Lower Wolf Jaw and Basin

tgace459

Sep 17

In mid June 2022 I went on my first solo backpacking/hiking trip to the high peaks. My goal was to hit Lower Wolf Jaw, Sawteeth and Basin.

I drove through the night and arrived at the Garden Lot around 0330hrs on 19 June. It's a paid lot now ($10 a day) and there was still plenty of room on an early Sunday morning.

I humped in the 5+ miles to the designated camping area just before the Lower Wolf Jaw lean-to and set up my hammock.

The intent was to summit Lower Wolf Jaw then head over Upper Wolf Jaw/Armstrong/Gothics then cross over Pyramid to Sawteeth and return. I headed up to the intersection between the Wolf Jaw's and made the left towards the summit of Lower that was about .5 miles up from there. It was the usual steep going sort of trail but I made it.

So...back down to the intersection then back up another .5mi to the summit of Upper Wolf Jaw. It was at this point that I realized I wasn't going to be able to stick to my plan of going out to Sawteeth and back. The all-nighter drive, some tendonitis pain in my left foot, and the fact that I was almost out of water with no real opportunity to refill made me decide to call it a day and return to camp.

I slept like a baby and got up around 0500 the following morning. Had some breakfast, packed up and moved camp down past the Johns Brook Lodge and up to the Bushnell Falls Lean-to site.

I hiked to the Slant Rock Lean-to and had someone take my photo. I hadn't been to Slant Rock since my first trip to the ADK's in the early 90s to climb Marcy with my high school buddies Mike and Alan.

The area was different. The Lean-To used to be right next to the rock. The remains could be seen but a new one had been built in a different location.

I hiked from there up and over the saddle between Haystack and Basin to the trail intersection between the two and started up Basin. It was some pretty steep going but the reward was worth it with Basin's views.

I took a leisurely hike back to Bushnell Falls, cooked dinner and hit the hammock. Besides some people I saw along the trails during my hiking I think I had the area to myself both nights....nobody else was camping. I slept like a log.

The following morning I had breakfast, packed up and went down to see the falls that were my white noise lullaby overnight.

It was starting to drizzle on my hike out. I hiked/limped (that tendonitis in my left foot was a bitch on this one) back to JBL and took a rest before returning to the car back at the Garden.