Buck and Bear Mountains - Dix Mountain Wilderness - 9/4/17

On Labor Day, Leesa and I were pondering where we wanted to go for an enjoyable hike.  I thought about Buck and Bear Mountains in the Dix Wilderness.  I described the hike to Leesa and she said perfect, let's do it.  Last time I went, it was on the verge of winter and it was a blustery cold day with a little snow up high.  This time, it was still blustery, but it felt nice on such a warm day.

Perhaps the easiest way to access these two is via the West Mill Brook access.  We had our jeep with us and we were easily able to drive in the 1.1 miles to the gate.  The water depth at the Schroon River crossing was only a couple inches deep.

After we got started, we only walked on the West Mill Brook woods road for less than a half mile before we exited the trail on the right.  Rather than climb in the draw to a col, we sidestepped the unnamed hill to the southeast of Buck.  It has quite a stone face (as seen in the picture below.

    

Leesa contouring the unnamed hill and massive rock wall SE of Bear.

The woods throughout most of this entire area is light density for the most part and moderate density at worst, mingled with slabs of rock. 

An early view

We poked around and climbed steadily towards Buck Mountain watching Rev zig and zag towards things that caught the interest of her nose.  When we topped out on Buck, Leesa was quite impressed with the view of the Dix Range, Giant & Rocky Peak as well as lower peaks in the area.

Rev observing part of the Dix Range (Macomb, South Dix and Wyman) from Buck Mountain. 

Wyman in the center with Grace on the right and South Dix on the left.

Some "lesser" Dix Wilderness peaks

Me... looking at familiar territory.

Giant Mountain in the back right.

Giant and Rocky Peak Ridge

Leesa was game for more so after some time on Buck, we continued on to Bear Mountain.

Ah yes, some early fall colors

Buck from Bear

Views from Bear

Buck from Bear again

We got to Bear and it wasn't quite as open as I remembered it, but still a nice peak.  I gazed at the "igloo", the stone wart on the east side of Wyman, but we didn't head that direction on this day.  Leesa was content with our 2 peaks so we meandered about before dropping off Bear to return to the West Mill Brook woods road.

a foot bridge leading to a camp

Rev was OK using this bridge.

We made a short stop at a watering hole.  It was too cold to swim, but we stuck our feet in.

The start of the West Mill Brook woods road at the gate.

The sign at the entrance to the West Mill Brook Access

This area is full of great peaks.  Even at 2000'-3000' they offer great views and nice terrain.  We're do for another trip to the igloo, so we'll be back.

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  5.6 miles

Hike Time:  5 hours, including stops

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 1700'

The route...

The route on the Nat Geo map

Bushwhacking the west slope of Buck Mountain - Lake George Wild Forest - 2/20/16

I've bushwhacked all around the Buck Mountain area in the Lake George Wild Forest, but Leesa had not, so I took her for a sampler today.  I took her around the west face and the open ridge that offers great views and is so open take it cannot hardly be considered a bushwhack.

I've written about this area before so I'll just show a pictorial view of our morning jaunt.  It turned out to be a blue sky morning with temperatures reaching the mid-40's before noon.  

Long Island

Leesa was quite pleased with the route I took her on.  She's willing to come back.  That's a good sign...   

Buck Mountain and Little Buck - Lake George Wild Forest - 10/19/14

I was caught by surprise this morning when the weather was better than I had expected.  I decided, rather than catch up on some house projects, I would get out for a hike.  I made this decision at 9 AM this morning, so without a lot of time to travel, I headed for the Lake George Wild Forest.  I drove to the Buck Mountain trailhead on Pilot Knob Road to do a bushwhack hike to Buck Mountain and Little Buck Mountain.

I put an orange vest on my dog Rev and I wore my orange baseball hat.  The parking lot had a dozen or so vehicles parked there and most were pickup trucks.  I was guessing that many belonged to hunters.  With Rev and I bushwhacking off trail, I wanted to make sure we were easily seen in orange (especially since Rev's coat is mostly white).

We followed the Buck Mountain trail for about a half mile before leaving the trail to the left.  I wanted to head northeasterly and angle my way up to the Buck Mountain summit.

At about the 1.25 mile mark, I ran into a ridgeline and turned east to follow it up the slope.  It was open and had lots of exposed rock and offered great views of Lake George to the West and SW.        

  

Climbing a ridge easterly

Great views of Lake George

Eventually I had to resume my northeasterly course to avoid coming to the marked trail.  As I approached the summit I worked my way up the steep slope on the west face.  When I crested the summit, I was greeted with a stiff cold breeze.  No one was there.  I stopped to take few pictures and then headed north towards Little Buck. 

The Tongue Mountain range viewed from Buck Mountain

It looked like perhaps it was raining at the north end of the lake.

Traveling northward was easy.  I was careful on some wet moss and rock upon leaving Buck, but soon was greeted by open hardwoods.  It took me about an hour to make my way over to Little Buck. 

Open hardwoods descending the north face of Buck

I went to the nice west ledge before going east to the true summit.  While on the ledge we stopped for lunch.  The skies continued to alternate between sun and clouds, and it was breezy, but it was a nice day. 

The nice open ledge on the west face of Little Buck

Dome Island with Crane Mountain in the distance.

Some clouds on Crane Mountain

The Sagamore Resort down below

a closer look

On the return to Buck, I followed a different course to see some new territory.  I stayed a little further to the west on the return.  As I got closer to Buck I closed in on my earlier route.  This time on the summit there were 4 people there.  I passed over the summit and dropped down the steep west face, following some yellow blazes on the rock.   This was an obvious path and I followed it for a ways, but it heading W-NW and I wanted to go SW.  

I worked my way SW, staying west of my earlier route.  Once I came to the open ridge once again, I followed the same line down the ridge.  

The Tongue Mountain Range from Buck Mountain

Point Comfort from the west slope of Buck Mountain

Bottom of the rock pile

At several points during the trip I crossed blue discs making a path that was part of the Chingachgook Trail System.  This obviously went down to the Girl Scout camp, but the discs continued on the State Land and probably went to Buck Mountain.

One set of blue discs lead to the rock outcrop (and fire ring)  in the picture below.  This was on State land.

One set of blue discs lead here

I dropped down to the west from this location and turned south and soon found another location with a fire ring.

Another nice shot of the Sagamore

The last fire ring was almost within sight of the trail.  As I left this fire ring, within seconds I saw a couple below me walking on the trail.  I let them pass, then I emerged on the trail and had an easy 10 minute walk back to the car.   

For a last minute hike, this turned out to be a nice one.  It never did rain.  Back at the parking lot, it was overflowing with cars.  They were parking out on Pilot Knob Road.  I'm sure the trail was a busy place.  For me, other than the 4 people I saw on top of Buck Mountain, and the two persons I saw from a distance, I only saw one hunter.  I did see 5 deer and a group of wild turkeys.  Rev saw lots of chipmunks, but they just frustrated her when she tried to catch them.  

A last fire ring

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  9.2 miles

Hike Time:  5.75 hours, including stops

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 3600' 

The route (click image to enlarge)