Snowy mountain

I went for a dayhike to Snowy mountain yesterday. Snowy mountain is just south of the village of Indian Lake, a long drive especially for a day hike but I figured that autumn would be a good time of year to make the longer drive and the colors did not disapoint. Snowy, at 3899 feet is bigger that 4 of the ADK 46 4000 footers and it is certainly tougher than several of them. It is a wooded summit but there are ledges for views east as well as north (be careful not to get too close as there are sharp dropoffs). The show stopper is the fire tower that rises well above the trees.

This hike got off to a bad start and it continued downhill (well, you know what I mean) from there. I got my pack out to find that the bladder had deposited all it's contents on the back seat floor mats. On the plus side I was amazed at how much water the mats had absorbed. So to start I was low on water. To make matters worse it was almost mid summer like yesterday and I starting the hike at 10am in the heat of the day. The trail meanders over mostly flat ground crossing and re-crossing brooks for a few miles. Like with many adirondack hikes, a few miles of flat approach and then all of a sudden straight up.

The trail got ever steeper until you climbed out of a steep shute onto a ledge looking east over Indian Lake. I could hear a lot of loud barking from some idiot who had brought cujo up the mountain. The vast majority of dogs that you meet on the trails are friendly but this guy was anything but. To further ruin the usual zen of the mountain summit, there were hordes of deer flies that didn't seem willing to let me take a few photos. I stuck it out for a few minutes to get a few photos before making for the exit. The flies followed me down the trail quite a ways before deciding to let me stop and eat my lunch.

Not the usual relaxing hike but the drive there and back made the day worthwhile.