Goodnow Mountain Ramble

As I wrote this on 14 October, fat, waterlogged snowflakes were pelting out of the sky and accumulating in my yard. The upcoming weekend was Columbus Day, the swan song for hikers. On Sunday, I got out into the woods, hoping to get a measure of solitude. I gazed at the bottom of the map. Hoffman Notch or Goodnow Mountain?

I chose Goodnow. The trailheads alongside Route 73 confirmed my decision. They were all stuffed to the max with cars. I wouldn’t mind climbing Cascade again, but not with 500 of my closest friends. I turned onto the Northway to dash down to exit 29 and Blue Ridge Road.

As the old saying goes, you can’t get there from here. Goodnow Mountain is 30 miles from Saranac Lake as the crow flies. It was a 70 mile ride, though. Leaving the Northway, Blue Ridge Road is a long climb and a twisting road. The Hoffman Notch trailhead was only five miles from the Northway, but today, I was bound for Goodnow Mountain.

Back in the day, my grandfather had a hunting camp on Goodnow Flow, south of the mountain. According to Wikipedia, it’s an artificial lake. When I was 10 or 12 years old, he took us up to see it. We drove north from Warrensburg towing an outboard-motor powered rowboat. All these years later, I don’t remember where we launched the boat. We motored across the lake to an unprepossessing cabin with a cast iron stove and an outhouse.

The Blue Ridge Road dumped me on to Route 28N. I drove past Elk Lake Road, the jumping off point if one wants to climb Allen Mountain. Then it was past the road to Upper Works, another remote High Peaks trail head. Then through the town of Newcomb, strung out along 28N. Vice President Teddy Roosevelt was hunting in this area when he learned of President William McKinley’s assassination.

At the west end of Newcomb was the Goodnow Mountain trailhead. The trail and surrounding forest are part of the Archer and Anna Huntington Wildlife Forest which is managed by SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. I’d thought that being comparatively remote, there wouldn’t be many people out here. But I snagged the next to last parking space.

At 2,685 feet high, and a four mile round trip, Goodnow is far from imposing. There’s one ledge that’s a bit of a challenge. But it’s nothing like some of the more desperate rock walls on, say, Algonquin or Colden. With bluebird weather and mild temperatures, off I went.

The trail kicked up from the parking lot at an easy grade. A kilometer in, there’s a stream that’s adequate as a water source. A little after that, there’s a few acres that were logged recently, by SUNY ESF. Saplings are growing back in, but it’s a large open area that affords some nice views.

After the logged section, the trail got steeper. I passed an old cabin, collapsed into ruins. I went over a wooded false summit. Half a mile later was the real deal.

Like Saint Regis and Hurricane mountains, Goodnow has a fire tower, abandoned since 1970. About two dozen people and a couple of dogs milled around the base. On a ledge below is a small cabin.

There really aren’t any views without climbing the fire tower. Up high, however, 360-degree views await. Looking due south I saw a corner of Goodnow Flow and the southern Adirondacks. I had no illusions about locating the site of Grandpa’s camp. To the north, the High Peaks beckoned. I was too far away to recognize anything. I took a few photographs and descended.

Was it the most ambitious hike I’ve done? Not by a long shot. But I did get up something that I’d never been on. Looking at the two trail heads, in retrospect, I would have had total solitude on Hoffman Notch. But that’ll be a trip for another day.