Spruce Mountain: 10/18/2015

Saratoga County has a new hiking trail. Earlier this month the Department of Environmental Conservation announced the opening of a 1.2 mile trail up Spruce Mountain in Corinth, a 2000’ summit with a newly restored fire tower. We hiked the new trail on Sunday, and got our first taste of winter at the same time with temperatures in the 20s and 30s and pockets of snow on the ground.

Hurricane Mountain: 10/11/2015

If you're planning on hiking in the High Peaks region this fall hopefully you got up there over Columbus Day weekend. The colors will hang on for another weekend or two, especially at low elevation, but the foliage for the holiday weekend was as peak as it's gonna get this year. With three days straight of gorgeous weather, we decided to hike Hurricane Mountain, the popular 3700' peak in Keene that is well known for its panoramic views of the High Peaks.

Pok-o-Moonshine Mtn.: 06/27/2015

Weather forecasters had been predicting a washout weekend for days, but as the details solidified it appeared we'd have a reliable window of clear and dry weather for at least the first half of Saturday. Looking to beat out the approaching storm, the kids and I got an early start and headed due north to hike Pok-o-Moonshine Mountain, the prominent peak visible from the Northway between exits 32 and 33.

Poko's fire tower

Goodnow Mountain: 06/14/2015

The weekend weather was again ideal for hiking, and we headed up to Goodnow Mountain, the small but popular peak just outside of Newcomb. Frequently cited for having one of the best views for the effort – and I know I’m losing credibility since I’ve said that about so many of the Adirondacks’ lesser peaks – Goodnow really delivers some eye popping views, as long as you’re willing to climb the 60’ fire tower.

Goodnow's 60' fire tower

Black Mountain: 07/26/2014

It almost seemed like cheating. Climbing Black Mountain from the east got us to Lake George's highest summit with only half the vertical that an "honest" climb from the lake shore entails. But when you're hiking with kids, there's no such thing as points for style - a hike's a hike, a summit's a summit.

Vanderwhacker Mountain: 07/05/2014

Vanderwhacker Mountain feels remote before you even get out of the car. Located midway between Minerva and Newcomb along Route 28N, the trailhead lies at the end of a single lane dirt road that penetrates three miles into the Vanderwhacker Wild Forest.

Vanderwhacker's fire tower

From the trailhead, it’s less than 3 miles to Vanderwhacker’s 3,385’ summit. The short distance served us well on Saturday, since we had a crack-of-noon start (2pm actually). I had spent the morning trying to convince family members to go hiking, but in the end it was just Beth and me. Our kids elected to stay behind in Bolton Landing with cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles for an afternoon of waterskiing and lake activity. A good rule of thumb is to never “force” kids to hike (or ski), and I can hardly blame them for choosing lake fun over hiking.

Hadley Mountain: 06/15/2013

Lately it's been impossible to string together two days of decent weather, so when last weekend's forecast called for sunny skies on Saturday and rain on Sunday, we scheduled our Fathers' Day hike to take place a day early. The overflowing parking lot at the trailhead confirmed that we weren’t the only ones looking to take advantage of the beautiful weather, and served as a reminder that Hadley is one of the most popular hikes in the southern Adirondacks.

Hadley Mountain and its firetower have an interesting history. The tower was constructed in 1917 and was among the first to be built of steel. Aerial surveillance eventually made the firetower obsolete, and by the 1980s the Hadley tower and dozens like it throughout the Adirondacks were slated for removal as non-conforming structures.

View to the north from Hadley's summit

While many towers were ultimately removed, local grass-roots support groups formed to save some of the firetowers as historic and educational resources. The Hadley Mountain Fire Tower Committee was among the earliest groups to organize, and in the mid- ‘90s the fire tower was restored. In recent summers the fire tower committee has co-sponsored a summit steward with the DEC.