Giant and Rocky Peak Ridge (NY)

[bennephew]

The 11 mile trail over Rocky Peak Ridge and Giant includes 5300' of climbing, and 9500' for the 22 mile round trip. While the climbing makes for a challenging run, there is a great deal of open ridge running on this route, and the views are early, often, and expansive in both directions. On a clear day, you can see most of the High Peaks, Whiteface, Lake Champlain, and the Green Mountains. The trail on Giant is both steeper and more technical than the path over Rocky Peak Ridge and the other minor summits. Information and pictures for the route can be found here:

www.everytrail.com/guide/giant-mountain-and-rocky-peak-ridge

I ran and hiked the round trip on 8/31 in 5:11:04, starting at the route 9 trailhead. I summited Giant once on the way out, and skipped the .1 mile trail to the summit on the way back to Rocky Peak Ridge. Considering the differences in the elevation profiles in my GPS track and the undulating nature of the trail, the total amount of climb is probably closer to 10,000'. There is definitely not 100' of climb in the .1 mile spur to Giant's summit. I wore Inov-8 Terrafly 313GTX trail shoes.

connect.garmin.com/activity/217240981

[Andrew]

Just did this hike one way. Badass performance Ben!!

[bennephew]

Thanks, Andrew! Glad to see the route getting some traffic. I actually prefer it to the Great Range as a whole due to how fun the return trip is. The running on Rocky Peak Ridge is awesome.