4 nights and 11 of the heighest peaks in the Adirondacks On this trip we climbed: Lower Wolf Jaw Upper Wolf Jaw Armstrong Gothics Sawteeth Basin Saddleback Haystack Skylight Redfield Colden Notes from the journal of Tim Sczcykutowicz, with Alex's changes marked by [ ] 9/13/07 9:10 AM- Wake up-I slept very well. This [new sleeping] mat is nice. Ben slept [in the same tent] with me. We had to hike in at night, my light bulb on my mag light went out, good thing I had a spare. The hike wasn’t too hard on the way in, but one definitely needed a light since there was some rock scrambles and we crossed a creak a few times. It has been pretty cool already. 3:10 PM- We did Low Wolf Jaw, we just ate lunch-bagels and peanut butter-now we are off for Upper Wolf Jaw, Armstrong then Gothics. I am feeling fine -no sweating- everyone else is. Some of the faces are kinda steep-climb with hands. 9/14/07 Wake up 8 AM left 8:46 Top of Sawteeth 9:05AM- We were a little confused coming off of Gothics (which had a spectacular view) yesterday, we saw another smaller peak that we thought was Sawteeth but was Pyramid Mountain. We were supposed to camp in the crotch between Gothics and Sawteeth, our actual camp needed to be in between the fake peak and Sawteeth, we got there just in time before dark. Windy all night long, I slept on a root that pushed up and down all night because the tree it supported was swaying in the wind. I also worried about branches crashing down on top of me. Big clouds covering us all night and day long. Can’t see anything from top of Sawteeth. 1:13PM- Wow, just got down Saddleback, crazy descent. Shear rock faces -blowing wind- slippery lichen surfaces. In some spots if you fell you would probably slide ~ 100 feet on the rock faces, scary at times. The wind was blowing water drops at us, I would say at times gusting over 25 mph depending on what side of the mountain you are on. At times I felt like I was actually rock climbing, but with a 60 lb pack. Don’t get me wrong-it wasn’t like we were going to die-6 of us [out of 6] did make it. Gothics had a rope to descend with, it would have been nice to have on Saddleback. We are heading to Basin next. Food in take is enough. I feel fine. Breakfast is 2 cliff bars/day, lunch is 2 bagels with peanut butter, and dinner is rice and either tuna or chicken with my vitamin. [Hiking] is like being in the Maid of the mist with about 20 mph winds. It may have been faster winds because at times the gusting would knock your footing. Can’t see much of anything because of clouds. 5:00PM-Climbing up Haystack. It is still all cloudy and it seems to keep going up for ever. We broke the tree line a while ago. Damn clouds. 5:10PM-We peaked. Now to panther gorge for camp and dinner! Too much fog, this peak was mysterious. The wind on top of Basin and Haystack was strong enough to knock you down a little bit. Gust ~ 50 mph steady 30-35 mph. Night-Panther gorge lean to was occupied so we are staying in tents. My tent is leaking a little. We came up with a cheer: “Buffalo what is your profession” “AOOO AOOO AOOO”. 9/15/07: Up at 7:45 out at 9:09, damn that is a long time to pack up. 11:17AM -We just did skylight mountain. The clouds broke for a few seconds which was nice. Very windy again on top, we left our packs on the bottom. For a few seconds we also saw Marcy. Just arstared to sleet. {Some other hikers came and we were talking-Alex was in the woods doing some paper work [poopin], I had to put my notes away as I noticed my paper was getting sleeted on -one of the hikers was wearing sneakers-idiot}. 12:50 AM– Got to Feldspar lean to. Sun is out! Lunch time. Passed a really nice creak on the way in with a nice bridge. We got water here. 7:40 PM- Fire! we finished dinner, there was extra food today-good. We hit Redfield at 3:32 PM. This was one of my favorite climbs because we got to follow a pretty healthy stream most of the way up. The trail is not an official one however, no markers. 9/16/07 6:15 AM-We woke up. Really cold night, no one slept well. 9:01 AM-We are on top of Mount Colden now. We have been chillin hear for a little bit. There was ice on my pack all morning. We got to leave our packs at the bottom for this guy. Ice on the mountain too. I got a few pics of Lake Placid on the way up this guy. I forgot to mention when Dan got ganked in the pack by a rock on the way Basin. It was really kind of scary ~15 lb rock but it hit his pack. Right now the view is amazing. Clouds are kissing the tops of mountains and resting in the valleys. 1:47 PM- We actually finished 99 bottles of beer on the wall on the way back from Marcy Dam to the Loj. Pretty fast pace for the last bit. The views today were definitely the best the clouds and the mountains make for a nice contrast. Ben drove Alex over to the van on the 73-I just took a shower and so did Brian. Pat and Dan are here also. After 7 hours driving, everyone is pretty happy to get their hike on. On top of Armstrong looking up to Gothics. First and last full day out of the clouds. Second full day, Going down Saddleback, in a cloud, with winds gusting to 35 mph. Good thing we brought the map. Brian scavenging for food on the way up Haystack. Top of Redfield, still in the clouds on the third full day. Enjoying the good weather at the top of Mount Colden, our last peak on our last morning. Algonquin is in the background. And we had mad it back all smiles. Seriously, everyone is still smiling, not even kidding. What we left behind.