I guided a hike up Haystack this weekend. We met at the Roostercomb parking lot, put everything into my car, and drove up to the Gardens parking lot. We found one of the few remaining spots and were on the trail shortly after 3 to backpack in to the DEC outpost area. We got lucky, there was one open marked campsite around the DEC outpost, so we took it. Apparently we should wish Julia a Happy Birthday. Camp was set up, dinner eaten, we reviewed our plans for the next day, and off to bed.
We got up Saturday, had some breakfast while a squirrel threw bark off of a tree. After striking camp and putting everything we were not hiking with under a tarp to await our return, we headed down Johns Brook and filled up on water, the first of many times. The hike out to Haystack was really about the same as it typically is. There were random spots of mud in the typical places, and playing the "is it a stream or is it trail" game happens couple times. Hint, the answer is usually it's both.
We got up to the Phelps and Range intersection and started up for the last mile to Haystack. Word of note, the last filterable water currently is shortly before that intersection, not an ideal spot as it's not fast running, but it was clear. At this point, the tough hiking really begins. Thankfully, the small section of slabs near the start were relatively dry making it relatively easy to get up them... well, apart from the sheer steepness of them that is. The climb up though gives you some lovely views, and you can even hear the people climbing up Marcy. At the top of the hill, you get your first view of Haystack, about .7 miles away. It is an impressive mountain from that point, and in my opinion it's one of the best peak views in the park.
After being a bit intimidated by what we had left, but knowing that it really isn't that different than the north sides of Marcy or Algonquin, we headed down to the col, and started up Little Haystack. It's a bit annoying that we have to go over this little peak as you quickly lose the elevation before you go to the final push. I have memories from the first time I did this peak (28 years ago) where the bottom of Little Haystack had a very steep crack you had to get up, while forgetting that this was expanded out a bit when I last did it a few years ago. Don't get me wrong, there are a couple difficult spots on Haystack side of Little Haystack, but it's not as difficult as I keep remembering.
We finally got the the top though, and celebrated. My client had just completed his 46! Congratulations were made, patch given out, and pictures taken. It turns out we ran into a lot (maybe 7 or 8?) of people that finished on Haystack Saturday. Congratulations to all who finished! It was also a very popular hike that day as we easily saw 50 people hiking it, and surely missed those that went out much earlier than we did. It was a perfect day for it.
We then headed back, and when we had the choice of going down to Sno-Bird and out via Shorey's Shortcut (adds 0.2 miles and 300 feet of elevation), or go back the way we came. We went back the way we came. When we got to Slant Rock, we came across a couple families with little kids that we met on Haystack, and they had asked the kids what they thought about Shorey's. The consensus within these young kids was it is not worth it. The hike out was much like the hike in. It's all picking your way around the rocks to Slant Rock, then the trails get steadily better the closer you get to the Gardens. We got to camp, added our day packs to our backpacks and the hiked the 3 miles out to the cars.
It was a long day, but it was a great day to be hiking. Seeing so many people out, including the pack of young ones, was great. I was a bit surprised by how tight the trail was as we got to the higher elevations. I know this trail gets a lot of people over it, and we were getting brushed by the trees way more than I would have expected.