High Nopit Mountain and Amy's Park - Bolton, NY - 4/23/17

On this perfect weather Sunday, Leesa, Rev and I headed to Bolton, NY for a 2nd straight day exploring this area.  Our first stop was High Nopit Mountain.  The mountain features a southern rock face and we suspected some great views as well.  We parked on Trout Falls Road at a point where the Lake George Land Conservancy Yellow Amy's Park Trail crosses the road.

We followed the yellow trail up the steep incline to the connection with the red trail.  We turned left on the red trail, following it to the end at a nice ledge with a view of Pole Hill Mountain and a distant view of Lake George.  Next we began a bushwhack to the summit of High Nopit Mountain, an additional distance of about 3/4 mile.  This area is in a conservation easement and we traversed several logging roads.  There were no posted signs anywhere on the mountain.  

High Nopit Mountain as seen from Padanarum Road

Amy's Park has nice trail maps posted at various points along the way, along with "You Are Here" indicators. 

Padanarum Road at Amy's Park yellow trail crossing. 

LGLC has many nice preserves, and Amy's Park is no exception.

We never skip a good ledge... 

An early look at Lake George.

The ledge at the end of the red trail.

  

a zoom view of the lake while we bushwhacked towards High Nopit.

Leesa and Rev on the southeastern ledge of High Nopit 

As expected, as we approached the summit and the southern cliff face, the views were spectacular. The perfect weather didn't hurt either.    

    

Great view of Lake George from High Nopit.

Zoom view...

The summit of High Nopit

Leesa, Rev and the "summit cone".

A "summit" cone.

Looking southeast.

From High Nopit, we would see Pole Hill Mountain, Lake George, Crane Mountain and Gore Mountain among other things.

Crane Mountain in the distance.

Crane Mountain (left), Gore Mountain (right)

Our guide...

When we left High Nopit, we returned to the Amy's Park red trail and began a clockwise loop around South Pond and North Pond.  This turned out to be a surprisingly delightful loop.  The red trail led to the blue trail, to the orange trail, and finally to the yellow trail.  All were beautiful.  We especially liked the rock viewpoint on the peninsula of the yellow trail.  We stopped there to eat. 

North Pond. 

One of several beaver lodges.

We liked this rock ledge viewpoint on the yellow trail. 

Rev was nudging me for food here...

Another beaver lodge.

Look out, here she comes...

The largest of many nice bridges.

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  6.7 miles

Hike Time:  4 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 1200' 

Our route...

Bartonville Mountain - Brant Lake, NY - 4/22/17

My 2nd hike on Saturday, after I hiked the Barton High Cliffs in the morning, was a short afternoon hike up Bartonville Mountain in Brant Lake.  A mountain bike park with hiking trails is planned for this mountain.  I parked at the intersection of New Street and Market Street where there is a parking area.  Orange ribbon was visible on trees.

I followed the ribbon and it was obviously the layout for a mountain bike path.  The ribbons follow a zig zag path to provide a grade acceptable to mountain bikers.  At one point, a spur trail leads to great view of Brant Lake from the south.  This will be a great short hike for families with young children.  The viewpoint is only about a half mile from the start. 

The viewpoint of Brant Lake on Bartonville Mountain.

A zoom view of the lake.

From the spur trail, it is only another quarter mile to the summit.  The orange ribbon doesn't go to the true summit, but it goes close to it.  To return, I followed the orange ribbon back down.  I'll have to stop back when the trail system is done to see how it turns out.  I'm sure mountain bikers and hikers alike with like trails.  It's a fun mountain with close proximity to a beautiful lake.

  

The high point of the orange ribbon trail... not too far from the true summit.

I saw this on the trail near the summit.  What used to be up here.

My starting location

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  1.5 miles

Hike Time:  1 hour, including stops

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 600'

The hike route.

Barton High Cliffs - Pharaoh Lake Wilderness - 4/22/17

Saturday Rev and I ventured off to the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness explore some of the terrain on the north side of Route 8 near Brant Lake.  I started by climbing Brace Hill from one of the parking pulloffs.  The first thing I noticed was a survey marker encased in concrete near the parking lot.

As I started to climb, the woods were very open hardwoods.  There were many scattered piles of rocks that seemed to have no rhyme or reason as to why they were placed that way.  I've seen this before in other areas.

Survey Marker adjacent to the parking lot

One of many rockpiles in the lower hardwoods just above the parking lot.

Brace Hill was an easy climb and was rather nondescript.  I was planning on continuing on to Barton Mountain.  There are two mountains labeled as Barton Mountain on the topo map.  I was intending to head for the higher more northerly peak.

I could see Barton Mountain from the top of Brace Hill.  What caught my eye though was the cliffs to the right of Barton.  They were on the northwest face of the hill labeled with an elevation of 1910 on the topo map.  I would later learn these cliffs are known as the Barton High Cliffs; which I had heard of before, but I didn't make the association at the time.

I decided to head for the cliffs and check them out.  I could see a massive vertical face and a huge rockpile at the bottom.

     

Barton High Cliffs in the back right of the photo as seen from Brace Hill.

Spuytenduivel Brook.

Approaching Barton High Cliffs from the southwest.

As I neared the base of the cliffs, I stayed on the opposite side of the draw from the cliffs and soon found a herd path which is likely used by rock climbers.  Cairns marked the faint path.  I was amazed at the sheer size of the cliffs.  They weren't that much smaller than the Wallface Cliffs in the High Peaks.  As I traversed the herd path near the base of the cliffs, I was looked carefully at the top to see if there were open level ledges that would be reachable.  If so, they would most certainly offer views.

It did appear that the top of the cliffs would be approachable, so I looked to see how I could get up there.

Climbing the cliff face is not an option.  I continued past the cliffs and hooked around the north side until I was able to climb.  once I found a way up, I made my way over to the top of the ledge and then began a traverse southwest along the ridge.         

An interesting tree along the way.

The summit ledges looked like they'd be approachable from the top.

The climb to the top of the high cliffs was worth it.  There were two locations on top that offered ledges with nice views.

  

Brant Lake in the distance with 2nd Brother and 3rd Brother on the right.

Stevens Mountain in the right rear.

Rev... always a hiking partner. 

Once I finishing the traverse of the ledges on top of Barton High Cliffs, I decided to head back to the car instead of looping back to the north to Barton Mountain.  

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  4.6 miles

Hike Time:  3 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 1300'