Little Buck Mountain - Lake George Wild Forest - 8/13/14

I've been meaning to take this short bushwhack to Little Buck Mountain in the Lake George Wild Forest for some time.  From the summit of Buck Mountain you can see a little bit of open rock to the north on the summit of Little Buck and it piqued my interest.  A couple years have passed and I finally got over there on Wednesday after work to check it out.

From the Hogtown trailhead, I continued to drive down the steep portion of Shelving Rock Road for a couple miles until I wasa halfway down to the lake.  I parked at a little pulloff (big enough for one or two cars) that was next to a utility pole.  This was may starting point for my bushwhack.   

 

The woods were quite open.  There was really no bushwhacking involved; just some route finding.  The first 10 minutes I was climbing through open hardwoods, then the forest switched to a mix of pine and hardwood.   There was a little blowdown higher up, but it was easily walked around.

Very open woods

 

After only 25 minutes, I was up on the grassy summit ridge.  I came across various cairns showing evidence of previous explorers to the area.   

A grassy summit ridge

 

A nice ridge of rock, grass and open trees 

A large rock outcropping exists at the true summit.  There are no views at this location, but the ridge walk is nice and open.

Rev on the true summit

 

The summit

 

One of the rock cairns on the summit ridge.  The true summit is in the background.

 

A first look at Buck Mtn to the south from near the true summit of Little Buck.

 

 

Continuing west on the ridge past more cairns

 

Near the west end of the ridge

 

A view point opens up at the west end

The west end of the ridge terminates at a fine ledge that offers outstanding views of Lake George (as seen in the pictures below).  What a great spot to reach after only a 30 minute walk!

 



An existing fire ring on the west ledge 

 

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This was really a great spot.  I"m sure very few people ever go here, but it's not hard to get to.  The only difficulty is that there is no trail system to follow to find it.

 

The view from the west ridge

 

Rev nosed around and I did too.  We wandered around the expansive open area and I just felt like I ha come across a really nice, rarely explored spot.  

Looking south to Long Island and Assembly Point

 

Buck Mountain 

 

Buck Mountain again

 

 

After I had spent enough time on the ledge, we looped around and down back to the car.  The entire loop was only an hour and 20 minutes, including my time on the ledge.  What a great walk to a view.

 

Once back on Shelving Rock Road, I continued down to the bottom of the road and Rev and I walked some of the old carriage roads running along the lake beside Shelving Rock Bay and Log Bay.

 

Not a bad way to spend a couple hours after work. 

  

Perch Island

 

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  1.9 miles

Hike Time:  1 hour, 20 minutes (including stops)

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 700' 

The route, hiked clockwise (click image to enlarge)

Cat Mountain - Bolton, NY - 8/11/14

I've written about Cat Mountain before (and the Cat & Thomas Preserve) so I won't give an extensive description again.  Monday I was in the area and had a couple hours to give the dog some exercise, so we did a walk/trail run to Cat via the yellow trail which is an old logging road.   

 

It was hot and dry so I didn't push Rev too hard.  All the creeks and water flows were dry.  The only water was at the beaver pond near the start of the steep uphill climb to Cat.  It was 1 PM and the sun was directly overhead.  I had a hip belt with 2 water bottles, one for her and one for me.

 

We jogged on the flats and downhill sections  and walked up the steeps.  There were a half dozen cars in the lot when we started and we saw 3 groups on the trail during our hike.  

 



 

The blue trail climbs to the summit of Thomas and follows the ridge from Thomas to Cat

 

The yellow trail to Cat follows an old logging road and is ideal for trail running, walking or XC skiing in the winter.

 

The orange trail to Thomas splits to the right; the yellow trail is straight ahead 

 

 

 

 



A view of Cat Mountain in the distance.  The only water source for Rev on the day is in the foreground

 

Once past the beaver pond, the trail climbs approximately 730' to the 1956' summit.  At the top is a 270 degree view, including Lake George from the Tongue Range and the Narrows, on down to almost Lake George Village. \

 

 

The distance from the trailhead to the summit, following the yellow trail is approximately 3.5 miles.  We reached the summit after an hour and 10 minutes.  If you do it at a leisure walking pace, plan 2 hours each way.  

 

 

The Narrows and the Tongue Range

 

There was a nice breeze at the top and Rev found a bed of grass under a big pine tree.  We had our water and I took my usual round of pictures from every direction.  Lots of boats were out on the lake, even though it was a Monday. 

 

a closer look

 

Southern Lake George 

 

Dome Island

 

The summit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A nice shady spot to view the lake (Rev appreciated this)

 

Going down was faster since the route was not so steep or rocky as to worry about foot placement.  We did the reverse hike in about 50 minutes.

 

Not a bad way to spend a mid-summer afternoon.  If you're ever in the vicinity of Bolton Landing, don't miss out on a trip to Cat and Thomas.  The are was formerly owned by the Lake George Land Conservancy, but is now owned by New York State.  

 

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  7 miles

Hike Time:  2 hours (as a trail run)

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 1000'

 

The Route (click image to enlarge)