#35 Sawteeth Mountain
One of the Adirondacks more iconic peaks, recognizable by a ridgeline that looks like the teeth of a saw, Sawteeth does not disappoint with the views from the top either. A great hike to do alongside Gothics or solo, it is a popular summer climb.
Trail Stats:
| Distance | 5.2 miles round-trip from base of trail at Lower Ausable Lake. To get to the lake you must hike in an additional 3.8 miles one way to the Lower Lake dam, making the round trip a total of 12.8 miles. |
| Elevation | 4,120 feet |
| Ascent | 2,355 feet |
To hike Sawteeth, you will begin your hike at the Ausable Club’s watchman’s gate, where you will follow the West River Trail to your right. It will begin on a driveway, heading down to the river, which you will cross over on a bridge. Then the trail will take you for a gradual, rolling 3.8 miles to the dam of the Lower Ausable Lake. Once you reach the dam you will take a bridge over to the beginning of the trail up Sawteeth. There will be options to turn off onto other trails sooner, but these take you to Gothics and the Wolfjaws. One nice thing about Sawteeth is the option to hike the mountain in a loop, and we will detail here the hike up the steeper Scenic trail and returning via the Pyramid- Gothics trail – both begin at the same point at Lower Ausable Lake. We recommend hiking the route in this direction because the Scenic trail is steeper and involves some hand-over-foot moves (ladders and rock scrambling), while the Pyramid-Gothics Trail is more gradual and thus a better option for the descent.
To begin up the Scenic trail, you will begin from the bridge. Soon the trail will turn off to your left, and you will follow the trail meandering for a little ways before it heads steeply up to the summit over a number of miles. The trail will take you upwards towards a lookout of Rainbow Falls. The summit of Sawteeth via the scenic trail is 3.0 miles from the bridge at Lower Ausable Lake. Returning via the Pyramid-Gothics trail, you will descend down into a col between Sawteeth and Pyramid, and a trail to the left will lead up to Pyramid and Gothics. Continue to the right if you are headed down (or up to the left if you want to hike Gothics too!), and continue down for a total of 2.2 miles from the summit to the bridge at Lower Ausable Lake.
