The Great Range (Part 2) - Lower/Upper Wolfjaw

After our more difficult than expected hike to the Ore Bed lean-to, the plan for Saturday (5/6) was to hike the Great Range. This is a row of seven 4000+ foot mountains. Our goal was to do the lower range (Lower Wolfjaw, Upper Wolfjaw, Armstrong, Gothics) followed by Sawteeth which stands next to Gothics. We had hoped to hit part of the upper range if time allowed with Saddleback and Haystack. Needless to say, this was an ambitious goal that we didn't quite achieve.

After Seth and Ed's 1.5 hours of sleep, we packed up for the day. We were leaving a base camp set up at the lean-to so we wouldn't need to carry fully loaded packs. The weather was clear and the forecast for the weekend was good -- only a few possible scattered showers. We set off for Lower Wolfjaw first on this nice sunny morning. Lower Wolfjaw was not too difficult a climb and the summit gave us a clear view of the surrounding range.


View from the summit of Lower Wolfjaw, looking out over the rest of the Great Range - Upper Wolfjaw, Armstrong, Gothics (left to right). (5/6/06, 11:18 a.m.)





Adam, Ed, and Myself (left to right) looking down into the valley from the summit of Lower Wolfjaw. John's Brook Lodge and our camp site at the Ore Bed lean-to lie in that valley. (5/6/06, 11:22 a.m.)




Upper Wolfjaw was the next on the list. As we made our way there, dark clouds began to move in. Perhaps the weather wasn't going to be quite as nice as expected. Part way up the climb, at what proved to be a false summit, it began to rain. "Scattered showers, no problem, this can't last long," we all agreed.



We hunched under a conveniently overhanging rock to take shelter from the rain as we waited for it to pass (Ed, Seth, Myself, left to right). (5/6/06, 12:52 p.m.)



Unfortunately, the rain didn't pass. In fact, it lasted all day. After about ten minutes of waiting, as the cold set in, we decided we'd best keep moving. And here was another one of our great mistakes -- in lightening our loads for the day, we had left our rain gear back at camp. Great idea that was...

As we progressed up the summit of Upper Wolfjaw, the weather only got worse -- the rain mixed with snow at these elevations. Parts of the trail were still snow and ice covered from the winter. This made the ascent difficult without crampons (the metal spikes that attach to the bottom of your boots to give traction on ice). Of course, in another one of our regrettable decisions, we had decided we wouldn't need crampons this time of the year. Luckily, the icy sections didn't prove too difficult to navigate (at least not yet), and we made it to the summit. Unfortunately yet again, the cloud cover and rain blocked what would have been a magnificent view.



Ed, Myself, and Adam (left to right), on the summit of Upper Wolfjaw -- cold and wet. (5/6/06, 1:23 p.m.)






Our spectacular view from the summit... There are some mountains back there -- I promise. (5/6/06, 1:23 p.m.)