rock climb on Saddleback. Being a yogi probably helped, too. |
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|
Part of the mission of AdirondackJourney is to give
you the complete view from the top of the 46. This photo and the
next two are the view from the
B
Upper
Range Trail on Saddleback. This photo shows the Colvin
Range and Upper Ausable Lake. The foot of Basin is at lower right.
|
 24 |
Moving right from the above photo we see Basin. |
|
|
Extreme right view from Saddleback is to the NW and N. |
|
Linda and Elaine strut their stuff at the top of
Saddleback. Great people to hike with and good friends! |
 27 |
This is a really large photo of Basin and Saddleback from Gothics. | 
Photo courtesy Kevin Rooney 28 |
Upper Ausable Lake taken from
Gothics. |
This page was last updated 09/11/06 08:28:31 PM