The Three Sisters - Warrensburg, NY - 4/3/16

Sunday was cold and windy everywhere with the wind chill factor probably near zero.  It felt like it each time I was on a summit.  I ventured over to Warrensburg to tackle the Three Sisters.  I drove past Hickory Mountain Ski Area, at which point the road turns to gravel (and becomes Katts Corner Road).  The road only continues for a quarter mile before dead-ending at a small turn around area in front of a gate from which you can access this area.  I parked out of the way and set off south down the trail that hugs the Hudson River. 

After less than a mile I passed an abandoned fallen down shed on the right.  At 1.1 miles, I turned left to follow an old woods road that takes you into the pass between Middle Mountain and Bald Mountain.  You get great views of the cliffs on the south face of Middle Mountain from this woods road.  Dropping down into the valley between Middle and Pine the woods road starts to branch in separate directions and I chose to just walk through the woods at this point.

I passed an old abandoned house that looked like it might have been a nice house in its day.  It climbed Pine Mountain on a steep slope with lots of cobble stone.  I picked my way slowly to the summit.  The SW corner is where the views are and a little cairn has been built on top of an old wood stove.

Looking towards Bald Mountain from Pine Mountain

Looking towards the summit of Pine Mountain

A zoom view of Middle Mountain from Pine Mountain

Bald Mountain from Pine Mountain 

I went back down looking for a better line down the mountain but I still found lots of loose stone.  I then picked up my tracks and went back over the col between Bald and Middle.  I circled around Middle until I reached the point on the SW face where I was past the line of cliffs.  I climbed a moderate grade through white pine and hemlock before reaching the summit of Middle Mountain which also had its best viewpoint on the SW ledges.  The true summit is in the trees.

Next I backtracked again to the col for the 3rd time.  From there it was just a gentle 0.6 miles ascent through mostly hardwoods to the summit of Bald Mountain, which was also hardwoods. 

An old waterwheel

A house lost in time.

Looking up at Middle Mountain from the south.

In the col between Middle and Bald.

State land property corner to the south of Middle Mountain

The SW ledge on Middle Mountain.

Bald Mountain from Middle Mountain.

I passed over the summit to the ledges on the SW side.  I found the bolt holes from an old survey station on a rock just above the ledges.

Below are a bunch of pictures from the ledges on Bald Mountain.  This was an awesome spot; unfortunately I was there in extreme winds and wind chill.  It was not a time to sit sunning on a rock. I'll come back here on a nice warm day and bring Leesa to show her the spot.   

Looking down from the lower ledge. 

 From Bald, it was back down to the col and back down the pleasant woods road to the jeep road by the river and out.  A nice hike would be just Bald Mountain via this route.  It would be perhaps 5 miles round trip.

 

The woods path between the river and the Middle/Bald col.  

The collapsed shed.

The 2nd gate from the parking spot.

The parking spot and 1st gate.

Hike Stats:
Hike Distance:  7.2 miles
Hike Time:  5 hours
Total Vertical Gain:  ~2500'

Number Seven and Joe Baker Sag Mountains - Hudson River Special Managemement Area - 4/2/16

After a morning hike up Pilot Knob in Lake George, and a mid-day trip to Rutland, VT to do some errands, I made it back to Lake Luzerne in time for a late day hike to Number Seven Mountain and Joe Baker Sag Mountain in the Hudson River Special Management Area of the Lake George Wild Forest.  There are a lot of hikes in the area and I'm just getting around to explore them, in part due to the extensive writeup in the Discover the Southern Adirondacks book.   It's funny how I only live 20 minutes from here, but hadn't explored the area in detail before now. 

I got started from the end of Buttermilk Falls Road at 4:30.

 Since it was late, I did a trail run along the jeep road for the first 3.6 miles to the point where I wanted to turn east into the woods.  I began clinging on the remains of an old logging road, staying on the north side a a drainage.  After 0.3 miles, the logging road faded away and I crossed to the south side of the drainage.

I soon came to an  an old monument which was a boundary marker for a state land parcel.  There was also a lot of new pink ribbon; probably done by a survey for the parcel just purchased by he Open Space Institute.

State land property boundary monument.

A closer look

After passing the monument, I started to hook southeast and then south, heading up into the col of the double summit.  Once in the col I turned west to climb to the true summit.  The walking was easy and the summit is all hardwoods. 

Approaching the summit of Number Seven Mountain.

To get views, you need to continue west until you reach the ledges.  I was after 6 PM when I got there so I couldn't linger, but I did appreciate the view for a couple minutes.  I also had to decide what to do next.  I decided to trek through the newly acquired Open Space Institute property to reach Joe Baker Sag mountain.  It was the direction I had to go and if I wasn't able to make quick progress, I could drop back down to the river and the jeep road. 

Late evening view west from Number Seven Mountain.

It was an absolute pleasure working my way down the SW face of Number Seven.  I'll use this as the ascent route next time.

The SW flank of Number Seven

More of the SW flank

Once I was off the SW flank, I entered a maze of logging roads on the OSI property.  I used them when they were to my advantage but I soon found myself back in the woods.

Logging roads on the Open Space Institute property.

I reached the summit of Joe Baker Sag at 7 PM.  There wasn't much there to inspire me at that hour.  I didn't see any views and the sun was going down.  Rev and I dove over the side to get back down to the Hudson River. 

A little cubby on the west face of Joe Baker Sag

We came out at campsite #11 and were back down to the road with a few minutes of daylight to spare.  I broke into another trail run and we got back to the car just as it was getting dark.

Designated campsite #11.

The highlight of this trip was the summit of Number Seven mountain.  It's definitely a worthwhile destination.

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  8.7 miles

Hike Time:  2.75 hours (including trail run portion)

Total Vertical Gain:  ~1500'

The route (click image to enlarge)