"we started our day in the Orebed Brook Campsite (which was amazing, with easy access to water and flat ground). Once we packed up we headed towards the gothics and saddleback junction, and headed up the west side of gothics and up the cable route. In fall i would heavily recommend you wear microspikes in some sections, but with confidence you'll do alright. once descended from gothics we started our trek towards haystack, descending from saddleback was a tight squeeze with our backpacking packs (we had gear for 4 days, around 20lbs). but the hardest challenge was up basin, many parts of the trail were eroded, and covered in ice. it was a little tricky to maneuver with our packs, luckily we had some help in icy sections. Than the trek up haystack was gruelling since we were already fatigued. but once we got up haystack we knew our time was short, the sun was setting and we had to descend the mountain via the south side which was rather slabby. finally after a rough day we retired to the panther gorge campsite in the pitch darkness. after a good 10hrs of hiking, and 6000 ish feet of elevation gain." — sebastienauger • Oct 11, 2025

"Took advantage of a beautiful late fall day to at least get to the ADKs once this year! Garden lot was half full at 8AM on a weekday, not too bad. Fall colours in all their glory. Nice cruise jog to the lodge, then started climbing a little more. The scramble to Little Haystack was steep, and I stopped for a little break there before the last push. Surely one of the nicest views, and on a bluebird day. From there, back to Little Haystack, then to Basin. It is a long way down before climbing back to Basin, a long slow but easy climb. Then a steep and tricky drop. The cliffs at Saddleback were beautful. Some scrambling, and pulled out a few rock climbing moves, but not as bad as I had heard. Back down the nice slow descent all the way back to the parking. An amazing day, total trail time 6h30, jogging the flats and runnable downs. " — dougbarton • Oct 23, 2024

"Hiked a section of the Great Range starting from Basin and finishing on Lower Wolfjaw. Came from camp at Slant Rock. Starting with Basin: Hike starts by going over a bit of a ridge from Haystack, then starting the ascent of Basin. This hike is very pleasant with lookout points with views of Marcy and Haystack. Starting at Slant Rock gets you starting the hike pretty high up already, so you are on the summit of Basin in just about no time at all. Would be even quicker if you camp at Sno-Bird. Summit is very nice with views of many of the high peaks to the South, West, and Northwest. The trail towards Saddleback is very tame until the final ascent portion. This part is the most technical portion of this whole route, as you must scramble your way to the summit. Expect to be climbing over large features to ascend this portion of the trail. The summit here is a very nice view of Basin. Another tame descent down Saddleback and another somewhat technical ascent up Gothics. This ascent features cables to help you climb along the large bare and steep alpine area. Be weary and don't put too much trust into these cables as some are broken and others seem ready to give at any moment, but..." — ThermarestCompressiblePillow • Jul 9, 2024

"Got to the Garden lot around 5:30 am, but that wasn't early enough as the lot was full of cars. We turned back and parked at the Rooster Comb parking lot, adding a mile and a half to the day right off the bat. Partly cloudy day in the 50's and 60's, perfect weather for hiking. Easy gradual climb for the first 5 miles or so, then we started to climb more, introducing a very wet, muddy trail. Water dripping from the trees which were frozen the night before, pockets of snow-covered forest before the day got too warm. A wrong turn down the Shorey "Shortcut" added another mile and 1,000 ft of elevation to our day before getting to Little Haystack and eventually Mount Haystack. After a brief stop at the 360-view, open rock summit, and lunch at the crossroads, we descended and ascended to Basin. Wind gusts were a little worse at Basin, which brought down the temperature, so that summit was a quick stop. The descent from Basin wasn't easy, many slick ledges and slides. Then we got to the Cliffs before Saddleback, which were scary, technical bouldering scrambles, but all in all pretty fun. Great views down the range from SB. Trip back to Garden wasn't awful but felt like it took ..." — gregoryskiba • Sep 29, 2022

"With friends and future 46ers, we went the same route I had gone 2 years earlier and up and over HaBaSa. Great weather the entire day. Met up with some Allen red slime on the Ore Bed slide." — JMindlin12463 • Jul 1, 2022

"Did Saddleback on its own last year via Orebed trail & over to Pyramid peak as a traverse coming out the AMR. Did to avoid cliffs & keep myself safe as possible as a solo hiker, though the cable route up toward the gothics intersection was scary & exhilarating.. So did Basin up the gorgeous Shorey's Shortcut near slant rock, then on to Mt Haystack over L'il Haystack & back down to garden parking trailhead via Phelps trail. I'm a 46er baby!!!! WOO HOO!" — ionahscully • Jun 28, 2022

"One of the last few mountains we needed to complete the ADK 46. Performed as an out and back from the Garden Trailhead hiking past John's Brook Lodge and through Shorey's Shortcut. Very difficult ascent from Shorey's Shortcut to the summit. 18.20 miles round trip." — TJandMS • May 24, 2022

"Parked at the Garden well before sunrise; got some great views of the stars before starting. Trail to Big Slide was straightforward, many outcroppings along the way. Descended to Johns Brook Lodge, then up Phelps Trail to Haystack. Grueling part of the trail, over Little Haystack and up the summit! Slowly over Basin, up Saddleback (cliffs right before sunset!) before descending Orebed Brook and out to the Garden. Muscle cramping = biggest issue, and hiking in the dark: 2.5hr. All in all, a very long but fulfilling day!" — hunterjfrost • Nov 6, 2021

"Haystack Basin Saddleback: I have been anticipating this hike for a long time with a lot of excitement about the challenge of the much talked about Saddleback Cliffs, and some dread about what a long and tough hike it would be. I knew we wanted a dry day for climbing the cliffs and ideally a beautiful day to enjoy the views. I planned to go a few times this summer and plans changed because of the weather or other factors. So when it looked like this would be the weekend I could get it done, I was nervously checking the weather forecast which changed from sunny to rainy to back to sunny to cloudy over the course of the week. I had gambled and booked a room and the forecast was back to looking ok so we decided it was a go. I drove up Friday and got there early evening to the little inn I found (private room but shared bathroom, which worked out fine and was very cute and inexpensive), which thankfully also had a great restaurant so I could eat, get packed up for the hike, and go to bed early for our 5 am start time. I met Courtney at the Roostercomb trailhead parking lot so we could take one car to the Garden trailhead lot, which notoriously fills up and then you are pretty screwed..." — kvander • Aug 28, 2021

"Kathryn and her dog Rex arrived at the B&B last night. She joined Tom and I for a trio of Haystack, Basin and Saddleback today. Nice sunny weather with some strong winds on the summits particularly Haystack. Got Tom up to #43 and Kathryn up to #25 for their 46r quest." — Nimblefoot • Sep 5, 2020