When I hike somewhere, I like to do a little research into the history behind the land that the trail cuts through. In the Adirondacks it usually doesn’t take much to dig up something related to military battles, Native American habitation, or even who originally blazed the trail. With Buck Mountain however, located just west of Lake George, there wasn’t much history to find. What I did find was an easily navigable route that gave me an excuse to put on my new hiking crampons and see how they performed over the equivalent of a six-mile out-and-back glacier walk, without the crevasses.
Distance: 6.3 miles (out & back)
Estimated Hrs.: 4 (winter) / 3 (non-winter)
Max. Elevation Reached: 2,323 ft.
Elevation Gain: 1,961 ft. (approx.)
Peak Elevation: 2,330 ft.
Difficulty: Moderate
There are three routes leading to the peak of Buck Mountain. Taking the Buck Mountain Trail along the northeast face of the mountain you’ll begin off Shelving Rock Road. From the southeast, you can take the Innman Pond Trail from Sly Pond Road until it meets up with the bulk of the Buck Mountain Trail’s southwestern approach. I began at the Pilot Knob trailhead, that begins near the eastern shore of Lake George and traversed the southwestern face up to the peak.
Although this was very much a late March winter hike, technically it was the first weekend of Spring. The temperature in the morning was in the mid-20s (Fahrenheit) and although mostly sunny, it would only reach 30 degrees by the end of the day. With 12-26 mph winds, it felt a bit colder. Up on the peak, it would feel colder and windier still, but at the trailhead, everything was fairly calm and sunny.
Plows had done their best to clear snow for parking, and the lot probably allows a good number of cars in good weather, more than I’ve seen at most other Adirondack trailheads. In winter, it still had room for about a dozen vehicles to park.
[singlepic id=368 w= h= float=none]When temperatures fluctuate as they do in late Winter and early Spring, snow exposed to sun melts and re-freezes itself into an icy state. It was no surprise that the trailhead was like an ice rink, but I expected more snow-like conditions once I got up into the trees. About a quarter-mile in however, things didn’t change. There was no way I was making it to the peak without ice traction. This was basically going to be a glacier walk.
Since I’d recently been snowshoeing nearby Cat and Thomas mountains, just beyond the western shore of Lake George, I had snowshoes strapped to my pack, but an icy trail isn’t what they’re designed to handle. On returning to the car I chose to leave the snowshoes behind and give my new Hillsound Trail Pro crampons a workout. These conditions are exactly what they are designed and built for and they performed incredibly well.
From the trailhead there is a mild ascent over a wide trail that was a logging road when built, and roughly half the trail follows it. Not too far in the trail forks with the Innman Pond Trail leading right to the southeast, and the Buck Mountain Trail to the left heading east. If you have little ones with you, this much of the trail makes an easy hike, and at this point I happened to pass a couple of parents out walking with a very young child.
[singlepic id=369 w= h= float=none]Once you start heading up the Buck Mountain Trail the mild grade becomes steeper and throughout the majority of the hike, never really levels out. Though it has a number of switchbacks, you won’t encounter much in the way of rise and fall along this trail. That helps keep it at a “moderate” difficulty rating.
Early on the trail crosses over Butternut Brook. It took only simple rock hopping to cross the brook at this time of year. Perhaps with more snow melt it will be a little more challenging. Further up, the trail crosses a small tributary of Butternut Brook and follows the gully it formed for a while, crisscrossing the tiny stream a few times along the way.
The water of these streams was flowing, but over most an ice bridge still remained. The hollow sound my crampons made as the teeth bit into the thinning ice was strangely addictive. None of the bridges or streams were big enough to worry about a break through causing injury, but I could tell it wouldn’t be long before someone’s hollow step broke through a bridge, leaving that hiker with wet feet.
[singlepic id=379 w= h= float=none]Upon leaving the gully, the trail makes its honest push up the mountain. The grade continues to get steeper and dirt gives way to more and more rock. By the time you’re on the summit you will have climbed the last 200 or so feet of elevation on almost nothing but bare stone, or packed snow.
Be sure to stop and turn around as you near the peak. There are great views to the south over Crossett and Thurber ponds, as well as nearby Pilot Knob Mountain that won’t be visible from the very top.
When I reached the peak, two hikers and their dog were descending. They had passed me on the way up, so I knew they already reached the summit while I was taking in the view of the ponds and Lake George Wilderness to the south. As much as I stalled to give them their own time at the top, I wanted my own as well.
[singlepic id=376 w= h= float=none]On the peak the wind was unrelenting. I anticipated it, so the neck gaiter I was wearing performed second-duty as part of a makeshift balaclava to protect my face from the single digit to mid-teen windchill. Without it, I couldn’t have spent half the time I was able to taking in the immense view of the High Peaks and surrounding wilderness.
What you’ll see from the peak are the whole of the Adirondack High Peaks region and almost all of the lower half of Lake George up into The Narrows that comprise the lake’s remaining miles.
To the north is the Tongue Mountain range and Lake George’s Narrows, where the lake’s water eventually drains into Lake Champlain. If you were to have been on this peak in early August of 1757 you would have seen a French army camped on Tongue Mountain, and been able to watch them head south to the far end of the lake which they called Lac du Saint-Sacrement, where they and their Native American allies would attack and burn down British-held Fort William Henry. If it weren’t for Pilot Knob Mountain, you could have seen the flames from here. Perhaps you could have anyway. You certainly would have smelled the smoke. This event in the French and Indian War between France and Great Britain, was made vivid in James Fenimore Cooper’s book, The Last of The Mohicans.
[singlepic id=377 w= h= float=none]Directly below the peak to northwest, sitting in the east-to-west middle of Lake George’s width is Dome Island. The water between the island and the eastern shore, closest to Buck Mountain, is the deepest part of Lake George, reaching a depth of 200 feet (61 meters).
Along with nearly every other of the highest mountains in the state, I could see Mount Marcy in the distance. Taller than those around her and covered in snow, she looked beautiful. I was unaware that the evening before a mother and her two young children spent the night lost on Mt. Marcy’s peak, in sub-zero windchill. That a helicopter was lifting the mother and children to safety right around the time I was taking photos of the High Peaks from Buck’s summit was something I couldn’t see from where I was. The fact that the most severe injury I heard of was frost bite, though her way-finding skills, as is true for most of us, could use some work, I commend that mother for her cold weather safety knowledge, and for taking her children out to learn both about nature’s beauty and indifference. It might have been a better idea to choose a milder time of year, but in my opinion, they will be stronger for it.
Looking at everything from so high, I knew it wouldn’t be long before all the barren trees would be flush with leaves, so much so that the enormity of Lake George wouldn’t be visible from anywhere but the peak. Then, months from now they will light up into the brightest and deepest reds, yellows, and oranges.
Following Autumn, I’ll see the lake from below the peak, and the snow will be back. That’s pretty much what ran through my head on the way back down, as I stopped once more to take in the view just below the summit.
Every season feels like the best one to enjoy being in nature. Each one reveals a different side.