Ledge Mountain (Ledger) - Blue Mountain Wild Forest - 2/6/16

Ledge Mountain is also called Ledger Mountain on some maps.  It has an attractive ledge that caught my eye from Routes 28/30 in Indian Lake.   This became an afternoon destination for Leesa and I after having climbed Chimney Mountain in the morning.

The mountain lies in the Blue Mountain Wild Forest, just SE of Rock Lake.  We parked at a parking lot and trailhead for Rock Lake.  We signed in at the trail register and almost immediately afterwards veered right off the trail to begin a bushwhack to Ledge Mountain.  We traveled just south of east on a bearing of around 105 degrees.  We soon crossed a snowmobile trail and continued on through mostly hardwoods.    

Trailhead sign

As we climbed higher, pines began to mix in with the hardwoods, but the bushwhack was easy and open the entire route.  We stayed close to the southern end of the ridge as we climbed so we could check out potential viewpoints along the way.   We wore microspikes but they weren't really needed.

Looking south

One of several viewpoints

Near the highpoint of the ridge we came across a survey marker.  The mountain was spelled "Ledge" on the marker.

Survey Marker!

A closer look

 Very close to the survey marker was the true summit (which turned out to be a boulder).  Also in that vicinity was a ledge offering the best views.

Leesa rewarding Rev on the ledge near the summit.

Looking SE

Looking SW

This boulder was the high point of the mountain

On the way down, when we reached the snowmobile trail, we turned onto it and followed it to Rock Lake.  We left the trail to walk out onto a nearby peninsula; where we found a designated campsite near the point.

Leesa and Rev at the point of the peninsula on Rock Lake

Blue Mountain in the distance.

Rev... awaiting a reward...

After snacks on the peninsula, we went back to the snowmobile trail and then took the marked foot trail back to the car.  We were quite pleased with this trip.  It was a nice combination of woods, hills, views and a frozen lake. 

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  4.6 miles

Hike Time:  3 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~700'

The route

The route on the Nat Geo map

Fishing Brook Mountain #1 (3540') and Fishing Brook #2 (3480') - Blue Mountain Wild Forest - 10/24/15

The Fishing Brook Range lie in the Blue Mountain Wild Forest a few miles SW of the Town of Newcomb and just west of Goodnow Flow.

Fishing Brook #1 and #2 were my objectives for the day.  I got a relatively early start at 7:45 in hopes of beating any afternoon rain that might come in.  I headed for Fishing Brook Mountain first (#1).  I found the woods to be pretty easier to manuever and I found myself on the summit at 9:45 AM.    

Looking towards the High Peaks from Newcomb, pre-sunrise

A nice little 5' waterfall along the way.

The summit of Fishing Brook Mountain - 3540' 

 There was a dusting of snow all along the Fishing Brook ridge and it looked very peaceful and quiet.

Rev's orange coat stood out even more with the snow on the ground.

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A nice zoom view of the Sewards?

Snow near the top of Fishing Brook Mountain

I left the summit and proceeded SW to work my way towards the un-named portion of the Fishing Brook range.  I dropped down to a col and went west of a my pond at the headwater of Roaring Brook.  As I climbed a small knoll, I looked up and a bull moose was on the knoll, perhaps 100 yards ahead of me!  I froze and my first thought was which camer to grab out of my pocket; my cell phone for my small travel zoom.  I reached for the travel zoom but in the 10 seconds it takes to power it up, the moose was gone.  My dog hadn't even seen it.  It continued to the knoll and all that was there was fresh moose poop and huge tracks in the snow.  It was now 10:30 AM.

I knew I probably wouldn't see it again, but I certainly would spend the rest of the hike watching for it.  I continued SW and had no problem negotiating the ridgeline.  There was no blowdown and the woods were relatively open.   Several trees along the way had moose scrapes on them.  Deer like to scrape on saplings that are an inch or two in diameter.  Moose like to scrap on young trees that are about 5 inches in diameter. 

A tree with moose scrapes.

At 11:45 AM, I reached the summit of the un-named Fishing Brook #2.  I was still overcast, but the temperature had warmed from the 20's to the 40's.  I had shed my heavier shirt and only had a techwick T-shirt on.  I was plenty warm as I moved along.

The summit of Fishing Brook #2.

Shortly after beginning my descent, the pines were gone and the woods opened up nicely.  Almost immediately I came acroos a nice hunters tree stand.  It was pretty high on the mountain.  If a hunter shot a deer here, it would have been a long drag back.  

The hunters tree stand

The woods continued to be open most of the way down.  Drainages had thicker growth near them so I stayed out of the drainages.  Two hours of easy walking and I was back at the car.

Hike Stats:
Hike Distance:  11 miles
Hike Time:  7 hours, 15 minutes
Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 3100'
  

XC Ski - Tirrell Pond - Blue Mountain Wild Forest - 2/22/15

Many years ago, the Northville Placid Trail from Route 28 to Tirrell Pond was the very first xc ski trip I ever did in the Adirondacks.  I won't say when this was, but suffice to say, it was a long time ago.  I hadn't been back since until today, when my wife Leesa and I took the same trip.  Tirrell Pond has a bit of history to it, and there used to be quite a few buildings there.  None of them remain.  Only 2 lean-tos grace the shores of Tirrell Pond now.

There is a parking pulloff on Route 28/30 and a trailhead sign marking the start of the trail.  It was 20 degrees when we started out and temps were predicted to rise to 30 degrees, the warmest day in a month.  It was also supposed to be cloudy all day, but we were blessed with a lot of sunshine.

Tirrell has 2 "L's, but the distances were good 

No one had been on the trail since last nights 2" of snow, and that was all that was covering a nice base; perfect for xc skiing.  The snow was nice and powdery until the strong sun caused the snow to stick a little to our skis.  We stopped about 2 miles in to scrape the bottoms and add a little glide wax. We were fine after that.  

Conditions couldn't be better

Rev led the way

We were surprised that we didn't see another person all day.  With the perfect conditions that existed, we expected to see people out and about.  The recent snowshoe tracks that we followed early on, turned around after about 2.5 miles.  After that, we had to work a little had to ski through about 6" of snow on top of the old base.  

When we reached the pond, I saw an outhouse on our left, but I missed the sign on our right indicating the direction of the O'Neil lean-to (it is located in a different area then when I was last here).

We started skiing north along the west side of the pond and we skied out onto the frozen surface when we got the chance.  The wind was blowing south along the pond so we re-entered the woods to head towards the Tirrell lean-to at the NW corner of the pond. 

Tirrell Mountain from Tirrell Pond

At the lean-to, we stopped for some food and hot chocolate.  For the return trip, we went out on the pond to ski south the length of the pond with the wind at our backs.  The sun was still out and it was a joy to be out on the frozen pond.

Tirrell lean-to ... and Rev struggling to walk in the unconsolidated snow

Tirrell lean-to

Looking south along the pond 

Rev out on the pond waiting for us

Leesa enjoyed the unexpected sunshine and warmer weather 

Once we got to the south end, I went to take a look at the O' Neil lean-to while Leesa got a head start on the trail back.

Looking north towards Tirrell Pond from the outlet

the O'Neil lean-to

An artist has been at work...

We had been poking along during the day, but it was time to "make tracks" and head back to the car. There were two nice long glides that aided our progress.  In any case, it was 4 PM when we got back, but we both thoroughly enjoyed the day.  There probably won't be too many more in this winter season.

Heading out...

The old sign almost blends in with the tree

O'Neil Flow

Ski Stats:

Ski Distance:  9.5 miles

Ski Time:  5 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~700'

The route and corresponding elevation profile

The route on the Nat Geo map