Sleeping Beauty 11/6/11 (Adirondacks)

Spent an absolutely gorgeous day on Sunday climbing Sleeping Beauty and exploring some new areas on the east shore of Lake George that I'd not been to before. Started at the parking area in Hogtown at the start of the road to Dacy Clearing- I thought about driving to the clearing, but as I had never visited it before, I decided to walk the road first to see what it was like and make sure my car would be able to make it for future visits to the area.

As it turns out, the road is in good shape- only some minor rocks that those with low-clearence cars need to watch out for. There are also some very nice designated campsites along the road that I will keep in mind for future use...

A short ways down the road, we turned off onto the Old Farm trail, which we took all the way to the Longway trail. At first, the Old Farm Trail follows an wide old roadbed, but soon it becomes a single track through the woods. The further away we got from the road to Dacy Clearing, the more and more obvious it became that few people ever venture elsewhere besides Sleeping Beauty when visiting this area- it looked like it had been weeks since the last hiker had passed down the trails we were following! There were some stream crossings but nothing that posed any significant difficulties.

At the end of the Old Farm Trail, we turned west and followed the longway trail to Shelving Rock Brook. The whole area has an interesting feel to it- oaks and hemlock dominate the woods here, which is unusual for an Adirondack forest. Despite the general downhill trend of the route we were taking, we saw lots of flat ground, and I presume that it would not be difficult at all to find excellent spots to camp in the area.

After crossing Shelving Rock Brook, we turned back to the east and began to climb the Erebus Mountain trail. This trail also follows an old road, and while the ascent is steady, it's never very steep. The trail passes some neat little waterfalls on Shelving Rock Brook, but most were somewhat hard to get to and hidden by blowdown. We had encountered some blowdown earlier on the Old Farm Trail, but there were some even worse spots on the Erebus Mountain trail- I presume that it is mostly from Irene and that these trails aren't high enough on the priority list to have gotten attention from trail crews yet.

After a long steady climb, the trail eventually reached the junction with the trail from Bumps Pond. We took a quick detour here out along the ridgeline north to Erebus Mountain, hopeing to catch some views, but without any luck. The trail doesn't go over the true summit of the mountain, and if their are any views to be had, bushwhacking would be a necessity. We did encounter some remnants of snow, however, that was hidden on northern facing slopes.

We returned to the junction and headed to Bumps Pond. The trail was quite easy, with ample switchbacks ascending the final elevation gain before reaching the pond. Shortly before we got there, we passed an old well on the side of the trail- pretty neat to see! Our arrival at Bumps Pond was timed with the sunset there. Definitely a nice little pond- I understand that there is a campsite at the south end but we looped around the north side to climb Sleeping Beauty.

The ascent up the north side of Sleeping Beauty was quick and easy, and again we were aided by numerous switchbacks. The trail doesn't quite go over the true summit, but I took a short bushwhack to check it out- there was an old fire ring there, but nothing that made it a worthwhile visit. Absolutely no views! Just below the true summit to the south, a side trail lead to an overlook, where we got some views through the damage from the forest fire.

The best views were yet to come, however... All of the signs on Sleeping Beauty that indicate mileage to the "summit" aren't referring to the true summit, it turns out. Instead, they refer to a false summit that is some distance south of the true summit. The false summit is an exposed open rock ledge that faces south, and the views to be had there are spectacular. Our arrival there coincided with the setting son on the horizon, and the sky was lit up with colors of red, orange, purple, and blue. To the north, we could see the High Peaks, with Marcy, Haystack, and the rest of the Great Range easy to pick out. Blue mountain was visible in the distance to the west, with the Tonge Range, Buck Mountain, and Pilot's Knob in the foreground. To the south, we could see some of the peaks in the vicinity of Putnam Mountain, and the Green Mountains of Vermont dominated the view to the west.

We stayed on the summit for about half an hour, watching the sun set, the moon rise, and the stars come out, before we continued down the trail. As darkness continued to fall as we hiked out, the horizon stayed a beautiful shade of pink for some time. Despite the darkness, the rest of the hike went quickly and smoothly, owing the wideness of the old carriage roads and the road out of Dacy Clearing.

Sleeping Beauty is by far one of the most spectacular and worthwhile peaks I've climbed recently in the Adirondacks. It's nice to know that depsite how many places I've been to, there are still peaks and destinations like this out there that I've not yet visited!