How to Hike Gothics the Right Way for You
Gothics is an INCREDIBLE hike in the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains in New York State. This mountain, is located in Keene, NY, about 20 minutes from Lake Placid and about 4-6 hours north of NYC. Having hiked Gothics and all the 46ers, I can honestly say, Gothics is ONE of my FAVORITE peaks. It is the peak that convinced me to finish all the 46ers.
That being said, Gothics (you can add on other peaks as well, which I will talk about later in this post) is a LONGER and much more ADVANCED hike. On its own it’s about 12 miles roundtrip with an elevation gain of 3,736ft, which takes about 6-8 hours. All that being said there are a couple different ways to hike Gothics.
In this post you will learn about the various different hiking routes to complete Gothics. Such as, Gothics via Pyramid Peak, Gothics cable route, Gothics from the garden, and much more about this peak in general.
This post is all about Gothics.
Gothics:
Gothics via Pyramid Peak
As I previously stated, there are a couple different ways you can hike Gothics and make Gothics a loop hike in the Adirondacks. However, the various ways all depend on your fitness/endurance level, what other peaks you want to see, if you are completing your 46ers or not, how much daylight you have, and so on. I hiked Gothics via Pyramid Peak. This entails parking at the Ausable Club or the AMR (Adirondack Mountain Reserve) parking lot.
To park and hike here, you do have to make a reservation if hiking between May 1st through October 31st. You can make your reservation through the AMR website, through this link. It is free to park here and to make a reservation. Also, the gate to the parking lot opens at 5am and closes at 7pm. That being said, there will be multiple people who check your reservation, so make sure you bring that piece of paper with you or have a picture of your reservation on your phone.
To get to the AMR, you will get on interstate 87 North or South (depending where you are coming from), until exit 30. Then you will take exit 30 towards Keene and Lake Placid. Then, a left onto route 73 (you will take a right if coming southbound). After, 2.2 miles you will keep left onto NY-73 towards Lake Placid, then stay on route 73 for 5.3 miles. Then turn left onto Ausable Road, and the parking lot will be right on your left.
Once you park you will walk up the road for about ½ a mile to the Ausable Club. Once you see the golf course, and the different cottages on your left, you will see signs, directing you to the various trail heads. The signs will say Indian Head and Rainbow falls in bold (most popular hike), then underneath you’ll see signs for Wolfjaws, Gothics, Pyramid, Sawteeth, Nippletop, and others.
Okay, once you’ve reached the Ausable club, and have followed the signs, you will see, “Attention Hikers,” and other trail maps, continue straight after these signs. You will then come across the hiker registration book, that the rangers will make you sign. The rangers will also check your reservation and ask you where you’re hiking for the day.
After this, you will continue straight and see an embellished gate, with the letters, AMR, go through or around this gate. Then you will continue on the infamous, Lake Road, for about 3.5 miles. Gothics via Pyramid Peak, and Sawteeth, are the LAST trails you can access from this road, and Rainbow Falls. Thus, don’t feel discouraged when you see signs and cut-offs for every other trail EXCEPT Gothics, these peaks just happened to be ALL the way down.
Once you walk the 3.5 miles, you will see signs again, directing to go to the right, for Gothics via Pyramid Peak, and Sawteeth. You will walk down, and cross a BEAUTIFUL bridge, seriously, I thought I was in Montana or something, it’s gorgeous. Then you will continue to follow the different signs and blue trail markers for Gothics, via Pyramid Peak.
This is where the steepness INCREASES, for about 2.2 miles. It is pretty much all uphill from that point on. After the 2.2 miles, you will get to another sign, informing you, that if you stay to your right, you will end up on Pyramid Peak in .6 miles, then Gothics, in 1 mile. To do Sawteeth, which I HIGHLY recommend hiking FIRST, if you are completing your 46ers, you will stay left instead of right. You will reach the summit of Sawteeth in about .5 miles. I did Gothics and Pyramid Peaks first, because they were my main goals. However, I talked to other hikers that day, who encouraged me to go back and hike Sawteeth. So, I did and I’m SUPER happy I did so.
However, like I said, I recommend hiking Sawteeth FIRST. Gothics was still one of my first 46ers, so I was unsure at that point if I wanted to hike all of them. But after getting to the summit of Gothics, I KNEW I was going to complete all of the 46. Gothics IS the peak that HOOKED me. This is why I ultimately decided to go back down and hike Sawteeth, which I’m SUPER happy I did. And I didn’t have to go back just to hike Sawteeth!
Now, view wise, Sawteeth is okay, but it’s mostly covered by trees. BUT, Pyramid and Gothics, have some of my FAVORITE views within ALL of the Adirondacks and 46ers. I TRULY love these summits.
Gothics Cable Route
Now, after you’ve spent some time at the top of Gothics, you’ve got a couple options. First, you could hike back down the way you came, and be happy with getting two more high peaks, Sawteeth and Gothics. Or you could continue on to Armstrong, Upper & Lower Wolfjaws, and grab a total of 5 different high peaks. If you do this, you will run into the infamous Gothic cables or the Gothics cable route.
To hike the Gothic cables, you will continue pass the Gothics summit, and eventually see the black “cables.” I have hiked this cables by accident, when I hiked Saddleback and tried to do Armstrong as well. I am okay with heights, but I still get freaked out at times when I’m hiking, and I will say, hiking UP the Gothic cables, scared me. However, hiking DOWN the cables, which is what you will do if you are hiking this route, it’s not scary.
The cables are attached to bare rocks, thus, they are the ONLY thing you can hold onto when hiking up or down, hence, why it’s called the Gothics cable route. Now, once you are down the cables, you should see signs for Armstrong, which you will continue to. Then, if you continue pass Armstrong summit, in about .5-1 mile you will come to Upper Wolfjaw.
Then, you will be at Lower Wolfjaw in about .7 of a mile. After, you will continue past Lower Wolfjaw, onto the White Trail almost all the way back to the AMR gate at the VERY beginning of Lake Road to the Ausable Club. Here is a trail map.
Gothics from the Garden
Now, you CAN climb this entire loop hike (with all five peaks included and Saddleback) via the Garden, which is another parking area, where you do not need a reservation for. But, you will have to hike UP the Gothic cables. Thus, if you aren’t the biggest fan of heights, like myself, I don’t recommend hiking Gothics this way.
To get to the garden parking area, you will get on Interstate 87 North or South, depending on where you are coming from. You will get off on Exit 30 towards Keene Valley and Lake Placid. Once off the highway, you will take a left (if coming northbound) or a right (coming southbound) onto Route 73. In 2.2 miles take a slight left onto NY-73 towards Lake Placid and Keene Valley. Then in 8.4 miles take a left onto Adirondack Street (right before the Ausable Inn). In .6 of a mile, you will take a right onto Interbrook Road. Then in .9 of a mile (dirt road, but very drivable), you will come to the garden parking lot. You will have to pay $10 to park here, and sometimes there will be no attendant, so you will want to make sure you have EXACT change.
Once you park, you will head to the hiker registration area, and sign in. After, you will go straight towards the John Brook Lodge (can stay here if you want, but will have to hike in). You will come to the John Brook Lodge after about 3.6 miles. Then follow signs to the Phelps trail (for 1.9 miles) then to the Orebed Brook Trail for 2.1 miles. After, you will see signs for Saddleback summit. You can add on, Saddleback too (another high peak), which you will reach in .4 miles, or you could just follow signs towards Armstrong and Gothics.
Now, this is where you will hike UP the Gothics cables. After about .6 of a mile, you will reach the summit of Gothics. After Gothics, you CAN, go pass the summit, and head towards Sawteeth, if you want to grab that high peak as well. To do this, you will head towards Pyramid peak, then down, to the signs towards Sawteeth and Gothics (.7 of a mile). You will get to these signs and then continue towards Sawteeth peak and be there in about .7 of a mile.
OR you can start your loop back to the John Brooks Lodge and garden parking lot, and head down to Armstrong peak. You will arrive to Armstrong in about 1.5 miles. Then, you will continue to Upper Wolfjaw and be there in 1 mile. After, Upper, you will continue to Lower Wolfjaw (in about .7 of a mile). After Lower Wolfjaw, you will have to hike back to the Wolfjaw Trail intersection (about .3 of a mile). You will follow this trail for about 1.3 miles, then get back to the Phelps Trail, back to the John Brook Lodge. Then after the lodge, head back to the garden parking lot in 3.6 miles.
In total, this Gothics hike is about 15-17 miles, and will take on average about, 9-10 hours, without breaks. However, realistically, I would prepare for about 10-12 hours. I usually divide the mileage by 2, and that number is USUALLY the number of hours it will take you to hike the peaks or mountain you are intending to hike (without breaks).
Now, Gothics and Pyramid peaks, plus Sawteeth, took me about 10 hours and was about 13-14 miles, with an elevation gain of about 3,736ft. However, I took a big break at the summit of Gothics. So realistically, you could hike the three peaks in about 8 hours, if you are hustling.
Gothics via the Great Range Traverse
Now, if you want a TRUE CHALLENGE, then hiking the Great Range, will be a HUGE feat to complete. Here, you will find out, just how truly insane this way to hike Gothics is. It involves hiking EIGHT high peaks, over 20 miles, and over 8,000ft of elevation gain. Safe to say, you will need a TON of rest after this one!
And that wraps up our article on Gothics and the different ways to hike it. Overall, I think the best way to divide these peaks is by, hiking Sawteeth, Gothics, Pyramid, and possibly Armstrong. Then, hike Upper & Lower Wolfjaws, and possible Armstrong on their own, on a different day. However, if you want a challenge and WANT to hike the Gothic cables, I recommend hiking Sawteeth, Gothics, Armstrong, Upper, and Lower Wolfjaws via the AMR. Anyways, thank you SO much for reading and whatever way you decide to hike Gothics, I hope you have an AWESOME time! Thank you and take care!
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