Sawteeth: Clif Bars, Scenic Views,

At the top of Sawteeth, a Blueberry Crisp Clif Bar has an aftertaste like fine tobacco. I mean like Marlboro's not Lucky Strikes. I suddenly had a thirst for a bourbon and a snort of coke. "There's some psychadelic mushrooms on the trail," Amy pointed out. I quickly regained my composure.

We don't need drugs to exercise bad judgment. We were about to make a haughty decision that would leave us thirsty and sore ... all on our own!

Luxury. *Sigh*

This was going to be our longest hike yet, so we started around 9 AM. There's a three and a half mile hike down the Ausable Club road just to get to Sawteeth's trail. Biff and Skippy pass you with their tennis rackets and their designer water bottles. I don't really feel jealous. But I just wished my walking stick ... sorry, my TRACTION POLE (just in case you hoity-toity people from Eastern Mountain Sports are reading this) ... would stay straight. It kept collapsing on me. About an hour of fiddling with it along the trail, and I finally figure it out. I twist it to the just the right length and lock it in place. Triumph! I felt a sense of accomplishment already.

The road ended and the trail began ... and Amy and I fell instantly in love with it. It was cushy, like carpet, full of ground cover and hardly any rocks. My traction pole sunk a little in the dirt, giving my arm a little push for some needed torque. The vertical climb was perfect. It'd be steep and just when you ran out of breath, it would level out. This was very unlike the trails at Giant and Wright, which were endlessly rocky and uneven in comparison. We saw the Rainbow Falls early in our hike. And yes, there's a rainbow in it. It was all so Brigadoon-y. Except for the sign that says, "Stay back, don't be a dropout!"

The hike felt unnaturally short, and we reached the last ascent way ahead of schedule. It was 500 feet over 0.9 miles, and it mostly nice and easy except for one challenging pretty-near-mountain-climbing part. After that mess, we started along the trail and heard ... sleigh bells? "Santa Claus?" Amy asked. Nope, just a regular ol' hiker. As I looked over his equipment to see what was jangling (I didn't find it), he gave us the greatest gift of all - he said, "You're just about up top."

It was unlike the other peaks we've been on, in that the nearby peaks are quite close and higher than you are. You feel like you're in an audience. The Gothics beckon to the right, Saddleback and Basin in front of you, Haystack to the left, and in the background looms Mt. Marcy. They overlap each other a little, like the president's heads on Mt. Rushmore.

Feeling Too Good

After the best damn peanut butter sandwich we ever et' we were feeling pretty plucky. There are two trails up to Sawteeth, the Weld trail which we were just on at 2.4 files to the road, or the Scenic Trail which is 2.9 miles. Amy and I were feeling really good. Let's do the Scenic Trail! It's only half a mile longer!

Here's the thing. At the entrance to the Ausable club, we asked the ranger about the best way to hike Sawteeth. He said, "Nobody takes the Scenic Trail. It's just too hard." But Amy and I decided to ignore his advice.

You figure that at 0.5 miles longer, the descent should be more gradual than the Weld, since you end up in the same place. Easier on the knees, right? But once we started along the Scenic Trail it became apparent quickly ... we were going up AND down. And none of it was gradual. In fact, there were some spots that needed ladders, which were helpfully provided. Amy and I both got our legs scraped up a bit by the huge boulders. It was not luxurious like the Weld trail.

That said, the Scenic Trail is well named. It offered views of the opposite range, with Indian Head and Mt. Colvin. They were more like theater curtains, their big wide ranges blotting out the sky. And the Ausable Lakes below were very beautiful. The overlooks were nice, but scary in a way, and Amy and I found ourselves backing away from the edge gradually as we looked out over the distance.

But man! That trail seemed to go on forever. We ran out of water, my knees were crabbing at me. and Amy stomped down the trail as if she were angry at it. Finally we got close enough to the lake that we dunked our tootsies in the water and felt instantly better.

At the registration book at Ausable Club, someone (God?) left an unopened bottle of Poland Spring, which Amy snatched up like gold. We downed the whole thing in a few swigs. An 11 mile hike, the longest one so far ... and here's the weird thing. I looked back at Sawteeth, how high it was against the sky, and I still don't know how we did it. You'd think that with experience, I'd be getting more used to how much we can actually do in a day. But the mountains look bigger to me.

Equipment That Worked: You gotta love Smartwool! These thick socks look like they'd be wearing cement on a warm summer day. But they are cool and dry and so completely comfortable. I'm tempted to get their hiking shirts as well, but I find bicycle jerseys act pretty well in that capacity. Since I'm not doing as much biking this summer, it's good to keep the clothes workin'.

Food: The Great Range in Keene Valley continues to be our go-to restaurant for good eatin'. We had a summer tart appetizer, with some interesting goat cheese and vegetable filling. Amy had quail. I had pheasant sausage with mashed potatoes and a rosemary sauce over the whole thing. The menu is a bit different every time we go, so we keep being surprised. On Saturday we went to the Westport Marina and tucked away salad grilled chicken and grouper and Toasted Head Chardonnay. Amy now swears by the following rule - always end a hike with a really, really good salad and wine. It lubricates the joints, and makes one feel instantly fresh and reconnected.

Next up? Seems to be a tossup between Algonquin and The Gothics. Both are close to peaks we've already climbed, so the trails are a little familiar. But the ending vertical ascents of both are very difficult. Then again ... when the payoff is this cool, what's difficult?