Watch Hill on Indian Lake 🗺️
About Watch Hill on Indian Lake ....
Watch Hill on Indian Lake is a popular, family-friendly foothill mountain located in the Jessup River Wild Forest near Sabael and the town of Indian Lake in the central Adirondacks of New York. It is highly regarded as a rewarding "short hike with big views," making it an excellent alternative to the much steeper, crowded trails nearby. The first section follows a flat, old logging road before converting into a footpath with a few brief, fun scrambles over steep rock lips. The trail features two distinct open rock faces near the top. The first gives a direct, striking view westward toward the massive Griffin Brook Slide on Snowy Mountain. Moving another tenth of a mile brings you to the second ledge, which opens up to views of the southern end of Indian Lake, John Mack Bay, and Squaw Mountain.
Summit Route: A 2.2-mile round trip with a modest 380-foot elevation gain to the peak's rocky ledges.
Lake Shore Route: A 3.2 to 3.7-mile out-and-back trip that includes a steep 480-foot drop from the summit down to a rocky beach on the western shore of Indian Lake.
Helpful Hint: While I suggest you look on blog for a downloadable PDF Map, you should be able to print or save this map by clicking the print button on the map above.
Data Sources
Road Trip to Coal Country by Nate Matthews - You can download the KMZ File used in creation of this map.
NY Aerial NAIP (2019) - High-resolution aerial photography from NYSGIS, photos taken with leaves on in summer 2019. NYSGIS. WMS Service: https://orthos.its.ny.gov/arcgis/services/wms/NAIP_2019/MapServer/WMSServer, Layer: 0
NYS Roads and Trails (Invert) - NYSDEC. Download KMZ File / Download GeoJSON File
ArcMap FeatureService: https://services6.arcgis.com/DZHaqZm9cxOD4CWM/ArcGIS/rest/services/DEC_Trails/FeatureServer/ Query: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6
3DEP Elevation Hillshade. LIDAR and legacy USGS DRG Topo Derived hillshades used as a background. DEM - WMS Service: https://elevation.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/services/3DEPElevation/ImageServer/WMSServer, Layer: 3DEPElevation:Hillshade Gray
Full List of WMS and ArcMap Services - CSV Spreadsheet with all web map services currently used on the blog.
More about Watch Hill...
The newly marked trail on NY 30 takes you to a hill overlooking Snowy Mountain and points south, along down to a scenic location along the edge of Indian Lake.
