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I had hiked this for the first time with Cindy and Jim, eventually going back and hiking with my son.

From the beginning, the hike is along an old jeep road through conifers and eventually hardwoods once you get down near the marsh. The trail is overgrown to the width of a foot trail. The trail used to continue straight where what is now underwater; even in the dead of winter, I wouldn't recommend going across the frozen marsh. The three of us did, and one of us broke through, which brought the…

My son and I hiked Seymour mountain yesterday after getting a late start. We arrived at the summer trailhead and signed in at 8:18. There was one other hiker ahead of us that we would not see until we were halfway up Seymour. We met him coming down.

We quickly booted to the first large brook crossing, where we put on our microspikes due to ice-covered rocks. From there, we left them on to the summit to save time. This proved a good decision as we ran into more and more flow ice as we gained…

A group of us planned this hike one year for a New Year's eve hike. I don't think any of us made the true summit. I realized this when I hiked this as I went much further than we did that night.

It is a primarily moderate, 1.2-mile hike to the first summit. It begins at a moderate grade as it passes under a power line, then there's a continuous climb over switchbacks for 0.8 miles, where the Beede Farm Trail comes in on the left.

Go straight and work up a few steep steps to the first open rock.…

This was another nice outing. There are various trails; we took the Lewis Clearing Bay trail and went to Snake Den overlook. These trails were moderate grade and easy to follow.

Essex, NY

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The 3,700-acre Split Rock Wild Forest is part of the Adirondack Forest Preserve. Located in the eastern foothills of the Adirondack Mountains along the shore of Lake Champlain, it comprises the largest tract of undeveloped Lake Champlain shoreline in New York.

The wild forest is named for Split Rock Mountain,…

Not to be confused with the High Peak Mt. Haystack! This one is in Ray Brook and offers a friendlier climb.

The trailhead for Haystack and McKenzie mountain is on the right, off Route 86, about 5 miles west of Lake Placid.

A pleasant walk in the woods until you cross an old man-made dam. From here, the trail begins a steady uphill climb until you get closer to the mountain, where it becomes steep. Once you get towards the top of the chute, the trail leads to an open rock face and ledge with some…

Brain and Cindy had invited me along on this hike. I hadn't done much hiking in the Lake George area at the time, so this was all new to me.

We went in at the Clay Meadows parking lot near a small quarry pool. From the trailhead, we hiked straight up to the center of the mountain’s spine. From that trail junction, we went south over French Point, which has fantastic views from its open ledge. We continued towards Montcalm Point. However, we decided to drop down before First Peaks and bushwhack…