Basin Mountain
Date of hike: 8/6/2023
Vertical Ascent: 4485’
Length of Hike (miles) 20.0
Total Time: 15:00
Hiked with: Alex and Camryn
We stayed at the family’s Adirondack home the previous night, got up at 4:30 a.m., and were out of the house before 5, hoping to get parking at The Garden lot. We arrived at the lot at 5:45 a.m., only to find that it was full. We decided the hike was likely to take a long time, and we didn’t want the extra 3.5-mile hike back to Marcy Field, if we missed the last shuttle at 7 p.m., so we parked at the Keene Central School (as I did three years earlier with Kirk), adding 3 miles and 500’ ascent to our roundtrip hike. We started out at 6:15 with a beautiful temperature of 55 degrees and signed in at the trailhead at 6:45 a.m.
The hike out to Johns Brook Lodge went quickly and easily. We arrived there after an hour and a half and stopped on the deck for about 10 minutes. Continuing along the northwest side of the brook along the Phelps Trail, the trail became quite muddy, with a generally easy, gradual upward ascent. I stayed in the lead most of this time, setting a comfortable pace for myself. About a mile past the lodge, we went up a very cool hogback ridge between Johns Brook and Hogback Brook. At 9:25, we got to the junction with the Hopkins Trail, and continued to stay on the Phelps Trail, bypassing the short side trip to Bushnell Falls (in the interest of making the best possible time). Very shortly afterwards, we crossed over Johns Brook, carefully navigating the rocks. One section of the trail, shortly before Slant Rock, was oddly striking, since it was lined with big rocks and filled with a coarse gravel. People had gone through a lot of work to make this so nice, so we figured it must have flooded badly in the past, to warrant this big improvement.
Hiking up the hogback ridge, with deeper valleys to each side
Quick break before crossing Johns Brook
Impressively spruced up section of trail
By 10:48 a.m., four hours in from the trailhead, we came to Slant Rock. You can’t miss this massive boulder, with a giant slope that you can easily stand under. The trail continues past the rock, and around it to the left. Just 10 minutes later is the junction for the Shorey Shortcut. I’d read that this trail isn’t much different than any other Adirondack Trail, and although often maligned, it generally doesn’t deserve its bad reputation. We found that to be generally true. The trail got much steeper almost immediately, but that’s what you expect, as you leave the valley. Other than one or two large boulders and a tricky rock seam to get over, it’s not too bad. Once you crest this trail, and begin your descent into the col, it opens to a beautiful view of the stunning valleys in front of you, and an awesome view of Mount Haystack. The day was beautiful, cool, and dry, and the views certainly elated us. The 300’ descent wasn’t too bad, and we got to the junction with the Range Trail at 12:39 p.m.
Slant Rock …and, no, those aren’t name tags between these guys
Now THAT’s a more typical Adirondack trail (Shorey Shortcut)
“The Seam”
Looking into the valley, from a point about 0.7 miles along the Shorey Shortcut
Turning left onto the trail to head up Basin’s western slope, the trail gets very steep. This was the alternative to the steep/complex navigation down from Saddleback to come up the other side of this mountain. I was glad to be doing it this way. Still, it did have some steep rock climbs, one spot with a bit of a ledge, that had me hugging the face of the mountain to my left. There was also a long ladder, with rungs set quite far apart, and a narrow ledge at the bottom, but none of it was too terrible, and I was able to navigate, with some instruction and help from my hiking buddies. We entered a small Krummholz area, then another ledge, and the views opened dramatically! It was a real “Whoa!” moment. Alex and Camryn stopped to take in the views, but I was eager to make it to the top. That final 0.7 mile stretch of trail since leaving the junction with Shorey took us up 900 feet, and it was noticeable. It took 1½ hours just to do that section.
Climbing up Basin Mountain
A shortish ledge along the climb – I was a bit nervous but made it fine (leaning left!)
Not quite there yet, but Alex and Camryn take in those views—enjoy it as you go!
We submitted at exactly 2:00 p.m.—precisely the time that Alex guessed we’d get there when we left the car 7 hours and 45 minutes earlier. The wide-open summit of Basin is amazing. It now ranks as one of my favorites. The views to the west are wide open, with Haystack & Marcy prominently in front of you, and Skylight hanging out in between. Towards the northwest, Tabletop proudly sits, and to the south, Boreas Ponds lies nestled in the valley below. Two summit stewards were at the top, doing some work, but these two women were much more interested in chatting with each other than conversing with us—quite unusual in my experience. Two other women joined us at the summit, following just a few minutes behind us. They had just come over Haystack. One was very uncomfortable, with achy muscles, and clearly needed a rest. The other, a woman from Florida, was very chatty, but everything she said was laced with expletives, and she clearly liked to brag about her achievements. They were psyched for me and Alex having just notched up our 45th peak. I mentioned we planned to finish Haystack on Friday. They were heading on to Saddleback, and when I mentioned that I’d stayed away from the route they were attempting due to my fear of heights, the chatty one paused, stared, and said, “Umm… Good luck on Haystack.” Ugh. Not what I wanted to hear. It gave me a bit of a scare. We stayed on the summit for 40 minutes, truly loving the view and the break.
Top of Basin!
Panorama from beautiful Basin
When we finally started the descent, although it was tough, it was much easier than when we made our way up. Hiking back up from the col between Basin and Haystack was not fun, but it was expected, and not too bad. We made our way back down to Slant Rock, and along the very muddy Phelps Trail, where we quickened our pace. Making my boots tighter had helped a lot, but I could tell I was wearing a hot spot on my right heel. We passed a sign showing 1.5 miles to Johns Brook Lodge, and it seemed to take forever to get there. When we finally arrived, I took the opportunity to doctor my heel with moleskin, which worked beautifully. The trip back was still very long, as we knew it would be. There was still 5 miles to go to the car. We slowed our pace a bit, as it started getting dark, and managed to hold off on using any light sources all the way back to the Garden, where we signed out at 8:38 p.m. Camryn broke out his flashlight, and once on the road, I found the going much easier (although Alex said the flat, hard surface was tougher on his knees). We got back to the car at 9:12 p.m., 15 hours after starting out. I texted home to let folks know we’d made it, and we took about 15 minutes to get comfortable, then headed out. We stopped at the McDonalds at the Warrensburg exit –the only place we could find open for a meal, and drove home, exhausted, but psyched to have had a great day hiking.
Descending the ladder on the southwest flank of Basin