No. 8 Hill, Pharaoh Lake Wilderness

Late January, sun shining, moderate temperatures; a perfect day for a hike in the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness. My plan was to follow the Sucker Brook Trail for four miles and then go off-trail for half a mile to the top of No. 8 Mountain. And I did reach to the top of a mountain. It's just that it was not "No. 8 Mountain". Its' name is actually No. 8 Hill; a distinction of no interest, except, there actually is a separate mountain, named No. 8 Mountain, located just two miles away. That's a bit confusing.

Pharaoh Mountain, seen from No. 8 Hill. This view of the imposing western face of Pharaoh Mountain is as good as it gets.

If you've seen the movie The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain you might imagine that the distinction between No. 8 Mountain and No. 8 Hill is based on some physical  characteristic that separates the mountains from the hills. In the movie, the inhabitants of an isolated Welsh town are told that their "mountain" is only a hill. They got the downgrade because their mountain was just shy of the 1000 foot minimum used by the UK Ordinance Survey as the defining characteristic of a mountain. Apparently, British geographers of that period had a lot of time on their hands. In the U.S. the Board of Geographic Names steered clear of such arbitrary distinctions. In any case, with an elevation of 1945 feet No. 8 Mountain doesn't meet a standard that might separate it from its' slightly lower neighbor. The summit elevation of No. 8 hill is just 100 feet lower at 1850 feet.

The USGS 1953 Paradox Lake Quadrangle map (1:62500) shows both peaks. This is the first edition where the name No 8 Hill appears. The Sucker Brook trail passes just north of No. 8 Hill but is not shown on this map.

Barbara McMartin mentions No. 8 Mountain in her book Discover the Eastern Adirondacks. She describes an approach from the south as an easy off-trail climb, with ledges offering good views to the south. From where I left the trail the climb of No. 8 Hill is steepish, you gain 650 feet of elevation in less than half a mile. Nearing the top I was a bit surprised to find it to be a rocky knob protected by a band of cliffs and jumbled piles of large boulders. Contouring around the summit knob looking for a way up I made one false start; steep icy slabs blocked the way so I retreated to seek a less exciting route.

Looking northwest from the summit of No. 8 Hill. The Dix Range of High Peaks region is visible in the distance. 3700 foot Hoffman Mountain is seen on the left side of the photo.

Eventually I found a manageable way up. But, while taking the last few steps to the top it struck me that it had been a bit more challenging than I had expected. And the view that unfolded in front of me was also a surprise. McMartin described No. 8 Mountain as having good views to the south, towards Brant Lake. But the mountain I was on offered spectacular vistas with an unobstructed 180 degree view to the north, east and west. 

Looking towards the southwest. Crane Mountain is visible in the distance.

It still had not sunk in that my recollection, and reality, were out of sync. So when it was time to descend I walked around the surprisingly large summit looking for an easy way down. Descending the south facing slope was promising at first, but the way was soon blocked by small cliffs. Going back up, I then headed down the western flank of the mountain. This route was also relatively gentle at first but, after a few minutes of descending, I found myself on an extremely steep and icy slope. Steep enough that I considered going back up to the top one more time so I could descend the route I followed on the way up (better the devil you know). But, by this point the afternoon was showing signs of wear, so I forged on, moving very deliberately. Within a few minutes I was back on easier terrain. The final difficulty coming in the crossing of a steep-sided little ravine filled with snow that had sloughed off the rock slabs above. 

Looking towards the southeast. Glimpses of Lake Champlain are seen in the foreground with the Green Mountains in the distance. 

This is a great little mountain (hill), and, on a warm summer day, the scramble over the steep upper slopes will seem far less daunting. Hiking solo, off-trail, in the winter, on the wrong mountain, you have to be cautious. The starting point for the Sucker Brook trail is five minute drive from the Hamlet of Adirondack on the eastern shore of Schroon lake.There is a large parking area.

The GPS track for the route described in this blog post. 

Pharoah Lake Wilderness: Rock Pond

It's easy to forget that nearly a million acres of the Adirondack Forest Preserve lie east of the Northway (I-87). The eastern section includes Lake George, Schroon lake and the New York side of Lake Champlain; all significant attractions. But, for hikers, the undisputed crown jewel in the east is the 45,000 acre Pharaoh Lake Wilderness (PLW). The PLW encompasses mountains with open summits and boulder strewn slopes. Nestled among those peaks and ridges are some of the most attractive lakes and ponds in the Adirondacks. And the area was settled --and logged-- early on, so a matrix of surprisingly mature second-growth forest blankets the landscape. I've hiked in the PLW before but my last visit was over 20 years ago. So my recent walk to Rock Pond --4.5 miles via the Short Swing Trail-- was an eye opener. The Pharaoh Lake Wilderness is an outstanding hiking destination.

Honey Pond. A semi-permanent, shallow, pond. The size of the pond varies based on the vitality of the local beaver population. As of December 2017 the outlet is solidly dammed and the pond has flooded sections of the Short Swing trail  (getting around the wet areas is not difficult).

At these latitudes the late December sun never gets very high in the sky. This picture was taken near Lillypad pond at about 1:00 pm. 

As mentioned, I've hiked in the PLW before and this was a favorite destination for family hikes when our children were children. In fact it was at Pharaoh Lake, nearing the end of an epic, six day, family backpacking trip that our nine year old daughter uttered one of the most memorable lines in our family history;

"We've been here for a week, we are out of food, and our parents don't care."

We were getting low on food and she and her brother were sick of our freeze-dried fare. She used that line to extract granola bars from passing day hikers. Once Elle and I caught on we had to put a stop to her "gathering" activities. But I have to admit, we were all pretty sick of backpacker food at that point and I was tempted to let her keep trying.

Rock Pond has an attractive rocky shoreline. Via the Short Swing Trail and Lillypad Pond trail, it's about 4.5 miles to reach the western end of Rock Pond. A mile-long trail goes around the pond and a shorter approach can be made from Putnam Pond.

Major trails enter the PLW from several directions and easy access is part of the appeal of the PLW. Two trail with good parking are found along NY Route 74 between Paradox Lake and Eagle Lake. Other trails depart from the State Campground at Putnam Pond and several trails enter the PLW from the south. The PLW trail system is extensive so long looping routes are possible. There are 14 lean-tos located within the boundaries of the PLW, most sited near the numerous lakes and ponds.

Lillypad Pond lean-to. 

Lillypad Pond

The GPS track showing my route to Rock Pond is shown in light blue. The orange lines represent trails are represented in the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation's downloadable trails map. The trails map is available as a KML file that can be viewed in Google earth. It can be downloaded from the DEC website.    

The map image shows my GPS track (light blue) overlaid on a trails layer (orange) that can be download from the New York State DEC website (displayed using Google Earth). I was curious why the GPS track is not more closely aligned with the trails from the DEC map layer. I would expect the GPS track to be accurate to around 30 feet. But the gap between my track, and the trails map layer route, are separated in places by as much as a quarter mile.

There are several potential sources for this type of discrepancy. One is that trails are commonly re-routed. A closer look at the start of the route (below) shows an example of this. It used to be that there was no parking at the trailhead for this route. There was a parking area .3 miles away but you walked along Route 74 to reach the start of the trail. Route 74 is a busy road, so a few years back DEC added a bypass trail through the woods. The map below shows that the DEC trails layer has not been updated to include this new section. The GPS track shows the highway bypass but the trails layer shows the route starting at the old entry point on the highway.

  
This provides a clue as to the source of the discrepancies between the GPS track and the trails layer route. It may simply be that the trail maps for the PLW have not been updated in some time. If those routes were drawn pre-GPS they were probably hand-drawn on a background map. That approach results in a lower accuracy.

DEC Roads and Trails (from the New York State GIS Clearinghouse)

Pharaoh Lake Wilderness DEC Site