I hiked this on 11-29-2014, a beautiful day in the woods. Cold or not, 8 degrees isn't bad when there's little to no wind. The dogs did great and I got rid of my cabin fever.
From the parking area followed a dirt driveway for a short distance before dropping into the woods on the left. From here I hiked through a very nice mixed forest, crossing a fairly new footbridge over Slide Brook. The climb is easy for the first mile to this crossing. Once I crossed over it began to be a steady climb to the junction at 2.4 miles. Going left from the junction is short, I found to be a moderately steep 0.2-mile spur trail that brought me to the summit.
The summit has wide-open views in almost all directions.
5.2 miles round trip
Elevation gain...
A nice mountain with a fire tower that is starting to be restored. At an elevation of 3,694-foot near Keene north of the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks. The trail from route 9N was drastically rerouted since I last hiked this.
This is an open peak that now has some pretty awesome views with the new re-route of the trail, whereas before the re-route you were in the trees until you scuttled up the rocks just before the summit. During the summer and fall of 2014, the trail was almost completely relocated to avoid all of the steepest and most eroded sections. The hike to the summit is now 3.4 miles, 0.8 miles longer than before, a much more enjoyable hike.
The trail leaves the north side of Route 9N 3.5 miles east of the junction...