Early Spring Hike On Gore Mountain

When it comes to hiking New York’s Adirondack Mountains in early Spring, it’s more accurate to call it a late Winter hike. There may not be snow in the trees or along most of the ground, unless you’re in the High Peaks region, but once you gain some elevation and find shaded stretches of path, you’ll be sure to encounter a mix of snow and ice. If you go early enough in Spring, you might not even have to slog through too much mud. That’s what I encountered on a recent hike up the off-season ski mountain called Gore.

Most of my hikes are solo, but this time I went with a few other guys and it worked out nicely. There are two trailhead options to choose from when approaching Gore Mountain from the east. One arcs past Rabbit Pond and the other follows Roaring Brook around its source, the North Creek Reservoir. This one is called the Schaefer Trail. Both trails cut through Gore’s Ski Bowl Glades.

Which ever route you choose, the trails converge at North Creek Reservoir, just east of the Barkeater Glades, before you make a proper push up the eastern face of Gore Mountain. To the north are Little Pete Gay and Pete Gay mountains, and it’s when you are directly between Pete Gay and Gore mountains that the trail turns south to ascend Gore Mountain.

Taking the Schaefer Trail that follows along Roaring Brook, you’ll find a number of excellent places to take in waterfalls and eddy pools.

If you stick to the trail on your ascent up Gore Mountain, after passing the North Creek Reservoir, you really won’t encounter much incline. My group was split three-to-one (me being odd man out) about breaking from the known trail and following a wide, flat ski trail to the top. Along the way, we found ourselves on a lesser peak of Gore. To reach the true peak, where a radio tower was waiting to be climbed, we found ourselves heading straight up a steep, Black Diamond run with a light crust of snow that I think is called Fairview. I was happy to be wearing my Hillsound Trail Crampon Pro’s.

From the sub-peak we walked down through Gore’s Pinebrook Glades, then up into the Mineshaft Glades where we intersected with the trail again. At this point however, the trail itself was composed of simply following ski trails. The trails were snow-covered, but either hard-packed or crusted just enough to support our weight most of the time. As we approached the peak, a few skiers who had hiked up from a shorter approach were getting ready to take a post-season run down what remained of Gore Mountains ski trails. According to their reaction at first seeing us, they expected we were there to bust them and send them back down the mountain without having any fun.

On the peak there is a “warming” hut, however with ski season over, so was the heat. It still made a nice place to sit down on the picnic benches inside, kick up our feet and enjoy a little peak downtime and get in a few bites. Just beyond the warming hut is the radio tower. Though it doesn’t look inviting, this is a fire tower (and radio tower also), so don’t worry about climbing as many flights of its stairs as you’re allowed to (if any). Just don’t touch the radio transmitters. All around the peak and nearing it you’ll be able to enjoy an excellent view of the entire High Peaks range.

On the way back down we did our best to follow the trail and suspected we must have diverted not long before the forest trail would have spilled us out onto to the ski roads. In the end, it was a great day out and I don’t even mind the detour. It helped me realize what a perfect setting a pre-or-post-season ski mountain is to practice self-arrest techniques. Just find a Black Diamond run and throw yourself down it. You’ll find it’s plenty steep enough that without an ice axe, a slip means you’re heading all the way to bottom.

http://alltrails.com/trail/us/new-york/gore-mountain-firetower

http://alltrails.com/trail/us/new-york/warren-county-gore-mountain

http://alltrails.com/maps/gore-mountain–3 (my own mapped route for the Schaefer Trail)