Off on Adventure: Huckleberry Mountain

When I hiked Crane Mountain in Johnsburg, NY on 1/2/12, I noticed a an impressive open ridge to the north. After I got home, I studied my maps and did a little research to find out about the ridge. It turned out to be Huckleberry Mountain. There are a lot of Huckleberry Mountains, but this one looked like a nice open south facing ridge.

Leesa joined me on this hike. We had a late start at about 11:30, but the hike was only a 3.3 mile round trip hike. It was no picnic however. The incline to the summit ridge was fairly steep but it was the blowdown that made it difficult. Some bouldering was present also, but you could pick your way around it.

Our approach was from the NW, as is shown in the map at the end of the post. There is a parking area on Hudson Street in Johnsburg where cars can hike to do this ascent. We used our snowshoes for this hike. There was about 8 inches of snow on the ground.

The wind was pretty strong on the ascent. We were lucky that it totally died while we were on the ridge! It started again on the way down. Our timing was perfect. The ridge has a lot of brambles and slash, but if you hug the southern edge of the ridgeline there is no issue.

I suspect that at some point in the past there was a fire on the summit, judging by the dead trees and new growth.