Today I headed out and tried to get some trails I haven't hiked before in order to be familiar with them if someone wanted me to guide them there. I started out going up the Deer Brook from 73. This trail is on private property and you are reminded of that many times on the way up. It also has a warning that its a rough trail. It wasn't lying. It was a bit rough, but also full of beauty. Once up to the top of the brook, a side spur brings you to a beautiful cascade. The rest of the trail was quite pleasant to hike.
Then I turned onto the W.A. White trail to go up to Lower Wolf Jaw. The first climb up from Deer Brook was rough, eroded, and I feared that was how it was going to be the rest of the trail. I was pleasantly surprised. Once the trail leveled out a bit, it was again quite pleasant to hike, and as the ridge was reached, there were some nice views of Noonmark, Dix, and the rest of the peaks in that direction.
Then I got to the junction with the Hedgehog trail. This is where the trail got more eroded due to use. Coming up from Roostercomb parking lot, over Hedgehog, and then up this last bit of the W. A. White trail is the typical way for one to do the Great Range Traverse. Based on how the trail looks, this has become much more popular. I was surprised at the number of people I ran into on the way back down that were just coming up, a couple of which looked like they were doing the traverse with a late start.
Needless to say, the trail was your typical ADK trail, nothing spectacularly difficult with one exception. Just before you reach the peak, there is one stupidly steep section that goes up a 50-100 foot slab. It's steep, but there's a good crack up the left that made it reasonable to get up. I decided to not go down the crack on the way down, and that was more difficult. Once I got to the top a minute or two later, I had now hiked up every trail to that peak. Thankfully, the views were good today, and you could see all the way over to Marcy.
The worst trails were on the way out. I went over Hedgehog, and there were 2 mud pits that had to be navigated. Thankfully plenty of rocks and logs in them so it was easy to go straight through. That was really the worst of the mud I saw, which wasn't that bad overall. More eroded trail down to the junction with Roostercomb, and then turned on to the Flume Brook and the crossover to Snow. These last trails I've done, but only in the winter. They felt like they should be eroded and full of rocks. Much to my surprise, going down them in summer didn't reveal a lot of rocks and roots... they were actually nice trails.