Treadway Mountain - 11/27/11

One more day to the long weekend meant one more adventure.  Schroon Lake had received about 8" of snow on 11/22 and we took advantage of that by getting out the snowshoes for the first time this season.  They weren't really necessary yet, but we were anxious to pull them out.

Our destination was Treadway Mountain (elevation 2244') in the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness of the Adirondacks.   Not a real steep climb, but we wanted to go a little easy the first time on the snowshoes this season.

We drove to Putnam Pond to park at the trailhead and soon discovered that we should have taken the 4Runner.  The campground road had not been plowed and it looked like the Jetta would not have made it.  That meant we had to walk an additional mile or so each way to get to the trailhead.

We took the trail that loops south around the southern end of Putnam Pond and followed that to the Treadway Mountain trail.  .4 miles before the Treadway Mountain Trail, the trail to Grizzle Ocean leanto split off to the left.

It was a little tricky snowshoeing.  In some parts of the trail you didn't need snowshoes.  In other parts, they were handy.  We ended up taking them on and off three times, and probably should have done so a couple more times.

Putnam Pond.... no ice yet

Trailhead sign

The split between the Putnam Pond trail and the Grizzle Ocean trail

Onward to Treadway Mountain!

As you approach the shoulder of Treadway Mountain, you reach large rock faces

Leesa on the summit

Pharaoh Lake in the distance from the summit

Treadway Mountain summit

Beavers have been quite busy near a small pond along the trail

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance: 9.4 miles (includes hike distance on road)

Hike Time:  7 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  1970'

Summit Elev:  2244'

Min. Elev:  1247'

Our route in blue

Google Earth image

Most of the trail was pretty nondescript. The summit, however, was quite interesting. There are large veins of rose quartz in the rock and you could spend quite a bit of time exploring at the summit and looking at the rock. The views are also quite nice, and on a clear day you can see in all directions.