Pitchoff Mountain - 10/30/11

On Saturday, the folks at The Mountaineer had told us another good rocky summit to climb was Pitchoff Mountain in Keene, NY.  We didn't waste any time in deciding that it would be the hike for Sunday.  The loop hike was 4.5 miles with a 2.6 mile walk on the road back to the car (the road piece was a nice walk past the Cascade Lakes but very windy through the notch and no shoulder on the road to walk on).

We started at 10:15 at the western end (the trail began directly across the street from the trail to Cascade Mountain).

Hike Time:  4 hrs 45 minutes (plus 45 minute hike back on road)

Hike Distance: 4.5 miles

Trailhead Elevation:  2250'

Summit Elevation: 3488'

Total Vertical Gained:  1788' (plus road gain)

Trailhead sign

An early viewpoint

1st look at the western viewpoint

View towards Cascade and the slide

Leesa checking out her footing on an early section of downhill

Don't miss this view to the west!  Go all the way out to the point

After an hour, we reached the sign directing us to the 1st viewpoint.  Be sure to check it out.  It is the best viewpoint on the ridge and is awesome!  A great short hike would be to just hike from the road to this point and return.

Looking west towards North Elba

Mount Van Hoevenberg Luge Run can be seen in the distance on the right.

The red berries were quite a contract to the blue sky and the snow

The last viewpoint from the eastern end of the ridge

The descent from the eastern end of the ridge to the road looked quite steep on the map, but it turned out to be not so bad.  The trail led down through some birches and along a stream and wasn't so difficult after all.

The welcome to Keene sign beside Cascade Lake

Our journey highlighted in blue

This hike capped a fine weekend of hiking.  Both day were cold (right around freezing), but the wind wasn't too bad, the sun was out and the views were perfect.