On Sepember 29th, 2010 I hiked the 3 mile Zander Scott Trail to the summit of Giant. From there I took the East Trail to Rocky Peak Ridge 1.3 miles to the summit of Rocky Peak Ridge. In total, the round trip hike was 8.6 miles with approximately 4,400' of elevation gain and took 7 hours to complete.
Weather
Partly cloudy with a high of 56 degrees. No visibility on Giant and limited visibility from Rocky Peak Ridge.
Description
I got to the trailhead off of Route 73 at around 10am. I immediatley recognized the trail as one that me and my girlfriend Laura had attempted one summer when we stayed at the Ark Trail Inn. We didn't make it very far, however, before thunderstorms cut our trip short. Looking back, that might be a good thing.
The trail crosses a small wooden bridge and a pile of boulders and then immidately starts uphill. There are a series of sharp switchbacks that climb the west side of Giant that quickly lead to great views of Chapel Pond below and many of the high peaks to the west. After about a mile of climbing, the trail comes to Giant's Washbowl, a small pond on a bit of a plateau.
The trail crosses the pond on a log, then hits another steep ridge. On the way up this ridge, there are multiple great views from bare rock ledges. This part of the trail was long and steep and I passed a couple groups of hikers resting on the open rock faces.
Eventually the trail comes to a fork where you can either choose to go over or around "The Bump" which is basically like a large pimple on the side of the mountain. I of course chose to go around the pointless bump which made for some easy, flat walking for a while.
In about another mile of climbing a sign for the turn off to Rocky Peak Ridge 0.1 miles from the summit of Giant. I made the short trip to the summit of Giant first, which was completely encased on clouds. Disppaointed that I missed out on great views of the fall leaves, I huddled behind a wind break and ate some trail mix.
On the way back down, I ran into two other hikers who decided that they wanted to hike Rocky Peak Ridge as well. So we all headed down the steep, slippery, muddy trail into the col between the two peaks. One of them had an altimeter and they said it was a 600 foot drop, then the trail climbed 800 feet up to the summit of Rocky Peak. I imagine this part of the trip would have been somewhat unpleasant but we all hiked on autopilot as we talked about other peaks we had hiked.
Rock Peak Ridge offered great views of the slides on Giant's eastern side, as well as more great views of the high peaks and views of Lake Champlain to the east. Looking back at Giant, the summit was still completely covered in clouds. We admired the view for a short while and then headed back down into the mud.
We headed back up the east side of Giant, having to grab on to trees and roots to pull ourselves up slippery rock faces. We gave each other plenty of room so if one of us fell we wouldn't all tumble down the trail.
The trip back down Giant was great. Mt. Marcy and the great range were dead ahead, their peaks covered in clouds. Just after the washbowl, I ran into an older couple that I passed on the way up. They seemed really nice so I stopped and talked with them for a while and played with their dog. After a while I could hear birds chirping again, and the trail began flattening out. A welcome, familiar feeling for hikers completing their trip.
I got back in the car at 5pm and headed home.
A view of the Great Range on the way up Giant.
Giant washbowl.
The bridge over the outlet to Giant wasbhowl.
Another view on the way up Giant.
Almost there! This is also the turnoff for Rocky Peak Ridge.
The wonderful view from the summit of Giant!
Geological survey marker on Giant.
The col in between Giant and Rocky Peak Ridge.
Moss hanging from a ledge on the trail to Rocky Peak Ridge.
Me, on top of Rocky Peak Ridge with Giant in the background.
The view on the way back down Giant.
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