August 2021 Monthly Running Challenge

An epic and picture-perfect day hiking the Lower Great Range with my new hiking friend Courtney. We started at a little after 6 am - last time needing to park at the AMR lot and walk up Lake Road! This time we walked all the way out to Lower Ausable Lake about 4 miles on the road before turning off onto the AW Weld trail to head to Sawteeth. We first stopped by Rainbow Falls, which was gorgeous and had rainbows, as advertised. The hike up the Weld trail I had read was "gentle" as compared to the scenic route and we took it to save some time on a big day. I wouldn't have described it quite that way and found it plenty strenuous going up. We summitted Sawteeth about 9:30 am, and the blue skies were amazing. We had definitely worked up a sweat and were surprised when we arrived and some girls were saying the wind was cold up there. We proceeded to the lookout point and made sure to get to the actual summit and then came back to sit on the rocks and enjoy the view and have some snacks and quickly understood as we got chilled sitting there. Time for long sleeve shirt #2.

The hike from Sawteeth to Pyramid (which for some reason doesn't count) was some of the steepest of the hike and we worked for that one. We arrived a little after 11 and laid down gratefully on top of that flat rock summit. I could have taken a nice nap while enjoying the view. But we had a long day to go yet so got back up and headed over to Gothics, which we could see looming in the so close but yet so far distance.

The trip to Gothics was pretty short from there and not so bad as we had already done most of the elevation getting to Pyramid. Just a tiny down then up and we were there by 11:40. This was a pretty big summit with amazing views of all the mountains around and there were a few other people up there enjoying a break. We had some more food and worked on identifying all the peaks we could see, starting to get a much better feel for how they relate to each other. And Marcy is always the easy one to identify and it's fun to spot and orient to it.

Armstrong was next and we were surprised there was a lot more going down than up to get there. We arrived just before 1:00 and enjoyed another break identifying peaks and enjoying the incredible day. Armstrong and Upper Wolfjaw were new to Courtney who had done the others separately, so she was excited to be adding to her numbers finally. We headed over to Upper Wolfjaw next. Lots more heading down and some of it quite steep. There was a ladder in one section and others that could have used a ladder I thought (and my left upper leg/butt agrees with me after a slip left a nasty bruise). We were on UWJ at 2:15 and didn't stay too long on that small summit, gearing up for the final push.

We could see LWJ in it's pointiness and some other peak in front of it that we hoped we wouldn't have to go over (some BS mountain as Sheley would say. Turns out I just found out the is Middle Wolfjaw). But of course we did. I had been told that between the Wolfjaws and summiting LWJ was a tough section, and it indeed was a beast. A steep descent to the notch and then a steep relentless climb on tired legs for summit #5 (6 really!) of the day. We were once again soaking wet with sweat and then quickly chilled sitting on that summit for another last refuel. I was happy I had tucked a light windbreaker in my bag to have one more option with sleeves. It was 4 pm and peak #40 was done. The view was not the best, but I was happy to be there.

We geared up for the hike out, which proved to be a tough descent and the typically never-ending feeling. I started to look forward to slight uphills because the downhill was just hammering away at the legs and feet. Finally we hit the flatter parts of the trail and started to see signs of civilization in the form of boards over mud patches and some hand rails. And then the Canyon bridge and back over to our old friend the Lake Road. Just a "short" almost 2 miles back to the parking lot from there, but I was happy to see the road and know it was "gentle".

We arrived at the car at 7 pm. 12 hours and 43 minutes (or right about there, Garmin died at 12 hours in and I missed a few minutes before starting Strava - which is why the GPX track ends too early here). We were feeling exhausted but accomplished - a huge day to get 5 done, and get to 40 for me and 28 for Courtney. We saw a mother and her maybe 12 year old son who we talked to on the Lake Road on the way out, they were going to do Gothics and Sawteeth as a loop that day, and do Wright, Algonquin and Iroquois the next. They were back at their car looking happy and they had taken their time and enjoyed some "camp food" and coffee and relaxed at the summits. It was fun to connect with them at the beginning and the end.
We said our goodbyes and I changed and headed over to Stewart’s for a big coffee and some food. The drive home was hard but I sang my way through it and arrive at home a little after 11. Showered and crawled into bed, where I fell asleep immediately.