Trip Report
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Pharaoh Mountain
Another weekend, over. They go by too fast. Anyway, Saturday Jordan had the day off so we decided to spend the day outdoors. I really wanted to go hiking but we didn’t want to go too far and I didn’t want to do too easy of a hike. I decided on Pharaoh Mountain near Schroon Lake. It was a 1.5 hour drive from Troy, not far from Exit 28 off the Northway. It was a longer hike, but the first two miles were on a dirt road so the beginning and end would be fairly easy. On our walk to the trail we found this little guy. He slithered right…
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Noonmark Mountain
Now that the semester is over, I have free time again! Time to do some more hiking. Saturday Christine and I went up to the high peaks area to hike Noonmark Mountain, a smaller mountain near some of the 46. It is also part of the 100-highest peaks in the Adirondacks. We parked at the lot for Giant & Rocky Peak since the AMR lot was full. We just had to cross the road and walk over to the trailhead for Noonmark. The trail wasn’t too tough until we got closer to the top. There were rocks to scramble! It was pretty steep. And there were views for days. And…
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Blue Mountain Firetower
The weather here for the past week and half has been just amazing. I took the opportunity to head back up North for a hike to get the legs back into climbing. I decided on Blue Mountain, right outside the small town of Blue Mountain Lake, close to the Adirondack Museum. The trailhead is located just north of the museum on the opposite side Route 28N. A two mile trek one-way, this hike seemed like the perfect one to try out on my own for the first time! Technically I wasn’t 100% alone. Jordan and I were pet-sitting for some friends over the weekend, so I took along Zahra, one…
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Winter Solstice: Hiking Nippletop and Dial Mountains
Sunday marked the very first day of Winter. I celebrated by hiking with my winter hiking buddy Jona. (Last season we hiked two Winter peaks together, Sawteeth and Phelps!)–this time we were tackling two High Peaks in one day, Nippletop and Dial. After an early wake up (3:15am!), I met Jona and her friend Paula at Exit 9 Park and Ride to get to the trailhead by 6:15AM. We wanted an early start because we had a long hike ahead of us and the daylight hours were limited! The parking lot for these peaks is in St. Huberts near the Ausable Club. We parked the car and signed in to…
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Firetower Challenge – Goodnow Mountain
It’s no surprise that I’m always up for a challenge. So, why not add another one to my current list? In addition to hiking the 46 high peaks in the Adirondacks, the Catskill 35 over 3500, there is the Adirondack Fire Tower Challenge, which is a list of all the mountains that currently have a firetower at the top. Since I have already hiked two of these mountains, Hadley Mountain and Hurricane Mountain, I decided to go for another. I hiked Goodnow Mountain on Sunday with a few good friends. About a two hour drive from Albany, the trail to Goodnow is right down the road from the Adirondack Visitor…
