"Palmer Pond Mountain" - Hoffman Notch Wilderness - 12/28/16

Today's hike was a new slant on an old peak.  This is an unnamed peak immediately south of Palmer Pond at Exit 29 of I87.  It should be called Palmer Pond Peak.  It makes sense.  Even more so now. DEC has just completed their project to build a bridge over the Palmer Pond outlet known as "the Branch".  Now you can park at Palmer Pond, cross the bridge, and hike to Palmer Pond Mountain.

Quite a sturdy bridge!

Looking upstream to the dam from the bridge.

"BigR" Bridge 

Looking back at the bridge from the west side of Palmer Pond.

After crossing the bridge, the jeep trail turns right and goes to the SW corner of Palmer Pond (just above the dam)

The mountain has a double peak.  I've climbed the southern peak several times previously by fording the Schroon River and using the walking culvert under I87 to get on the west side of the interstate.

Today I took the new bridge and headed for the northern peak.  There was about 8 inches of snow on the ground with a layer of crust on top from the recent rain.  Rev forged ahead of me (no surprise there), but she did opt to follow in my snowshoe tracks for almost half the climb.  

Immediately on the west side of the pond, it's easy to notice orange paint and pink ribbons on trees.  I followed it for a little ways, but it just seemed to be going up the west side of the pond.  

A buck sack hanging from a tree along the blaze path.

I turned south to gain the ridge leading to the summit.  The forest was a mix of hemlock and hardwoods and was quite enjoyable, there were no obstacles to contend with.

   

This boulder graced the ridge at the location where I topped out.

Once up on the ridgeline, I turn west to follow the ridge to the peak.

Palmer Pond and I87 down below.  

Rev's back in front.  The southern peak is in the distance.

This really cool petite birds nest hung precariously from a similarly petite branch.

We stayed on the south side of the ridgeline for most of the climb.  Schroon Lake can be seen in the distance.

The northern summit doesn't offer much for views, but the southern summit is spectacular and is just a half mile away.  The col between the two embraces a drop of perhaps 200' and is not bad to traverse.  Rev and I continued on to the south peak to revisit the fine vista found there.

   

Rev arriving at the southern summit.

Schroon Lake could still be seen to the south through the flurries. 

We had started late so we arrived at the south summit at 2 PM.  In the flurries of the day, it felt like a remote place, even though the interstate and Blue Ridge Road could both be seen.  This summit ranks high on my list of bushwhack peaks, and now the access from Palmer Pond provides a more manageable way to reach the peak.  It is also a little shorter than crossing the Schroon River.  This route was 4.25 miles roundtrip verses the 4.9 mile route I had used previously.

The view from the southern summit 

The Adirondack Buffalo Farm (on  Blue Ridge Road) is in the clearing in the distance.

I87 and Schroon Lake to the south.

More of the summit can be seen here; again the Buffalo farm is in the distance.

To ease our return trip, we retraced our snowshoe track.  The return trip was done in less than 90 minutes.  The combination of heading downhill, and not breaking trail, made for a much faster return. This is a location I will return to again.  Maybe a camping trip is in order...

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  4.25 miles roundtrip

Hike Time: 4 hours, including stops

Total Vertical Gain; ~1600'

The route

Unnamed "Palmer Pond" Mountain - Hoffman Notch Wilderness - 7/26/15

One hike often leads to another for me.  Back in May, I had climbed Peaked Hills in the Hoffman Notch Wilderness.  From the summit of the northern Peaked Hill, I could see an attractive open rock summit to the north.  I looked at my map and determined that it was the unnamed summit just north of Squaw Mountain and just south of Palmer Pond.  As usual, I made a mental note to add it to my list for future exploration.

Fast forward 2 months and the day had come.  As luck would have it, I had just read an account of a trip to this summit by Spencer Morrissey on the Schroon Lake Region blog.  That jogged my memory and now it was my turn.  Spencer had named it Palmer Pond Mountain, so I'll use that name as well.

I chose a shorter route than Spencer; my route started with the route described by Tom Dubois in his book "Life Under the Fast Lane - A Bushwhacker's Guide to Northway Access Routes, Exit 28 to 31".   

My goal was to cross the Northway at culvert # 3; the Wyman Hill culvert in Tom's book, then bushwhack NW to the summit. To access culvert # 3, you take Route 9 to the Schroon Lake/North Hudson town line.  There is an attractive welcome to North Hudson sign at the location.  A log home is on the east side of Route 9, and a woods road is on the west side.  The woods road leads to the Schroon River on public access land owned by the Town of North Hudson.

I parked a couple hundred feet in on the woods road, although high clearance vehicles can drive all the way in.   Deer Flies were swarming the car as I parked.  I was ready for this.  I was wearing pants and a long sleeve shirt and I put my head net on before I even got out of the car.  I let Rev out of the hatch and off we went.  

The woods road leading to the Schroon River in North Hudson 

The woods road walk was pleasant and led slightly downhill to a sharp 90 degree bend to the right after 0.75 miles. At this location a faint herd path leads straight ahead a short distance to the Schroon River.  At this location, you can see a drainage entering the Schroon from the opposite side.

The Schroon can be crossed just 50 downstread from the mouth of the drainage during times when the water level is low.  On the day, the Schroon was flowing at knee level at the deepest point.  I had brought water shoes and stopped to put them on.  Rev and I crossed without issue.  I left my water shoes by the river to use later for the return trip.  Next we followed the drainage, staying on the south side of the drainage as we approached the Northway (I87) at the one mile mark.  There is a water culvert for the drainage, but just south of the water culvert is a walking culvert.  We used the walking culvert (the named Wyman Hill culvert) to gain access to the west side of the Northway.

      

Our river crossing location

Safely across.

The "Wyman Hill" walking culvert

Once on the west side of the Northway, we crossed the drainage to head NW towards the unnamed "Palmer Pond Mountain" hill, following the path of least resistance.  I generally hugged the left (south) side of the ridge as we climbed.  The woods were open and there were pretty stands of red pine.  It didn't take long to get views to the south.   

An early viewpoint.

The ridge looked like this for much of the climb (with occasional rock bands).

It was warm and humid and soon my shirt was soaked from sweat.  The bugs had mostly disappeared and I removed my headnet as I climbed.  There was an early steep section that took us up to the ridge, then moderate climbing until a second steep section prior to a false summit.

From the false summit to the true summit, the woods were thickly but still not bad.  At 2.6 miles from the car we topped out on the true summit.  Rock cairns dotted the summit and nearby ledges. From the summit, the only views are facing east and south, but just west of the true summit is a fantastic set of ledges and rock where you can see south, west and north. 

       

Rev is on the summit

... and now I'm there.

 I really enjoyed this spot and I actually stayed on the summit for an hour.  First I ate lunch and fed Rev, then I laid down on the warm rack and let the sun and breeze work to dry my wet shirt.  I closed my eyes and it felt like I was at the ocean.  The wind substituted for the waves, but it was very relaxing.

From this spot, I could see the Blue Ridge Road winding westward, the Adirondack Buffalo Company, and the High Peaks beyond.

A worthwhile reward for a 2.6 mile climb!

A mountain goat, or Rev?

a zoom view looking to the High Peaks

Schroon Lake can be seen in the distance to the SW.

Zoom view of Schroon Lake

a couple more high peak zooms

Hoffman Mountain in the distance

The Adirondack Buffalo Company

Hoffman Mountain (L), Blue Ridge Mountain (R)

A parting shot...

I could have stayed on this summit all day but I had to be home by 3 and it was now 1:15.  Alas, down I went, pretty much backtracking the way I had come.  Leesa missed out on this trip, but I have the feeling I'll come back here with her in the fall to take another look.  Using this route, it took me 2 hours to climb and an hour and 25 minutes to descend.  A great half day bushwhack to say the least.

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  5.1 miles

Hike Time:  3.5 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 1700'   

The route

The route on the National Geographic topo map