Some people curtail their hiking during November. Reasons include: fear of hunters, the cold, the approaching holidays. The list goes on and on. I find indian summer to be a great time to hike. The bugs are gone, you can control your body temperature with a couple light layers, you can keep food and drink somewhat cold in your pack, you have better visibility since those leaves that obstruct your view in the spring and summer are gone.
Leesa and I chose Catamount for a hike based on another recommendation from staff at
The Mountaineer. They had recommended Noonmark and Catamount as a pair of great peaks for half day adventures with rocky summits.
Our stats for the day:
Trailhead Elev: 1626'
Summit Elev: 3173'
Round Trip Distance: 3.57 miles
Total Vertical Gain: 1684'
Round Trip Hike Time: 3 hours
The temperature was about 30 degrees when we started and about 40 degrees when we finished. There was no wind, a deep blue sky and not a cloud in sight during most of the hike.
Catamount has a nice rock scrabble area on the shoulder of the mountain that is a nice reward in itself. There's a short section where you'll need to use your hands to help you climb in that area. We reached the scrabble in 1 hour, and the summit a half an hour later.
 |
| Looking NE towards Catamount from Forestdale Road |
 |
| The trailhead... no markers, only red paint and ribbons |
The trail was not officially marked, but is shown on the National Geographic map. We had no problem following the herd path and there were many rock cairns up higher on the trail.
 |
| 1st view of the scrabble |
 |
| Leesa on the scrabble |
 |
| Looking south towards Whiteface |
 |
| One of many rock cairns |
 |
| Looking north towards the summit from the scrabble |
 |
| Summit Geodetic Survey marker |
 |
| Looking east from the summit |
 |
| Looking north towards a couple of the many lakes |
 |
| Looking west towards the summit |
 |
| The summit |
 |
| Mike enjoying the day |
 |
| Leesa in the scrabble on the way down |
 |
| As blue as it gets.... |
Catamount is located just north of Whiteface Mountain. Although it is a little ways north of the heart of the high peaks, Catamount is worth the trip and shouldn't be missed.
Glad to see you thought Catamound was as impressive as I do. Catamount is probably one of the top 10 peaks in the Adirondacks. And it's nice to see the Mountaineer is spreading the love out of the Keene Valley. What makes Catamount special is it is more than a great summit. Lots of open terrain, some slightly technical, also there are some 300-400ft technical climbs off to the sides of the trail on those slabs. They start just below the squeeze chimney thing on that first open view.
ReplyDeleteI find it funny how many people have spent 10s of years in the Adirondacks but never even heard of Catamount. You should also check out Silver Lake Mountain a few miles Northeast of Catamount...another short trip, but worth it!
Hi Justin - Thanks for the comment. I'll check out Silver Lake Mountain. I haven't been there before. Other lesser known peaks I enjoyed in the area were Jay Mountain and Hopkins Mountain.
Delete