Looking for a nice hike near Willsboro, NY

[halfmoon]

Hi All,

This coming weekend I will be in Willsboro, NY, which is near Lake Champlain. I'll be at Long Pond Cabins, which is right next to the Rattlesnake Mountain Trailhead, and I will be hiking that mountain. I was also looking for another hike within about a 30 minute drive of Willsboro. I already know about Poke-o-Moonshine, and that is definitely an option.

I found a small piece of public land 20 minutes south of Willsboro on Google Maps called Split Rock Mountain. This is interesting to me because I have never heard of it, and there is very limited information available on it on the net. Is this an interesting place to hike?

Also, if anyone knows of any other gems I have not mentioned within a 30 minute radius Willsboro, then I would be grateful for your input and recommendation.

Thanks.

 

[Daniel Eagan]

I wandered around Split Rock Mountain about three years ago. There is a small parking area on Lake Shore Road about halfway between Essex and Westport. We were mainly on two trails to the south, one went up to some nice views and then looped back, the other went down a steep hill to the lake itself. It was a pleasant couple of hours, not very demanding, in fact not demanding at all. My wife and I spent more time in the water than on the trails.

Have not been to the north part of the hike but my sense was the trails were mostly in the woods. There is a map on the DEC website: http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/50713.html

If you want hiking, elevation, and views, Pok-o-Moonshine is the way to go.

 

[TCD]

These guys may be helpful:

http://www.champlainareatrails.com/trails.html

TCD

 

[halfmoon]

Thanks for all the information guys.

I did several nice hikes in the area. Split Rock Mountain was up first, nice 7 mile loop with a couple of nice views, one of which was spectacular. Then I headed over to the Coon Mountain Nature preserve, 2 mi RT, awesome view, 18 minutes RT. Then over South Boquet Mountain, again 2 miles RT, took about 17 minutes RT, VERY nice view. The afternoon was the 8 mi Bald Mountain hike near New Russia, this one was very nice too! Sunday we went up Poke-O on the new trail, and the views from up there are great, we could see Montreal yesterday.

A lot of nice walks in the area, and thanks for the tips.

Steve Hawkins