Pilot Knob Mountain, in the Lake George Wild Forest is a beautiful place. For me, it's one of those nearby places that I can climb on a weeknight when I'm looking to get the dog some exercise.
Friday was a nice night for a walk and I headed for the Buck Mountain trailhead on Pilot Knob Road. I hasn't sure which trail I would take. It would depend on how many cars were in the parking lot. When I arrived, the lot was 2/3 full. That meant that the trail to Buck Mountain would probably be quite crowded. That left me with the Inman Pond trail or a hike up the herd path to Pilot Knob.
Since it was a nice clear night, I chose Pilot Knob.
The herd path begins .5 miles from the trailhead and is off the Inman Pond trail. It climbs steeply and is a good workout. The beautiful shoulder of the mountain is reached in 1.8 miles and I can get there in an hour when I push hard. It is a 1500' Climb.
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| Looking to the Tongue Range from the shoulder of Pilot Knob Mountain |
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| Long Island |
Since I reached the shoulder in an hour, I decided to continue on to the 1969 plane crash site on the side of Pilot Knob Mountain. It's another .7 miles and I got there in 20 minutes. It's a little hard to find in the summer time. There are tall ferns in the area that make the faint herd path here hard to follow.
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| The true summit of Pilot Knob mountain in the distance |
It's a very desolate spot where the plane crashed, since it's on a cliff face near the top of the mountain.
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| A gravestone at the plane crash site |
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| Small pieces of the plane are all that is left |
It was now 6:30 at night, so no time to linger. I moved quickly to get back to the trailhead. The dog and I had our exercise for the night!
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| Looking back at the shoulder of the mountain |
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| Assembly Point and Long Island below. |
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| The route (Click image to enlarge) |
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