Schroon River & Bald Peak - 8/20/11

Any day paddling on the Schroon River is a good day.  My college buddy Craig came up for a weekend visit and we chose to do a half day paddle and a half day hike on Saturday 8/20.  We started with the paddle.  Schroon Falls is a nice launch spot from off of Route 9 and makes for about a 4 hour paddle to the State Boat Launch in the Town of Schroon Lake. 

When I had paddled the Schroon River 2 weeks earlier, the gauge at Riverbank had been at about 2.5 feet and the river was a little scratchy, but with a good dose of rain on 8/15 the gauge was up to about 3.35 feet.  You still had to watch for shallow spots, but it was a much nicer paddle with the extra water.

We got on the water just after 8 AM.  Lots of ducks, but no herons or egrets on this trip.  We didn't see another boat until we entered the lake.  About two-thirds of the way to the lake we pulled up onto a sand bar and put a swim and baked in the sun for a few minutes.   

Our paddle for the day - Schroon Falls to the State Boat Launch

Gauge height at Riverbank was about 3.35 feet on 8/20/11

Just starting out from Schroon Falls

One of many nice sand bars

Hoffman Mountain in the background

just arrived at the North end of Schroon Lake

heading south along the lake

This guy had 2 dogs with him on his sit-on-top.  Both dogs looked scared.  The dog in front was barking and the dog in back was whimpering.  If either one fell in, I don't know how he would have gotten them back into the boat.

Schroon Lake Public Beach

Schroon Lake Boathouse Theater behind the boat launch

Craig enjoying the lake

After our paddle, we had lunch and headed for Rocky Peak Ridge.  We parked at the New Russia trailhead on Route 9 at 2:20 PM.   From the trailhead to Bald Peak was 3.9 miles, one way, and that was a good distance for us hike for an afternoon.

Summit Coordinates:  44° 9' 36'' N; 73° 39' 57'' W

Elev. at Summit:  3035'
Distance New Russia to Bald Peak:  3.9 miles
Total distance round trip:  7.8 miles
Round trip time:  4 hours

Our route is highlighted in blue

1st viewpoint was about 40 minutes into the hike (before Blueberry Cobbles)

Summit of Bald Peak

Looking towards Rocky Peak Ridge from Bald Peak

Some interesting clouds came in during the afternoon, but we didn't get any rain

Zoom of Dix Range from Bald Peak

Rocky Peak Ridge is a fantastic hike.  It is unusual, in that about 60 % of the ridge is open with views!  After 45 minutes of hiking from Route 9, you start to get almost continuous views.  Several groups we saw were hiking the whole ridge from New Russia to Giant Peak and back (about a 16 mile hike).  Others had parked 2 cars (one on Route 9 and another on route 73) and were hiking thru.... about 11 miles.

No matter how you chose to do it, it's a great hike.