Prospect Mountain & Black Spruce Mountain - Lake George Wild Forest - 12/14/14

Sunday I also opted to stay close to home for my hike of the day.  My plan was to hike Big Hollow road (jeep road) to the summit of Prospect Mountain, then bushwhack to Black Spruce Mountain. I've hiked Big Hollow before.  I've even done it at night with a headlamp.  In the winter, this route is a snowmobile route.

The State recently acquired a parcel of land that includes the summit of Black Spruce Mountain; hence my reason for wanting to visit it. 

I parked on the east side of the culvert tunnel beneath I87.  In the summer I drive through the tunnel and park on the west side.  Snowmobiles had tracked out Big Hollow, but I didn't see any on this day.

0.2 miles into Big Hollow Road, there  is a nice waterfall on Big Hollow Brook.  This is followed by an old dam and a series of water slides.

Big Hollow Road

The spruce give way to hardwoods higher on the trail.

At the parking lot for Prospect Mountain, I turned SW and went past a series of radio towers.

The snow at this point was over 2 feet deep.  My dog Rev was having difficulty in the deep powder.

I was about 0.3 miles from the summit of Black Spruce.  I estimated that it would probably take an hour to reach the summit with the conditions I was facing.  I was also unsure if the dog could make it. I decided to save Black Spruce for another day. 

It was quite pretty at my turnaround point.  All the snow was still stuck to the trees.  I stopped for a bit to just enjoy my surroundings.

Late fall hiking conditions!

Our turnaround point...

Lots of branches on this pine!

Once back at the parking lot for Prospect Mountain, Rev and I took the short path to the summit.  We had the peak to ourselves; no snowmobiles, no people, and quite different from summertime.

    

The Prospect Mountain parking lot

Looking towards the Narrows from Prospect Mountain

The summit pavilion

Lake George down below

Million Dollar Beach

After Prospect Mountain, I backtracked down Big Hollow Road to the car.

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  8 miles

Hike Time:  3 hours, 45 minutes

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 1400' 

The route (Click image to enlarge)

Prospect Mountain - Lake George Wild Forest - 3/29/14

Prospect Mountain is a popular tourist attraction in the summertime. The Prospect Mountain Veterans Memorial Highway provides tourists with a 5.9 mile automobile road to the summit (elevation 2030').  There is a fee to drive the auto road.

 

For hikers, there is the Prospect Mountain Trail, which starts in the Village of Lake George and crosses I-87 on a pedestrian bridge.  Once across the bridge, the trail heads directly towards the summit, climbing steeply most of the way.  The trail is quite rocky in the summer.  Lots of small, round "roller" rocks make for tricky footing.  In the winter, travel is much easier if these rocks are covered by a blanket of snow.

 



 

 

Stairs leading to the I-87 Pedestrian Bridge 

 

I don't think I've climbed Prospect before in the winter, but I did so today.  I had expected rain today, but it was quite sunny.  I changed my plans from doing some projects around the house to getting out for a few hours with my dog Rev.

 

It was 40 degrees, warming to 45, but there was still a lot of snow on the ground.  I brought my snowshoes, knowing that the snow would be soft and "rotten".  During the day, I saw 3 couples all "bare booting" the hike.  They were all post-holing, slipping and sliding.  I easily passed all of  them and they all probably wished they had snowshoes.       

 



One of the few bends in the trail

 

It took me an hour to climb the 1.6 miles to the top.  I didn't climb too fast since I wasn't used to the warm weather and I didn't want to get all hot and sweaty, besides, I wasn't in any hurry.  The trail climbs 1500' in that 1.6 miles.

 



The upper parking lot

 

The trail crosses the Prospect Highway twice.  Once down low by Rattlesnake Cobble, and then again just before the summit.  Near the summit were lots of snowmobiles using the unplowed auto road to get in some late season snowmobiling.

   

Remains of the old incline railway

 

The view from the summit is spectacular.  Lake George is easily seen.  The Green Mountains of Vermont can be seen in the distance. 

 

Lake George from the summit of Prospect Mountain

 

At the top are also some remains of the old incline railway that operated on the mountain in the late 1800's and early 1900's.  It's nice to visit the summit in winter.  It gets very crowded here in the summer.  Much quieter today, even with the snowmobilers and the 3 couples I saw.

 



This is one big gear!

 

 

A zoom view of Lake George

 

Lake George Village

 

I circled the summit once I got to the top.  Looking to the west, I could see Black Spruce Mountain, which was recently acquired by the State.  I'll be checking that out soon, but not yet.  It's tough bushwhacking right now in 2 feet of rotten snow.

 

 

Black Spruce Mtn in the distance.  This mountain was recently acquired by the State.

 

 

A pavilion on the summit

 

The trip down was an easy 30 minutes in snowshoes on the soft snow.  It definitely would have been tough going down without them.

 



Rev out on the highway...

 

It was great to get in a short hike on the day when I had expected to watching the rain from indoors.

 

 

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  3.3 miles

Hike Time:  1 hour, 45 minutes

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 1500'

 

The Prospect Mountain Trail (click image to enlarge)

Prospect Mountain - 11/3/11

A great thing about living in the North Country of upstate NY is the easy accessibility to short adventures, even on weekdays with just a couple hours to kill.

On Thursday, I took a trail run from Lake George village to the summit of Prospect Mountain.  Although the hike was only 1.5 miles each way, there was a steady grade and lots of rocks to negotiate. 

Hike Stats

Trailhead Elevation:  477'

Summit Elevation:  2021'

Time Up:  36 minutes

Time down:  22 minutes

Total Vertical:  1582' 

Round Trip Distance:  3.09 miles

With the auto road closed for the season, there was nobody on the summit.

The trailhead starts at this significant pedestrian bridge over the Adirondack Northway (I87)

The view south from the bridge

Looking along the bridge

Machinery remains of an old incline railway

 

US Geodetic Survey marker

A couple shots looking at the southern end of Lake George and LG village 

 

 

The Adirondack Northway in the Distance with French Mountain at the far right

  

 

According to Wikipedia, the summit used to have an incline railway car from 1895 to 1903.  At one time, there was also a summit building, and later, a firetower.  This large gear is about all that remains,

Summit pavilion

In the summertime you can pay to drive the auto road to the summit and there are quite a few picnic table for people to use.  The auto road is 5.88 miles each way, and is open from around Memorial Day to Columbus Day.

View Prospect Mtn 20111103.kml in a larger map

Total trip time, including time on the summit was 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Not a bad way to get a view and a little exercise.  A future trip here in the winter may include a cross country ski on the auto road.