Trailhead: Giant/Roaring Brook, St. Hubert's, NY
Distance: 11.36 miles (GPS), 10.9 (book/map descriptions)
Elevation Change: 5343 ft.
Peaks: Giant Mountain (#12, 4627 ft.); Rocky Peak Ridge (#20, 4420 ft.); Nubble (2760 ft.)
Difficulty: Most stretches are only moderately difficult, with a few steep or very steep sections
I don't want to oversell this hike, but......actually, nevermind: this was a GREAT hike. The trails were in excellent condition, the weather was perfect, the people were friendly, and the scenery was beautiful. Not only that, but this area, the Giant Mountain Wilderness, has so much potential for future trips. I discovered so much on this trip that I wasn't expecting, and I will definitely be back for more.
Over the many years that my family and I drove back and forth from Northern New Jersey to our home in Potsdam, NY, we often remarked on the very high waterfall visible from the road just before St. Hubert's, never knowing if there was a way to get closer. So, it was with delight that, in preparation for this trip, I read that there is a trail to these falls at the Giant/Roaring Brook Trailhead. I started this hike with the 0.2 mile detour over to the base of the Roaring Brook Falls. While the view wasn't much given the hot and dry late summer that we have had, I was still impressed by the potential of these falls given their great height and narrow cataract through the rock.
After returning to the main trail, I began the .4 mile hike up to the top of the falls, which offered the first view of the High Peaks wilderness across Rte. 73 from Giant Mountain.
My hike, portrayed in Google Earth
Over the many years that my family and I drove back and forth from Northern New Jersey to our home in Potsdam, NY, we often remarked on the very high waterfall visible from the road just before St. Hubert's, never knowing if there was a way to get closer. So, it was with delight that, in preparation for this trip, I read that there is a trail to these falls at the Giant/Roaring Brook Trailhead. I started this hike with the 0.2 mile detour over to the base of the Roaring Brook Falls. While the view wasn't much given the hot and dry late summer that we have had, I was still impressed by the potential of these falls given their great height and narrow cataract through the rock.
Looking up at Roaring Brook Falls
After returning to the main trail, I began the .4 mile hike up to the top of the falls, which offered the first view of the High Peaks wilderness across Rte. 73 from Giant Mountain.
First views of High Peaks from the top of Roaring Brook Falls
At this point the trail begins the ascent towards Giant. The trail was hard packed dirt, and was very well-maintained. In several places the trail had been graded with rocks or, in one spot, a ladder had been added.
Excellent examples of trail workmanship
One of my concerns going into this hike had been boredom. That may sound crazy, but I hadn't hiked alone in a long time, and never for this length. I am used to talking with my companions as I hike, but on this hike I wouldn't have that conversation to pass the time. Thankfully, on such a beautiful late August day, I had plenty of other hikers on the trail, and spent about 2 miles of this climb conversing nicely with a 46er who was climbing this particular route for the first time. It is so nice to be able to chat casually with someone with many of the same interests.
After a little more than 3 miles, I reached the intersection with the Ridge Trail, the other primary entry point for Giant Mountain. Here I ate my lunch and took a short break before heading up the last .7 miles to Giant. These last .7 miles include a few short sections of exposed rock slabs, but are not too challenging. Considerably less challenging than sections on Cascade, for the most part. There are a few open views but nothing really spectacular. After passing the junction for the trail to Rocky Peak ridge, it is a short easy climb up to the summit of Giant, where the views speak for themselves.
View of the valley communities from Giant Mountain
After a quick break and more snacks, I headed down to the junction and began the 1.3 mile hike over to Rocky Peak Ridge. The section of trail to the col between the two peaks is by far the steepest section of trail I encountered on this day. Lots of exposed rock slabs. As I went down I was forced to confront what it would be like to come back up! Thankfully, I did get some views of my destination along the way.
Rocky Peak Ridge viewed from the descent of Giant
The brief uphill section to the top of Rocky Peak Ridge was mercifully much more gentle, and after less than an hour from Giant, I made it to the top of Rocky Peak Ridge. One hiker coming down made clear to me that not only was the trip to RPR worth it, but that the views were better than Giant. She was right. Also, she warned me, "just don't look back at the climb back up to Giant," and that was good advice as well, that I failed to observe.
View looking back at Giant from Rocky Peak Ridge
Panorama from Rocky Peak Ridge, towards the High Peaks and Giant
Panorama from Rocky Peak Ridge towards Lake Champlain and Rocky Peak
While the view from Giant is mostly to the West and North, the views from Rocky Peak Ridge are in all directions and include great views not only of the High Peaks, but also of Lake Champlain and points east and south. Definitely worth the hike over from Giant.
After resting some and refueling, I began the trek back to Giant. Noticing that I was down to about a half liter of water, I thought about continuing away from Giant to Marie Louise Pond to filter some more water, but decided that the extra 1.2 miles roundtrip was not going to be worth it. I think I made the right call, but I was definitely thankful when I finally got back to Roaring Brook and was able to refill my bottles, several hours later.
The ascent of Giant from Rocky Peak Ridge certainly lived up to my fears, and there were a few stretches where I was just managing to put one foot in front of (or above) the other. After this hard climb I rested some more at the junction with the Ridge Trail, and noticed a strange feeling. As I began the descent I realized that I was already feeling sad to be heading down, rather than spending more time in this beautiful section of wilderness. In the interests of exploring as much of the area as I could, when I got to the fork with the Ridge Trail to the left and the Roaring Brook Trail to the right, I decided to head down the Ridge trail to make something of a loop of the rest of my hike, rather than going down the same way I had come up. The 1.1 mile stretch of the Ridge Trail down to the Nubble trail made for some gorgeous hiking. Lots of exposed rock with beautiful views to the West and South.
views from the Ridge Trail
At one point the trail divides into so that hikers can go either over or around "the bump." Again, in the interest of learning as much as possible, I chose to go OVER the bump. While the views were nice, they offered little that was unique given the many other exposed areas.
It was also in this stretch that I encountered that rarest of Adirondack creatures, the switchback! Thankfully, this relatively steep trail was made easier by using several switchbacks along the side of the mountain. I was sure to make note of this on my GPS track to show my son later....the lack of switchbacks is one his "favorite" things about ADK hiking.
Finally, I arrived at the junction with the Nubble trail. I finished off my water, and had an additional snack before resuming the climbing portion of my day with an ascent of the admittedly small peak between Giant and the pond known as Giants Washbowl. I struggled with this choice briefly, deciding between this climb and continuing down to cross on the washbowl trail itself (where I would also be able to fill my water bottles). Alas, the draw of more views, including some of the Giant itself proved too tempting. This was a great decision.
The nubble was only about .5 miles from the Ridge Trail, and the climbing was gentle. I met more friendly hikers and shared the trail with them for this short section. After a great little vista with views of Chapel Pond and its cliffs and the wash bowl, the trail continued up to the Nubble itself which has spectacular 360 degree views of Giant Mountain and the High Peaks Wilderness.
Panorama from Nubble
Giant Mountain from the Nubble
Washbowl and Chapel Pond cliffs
Once I began the descent from the Nubble to the Roaring Brook Trail and then to my car, with nothing more to look forward to, my knees and legs began to really let me know how they felt about all the hiking I had done! I still had nearly 2 miles to go, and my legs were not happy! The descent to Roaring Brook is somewhat steeper than that to the Ridge Trail, which made for challenging hiking on tired legs.
After a little less than a mile, I made it to roaring brook, refilled my water bottles (and drank from them generously) at a beautiful pool and then headed down to my car.
The Giant Mountain wilderness is a spectacular area to which I will return! I have been intrigued by Giant for years, in fact, before I had even moved to NY I had gotten this particular mountain in my head. It lived up to every expectation that I had. Even more than this trip though, I am excited by the possibilities for future hiking. An excellent short hike with kids would be to park at Roaring Brook, see the falls in high water, and then head up to the Nubble, looping back by the wash bowl. This would be about a 3.5 mile loop with only a little bit of tough climbing. For those kids who want to be bagging high peaks, I recommend the Roaring Brook approach over the Ridge Trail. While it is not as scenic, it is a gentler, if slightly longer, climb that I think will prove less exhausting for kids. It also has no large rock slabs that would require little ones to be boosted! Of course, if your kids are like one pair I saw on this trip, doing their 16th and 17th high peaks, of THE SUMMER, then by all means, the Ridge Trail may be for you.
In case it hasn't been made clear, I highly recommend this small network of trails. Some of the best trails I have been on in the Adirondacks. Enjoy! Oh, and if you are heading back north afterwards, don't forget to stop at the Noonmark Diner for dinner and pie and Donnelly's Ice Cream in Saranac Lake for second dessert. What, you've never heard of second dessert? Well, I guess you just haven't been hiking hard enough then.
1 comment:
Good post.
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