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Ascent of Mount Haystack on 1998-08-22

Climber: Alan Bangel

Others in Party:

alone

Date:

Saturday, August 22, 1998

Ascent Type:

Successful Summit Attained

Motorized Transport to Trailhead:

Car

Peak:

Mount Haystack

Location:

USA-New York

Elevation:

4961 ft / 1512 m

Ascent Trip Report

In my last letter I wrote about having completed 5 additional peaks towards my 46. This second letter of the season is to report on the last three that needed to be completed. At this moment I have only done two of the three but my plans call for the last one to be completed soon and I will hold this letter until I can write that final paragraph. Yesterday, Saturday 88-22-98 I completed a long hike to Haystack and Basin Mountains. It's obvious that I'm a little excited since I haven't wasted any time in documenting the trip. The boring details will come in just a minute. On Wednesday Aug 27 I am planning my last trip up North for the season. I will be in the Adirondacks for 5 to 6 days and I will pick a good day, weatherwise, to complete Marcy my 46th.
On 8-21 I started for the Adirondacks at 2:02PM. I had tried to get Don Shultz, who had hiked the first 9 peaks with me, to come along on this one, and for a day or two I thought he might really go. But about 24 hours before I planned to leave he informed me that other things had gotten in the way. Since I had not completed Basin on an earlier hike I was worried about attempting it again, especially alone. As my plans materialized I decided I should climb Haystack and Since I would be close to Basin I would attempt that also, but if it wasn't to be then I could still feel good about having completed one more.
After my usual stops I reached the Garden parking lot at 8:55PM. I was extremely lucky to find one parking space in the middle of the lot open. One of the cars that had gone down the road as I traveled up must have been in it. The dirt road approaching the Garden was full and cars lined the streets in Keene Valley. I ate a fast dinner, sub sandwich, wrote in my log, prepped my gear, and at 9:30 my batteries failed. At 9:43, batteries changed, I settled in for the night.
My alarm woke me at 5:30AM and at 6:00 I was dressed, had a small bite to eat and a drink, signed in and was on my way. On a long hike like this I try to keep things in perspective by numbering the sections and destinations of the hike, like 3.5 miles to JBL/section #1, 1.5 miles to Bushnel Falls/section #2, and so forth. This hike was in my mind 9 sections long.
At 10:40 I went over the top of Haystack finishing section #4 and ready for lunch.On this hike I brought half of a turkey sub sandwich, found a nice spot facing the Boreas Ponds and Ausable Lakes, donned a windbreaker and enjoyed the moment. Soon after 11:00 I finished taking pictures and started for Basin. The weather on Haystack was threatening, there was some sprinkling during the climb, but the cloud cover kept increasing the longer I remained on the peak. In fact it became so thick that all visibility West and Northwest became completely blocked and I couldn't even get a picture of Basin from Haystack. (Haystack #44)

Report continues on Basin.

Summary Total Data

Quality:

7 (on a subjective 1-10 scale)

Route Conditions:

Maintained Trail

Weather:

Drizzle, Cool, Breezy, Low Clouds
Cloudy, Sprinkles, some clearing

Ascent Statistics

Trailhead:

Garden Parking Lot

Descent Statistics

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