Ahh Saddleback, or specifically the west side cliff traverse. Easily the single most challenging and fear inspiring section of the entire ADK 46 trek. I have become quite good and confident with rock scrambles, so I knew I could do it, but heights aren't my strong point, and depending on who you listen to the stretch could be fairly straightforward as long as you are cautious or down right death defying. Well, I would be able to make that distinction after today.
Myself and two girls from Hiking Mates headed out from the Garden early on this Wednesday morning to tackle these two daunting high peaks. On our way there we took a short break to take a peak at the John's Brook Lodge. I had never seen it before so it was nice to check it out. Looking back on the hike, I think my least enjoyable part is that it takes such a long approach just to get to the mountains. Well, I guess that is all part of the challenge. We passed a large number of people on the trails today, probably more than any other hike that I've been on. It was a gorgeous day, so I can't blame people for being out to enjoy it. I found the forest as we approached Slant Rock to be really cool looking. Once we reached Slant Rock, we took a quick snack break to carb up, and then took the Shorey Short cut up and over to the State Range trail that would take us to the top of Basin. As a whole, I think the climb up Basin had the most, and many difficult rock scrambles of any mountain I have hiked. I would consider it among the most difficult to climb, when combining that along with the distance it takes to get there. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it; I actually found it to be one of my favorite mountains, climb and the amazing view off the summit! We had lunch on the top, soaked up the view and the sun before we turned our attention to the next mountain on our agenda, Saddleback. As we approached the mountain, you get a really good look at the cliff you need to scale to get to the top and it was quite intimidating! I've learned though, that if you look at certain routes as a whole big picture, it can be much worse, than if you break it down into 10-20 feet stretches. As we got to the base of the cliff, that's exactly what I did. You can look at it as little scrambles, stop plan the next, and attack it, and next thing you know, your done! It definitely is steep, but it's not scaling a shear cliff; there are definitely ways to break it up to make it very doable. That said, you certainly wouldn't want to slip and fall because it still is a 100' or so rock traverse. Once I made it to the top I was absolutely exhilarating! I had conquered the most intimidating section of the entire trek! And, I had a blast doing it! :) We took some time to savor what we had accomplished and then worked on finishing the hike. The hike back to the car was again long and tiring, but went by very smoothly. Overall I'd give this hike two thumbs up!
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