Elevations in feet :
Averyville Parking Lot: 2000.
Sawtooth 8: 3350.
8-7 col: 3100
Saw 7: 3550.
Saw 7-Center peak col: 3360
Center Peak: 3750.
Center-One col: 3630
Saw1: 3875
Most people are familiar with the 5 Sawtooths on the ADK Hundred Highest list, whose designations and rankings rely on a 300 foot col rule AND a distance rule (I forget the distance). The 3,000 footer list uses a 200 foot rule and no distance. So, this creates some confusion with the ordering of peaks changing depending on which criteria are being used. There are eleven peaks on the 3,000 footer list and yesterday I did two of them along with Sawtooth One. Just to make things more confusing the Sawtooth peaks are also named according to their geographic relationship with Sawtooth One. Sawtooth Four for instance thus has 3 different names.
Sawtooth East is Saw-7and Northeast is Saw 8.
The ridgeline between Sawtooth 7 and 1 is not frequently (if ever) traveled. (
just in case anyone was wondering
)
Enough of that. 11 years(!) have gone by since I last did this hike. Being less fit and a decade less youthful I decided that after 7 I could drop into the col between 1 and 7 and exit down the valley, parallel to and well below my inbound route to 7. This is what Trail Boss and I did in early May of 2015 because of deep unsupportive snow in the col.
The hike up to Saw-8 is a real beauty with fields of very open woods (giant Yellow Birch) and distant views of Nye and Street off to the southeast. There used to be excellent views to the west of 7 but the trees have grown up so I kept moving. The trick to traversing from 7 to 8 is to drop down 300 feet and parallel the ridge. Whenever I looked up to my right there was a line of cliffs topped by ferocious cripplebush.
The woods were more gnarly (is gnarlier a word?) that my recollection (which admittedly has faded after 11 years) but by deviating downslope to my left I always found decent seams that brought me into the low point between the peaks. Many years ago
ADKJack
and I did the traverse on top of the ridge's crest on very deep late March snowpack. Saw-8, with smaller trees was a cone of snow and we had unobstructed views in many directions. I took a break on 7 (very partial views between the trees) and texted a selfie to Sylvie and a couple of other photos to the hundred highest Facebook group.
Dropping into the 7-1 col I encountered two lines of cliffs that were easy to detour. I was only 5h30 out and was feeling pretty good so I decided to make a day out of it and traverse over the central peak and on to Sawtooth 1, which was only a mile away. When I did the traverse 11 years ago it went really, really well. Long story short, yesterday it took me 3 hours to cover the mile from 7 to 1. It was a completely different experience from before and I got torn up and beat up nearly the entire way. Still, it was an amazing experience to think of myself in such a remote and utterly chaotic environment. In poring over the log my watch made I can see I was mostly to the north of the crest so either the woods have changed dramatically in 11 years or I got lucky last time through. I had my phone mostly switched off but whenever I turned it on to confirm my position I couldn’t discern a better line. Coming down off of Center Peak I sighted my compass on the very steep cone of One, which brought me to the left (south of) and under some impressive cliffs. This told me I need to deviate uphill to my right to get into position. In any case all I could see above me were cliffs in all directions. The final ascent onto the long east-west and gentle summit ridge is as steep as all get out and was dicey. In situations like these you become super aware of the consequences of an injury.
The final ridge-walk was easy but had more blowdown and was thicker than 11 years ago. I am sad to say there are no longer any views from the summit and I barely found the sign. The views from Sawtooth One used to be sublime.
The hike out to the Old Woods Road is 3 miles (as the crow flies, not as the bushwhacker meanders!). You can follow a single compass bearing the whole way and this I did very attentively (with a few Caltopo checks just be sure) through nearly featureless terrain. I noticed that my right pant leg was torn from hip to ankle and my skin had multiple scratches. The first thousand feet of elevation loss were more difficult than I recalled but the woods were open and became easier and easier as I descended. Once I hit the Woods Road it was clear sailing 2 miles to the car. Some reading this are aware that you pick up 275 feet of elevation on the Pine Pond Road as you almost summit Sugar Hill.
When I saved the file on my watch it said 11h30 minutes, 13 miles and 4100 feet of elevation. Surprisingly, I am not very sore today. I attribute this to the slowness of my progress more than to a deep well of endurance. I drank plenty of water but only ate one energy bar all day. If my count is right it was my seventh time on Sawtooth 8, 3 of which have been in winter conditions.
Attached Files