Lake Placid, NY boasts many things. Obviously being home to the winter olympic games twice doesn't hurt (1932 & 1980). The town also is home to the Eastern US Olympic Training Center. If you haven't seen the ski jumps in Lake Placid or the Bobsled run, Luge Run or skating facilties, you've got a lot to look at right there. The town also boasts many tourist shops and fine dining facilities.
What interests me though are the hiking and skiing opportunities. Whiteface Mountain has the greatest vertical drop in the east and offers fantastic downhill skiing. The Jack Rabbit Ski Trail offers 37 miles of great cross country skiing The Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic Cross Country Biathlon Center is second to none.
On this day, I had a more modest agenda. I wanted to climb McKenzie Mountain and Haystack Mountain, both in the McKenzie Mountain Wilderness Area, just west of the Village of Lake Placid. McKenzie is on the list of Adirondack Hundred Highest and Haystack is a nice mountain with great views.
I decided to climb McKenzie first and hit Haystack on the way back. I got started at 8:45 AM from the trailhead parking lot on Route 86. The temperature was in the upper 30's and was expected to top out at 40. There was no snow at the start, but I could see the snow up on the mountain. I brought my MicroSpikes, knowing they would be helpful later.
The trail climbs gently, beginning at an elevation of 1670. At 2.4 miles the trail to Haystack branches off to the left. Just beyond, the snow line was encountered at 2100'. At 3.6 miles, the trail crosses the Jack Rabbit Ski trail at an elevation of about 2500'. At this point the trail begins its way up the flank of McKenzie and climbs 1300' in the remaining 1.7 miles.
At 3000', I reached some frozen ice falls in the trail and I donned the Microspikes for the remainder of the ascent. At 3500' there is a false summit and the first nice views of the hike.
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| Looking North to McKenzie from the viewpoint at the falst summit |
It was a beautiful day with full sun and very little wind. After 5 miles and 2 hours and 40 minutes of hiking I reached the summit. I contemplated continuing on by following the herd path to Moose Mountain, but I had been warned of the blowdown on that path and I found the warning to be true. After a couple minutes I returned to the summit and had some lunch.
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| Rime ice was prevalent on the trees on the ridge |
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| McKenzie up close |
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| Rime ice |
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| Looking back at the false summit |
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| The viewpoint from the false summit |
From the summit, there are 2 short side paths that take you to views East and West.
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| Looking East to Lake Placid!... No snow down there |
On my way back down I enjoyed the change from winter back to Indian Summer. It is strange to begin a hike without snow, climb into a winter scene and then descend back out. I reached the fork for the Haystack trail and took it. Look at how different these next pictures are. Same day, adjacent mountains. Haystack is about 1000' shorter and gets more sunlight, hence less snow.
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| Old dam on the Haystack Trail |
Almost immediately you cross an old dam. After that the trail climbs approximately 800' in 0.9 miles to the summit. The eastern side of the summit ridge in open rock allowing a 180 degree view from North to South.
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| Remaining tools near the dam |
On the summit, banked to soak up the afternoon sun, I sat down on the ledge rock and could have taken a nap. It felt like summer. Alas, it was 2:10 and time to make my way back.
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| Looking NE from Haystack |
From the summit of Haystack, I was back at the car in 1.5 hours. Haystack would make a nice short partial day hike in its own right.
Hike Stats:
Hike Distance: 11.9 miles
Hike Time: 6 hours, 40 minutes
Total Vertical Gain: 4150'
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| Approximate route (Click to enlarge) |
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| My version with USGS topo |
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| 3D view of my track on Google Earth |
