French Point Mountain and First Peak - Tongue Range - 1/1/2019

I had intended to hike elsewhere on New Year's Day, but when I woke up, there were some really interesting skies that made me think I should hike somewhere to try and capture some really cool pictures.  The Tongue Range in the Lake George Wild Forest immediately came to mind.

French Point Mountain and First Peak are the best viewpoints on the range, so that is where I headed.  After parking at Clay Meadows, I opted for the Northwest Bay Trail as opposed to the Five Mile Point Trail.  The Five Mile Point Trail is often icy, and it would be on this day.  I also didn't care to climb Fifth Peak.

The Northwest Bay Trail isn't that exciting, but it gives a jumping off point for a bushwhack to where I wanted to go.  The bushwhack starts 2 miles from the sign-in register.  As measured from the sign-in register once you turn onto the Northwest Bay Trail, there is a footbridge at 1mile, another at 1.75 miles and a 3rd one at the 2 mile mark.  These footbridges cross small drainages.  At the 2 mile drainage, there is also a large cairn about 100 feet up the drainage, that is visible from the trail.  Most likely someone built it to mark the logical point to begin a bushwhack!

The cairn 2 miles down the NW Bay Trail

The route is pretty easy from this location.  I chose to go up French Point Mountain first.  The interesting skies that I was hoping to catch had gone away but there is never a bad day on these peaks. 

Looking North.  Black Mountain on the right.

Most of the pics below are looking south  on Lake George, but from a few different viewpoints (and of course Rev gets in a few photos).  

After going down to to First Peak, I bushwhacked back the way I had come.  Rev could smell the scent and she took us back on the exact route we took on the way up.   

Surveying her territory...

The keeper of the lake...

Most of the rock faces had ice flows

Hike Stats:
Hike Distance:  9.2 miles
Hike Time:  5 hours
Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 2300'

The Route

Eddy and Thomas Mountains - Lake George Wild Forest - 5/14/16

On this day I chose to climb another pair of peaks that would be new to me:  Eddy Mountain and Thomas Mountain.  This pair lie in the Hudson River Special Management Area of the Lake George Wild Forest.  They are near the Town of Lake Luzerne.  Don't confuse this Thomas Mountain with the one in Bolton.

I chose River Road as my access route and I parked at the first large parking lot (where road maintenance ends).  From there I continued north along the river on the unmaintained road to the next small pulloff.  There is a sign there indicating a foot path to campsite #6.  The same footpath also continues past Bear Slide waterslide on Buttermilk Brook and on to the Gay Pond Road. 

I turned on this trail and almost immediately I saw the charred remains of a forest fire.  It realized that this fire was probably the fire that occurred on 4/23/16.  On that day, I was just to the north climbing Number 7 Mountain and I saw extensive smoke nearby to the south.

This fire occurred near campsite number 6 and went most of the way up the south side of Morton Mountain.  I don't know if the fire started from a spark from a campfire at site 6, or if it was from some other fire ring or cigarette butt.  I do remember that on 4/23, the ground was very dry and that a ground fire would spread quickly.     

Looking at the charred ground from campsite number 6.

The fire damage ended right at the Bear Slide Falls.  This water slide is perhaps 300 feet long and is well worth a visit if you haven't seen it.  It is only 0.8 miles from the parking lot where I parked; even less from the parking spot for campsite #6.   

I was on the trail early so the Bear Slide wasn't in the best light for photographs.  I was out in advance of the black flies, but they caught up with me about 9 AM on top of Eddy Mountain.   

Buttermilk Brook

Above the Bear Slide water slide, I crossed Buttermilk Brook and climbed Eddy Mountain.  There is no real view from the summit, but a few viewpoints are nearby. 

A viewpoint near Eddy Mountain.

This spiderweb looks like a CD.

 At the best viewpoint, south of the true summit, I found a memorial to someone who passed away in 2014.  There was a large flag and some objects fastened to a tree.  

A memorial was found at this viewpoint south of Eddy Mountain.

Looking NW from the viewpoint.

The memorial objects on the tree below the flag.

After the memorial, I headed for the ridge containing Thomas Mountain.  I crossed an old woods road along the way.  I headed to the south end of the ridge and then proceeded north.

A cairn on a ledge at the south end of the Thomas Mountain ridge.

This looked like an old car headlamp, but I didn't see anything else around.

I found the state land boundary running right along the top of the ridge and I saw several boundary markers along the way, in addition to the yellow blazes.

A state land boundary marker on Thomas Mountain. 

Thomas Mountain did not offer any spectacular viewpoints either, but the woods were open and inviting.  I did put on a bug headnet after leaving the summit of Eddy Mountain and it remained on my head most of the rest of the way (the price of hiking in May during the black fly season).

I thought the nicest part of the ridge was the north end; just due to the lush green grass in contrast to the trees where the leaves were just beginning to open.  I've included a few pictures from this area below.   

A viewpoint north of Thomas Mountain 

 From the north end of the Thomas Mountain ridge, I dropped off the ridge heading NE until I came to the Gay Pond Road.  From there, I went back to the Bear Slide trail and back to the car.

More charred forest floor.

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  8.7 miles

Hike Time:  5 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~2350'

The route (traveled counter-clockwise)

The route as shown on the Nat Geo map.

Number Seven Mountain and Ferguson Brook Falls - Lake George Wild Forest - 4/23/16

Sometimes I do a hike and then revisit the same area to bring Leesa so she can see it also.  We just did that with Bald Mountain in Warrensburg.  This time it was to Number Seven Mountain and Ferguson Brook.  

This time I started from the south at the gate where Gay Road Road meets the Hudson River.  This was my 2nd adventure of the day after hiking in the Lake Geroge/Lake Luzerne area in the morning.  Our start time was about 2 PM.   

We followed the woods road beside the Hudson River until it was time to veer into the woods to begin the bushwhack to the southern approach to Number Seven.  The final approach up the SW flank is amazing and it reminds me of the similar SW approach to Number Eight Hill in the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness Area.  Look at the pictures below and you be the judge.

We gained the ridge at the mostly flat plateau just south of the final approach.  This area was just acquired by New York State and is known as the Huckberry Mountain Forest.  If you pass through this area you will notice a maze of old logging roads. There are also still posted signed from the Number 7 Hunting Club.  

Starting the final SW approach to Number Seven Mountain

Looking back down on the Hudson River

There appeared to be a forest fire to the south of us near Lake Luzerne.

Nearing the summit.

The true summit is treed.  This is the open rock that lies about a 100 yards west of the true summit.

From the summit, we continued north until we could drop down the west face back to the river. 

Looking north along the Hudson River

A Subaru that must have encountered problems near the river, unless this was a farewell maneuver!

At the confluence of Ferguson Brook with the Hudson River, we quickly climbed along the north side of the brook to take a look at the cascades, water slides and falls.  It was almost 6 PM so we didn't have time to linger. 

No longer functional! 

It was getting late, and the wrong angle to get good pictures of the waterfall features.

We returned via the river and walked out in the setting sun.

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  8.3 miles

Hike Time:  5.5 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 1400'

The route

Huckleberry Mountain - Lake George Wild Forest - 3/15/16

It's soooo nice to have a few hours of daylight now when I get home from work.  I took advantage of the opportunity by heading to the Lake George Wild Forest and the Hudson River Special Management Area.  I was also interested in the Huckleberry Mountain Forest.

Huckleberry was just acquired by the Open Space Institute and will soon be sold to New York State to incorporate these additional lands into the Lake George Wild Forest.

The parking lot was a mud hole, but I was able to park off to the site, next to the Hudson River.  I went past the car gate and followed the Bear Slide jeep road past accessible campsites 17 and 18 to the end of the gravel surface. This surface terminates at the magnificent Bear Slide falls in Buttermilk Brook.  This water slide is the longest one I know of.  It may be more than a couple hundred yards long and is certainly impressive in the spring.  I haven't been here during the dry season, so I don't know how much water flows here in the summer.  It is certainly worth a look in the spring, or after some heavy rain.   

Bear Slide Road.

Eddy Mountain

Bear Slide

I continued to follow Buttermilk Brook past Bear Slide and came to a waterfall with some manmade stone cairns and walls nearby.

The was near the falls above Bear Slide

Part of the falls above Bear Slide.

Rev on a wall near the upper falls

Shortly thereafter, I came to the Gay Pond jeep road.  I turned right to head east a short distance to reach the southern base of Huckleberry Mountain.  From there, it was just a half mile climb in open oak trees.

Very open forest,

Large rock slab plateau at 1500' on the SW flank of Huckleberry.

A cairn along the way.

The true summit of Huckleberry.

I reached the summit at 6 PM.  It was time to hustle back to the car.  Rev led the way, easily following the scent of our route up.  7 PM we were back at the car.  A great weeknight out! 

Crane Mountain looms to the north.

The Gay Pond road.

Back to Bear Slide.

... and out on Bear Slide jeep road.

Hike Stats:
Hike Distance:  6.2 miles
Hike Time:  2.5 hours
Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 1250'

The route (Click image to enlarge)