Pyramid

Amy says, "Write your own narrative."  Our story is our own, and how we tell it is our business.  What we choose to keep in, leave out, or "tell slant" (as Emily Dickinson says) is our business.

We've been wanting to do Gothics, one of the 46 High Peaks of the Adirondacks, for 3 years now.  According to one of our guidebooks that we cling to like the Bible, Gothics has the best view of all the 46 peaks.  Fair 'nuff.  So for Amy's birthday hike, we picked this one.

So to recap: last year we did Marcy, the highest of the High Peaks, which required an overnight camping trip.   We also have finished 4 of the 6 "Saranac Sixers" - peaks under 4000 feet, but situated around Saranac Lake and each with a pretty view.  We did Haystack last year, Baker and Ampersand the year before, and St. Regis this year.

But we climb these mountains for three main reasons: the trail sammich, the hike itself, and the view from the top.  We don't do it just to "bag a mountain."  There's no bucket list.  Some of the 46 peaks have tremendously long hikes and absolutely dreadful views, so we don't do those.

We started the weekend like we pretty much always do - at Liquids and Solids Restaurant in Lake Placid. A Brussels Sprouts appetizer always starts our meal off right - roasted with a fine mustard sauce.  Mmmm.  Amy had rabbit turnover, and I had Blue Cheese and rhubarb Ravioli with Smoked Game ragout.  These chefs are OUT THERE climbing dangerous peaks like we are.  I bought them a round of beers - they had outdone themselves.

The trail to Gothics is the same as Sawteeth, (flashback).  It's a long, extremely boring 3.5 miles through a country club and on a dirt road.  Every ten minutes the Ausable Club bus nearly runs you over ... but you can't get on it because you're not a member.  Only by their good graces are you allowed to hike on Skippy and Biff's land.  Then you get to the Ausable dam and you start into the woods, climbing up.

The first two miles were familiar ground for us - really beautiful, cushy trail stuff.  Then the path splits - one to Sawteeth, one to Gothics.  Then we started going up.  Really up!  It was reminiscent of the trail to Algonquin, also a menace.  Around every corner was a big sheet of rock that we had to get up somehow.  And we did - steadily, but surely.

And then we hit this.  The result of a rock slide from 1999, this was basically a 30 foot sheer rock face.  On the other side you can see the trees going over the edge where there's a pretty nasty cliff.  So we climbed along the left side, using the trees and roots to hoist ourselves up.  It's probably the nastiest stretch we've ever done in the Adirondacks, and it made us jittery.

About a half mile after that we reached the top of Pyramid.  4550 feet.  It would be considered a High Peak were it not for the fact that Gothics, which is 4800 feet, is less than a mile away.  We had heard that Pyramid has what some consider the best view in the Adirondacks.

They were right.  You can see the gorgeous view in the top picture - Mt. Marcy is to the far left and towering over all the other big peaks.  Basic, Saddleback and Colvin are in the foreground.  Amy and I were awestruck.  What was lovely was the variety of the landscape.  Everything that we loved about an Adirondack view was all rolled up into one.  I'll put some more pictures down below for your enjoyment.

Then we looked across the trail to Gothics - our view of it from Pyramid is pictured below.  This is where we write our own narrative.  In fact, I'm gonna write three and you can pick your favorite:

Version 1:  We were all set to hike the long road down to Gothics, but then we looked across the col.  Some hikers had run into ... omigod!  ... a 9 foot tall black bear!  They didn't have the right color container, the black bear became enraged and started tearing their backpacks to shreds!  Rather than going ahead, Amy and I unselfishly sacrified our own trip, and climbed down Pyramid to summon help.

Version 2:  Amy and I ran the 0.4 mile trail to Gothics in 5 minutes.  Then we figured, aw hell, it's only 10 more miles to Saddleback and Basin, let's just do those too.  And then we did Marcy again.  I forgot to take pictures as proof, but trust us, it was really beautiful!

Version 3:  Amy and I looked at the path going straight down, then straight back up to Gothics and we said, "Screw it.  It can't be any prettier than over here."  So we descended Pyramid, and our legs hurt so bad, we barely made it to the car.

Obviously some of these stories are more plausible than others.  But plausibility does not equal truth and ... oh whatever.

We finished the day at Lisa G's restaurant with our Adirondack-based friend Lynn.  Sipping gin and tonic and IPA's, I polished off a peanut butter ice cream sandwich.  My legs had not hurt this bad since Algonquin.  A mighty fine birthday hike indeed!