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Sunday, July 20, 2014

Pilot Knob Mountain - Lake George Wild Forest - 7/18/14


Pilot Knob Mountain, in the Lake George Wild Forest is a beautiful place.  For me, it's one of those nearby places that I can climb on a weeknight when I'm looking to get the dog some exercise.
 
Friday was a nice night for a walk and I headed for the Buck Mountain trailhead on Pilot Knob Road.  I hasn't sure which trail I would take. It would depend on how many cars were in the parking lot.  When I arrived, the lot was 2/3 full.  That meant that the trail to Buck Mountain would probably be quite crowded.  That left me with the Inman Pond trail or a hike up the herd path to  Pilot Knob.
Since it was a nice clear night, I chose Pilot Knob.
 
The herd path begins .5 miles from the trailhead and is off the Inman Pond trail.  It climbs steeply and is a good workout.  The beautiful shoulder of the mountain is reached in 1.8 miles and I can get there in an hour when I push hard.  It is a 1500' Climb.
   
 
 
Looking to the Tongue Range from the shoulder of Pilot Knob Mountain
 

 
 

Long Island
 
Since I reached the shoulder in an hour, I decided to continue on to the 1969 plane crash site on the side of Pilot Knob Mountain.  It's another .7 miles and I got there in 20 minutes.  It's a little hard to find in the summer time.  There are tall ferns in the area that make the faint herd path here hard to follow.
 

The true summit of Pilot Knob mountain in the distance
 
It's a very desolate spot where the plane crashed, since it's on a cliff face near the top of the mountain.
 
  
A gravestone at the plane crash site
 

 
 

Small pieces of the plane are all that is left
 
 
 
 
 
It was now 6:30 at night, so no time to linger.  I moved quickly to get back to the trailhead.  The dog and I had our exercise for the night!

Looking back at the shoulder of the mountain
 
 
Assembly Point and Long Island below.
 
 
 
 
 
The route (Click image to enlarge)
 

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