Hiking Bear Den and Flume Knob – 5.15.21

A few weekends ago Brendan and I found ourselves with a free day with some great weather to we drove up to Wilmington (near Whiteface!), to hike Bear Den and Flume Knob mountains. They are lesser-known lower-elevation peaks right near Whiteface and Esther. The trailhead to Bear Den actually starts in the Whiteface ski area’s parking lot.

Bear Den is only 2,600 ft in elevation (~1,300 ft of ascent) and although the trail is steep, it’s in great shape as it isn’t very rocky. Plus at the top, there are great views of Whiteface and the surrounding high peaks.

We spent about 45 minutes on the summit taking in the views, having a snack and enjoying a summit beer.

We hiked all the way back down the trail junction for the Flume trails, however we took a wrong turn and started heading back down to the parking lot instead of going left at the junction toward the flume trails (oops), thankfully we didn’t hike too far in the wrong direction until we figured it out.

We crossed a bridge and then eventually came to the trail for Flume Knob.

I was expecting this trail to be pretty easy however it was super steep (although in pretty good shape), and it went directly UP. And since this was my first hike in oh, 6 months, I was feeling it! Flume Knob is 2,270 ft in elevation with about 1,180 ft of ascent.

After about a mile of climbing directly up, we stopped at the top for a quick breather to enjoy the views of the Ausable River.

I didn’t know it at the time, but on top of Flume Knob, I had finished the ADK29er Challenge. Ha! Only after I got home and looked at my stats I realized I had completed 29 peaks from the challenge. I hiked them during the years 2013-2021. Cool!

Bear Den & Flume Knob

Distance ~6 miles RT
Elevation ~2300 ft
Total Time 4 hrs, 18 minutes (including stops)