Not to be confused with the High Peak Mt. Haystack! This one is in Ray Brook and offers a friendlier climb.
The trailhead for Haystack and McKenzie mountain is on the right, off Route 86 about 5 miles west of Lake Placid
A pleasant walk in the woods until you cross an old man-made dam. From here the trail begins a steady uphill climb until you get closer to the mountain where it becomes steep. Once you get towards the top of the shute the trail leads to an open rock face and ledge with some views. From the south-facing summit, there are 180-degree views of Whiteface, the High Peaks, and the Saranac Lake chain.
Distance: 6.6 miles RT (10.6 km)
Ascent: 1302 (397 m)
Elevation: 2864 (873 m)
A nice hike, with Derek.
Brain and Cindy had invited me along on this hike. At the time I hadn't done a lot of hiking in the Lake George area, so this was all new to me.
We went in at the Clay Meadows parking lot, which was near beside a small quarry pool. From the trailhead, we hiked straight up to the center of the mountain’s spine. From that trail junction, we went south over French Point which has some awesome views from its open ledge. We continued on towards Montcalm Point, however, we decided to drop down before First Peaks and bushwhack to the trail along Northwest Bay and take the trail back out to the trailhead and parking area.
This is a hike I want to do again.
It was around 4 miles from the loop
Just under 1000' of elevation gain.
This is a nice little hike. You can do the loop hike or as we did up and down the same shorter route. The loop trip is a nice way to go down, nice and easy grade.
The trailhead is off Heart Lake at the Adirondac Loj which is at the end of the Adirondack Loj Rd, which is the first right after the ski jumps coming from Lake Placid.
The trail descends gently from Adirondack Loj Rd down to a road next to Heart Lake. Turn right for 60 yards. and the true start of the trail to Mt. Jo. After 1/4 mile of climb, there is a junction. The Short Trail goes right while the Long trail goes straight. We took the Short Trail, it's steeper and rougher. The trails meet just before the summit, so you have options going up and down. Total distance 1.1...
A nice snowshoe walk into the Ausable Club property. This area is absolutely beautiful, year-round. The club is all private property, but an agreement with New York state allows access via foot traffic only, and no pets.
The hike from the parking area, round trip is around 6 miles.
The elevation gain was around 800'.