McKenzie and Moose Mountains (with a visit to Loch Bonnie) 11/2/10

[DSettahr]

More Pictures Here​

My original plan for Monday and Tuesday of this week had been to combine an ascent of Woodhull Mountain with an overnight at the lean-to on Woodhull Lake. Monday, however, turned into a cleaning day, and realization that I had already driven too much this past weekend led me to look more locally for a hike on Tuesday. Given that Moose Mountain was one of the last major mountains in the High Peaks area that I had yet to climb, I decided to combine it with McKenzie for a two mountain day that would add yet another mountain to my Hundred Highest total.

I arrived at the trailhead near Whiteface Inn in Lake Placid early in the morning. As I stepped out of the car, I noticed some ice on the roadside puddles and a scattering of dusty snow in the woods. While checking previous entries in the trail register as I signed in, I noticed that a group had listed both McKenzie and Moose as their destination 2 days before on Sunday.

After signing in, I quickly started off. The first mile or so of the trail coincides with the Jackrabbit Trail, and follows an old road that used to run between Lake Placid and Saranac Lake through the pass between McKenzie and Haystack Mountains. While I've been through this area several times, I was last here in January of 2008, when I spent the bulk of two weeks camped out in the area for work. I had also passed this way in the Fall of 2007, when my buddy Sam and I day hiked the Jackrabbit Trail in it's entirety, covering 35+ miles in a single day. The road is in excellent shape, and the grades are fairly level to moderate throughout. There were signs of an approaching winter everywhere- ice creaked and cracked as I walked over wet spots in the trail, the snow squeaked beneath by feet, and I could hear trees popping in the woods as the sunlight began to shine upon them and warm them up.

Before long, I was taking a break at the Placid Lean-to, and flipping through the log book (which, by the way, only has a single blank page left and desperately needs to be replaced!). A little ways west of the lean-to, the Jackrabbit Trail forms a four way junction with the McKenzie Mountain trail, which runs north from Route 86. A sign here warns users that the Jackrabbit Trail west of this junction is maintained for skiing only, and indeed it looked a little bit overgrown. Here I turned north off of the Jackrabbit Trail onto the narrower hiking path, and began the real ascent up McKenzie Mountain.

The trail up the South side of McKenzie Mountain is as steep and eroded as the Jackrabbit Trail was moderately graded and in excellent shape. Much of the trail was up exposed bedrock, often covered with a lattice of roots, which alternately added and hindered the ascent. There was a fair amount of ice, and traction devices would have been nice, but I was able to ascent without any problem. Perhaps it's time to invest in microspikes for late fall hiking. There was also some blowdown on the trail, nothing major, but enough that following the trail could be difficult after a winter snowstorm. I assume that this late the season, the DEC won't send a crew out to clear it until spring.

As I gained altitude, the snow increased from a dusting to a definite cover of 1 or 2 inches. My hands, which began the day exposed, were starting to become numb due to all the exposure to the snow as I grabbed the ground and snow covered trees for balance. I had also begun the day wearing a fleece vest, which had been fine for easy uphill grades, but was causing me to sweat. I took a quick break, and exchanged the vest for a rain jacket and pants, and donned fleece gloves to protect my hands. From here on out, I was very comfortable for the majority of the day.

I had climbed McKenzie once before (we started at 2 am in December 2006 to watch the sunrise from the summit!), and so I was well aware of the multiple false summits. Along the way, I stopped at the numerous overlooks to take in the views, or at least what little ones I had through the thick clouds which were slowly starting to lift but still enveloped the mountains. I must have over prepared myself mentally concerning the false summits, as before long, sooner than I expected in fact, I was approaching the true summit. The snow here had become quite deep (about five inches), and I was readily able to see footprints from the weekend's hiking traffic in the snow. The majority of these footprints turned around at the summit, but a few proceeded north towards Moose. There was yet another lookout here, but again, the views were severely limited due to the cloud cover.

After consuming a granola bar, I began the descent to the north. This side of the mountain, while steep, lacked the erosion and the ice of the south side, and so the going was quite easy. I started to see SOA (Shore Owner's Association) markers, and I soon reached an unexpected junction about a quarter of a mile down from the summit. Trail signs here indicated that the trail straight ahead continued along the ridge to Moose Mountain, while the trail to the east descended past Bartlett Pond to the Lake Shore trail on Lake Placid. All of the footprints in the snow took a right here down the Bartlett Pond trail, leaving the trail to Moose Mountain untouched. I guess Sunday's group didn't summit Moose after all.

I pondered for a few minutes whether or not I should continue to Moose. I had a commitment at 7 PM that I absolutely could not miss, and I hated the idea of spending more time than expect trying to summit. The idea of following a trail that I knew was not maintained to the best of standards, no less a trail covered in snow with now foot prints to follow, was therefore a bit disconcerting. It was nice to know, however, that the Bartlett Pond trail could server as a useful means of bailing off the ridge without having to retrace my steps all the way up to the summit of McKenzie and back down the icy southern slopes (in fact, this trail could also serve to easily turn a hike up McKenzie into a loop route, or provide an alternate approach).

In the end, I decided to go for Moose, and I'm quite glad I did. The trail turned out to be very well marked with SOA markers, and easy to follow. It certainly wasn't in the best of shape, and it's quite clear that it's maintained to minimum standards. I'd say it's somewhere in the middle between a herd path and a marked trail. I did see blowdown regularly, but it was not a huge hindrance. I only had to stop a few times to scout out where the trail might be ahead. As for the snow, it proved to be no obstacle at all in following the trail. In fact, it seems as though a lot of the local wildlife is aware of and uses the trail regularly, and so I was often able to follow in the footsteps of rabbits, squirrels, and deer to find my way.

Continued...

 

[DSettahr]

Continued from above:

A little ways beyond the junction with the Bartlett Pond trail, I came to another junction with a sign marked "view" pointing to a trail to the east. I followed this a short ways to a nice lookout with a decent view of Moose Mountain to the North. Some distance beyond, I reached another similarly marked junction, and I followed the side trail a little ways before it disappeared into blowdown. I decided not to pursue it further.

In the col between McKenzie and Moose, where the ridge trail reaches its lowest point in the traverse, the trail makes a sharp turn back on itself, and the turn is well marked with signs pointing out the mileage to each peak. Near the col, I made an interesting discovery- 3 dead mice, an adult and two babies. It looked to me like something (fox I think) had dug them out of their den. Judging from the tracks, the animal had taken off in a hurry. Perhaps he heard me coming, and I disturbed him from his snack.

While the descent down off of McKenzie was quite steep, the ascent up Moose was anything but. It hardly seemed at times like I was gaining any elevation at all. A third side trail on the ascent took me to some nice views north towards Franklin Falls Pond and Lyon Mountain. As I approached the summit of Moose, the trail increased in steepness, but not significantly. Soon, I was on the summit of this second mountain, admiring the views.

There are two vantage points on the summit of Moose Mountain. The first gave amazing views to the south and the east. I could see McKenzie Mountain, now out of the clouds, to the south, as well as the Santanoni and the Seward Ranges further away (both still in the clouds themselves). To the southeast, the largest High Peaks were completely enveloped in cloud cover. The Sentinel Range loomed to the east, with Giant in the distance beyond. Spread out below me was Lake Placid, almost in it's entirety.

The second ledge faces north and west, and is somewhat more limited in scope, but still spectacular nonetheless. I could see St. Regis Mountain to the west, Debar and Loon Lake Mountains to the northwest, and Lyon Mountain way off in the distance. Also visible to the north were Catamounnt, Wilmington, Morgan, Esther, and Whiteface, although the last two were also in the clouds. Definitely amazing views on both sides of the summit, enough to make me kind of wish I had considered leaving Moose for the final of my hundred highest summits.

After photographing the views, and quickly eating a sandwich, I began my descent. I had always wanted to checkout Loch Bonnie, and scout out the lean-to in preparation for a future overnight trip there, and so I continued over the summit in that direction. A little ways beyond the summit I reached another trail junction. Signs here indicated that the trail to the left headed to Undercliff on Lake Placid by way of Loch Bonnie, while the trail on the right descended to the Lake Trail by way of Two Brooks. The sign for the Two Brooks Trail also indicated a "Loch Bonnie Juntion" a little ways down the trail, which indicated to me that there might be a cross-over trail connecting the two at Loch Bonnie. If so, that would work out perfectly- I could visit Loch Bonnie, take the crossover trail, and take the shorter route back to my car.

So I took the left trail and began my descent in earnest. And what a descent it was! The terrain here was quite steep, although fortunately still lacking the ice I'd encountered in the early morning. I was very definitely glissading at times, and my descent was as much a controlled slide as it was a hike down hill. It took no time at all to reach Loch Bonnie, and as I approached the water, I saw another junction. A sign indicated that yes, there was a crossover trail over to the Two Brooks trail. Excellent!

It would appear that beavers have been busy at Loch Bonnie. The trail emerges from the woods on the west side of the pond, and quickly disappears into a marsh. I could see the lean-to on the far side, and by hopping from mound of snow to tuft of grass, I was able to get across the marsh and to the lean-to without wetting my feet. The lean-to itself is in pretty rough shape. The roof looked like swiss cheese, and if the beavers dam up the pond anymore, there will be water lapping at edges. If you ever plan on staying here, definitely bring a large tarp to cover the roof with.

I snapped some photographs and quickly retraced my steps to the west shore of the pond and the crossover trail. The sign indicated that it was only 0.3 miles to the Two Brooks trail, but this turned out to be a weary third of a mile. The trail was littered with blowdown, forcing me to crawl over, and in spots crawl under, fallen trees. It was slow going, but eventually I made to the Two Brooks trail, which was in much better shape, and was able to pick up my pace again.

By now, the day was warming significantly, and I was losing elevation enough that the snow had changed in character from powder to damp and wet. Every tree I touched dropped resulted in an explosion of wet snow cascading down around me, and I took to hiking with my hood up to keep it from going down the back of my neck. As the descent continued, the forest, which had been coniferous for most the day, switched back to hardwoods, and the snow lessened until at first it was only an inch or two deep, and then there was none at all.

I soon reached Two Brooks (actually one brook at this spot). The trail crosses the brook where it slides down through a small flume. The crossing was not difficult today, but I could see it being difficult when the water is very high. Beyond the cross, the trail turns east to follow along the stream bank. A little ways downhill, I passed a large foundation through which the water flowed. It looked to be an old dam of sorts, perhaps to provide drinking water for the homes on Lake Placid. I also passed another junction, this one with the Bartlett Trail again, coming off of McKenzie Mountain to the west.

When I reached the shore of Lake Placid, my decent ended at the Lake Trail, which I took south to return to my car. At first, this trail was in excellent condition, and made me consider hiking all the way around the lake at some point in the future. As I got further along, however, and closer to the road, the trail got a bit harder to follow as it weaved around private camps. I eventually reached driveways, and while I never saw any posted signs facing the direction from which I had come, there were plenty facing the other direction as I walked by. I can see how this area certainly would be confusing for someone trying to find the Lake Trail from the road, or determine if the trail is even legally accessible at all.

I returned to my car after walking only a little ways on the road. The total trip time was approximately 7 hours- not bad, and I still had a few hours to spare before my obligation at 7 pm.

In summary, Moose is definitely a rarely visited gem in the Adirondacks, especially in an area where so many of the nearby mountains receive high amounts of hiker traffic. The SOA trails north of McKenzie, while not maintained to the same level as designated DEC trails, are all well marked and easy to follow. Definitely a nice day hike in winter-like conditions.