I first hiked Lower Wolfjaw back in 2009 via the Wedge Brook Trail from AMR. Shortly after Hurricane Irene, I started seeing trip reports from hikers ascending the Bennies Brook Slide, and my interest was definitely piqued. It is described as a "starter" slide. We actually planned to hike it last year while staying at Grace Camp, but Tropical Storm Isaias altered those plans and we ended up hiking Big Slide instead. We knew Frankie could handle the slide itself, based on his previous hiking experience and feedback from friends who hiked it with their kids, but weren't sure if the distance from the Garden would be out of reach for him. But the kid keeps growing and is a capable hiker now. I compared distance and elevation gain, and it seemed like hiking in from the Garden would be no harder than hiking Whiteface and Esther, which he did last summer. We talked it over with Frankie and he was definitely into it, so we picked a good weather day mid-week and went for it.
I had a couple back up hikes in mind in case the Garden lot was full, because as I've mentioned previously, my boys are not on board with the alpine start. But we had no trouble, even rolling in at 9 am (which I personally find to be an absolutely deranged time to start such an endeavor, but I was outnumbered here). There were plenty of spaces available -- it pays to hike weekdays. We set off down the trail, familiar to all of us from past hikes. I always think of this trail as "Adirondack flats" because it doesn't lead up any mountains (that comes after the Interior Outpost) but that is somewhat misleading. It is steadily uphill pretty much the entire way, albeit at easy grades. There is a random benchmark right in the middle of the trail about halfway in or so. We have to stop for a picture every single time we walk by.
Soon enough, we descended to the interior register and signed in again, then proceeded left toward the Interior Outpost. I had been this way before, on a solo hike of Gothics, Armstrong, and Upper Wolf Jaw, but it was new territory for everyone else. Frankie was very pleased with the suspension bridge over John's Brook. At the far side of the bridge, we turned left onto the abandoned Southside Trail, parts of which washed out in Hurricane Irene and never were repaired.
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| John's Brook |
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| washed out section of the Southside Trail |
I was so excited to have arrived at the start of the slide that I neglected to take a picture of the cairn marking where Bennies Brook crosses the Southside Trail. I check GaiaGPS, which I had downloaded and was trying out for the first time, to confirm we were in the correct location to enter the slide. [Our friends who'd hiked it with their kids had shared their track with me, and it was comforting to know we would have this backup should we become confused. I was mostly concerned with exiting the slide at the appropriate time to find the herd path up to marked trail, but ended up really liking GaiaGPS; the base mapping is far superior to MapMyRide.]
Anyway, once at Bennies Brook, the way is clear: simply go up! And up we went.
It was so fun climbing the slide, and also very interesting. So many different zones of vegetation and rock. It started off fairly narrow, essentially hiking up inside the stream bed. The lower portion had a good amount of cobbles and boulders, with lots of herbaceous plants. Looking back and down across the valley, we could see the Brothers and once we got high enough, Big Slide and Yard. The slide widened somewhat as we gained elevation, and transitioned to bedrock with less vegetation. Eventually the slide rounded a bit of a bend and we could see more of the route ahead of us. Spectacular!
We stopped for lunch on the slide, knowing the views here would be better than at the top. Frankie and Erwin had got ahead of me on the steepest part so they picked a spot and started eating. I didn't take pictures on the steepest part, as my hands were busy. I remember wishing I had taken my visor off because it was so steep I couldn't see ahead of me, but not having enough hands for that either. Frankie just scrambled right up like it was nothing, a spider walking up a wall.
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| lunch views |
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| packed up and ready to hike some more |
With the steepest part behind us, we continued up, Erwin and Frankie cruising ahead again and me continuing at a more cautious clip. We knew the herd path would be on the left before the headwall visible in the right of the photo below, and I checked the GPS track as we approached, wanting to be sure we didn't overshoot and have to backtrack. There is a modest cairn marking the herd path entrance. We paused here for a brief moment to enjoy our last views down Bennies Brook.
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| last view down the slide |
The herd path is a very narrow route climbing steeply through ferns. After a very short distance, the herd path joins the marked W.A. White Trail at a small level spot. There are several hundred more feet to be gained before the summit ridge is reached, and the marked trail is gnarly and eroded while climbing. Once gaining the ridge, the trail levels out, winding pleasantly through the moss and firs.
There are no benchmarks or summit signs on Lower Wolfjaw, just the above signs posting the distances back to various trailheads. The summit rock is where Frankie is sitting below.
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| view from the summit of Lower Wolfjaw |
After more snacking, we started our decent toward Upper Wolfjaw, turning right once we reached the col and following the marked Wolfjaw Trail back down to the Southside Trail, John's Brook, the Interior Outpost, and eventually the Garden.
MapMyRide tracked this hike at 11.9 miles with 2,688 feet gain, while GaiaGPS tracked it at 11.5 miles with 2,795 feet gain. I'm not sure which of these is correct, but honestly it doesn't matter. Either way, this is an absolutely amazing hike. I found it well worth hiking Lower Wolfjaw a second time to enjoy the slide ascent. And Erwin declared it his new favorite Adirondack hike, edging out his previous favorite, Giant. Frankie was utterly enthralled with the slide climb, of course. He was tired when we were done, but not overly so -- he straight out sprinted the last half mile back to the car.
Gorgeous! What a beautiful day.
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