Ledge Mountain is also called Ledger Mountain on some maps. It has an attractive ledge that caught my eye from Routes 28/30 in Indian Lake. This became an afternoon destination for Leesa and I after having climbed Chimney Mountain in the morning.
The mountain lies in the Blue Mountain Wild Forest, just SE of Rock Lake. We parked at a parking lot and trailhead for Rock Lake. We signed in at the trail register and almost immediately afterwards veered right off the trail to begin a bushwhack to Ledge Mountain. We traveled just south of east on a bearing of around 105 degrees. We soon crossed a snowmobile trail and continued on through mostly hardwoods.
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Trailhead sign
As we climbed higher, pines began to mix in with the hardwoods, but the bushwhack was easy and open the entire route. We stayed close to the southern end of the ridge as we climbed so we could check out potential viewpoints along the way. We wore microspikes but they weren't really needed.
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| Looking south |
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| One of several viewpoints |
Near the highpoint of the ridge we came across a survey marker. The mountain was spelled "Ledge" on the marker.
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| Survey Marker! |
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| A closer look |
Very close to the survey marker was the true summit (which turned out to be a boulder). Also in that vicinity was a ledge offering the best views.
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| Leesa rewarding Rev on the ledge near the summit. |
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| Looking SE |
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| Looking SW |
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| This boulder was the high point of the mountain |
On the way down, when we reached the snowmobile trail, we turned onto it and followed it to Rock Lake. We left the trail to walk out onto a nearby peninsula; where we found a designated campsite near the point.
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| Leesa and Rev at the point of the peninsula on Rock Lake |
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| Blue Mountain in the distance. |
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| Rev... awaiting a reward... |
After snacks on the peninsula, we went back to the snowmobile trail and then took the marked foot trail back to the car. We were quite pleased with this trip. It was a nice combination of woods, hills, views and a frozen lake.
Hike Stats:
Hike Distance: 4.6 miles
Hike Time: 3 hours
Total Vertical Gain: ~700'
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| The route |
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| The route on the Nat Geo map |
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