Great Range Traverse in ADK in a Day (Advanced+)

*Please read the description carefully before signing up, if you have not hiked with me, please email me or call 610-655-7481 so we can talk about details. This is a serious marathon climb with huge mileage in a day, monster elevation change and exposed, fun rock scrambling and we are doing it at a fast pace. EXTREMELY DIFFICULT HIKE. weather permitted.

At the minimum you should have climbed 10+ high peaks in the White Mountains with ease and felt the need for more challenges. if you sign up as 'go', I expect to see you at the trailhead at 5:30AM.*

We are doing a version of Great Range Traverse in the Adirondacks, we will hit all the 8 high peaks in the range, with a total mileage about 22 miles and with

17,000 elevation change (up & down), this trip will be well-planned with a fast pace and minimal stops, you have to be a fast hiker averaging at least 2miles/hour.

Stay Friday Night: http:// www.keenevalleyhostel.com/rates.html (http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.keenevalleyhostel.com%2Frates.html&h=oAQHZ_VBG&s=1)

$25 per person.

Our trip is similar to this: http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?31625-Great-Range-Traverse-Loop-%28almost%29-ADK-Weekend

This is rated as the 3rd hardest day hike in the USA, it also has extremely long, steep and exposed rock climbing and cliff climbing, so you must be in extremely good shape. Most of the range does not have water source, so you have to bring all your water. ( I am bring a water filter to re-fill along the way, refer to the map for water source)

Our target time is 14 hours for the 22 miles, what we will do is check our progress at each peak and decide the next step.

Map 1: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-alMOPnNzluM/T91A_Inza6I/AAAAAAAAGaU/v7FJx6Ws25E/s1600/20120615+Great+Range.jpg
Map 2: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S2HBldHmYag/T91BJnFWwCI/AAAAAAAAGac/sktyFu952Co/s1600/20120615+Great+Range+Enlarged.jpg (http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-S2HBldHmYag%2FT91BJnFWwCI%2FAAAAAAAAGac%2FsktyFu952Co%2Fs1600%2F20120615%2BGreat%2BRange%2BEnlarged.jpg&h=2AQEZGJSJ&s=1)

I will leave Newark, NJ Friday afternoon at around 3pm, getting to the hostel in Keene Valley, NY. You must have exactly $7 in cash to pay for day parking at the Garden Parking Lot for Saturday.

We will start hiking from the Garden Trailhead at 5:30AM sharp.

You will need day hike gears, headlight, 2 pair of socks, clean clothes, plenty of food for the day.

Itinerary & Target Time (include rest, food, photo):

Garden Trailhead to Mt. Marcy (1): 9.1 miles, 3820 feet gain, 4h.
Mt. Marcy to Mt. Haystack (2): 2.4 miles, gain 2400 feet, loss 450 feet, 1.5h.
Haystack to Mt. Basin (3) (we will get water here): 2 miles, gain 1500 feet, loss 1000 feet. 1.5h.
Basin to Mt. Saddleback (4) (cliff climbing): 1mile, gain 1000, loss 500, 40min.
Saddleback to Mt. Gothics (5) (exposed rock scramble): 1.6 mile, gain 1000, loss 1000, 1.5h.
Gothics to Armstrong (6), Upper Wolfjaw (7): 2.8 mile, gain 1800, loss 1200, 2.5h.
At this point we have 4.8 miles to go back to the parking lot. We will assess to see if we can do Lower Wolfjaw (8), 1 mile, +800, -600.

Our target is to leave at 5:30AM and return to the car by 7:30PM.

Questions feel free to ask.

Thanks,
Alex