Blue Mountain - Adirondack Park

Post date: Jun 25, 2012 11:00:04 PM

All geared up with new socks, a new shirt, and a new pack, I headed out for the trails! This time, Blue Mountain was my target and the day was looking perfect. Blue skies and puffy clouds with temps in the low 70's held their own until my drive back home.

The trail up Blue Mountain rises about 1550 feet over 2 short miles, and upon completion you will feel every foot. For comparison, that equates to 160 residential FLIGHTS of stairs - not individual stairs, but whole flights of them!

Terrain aside, the trail is wonderful and extremely well cared for. One of the first features you're greeted with are these hand-crafted stone steps. I imagine they were constructed by pry-barring the rocks into place using whatever could be found nearby.

Another feature are these lovely foot bridges, constructed to help keep you out of the muck and streams as well as protect the trail from erosion in the soft spots. This trail is heavily used and I encountered about 50 people during the 3 hours I was out.

Finally, somewhat unique to this trail (so far) are these long expanses of sloped bare granite. Not easy to trek up or down as you're either on the balls of your feet or your ankles are at an uncomfortable angle for the entire length.

At the top, there is a fire tower which I skipped this trip due to large groups of people and missing railings!

Also, a nice little collection of wild flowers.

And of course sweeping views of the valleys below and surrounding peaks.

As always, a great trip into the park and a fantastic escape from (or is it to?) real life!

-PHIL