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.
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.
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.
Further up the mountain, the trail follows a series of boardwalks that keeps most of the trail out of the mud and the muck.
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.
You ascend a ledge, with some limited views to the south.
Then their is a thick planation of White Pines along the trail as you make one relatively short ascent to the firetower.
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.
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.
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.
About three weeks ago I decided I wanted to go hiking in the Adirondack High Peaks. It was my first time hiking there, and it probably will be the last time I go up there for a while, mainly because of the absurdly bad fear of heights. A 120 mile drive from Albany, it took me about 2 1/2 hours to reach the trail head on NY 73.
The first part of the trail is steep (as is most of the trail), but with limited views.
After 3/4 mile of a hike, it opens up to a ledge with views of the Keene Valley.
Shortly there after you reach the Giant Washbowl, a mountain pond with interesting views, surrounded by mountains.
You also get a neat view of Nubble.
There are two primative campsites along Giants’ Washbowl with no facilities except some logs to sit on.
You cross Giants’ Washbowl on a log.
With the confirous trees surrounding Giants’ Washbowl you would have no idea what season it was from this picture.
Past Giants’ Washbowl, the trail gets steeper and goes through a series of switch backs as you continue to climb.
At about 2 miles the trail opens up to a series of open rock scrambles, where you walk along a ledge of sloped rocks. It did nothing for me.
Literally, the trail runs right along this sloped ledge. These open ledges just made me sick. I started to puke, with my fear of heights kicking in as as scrambled along this.
That and seeing the maggots swarming over this piece of dung right on the trail did nothing for me.
That said, the views from this ledge where spectular.
I continued to climb another 300 feet or so on the trail, when I decided to go back, but I did get a chance to get some pretty awesome pictures from up above.
On a rock ledge, looking down at Giants’ Washbowl.
And Noomatic Mountain.
Looking South-West towards Pharoah Mountain Wilderness.
Dix Mountain and surrounding range.
At any rate, this kind of hiking did nothing for me. I decided to descend Giant Mountain, and not spend much more time in the High Peaks Range for the foreseeable future. As much as I enjoy spending time outdoors, the High Peaks with their significant ascent and the open faces just is no fun. Just writing about this mountain and looking at the pictures makes me want to barf again!
