DSettahr
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In addition to the Catskill High Peaks, the Adirondack Hundred Highest, and the lean-to challenge, I’ve been slowly working on the Fire Tower Mountains in the Adirondacks and the Catskills. While driving back up to Paul Smiths on Tuesday morning, I decided to climb Vanderwhacker Mountain and cross one more fire tower mountain off of the list.
It took some careful map reading and navigation to find the dirt road leading to the Moose Lake Club, on which the trailhead is located. This seasonal road starts at Route 28N, and leads approximately 3 miles to the trailhead, passing through some nice coniferous swamps and some nice campsites (most of which had trailers set up in them as hunting camps). By driving slowly and carefully, I was able to avoid bottoming out my low-clearance Geo on the numerous rocks that stuck up through the road, and reached the trailhead without any serious complications. By far, the most eroded section of the road was the final 50 feet up the side road into the parking area. If I ever go back, I think I’ll park on the side of the dirt road, without driving all the way up into the parking lot.
The first half on the hike is fairly level. According to the guidebook, it follows a snowmobile trail; however, a sign at the trailhead warned that snowmobiles were not permitted, so this trail must have recently been closed to snowmobile access. It’s fairly wide, and quite level. At first, it follows along a woods stream, which can be heard bubbling and flowing even when it can’t be seen. After crossing the stream, the trail passes by several old beaver flows that are quickly filling in with grasses and vegetation. The trail here is a bit muddy in spots.
I completely missed the junction with the old snowmobile trail to Newcomb on the ascent, and soon found myself standing in front of the fire tower observer’s cabin. The cabin is in fairly decent shape, although porcupines have obviously chewed up much of the interior. While locked (of course) I was able to get a peek inside by peering through the windows. A nearby storage shed, however, was in much worse shape.
Beyond the cabin, the character of the trail changes dramatically. It quickly begins a steep ascent of the mountain, and much of the trail is either badly eroded or very muddy. Sections of the trail have turned into streambeds, and a steady flow of water cascaded down past my feet as I climbed. The one exception was a newer reroute consisting of a single switchback, which avoided what had obviously been the steepest section of the original trail. Someone (maybe the ADK professional trail crew?) has put a lot of work into this section of the trail, and the going was gradual and quite nice. Beyond the reroute, however, the trail retained its original character, with the addition of slippery mossy bedrock in some spots. The worst sections of mud and erosion were, of course, the widest. It was clear that many people hiking this mountain attempted to walk around these sections, causing the most eroded and impacted areas to widen over time.
Before long, the trail crested a ridge and turned to follow the height of land uphill. In this stretch, it began to leave the deciduous forest behind, which was replaced by coniferous evergreens. Despite not being as steep as the stretch left behind, the trail was still fairly eroded in some areas, particularly in one spot where there was a decent amount of water flowing down the trail for a fair distance.
While the grades were more moderate from here on, the trail continued a relentless uphill gain, marked with periods of deceiving flatness. Several times, I was tricked into thinking I was approaching the summit, only to round a corner in the trail discover that I still had more uphill to gain. Before long, however, I pushed through some trees and saw the fire tower just ahead of me.
The guidebook describes the summit as being surrounded by trees on 3 sides; I would amend this to say that it is surrounded by trees on 3 and a half sides. There is not much of a view to be had from ground level, but fortunately, the fire tower appears to be in excellent shape. While the day had remained mostly cloudy, there were periods of sunshine throughout my climb. While I did not have the fortune of experiencing sunshine on the summit, I could see sunlight leaking through the clouds in the distance upon climbing the tower. To the north, the High Peaks were all firmly in the grip of dense clouds. To the west and the south, however, were spectacular views of Blue Mountain, Snowy Mountain, and those peaks in their vicinity. Definitely a peak worth climbing on a clear day to experience the views.
The summit also had a survey bolt with the date “1880” stamped on it. It looked quite new, which made me question its authenticity, although I suppose it could be a real Colvin era survey bolt.
As I had to get back to school in time to teach an evening lab, I quickly made the descent and returned to my car without incident. I was, however, able to spot the old snowmobile trail to Newcomb as I passed by. It was blocked from easy view due to a large blowdown, and it was only while traveling back to the trailhead that I noticed the path. It certainly doesn’t look like it has been maintained in quite some time.
In addition to the Catskill High Peaks, the Adirondack Hundred Highest, and the lean-to challenge, I’ve been slowly working on the Fire Tower Mountains in the Adirondacks and the Catskills. While driving back up to Paul Smiths on Tuesday morning, I decided to climb Vanderwhacker Mountain and cross one more fire tower mountain off of the list.
It took some careful map reading and navigation to find the dirt road leading to the Moose Lake Club, on which the trailhead is located. This seasonal road starts at Route 28N, and leads approximately 3 miles to the trailhead, passing through some nice coniferous swamps and some nice campsites (most of which had trailers set up in them as hunting camps). By driving slowly and carefully, I was able to avoid bottoming out my low-clearance Geo on the numerous rocks that stuck up through the road, and reached the trailhead without any serious complications. By far, the most eroded section of the road was the final 50 feet up the side road into the parking area. If I ever go back, I think I’ll park on the side of the dirt road, without driving all the way up into the parking lot.
The first half on the hike is fairly level. According to the guidebook, it follows a snowmobile trail; however, a sign at the trailhead warned that snowmobiles were not permitted, so this trail must have recently been closed to snowmobile access. It’s fairly wide, and quite level. At first, it follows along a woods stream, which can be heard bubbling and flowing even when it can’t be seen. After crossing the stream, the trail passes by several old beaver flows that are quickly filling in with grasses and vegetation. The trail here is a bit muddy in spots.
I completely missed the junction with the old snowmobile trail to Newcomb on the ascent, and soon found myself standing in front of the fire tower observer’s cabin. The cabin is in fairly decent shape, although porcupines have obviously chewed up much of the interior. While locked (of course) I was able to get a peek inside by peering through the windows. A nearby storage shed, however, was in much worse shape.
Beyond the cabin, the character of the trail changes dramatically. It quickly begins a steep ascent of the mountain, and much of the trail is either badly eroded or very muddy. Sections of the trail have turned into streambeds, and a steady flow of water cascaded down past my feet as I climbed. The one exception was a newer reroute consisting of a single switchback, which avoided what had obviously been the steepest section of the original trail. Someone (maybe the ADK professional trail crew?) has put a lot of work into this section of the trail, and the going was gradual and quite nice. Beyond the reroute, however, the trail retained its original character, with the addition of slippery mossy bedrock in some spots. The worst sections of mud and erosion were, of course, the widest. It was clear that many people hiking this mountain attempted to walk around these sections, causing the most eroded and impacted areas to widen over time.
Before long, the trail crested a ridge and turned to follow the height of land uphill. In this stretch, it began to leave the deciduous forest behind, which was replaced by coniferous evergreens. Despite not being as steep as the stretch left behind, the trail was still fairly eroded in some areas, particularly in one spot where there was a decent amount of water flowing down the trail for a fair distance.
While the grades were more moderate from here on, the trail continued a relentless uphill gain, marked with periods of deceiving flatness. Several times, I was tricked into thinking I was approaching the summit, only to round a corner in the trail discover that I still had more uphill to gain. Before long, however, I pushed through some trees and saw the fire tower just ahead of me.
The guidebook describes the summit as being surrounded by trees on 3 sides; I would amend this to say that it is surrounded by trees on 3 and a half sides. There is not much of a view to be had from ground level, but fortunately, the fire tower appears to be in excellent shape. While the day had remained mostly cloudy, there were periods of sunshine throughout my climb. While I did not have the fortune of experiencing sunshine on the summit, I could see sunlight leaking through the clouds in the distance upon climbing the tower. To the north, the High Peaks were all firmly in the grip of dense clouds. To the west and the south, however, were spectacular views of Blue Mountain, Snowy Mountain, and those peaks in their vicinity. Definitely a peak worth climbing on a clear day to experience the views.
The summit also had a survey bolt with the date “1880” stamped on it. It looked quite new, which made me question its authenticity, although I suppose it could be a real Colvin era survey bolt.
As I had to get back to school in time to teach an evening lab, I quickly made the descent and returned to my car without incident. I was, however, able to spot the old snowmobile trail to Newcomb as I passed by. It was blocked from easy view due to a large blowdown, and it was only while traveling back to the trailhead that I noticed the path. It certainly doesn’t look like it has been maintained in quite some time.
