Day 4 of March 2024 Trip to Adirondacks, Hurricane Mountain

by admin

The fourth day of my March 2024 trip to the Adirondacks. I checked out Hurricane Mountain on the eastern outskirts of Adirondack Mountains, with views into Vermont.

Johns Brook Valley

This was my last day of outdoor activities in the Adirondacks. Weather forecast indicated chances of rain in the afternoon. Given I wasn’t fond of the mud situation days earlier, I decided to take on a relatively short hike, and for that I picked “Hurricane Mountain”.

Hurricane Mountain Hike

I took the “southern approach” towards Hurricane Mountain for easier access. The trailhead of this hike was on the crest of New York State Route 9N. There were spaces for a few cars to parallel-park on the northern side of the road, together with a small overflow lot on the southern side. I arrived just before 9am and spaces were widely available.

Here’s GPS tracking:

Knob Lock Mountain (left) and Tripod Mountain (right)

0.7km from trailhead, there was a small overlook of a few mountains across the valley to the south. NY 9N made its way across in the valley below.

Unlike my hikes in the Adirondacks the previous days, where the trail monotonically transitioned from dirt/rock to snow/ice as the elevation went up, things were different along Hurricane Mountain Trail. For the first 0.7km, the trail climbed to a small overlook (above). This part was on dirt, among conifers, and largely snow-free (p1-2 below). The next 1.4km of trail was largely flat, icy, and with the aid of planks, crossed a few swamps (p4-7 below).

Trail
Trail
Spruce Hill Brook
A handy place to take on/off crampons and use the water for some cleaning.
Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail on Boardwalk

Frozen Swamp
Frozen Swamp
Swamp
Water Crossing

After a final water crossing (p4 above), the trail continued its climb. Portions of the trail from here on was muddy (p1-2 below), likely due to the absence of large bodies of water (swamps), so snow/ice covers had melted. (The dominance of deciduous trees with their fallen leaves probably contributed to the mud situation.) Later at higher elevations, snow reemerged into view.

Trail
Muddy Trail
Trail
Trail
Steep Trail
Looking back down at the steepest/most technical bit.
Trail

After joining the “northern approach” of Hurricane Mountain, there was one steep section of the trail (p5 above) requiring some caution. It’s nowhere as technical as Wright Peak / Big Slide Mountain for the previous two days.

Fallen Tree

Some comments online mentioned “quite a few blowdowns to navigate around”, which was true. This was the most significant obstacle blocking the trail, requiring minimal bushwacking on the way around.

At 11:30am, 2.5 hours after leaving my car, I made it to the summit of Hurricane Mountain. By that, I meant the top of the restored fire tower.

Fire Tower on Hurricane Mountain

Windy but spectacular views on top. A minor issue was that the fence wires were broken at certain places, requiring caution.

The summit of Hurricane Mountain offered 180-degree views to the south, but the fire tower extended that to 360-degree. That’s when I made the somewhat disappointing discovery that the heart of Adirondack Mountains was still behind clouds. As a result, for my 4 days of outdoor exploration in the Adirondacks, not even once did I see Mount Marcy, which was the highest peak in the state of New York.
On the flip side, the fire tower offered views of Lake Champlain to the east, behind patches of clouds and backed by mountains in Vermont. In particular, Mount Mansfield, the highest peak of Vermont which was 79km (49.2 mi) away, was visible. Maybe I should interpret that as the state of Vermont welcoming me.

Johns Brook Valley
Adirondack Mountains to the West
Fields to the North
Lake Champlain
Giant Mountain Wilderness

Whiteface Mountain
With its ski tracks.
Big Slide Mountain

Big Slide Mountain is the highest visible peak in this photo, with its sheer southern cliff. I summitted Big Slide Mountain the previous day. Algonquin Peak was a taller peak behind Big Slide Mountain in this photo, concealed by clouds.
Porter and Cascade Mountain
I summitted Cascade Mountain three days ago.
Jay and Saddleback Mountain
Lower Wolfjaw Mountain
Valley
A V-shaped gap in between mountains, near Indian Head.
Lake Champlain

Mount Mansfield, the highest mountain in the state of Vermont, in the center of this photo above clouds.

Mountains to the North from Hurricane Mountain Fire Tower

Mountains from Hurricane Mountain Fire Tower
to the north (top) and west (bottom)

Anyway, I could only enjoy so many views before having to get off the fire tower to find shelter from the winds, which were strong heralding the impending rain. In the end, after some snacks, I started my descent at 12:05pm.

Mountains to the South from Hurricane Mountain Summit

The descent was largely uneventful (apart from some more unpleasant experience with mud). In the end, I got back to my car at 2:45pm.

Cascade Lakes

On my way back, I made a stop along the shore of Lower Cascade Lake. This was an elongated lake, sandwiched between Cascade Mountain and Pitchoff Mountain. The deep valley shape of the surrounding landscape gave it somewhat of a fjord feeling.

Below were the photos taken 3 days ago, after my hike to Cascade Peak.

Lower Cascade Lake
Lower Cascade Lake
Lower Cascade Lake
Ice Patterns on Lower Cascade Lake

To better appreciate the valley shape, this time I launched my drone for an aerial tour.

Lower Cascade Lake
Cascade Lakes
Lower Cascade Lake
Cascade Lakes
Pitchoff Mountain
Patterns of Frozen Ice on Lower Cascade Lake

And here’s a video:

2 minutes and 1 second, covering both westbound and eastbound directions, 2160p60fps, H265 only, 15Mbps for a total file size of 243MB.

Luckily, the rain waited until I had landed my drone to arrive. After that, I headed back to the lodge in Saranac Lake for a final time, concluding the day.

Cross Country Ski Event at Mt Van Hoevenberg

Fast forward to the next day (March 6), as I woke up to a drizzly sky.
I planned this trip with the flexibility to spend one more day hiking in the Adirondacks. Given my unpleasant experience with mud at most of the trails in the Adirondacks and the bad weather for the day, I decided to head back home, but not before checking out US Collegiate Ski & Snowboard National Association (USCSA)’s cross-country skiing competition at Mt Van Hoevenberg.
The morning of March 6 featured short distance sprint races of cross-country skiing, formatted in three stages of qualifying, semi-final and final. The drizzle made the snow surface slushy, which turned out to be a challenge for most of the participants. (It also meant for most of the time, I was holding an umbrella in one hand and my camera in the other, not the most elegant/nimble configuration.)
Below were some highlights of the photos that I captured. Photos in the following slideshows of USCSA skiing competition shall be in public domain.