Vanderwhacker

The Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest is a 92,000-acre (370 km2) tract made up of almost 2 dozen non-contiguous parcels that are designated as Wild Forest by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in the central Adirondack Park. The area contains 44 ponds and small lakes, and portions of the Hudson and Boreas Rivers. The area supports hiking, birding, snowmobiling, Nordic skiing, hunting, camping, canoeing, and fishing. The area is served by NY-28.

Blue Ledges Trail

Scenic trail along an old woods road from Huntley Pond to the Hudson River.

Goodnow Mountain

Goodnow Mountain πŸ—» 🚢‍♀️

A couple of weeks ago I hiked up Goodnow Mountain, on a beautiful clear afternoon, that by the time I reached the mountain it started to cloud up and the humidity started to increase. I had previously in the morning attempted to hike up Giant Mountain in the High Peaks, and wanted to do something easier for the afternoon.

Goodnow Mountain is located at the SUNY ESF (Environmental Science-Forestry) College, just south of the Adirondack High Peaks on NY 28, just to the west of Newcomb. It’s a bit of a drive from the Adirondack Northway from the east or even a little ways from Long Lake to the west, but well worth it for the views.

 Trailhead Sign

About a quarter mile up the trail you pass an interesting tree grown over a rock. This is not as uncommon as you might think in the Adirondacks where the soils are poor and the ground is rocky, and trees seek to put down more roots to pick up nuetrants.

Tree Grown Over Rock

At about 1/2 mile you reach the old woods road that at one time, decades ago, provide vehicular access to the tower for forest rangers. Part of the trail is flat, but then it keeps steeper and erosion is noticable on the old road bed, no longer passable by anything then ATV in an emergency.

Trail Follows Old Woods Road

Rougher Part of the Trail

Further up the mountain, the trail follows a series of boardwalks that keeps most of the trail out of the mud and the muck.

Boardwalk

Then you reach an old abandoned barn, a well, and some interesting old debris like what appears to be a tank from a hot water heater storage unit.

Old Barn on Goodnow

Old Well

Old Water Tank

You ascend a ledge, with some limited views to the south.

South East from Ledge

Then their is a thick planation of White Pines along the trail as you make one relatively short ascent to the firetower.

Thick White Pines

Eventually at the last possible moment, you break through the White Pines to see the Goodnow Firetower, and almost instantly want to start climbing it for the views, unless your suffering from heat exhaustion, then you might want to look for the relatively limited shaded but open sections on the mountain.

Goodnow Firetower

Open Window

SUNY ESF has restored to the Ranger’s cabin, and the porch is a farely popular place to sit, enjoy the view, beat the heat for a few moments.

SUNY ESF Ranger's Station

There are many interesting views from the firetower. Here are the High Peaks looking North, the Vanderwhacker Wild Forest to the east, Kempshall Mountain / Long Lake to the west, and Blue Mountain / Blue Ridge to the South.

High Peaks and Newcomb

Vanderwhacker Wild Forest

South from Tower

Here is a map of the hike.