Friday, October 10, 2014

A walk in the Park

Went for a hike in the Adirondacks today. Climbed Park mountain in the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness (near Schroon Lake). Started from the Pharaoh Road trailhead off of Beaver Pond Road. It was a bit brisk (46 F) in the morning, and I needed to put on a couple of layers. From the parking area, I continued walking along the road/trail for about 0.8 miles. Then, I turned left (west) onto an old road that follows the south side of Mill Brook. It was mostly clear (just a few blowdowns) and easy to follow. The road bed was well defined - even if you lost it momentarily you could find it again soon enough. After about 2.0 miles, I left the road and headed up the north side of Park mountain. It was open woods all the way up. Closer to the top, the terrain was steeper with a lot of moss covered rocks - slippery when coming back down. There were views to the west from a lookout near the summit (toward Schroon Lake). I continued on to the southern knob which had views to the south (toward Beaver Pond). Fall colors are past peak in this region, but there is still some nice pockets of color in the valleys.

Summit Elevation: Park 2011 ft
Round-trip Distance: 6.6 mi
Elevation Change: 1300 ft
Park mtn

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