Black Mountain Firetower

Looking for a nice, easy hike not too far from the Capital Region? Look no further! Yesterday Jona and I hiked Black Mountain, a hike not too far from Lake George. At 2,665 ft., Black Mountain is the highest mountain in the Lake George region. Not only is there a firetower at the top (closed to the public), there is a power generating wind turbine! I didn’t realize that until we got up there so it was a nice surprise.

We had a late start and parked at the lot on Pike Brook Road at around 1:30PM. I think this may have been my latest hike start, but it was a short one so we weren’t worried at all.  The first mile or so is on a fire road and then the trail begins to climb gradually.

We took one short break for water but made it to the summit in 1 hour, 10 minutes! The summit is 2.9 miles from the parking lot.

There were gorgeous views of Lake George to be seen.

Wind turbine.

Solar panels and firetower.

We stopped for a few minutes to have a snack and enjoy the view then headed down the trail behind the firetower to do the loop back to the car.

The other side of the mountain had some nice lookout points to the other side of Lake George.

This trail was a lot more interesting, but was a bit overgrown because it is probably a lot less used, except by this guy.

Eventually we came to a junction to take us to Black Mt. Point (trailhead accessible only by boat), or to Black Mt. Pond. We went to the ponds.

So pretty! There is a lean-to right on the pond that would make an excellent camping spot! Someone must have just left because there were embers still in the firepit.

Lovely trail by the pond.

From here you can almost see the firetower on top of Black Mt, the one on the right. It looks like a tall tree.

It was a lovely hike and enjoyable walk in the woods.

Black Mountain Loop
Distance 7.1 miles
Elevation 2,667 ft
Elevation gain 1,272 ft
Total time including stops 3 hrs, 41  min
Firetower challenge 6/28