Tongue Mountain Range - Lake George Wild Forest - 1/25/15

I try to make an annual pilgrimage to the Tongue Mountain Range in winter.  Last year, I went on New Year's day in beautiful fluffy snow conditions.  This year, I sent on Sunday and I was exposed to a variety of conditions.  The snow pack was old and crunchy.  The sun drenched south facing slopes revealed more grass than snow, and the north facing slopes were cold and windy.  Some spots were icy.

The early morning hours were spent doing some projects for work, which translated into a 10:30 start at Clay Meadows on Route 9N.  There are only 2 trailheads (by land) to the Tongue Range.  The other one being at the northern terminus of the Tongue Range, much further north on Route 9N.

My goal on Sunday was to hit Firth Peak, French Point Mountain and First Peak (all peaks with great views).  Once I reached First Peak, I knew it would be early afternoon,  If I bushwhacked to Northwest Bay from First Peak, I could eliminate the trek to Montcalm Point and save a couple miles. I don't normally look to eliminate miles, but I wanted to finish before dark.  As partial bushwhack would also mix things up a little.       

The first sign on the way to Fifth Peak 

It was a frigid morning even though it was a late.  I normally dress light and adjust my pace to keep warm.  This meant a quick pace due to the cold.  As usual, Rev was OK with this.  We gained the ridge in less than an hour and made the Fifth Peak lean-to in one hour.  We passed 2 groups along the way and that that was it for humans for the rest of the hike.

    

The Fifth Peak Lean-to offers the best view of any lean-to (IMHO), but it needs some repairs.

The section of trail between Fifth Peak and French Point Mountain is 2.3 miles, but it feels longer. There are 3 unnamed bumps that you have to go over and psychologically it wears you down.  I'm always surprised at this.  Maybe next time I'll remember. 

The view from French Point Mountain 

Since last year's trip, a lot of limbs have fallen on the trail.  A good day or two of trail work is now needed to clean up this trail.

Northwest Bay and NW Bay Brook

Tricky descent through an icy rock cleft here  

The Mother Bunch Islands

Black Mountain

The Narrows from French Point Mountain

Where can you beat this lake view?

The snow is almost gone from the warm south facing slope

The traverse from French Point Mountain to First Peak is a shorter one (1.4 miles) and is less rugged than the first leg of the ridge.  The views continue to amaze me as I move along on this ridge in winter.  The lake is totally quiet in winter which is probably why I chose to do this hike this time of year.  Summer motorboat traffic isn't so appealing to watch,     

First Peak  from French Point Mountain

A last look south from the ridge

From First Peak, I began a bushwhack NW towards the Northwest Bay Trail and a return to Clay Meadows.  It had taken 3 hours, 15 minutes to get to First Peak.   I wanted to shave some time off on my return.  The snow depth was such that I could continue to wear microspikes off-trail.  I picked my way through the forest, finding easy walking by weaving around obstacles.      

A nice cairn along one of the drainages 

I reached the NW Bay Trail just north of Bear Point.  This left me a short couple miles back to the car for a 3:30 return.  Another annual pilgrimage complete. 

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance: 9.4 miles

Hike Time:  5 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~2650' 

The route (click image to enlarge) 

A closer look

The route on the National Georgraphic map

Fifth Peak and 5 Mile Point - Lake George Wild Forest - 4/13/14

I was hoping to get out this past Sunday and do a hike, but the weather forecast wasn't promising.  Rain was basically expected for most of the day.  My youngest son Nick was on spring break and he wanted to hike, so I was really hoping it would clear.  My wishes came true, so we pulled together a last minute plan to do some hiking on the Tongue Mountain range in the Lake George Wild Forest.

It was 11 AM when we started from Clay Meadows on Route 9N in Bolton.  I thought we could climb to Fifth Peak and the lean-to there, and then go south on the range to French Point Mountain and perhaps First Peak.  Nick had not been in the Tongue range before, so I thought it would be a good hike for him.

My wife Leesa, and dog Rev also went with us.  I didn't bring the snowshoes, but we had 2 pair of microspikes.  If conditions got too bad, we would just turn around.

At .2 miles we came to the trail junction with the trail that follows Northwest Bay.  We continued straight and within a couple minutes we came to the first waterfall of the day.  It's a great one, especially in the spring.  I knew there would be lots of water, but that these trails would still be passable. 

The first waterfall of the day! 

 Another extremely long waterfall was enjoyed at a small bridge a couple minutes later.  The trail was wet, but not much snow remained.  Soon after the 2nd small foot bridge, all that changed.  There still wasn't much snow (except for a couple small shady areas), but we encountered quite a bit of half rotten ice on the trail.

Leesa put on her microspikes at that point.  Nick and I walked without them.  It was relatively easy to find non-ice footing.  Besides, Nick was enjoying the "challenge" of searching for good footing. 

    

Waterfall #2

Rev of course had no problem negotiating the terrain at any point in the day.  

... and it's a long one

As we reached Fifth Peak and the lean-to, we saw two guys there.  The older of the two told us he is the trail maintainer for the trail.  I didn't ask it he does the ridge trail, or the trail up from Clay Meadows, or both.

  

The view south from the lean-to at Fifth Peak

We enjoyed the view from Fifth Peak for a bit before continuing on.  It was plenty warm and it wasn't raining, but the skies were overcast at this point.  That lessened the impressiveness of the views southward a little, but Nick was still quite impressed.

We forged ahead to continue towards French Point Mountain but the ice conditions became more prevalent.  Since we were short one pair of micospikes we decided to follow Leesa's suggestion and take the trail from the ridge down to the lake at 5 mile point.  None of us had done this trail before and Leesa really wanted to do it.

I wasn't expecting it to be much more than a steep trail down to the water, but I agreed to try it.  I knew it faced east, so it would probably be a lot drier.  

Sign for the trail to 5 Mile Point

 As the sign said, the trail drops 1100 feet in 1.5 miles.  After passing through a col, and a small body of water there, the trail began it's steep descent.  I found it to be interesting though since there was a maze of small seasonal drainages all flowing rather profusely.  

Water in the col on the way to 5 Mile Point

Rev prancing in the water.  It was a hot water but she had plenty of water available 

Soon we could see Lake George down below.  It seemed to be close, but it's deceptive, and as worked our way down, the lake didn't seem to be getting closer very quickly!

  

Lake George visible down below.  Black Mountain in the distance.

About 2/3 of the way down, we traversed a section that had been built up impressively with some of the native rock. 

Someone did a lot of work creating this section of the trail

Finally we made it down to the lake.  Wow, we could feel the air temperature drop as we approached the cold water and ice.  The lake was still mostly ice covered except near the shoreline.   We stopped to eat here and quickly got a little bit of a chill. 

Looking north from 5 Mile Point

A good look at Black Mountain 

  

... and looking south

  

A new meaning for "black ice"

  

An old fire ring at the point

Nick at 5 Mile Point

As soon as we began to re-climb we were quickly warm once again.  It was 70 degrees, and we were climbing a hill banked into the sun.  The water drainages were all tempting to stop at and soak our hot feet, but we knew the water would be ice cold.   

Climbing the rockpile section of trail

It felt like mid summer while climbing the eastern slope.  Once on top and working our way down the western slope, we were back in the ice and scattered snow piles.

Back to the col

Rev takes the high road...

In the end, we all decided it had been a great hike, in spite of the change of plan.  Leesa was vindicated for making us all hike downhill to the lake and back up again.

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  8 miles

Hike Time:  6 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 2500'

  

The Route (click image to enlarge)

Tongue Mountain Range - Lake George Wild Forest - 1/1/14

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope everyone has a great 2014!

I began 2014 by getting a cardio workout on my one of my favorite local mountains, the Tongue Mountain range.

The Tongue Range in Bolton, NY has something for everyone.  The entire range lies in the Lake George Wild Forest.  There is a fabulous ridge trail that has tremendous views of Lake George.  The ridge trail also has lots of vertical for those looking for a good workout.

On this day, I chose the Tongue Range because the forecast called for mostly sunny skies this morning and I wanted to get some sunny pictures from the snowy viewpoints along the ridge.  The workout didn't hurt either.

I parked at Clay Meadows on Route 9N and began with the 2.6 mile climb to Fifth Peak.  The trail climbs 1400' to Fifth Peak.  It was 0 degrees at the start.  I was surprised that I was not the first one on the trail. I started at 9 AM and there was already a man and women ahead of me.  I soon saw them coming out.  They had gone to Fifth Peak to catch the sunrise.  Cool idea.

 

Trail signs near the start

 

I moved at a good pace to stay warm.  I typically just wear one techwick layer and a shell, even if it's cold.  I find I can regulate my body temperature by the speed that I move.  Dressing light makes me go faster. 

There was an inch or two of fresh snow on the ground and I wore my microspikes the entire day.  The snow was not deep enough to warrant snowshoes.

It took me an hour and 10 minutes to reach the lean-to.  It was mostly sunny at that point, but the sun began to disappear to the south.  In fact, it began to look quite dark.  It's funny, my pictures taken facing north show blue skies and the pictures taken facing south show the dark skies.  They look like they were taken on two different trips.

    

The Fifth Peak lean-to has the best view of any lean-to I know

 

Looking south from Fifth Peak (just before the skies began to darken)

 

 

From Fifth Peak, I began the roller coaster walk to First Peak and back.  With 3-5 inches of snow on the ground, the walking was perfect.  I did slip 4-5 times when I was on a downhill, and there was ice under the snow.  I fell once on the way back, but landed on my back on my pack.  No injuries.

 

 



The fresh snow really stuck to the trees.  Very pretty.

 

Black Mountain

 

Ice on some south facing rocks 

 

It took me an hour to go the 1.9 miles to French Point Mountain.  This portion of the ridge has lots of ups and downs.

  

Fifth Peak

 

When I reached a knoll between French Point Mountain and First Peak, I came across 5 fresh deer beds.  They had settled on a spot with a great view.     

 

Looking North from French Point Mountain

 

 

 

 

The 1.4 mile portion of the ridge between French Point Mountain and First Peak felt a little easier than the previous stretch since there weren't so many intermediate false summits.



 

Clouds coming in to the south...

 

 

 

I snapped a lot of pictures on this walk.  It's nice to pick out the best ones and delete the rest.

  

 

 

 

 

 

At 12:30, I was on First Peak.  Rev got some snacks and I had a Vitamin water and some trail mix.  At this point, I decided to return the way I came instead of going down to Montcalm Point and looping back on the trail along Northwest Bay.  I wanted to stay on the ridge.  It is a much prettier route.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 2:30, I was back at the col ready to drop back down to Clay Meadows.  Shortly after starting down is where I slipped and fell.  We could use a little more snow to really cover up the ice.  Hopefully the pending storm will take care of that.

 

I you haven't done this ridge, add it to your list of places to hike.  You won't be disappointed.

 

 

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  11.4 miles

Hike Time:  6 hours, 20 minutes

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 3300'

 

 



My route (Click image to enlarge)

 

 

My route on National Geographic Topo