Our man Ben is climbing a mountain a day

By Ben Westcott, Chronicle Staff Writer

While the Adirondacks High Peaks to the north understandably draw hiking enthusiasts from around the world, as an avid hiker myself it’s amazing to me how many serious climbs are just within an hour’s drive of Glens Falls, where I live.

These mountains can be summited on weekdays even when short on time, and still provide great workouts and even better views.

Since early June I’ve been trying to hike a mountain a day to explore the area’s vast offerings. You can follow my Facebook page for pictures of all of them.

A list of the great mountains I’ve climbed within an hour’s drive of Glens Falls includes Moxham, Crane, Buck, Hadley, Black, Panther, Bartonville, Kipp, Swede, Stewart, Hackensack, Potash and Shelving Rock Mountains as well as Fox Hill, Pilot Knob and Pinnacle.

Buck, Black and Pinnacle with their views of Lake George seem to be pretty well known and much talked about in hiking circles, so I’ll talk about three generally less-discussed favorites from my list that are definitely worth a look.

Crane Mountain in Johnsburg is a very cool hike with stunning views, and despite its proximity to our area you really feel like you’re out there in the wilderness. My hiking partner — who won Adirondack Photo of the Week for a snapshot he got on this hike — remarked multiple times how quiet it was. There truly is no road noise or human activities to be heard.

There are two ladders that must be climbed, and one of them is very lengthy, which was cool. We looped the hike on the descent, where the trail follows along the shoreline of a beautiful lake.

Just be careful to follow Google or Apple Maps if you loop the descent this way, because the trail veers off in different directions near the lake and is not super well marked.

The trail up the mountain measures 1,358 feet in elevation gain. It is very steep, perhaps the steepest on my list, so be prepared for that. With the loop on the descent, it’s a 3.2 mile hike in all.

Swede Mountain in Hague, with an elevation of 1,893 feet, is a great bang for your buck. At just 1.8 miles roundtrip, it is short but has a sweet view from the firetower at its peak. I feel like the firetower would be a spectacular vantage point to look at foliage on an autumn evening. There’s also a wood building next to the fire tower that has been almost completely demolished, but still sits there. I have no idea what the story behind that is, but it was interesting to look at.

Moxham Mountain in Minerva, with 1,335 feet of elevation gain, is definitely worth a trip. The 2.6 mile hike to the top is more of a gradual ascent rather than a straight-up push like Crane Mountain. It’s one of the few Adirondack peaks I’ve climbed where you get views of the peak as you’re climbing up it (aka ridgeline vistas), so that makes it special. The top has expansive views that include looks at multiple bodies of water.

My closing message: Get out there and see the sights while the weather’s warm — Adirondack summers are too short to stay on the couch! Oh, and one more thing — bring bug spray!

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