I'd worked quite a few hours last week and thus had Friday off. It was shaping up to be a gorgeous day and the colors were really popping out there. We've been down to one car for a little while, so I did have to drop Wendy off at work. I figured I could still get a hike in somewhere in the Southern Adirondacks. It had to be short, so I decided to pick a fire tower. We'd already hiked Kane, so I set my sights on Pillsbury.
I dropped Wendy off around 8am which gave me enough time to drive the 2 hours up to the trailhead, hike up, relax for a bit, hike back, and drive back.
If it were the Summer, I'd have probably just stayed and gotten some things done around the house, but it was Autumn and the drive promised to be almost as nice as the hike.
There were reports that the little road to the trailhead was somewhat challenging for smaller cars, but generally fine for anything else. I was able to trundle down the road without issue until the very end. As you climb out of a little valley, the road has some fairly deep holes. I drove slowly and my RAV-4 was able to negotiate it without much trouble.
There were quite a few vehicles at the trailhead. Some belonged to a trail maintenance crew, but I suspect most of them belonged to folks camping and/or hunting near one of the many lakes accessible from the Perkins Clearing Tract. I was pretty sure bear was in season, and according to the DEC site, I was right. It's also bowhunting season in the Northern zone.
I packed my chair, a book, a beer, and the rest of the usual stuff. We set off fairly quickly. We immediately came upon a trail maintenance crew working hard to clean up the approach down to the Miami River (which winds its way South then West to Indian Lake). They'd already dug out the drainages and were laying down rocks.
I asked a bunch of questions while Sunny got a bunch of pets. I learned that they dig out all the big rocks right on site. There's no reason not to. All of the trails, streams, and lakes we enjoy erode the soil down to rocks and boulders anywhere below 2500 feet or so. They're everywhere; no need to haul them in from elsewhere.
They use the big rocks for steps, the medium rocks to line the edge of the trail, and rinse out a bunch of little rocks to line the base of the trail. After the "gravel", they lay soil on top. Although we do see the more active parts of the drainages sectioned off by larger rocks, the gravel base allows water to stream underneath the trail. I saw some of the big step rocks were broken from bigger boulders. They drill holes in the big ones and then drive spikes in to break them into pieces.
My curiosity satisfied, after a quick drink, we started the climbing out of the valley and up the mountain.
The first half mile is a casual 15% grade which then becomes a fairly steady mid-20s grade. It's somewhat relentless, but nothing terribly strenuous. I was breathing hard, but we were cruising. Sunny was pulling hard and I was amenable to it.
Every day in the Adirondacks is the best day ever.
My sister swears by the Adidas Terrex trail runners and a lot of folks we met on the hike up Algonquin were wearing them. I was excited to try out the ones she'd bought me as a gift. I'm interest in trying them for some hikes, or for the long walk portion of longer hikes. Breaking them in on the way up was, of course, painful, but they were already pretty comfortable by the time we were descending. The grip on them is great and they do have a fairly spacious toe box.
Sunny found a clean puddle to freshen up in.
The story of the day was steady steepness and beautiful forest.
Hurry up, Dad!
The trail evens out through some pungent evergreens for a short leg before the final ascent.
The day was gorgeous, and we were both heating up.
The mountain is tall enough that the final part of the trail winds around trees over solid rock exposed by thin, eroded soil.
The old cabin has been demolished and awaits removal.
An hour after we started, we were at the summit. The fire tower stands proudly here with forest hugging the West side and snarly, short vegetation to the East.
Eep! The climb up was a little scary. The fire tower had been wrapped with wire mesh along the stairs and at each landing, but I was still wracked with trepadation.
The rubble from above.
It was a truly gorgous day. The cabin was still shut, but there was plenty of opportunity for landscape photos.
Pillsbury Mountain is quite tall compared to other mountains this far South and offers a great view.
I would be hard pressed to actually name any peak in this picture. I'm pretty sure the big, round peak in the midground center is Blue Ridge. I believe the tiny peak in the far distance to the left of it is Blue Mountain and the peak looming over its right shoulder is Snowy.
The wandering Autumn wilderness marching up to the distant Dix Range and Vermont beyond.
Looking South and Southwest didn't feature much in the way of nearby mountains, but the beautiful blaze of color in the bright sunlight simply could not be captured by technology. You had to be there to really enjoy it.
I set up my chair and we relaxed for a good hour or so.
My view from the slab wasn't as breathtaking as the tower, but it was nice to sit and chill. We had 5G internet basically the entire time, but I tried to keep my head in the clouds as best I could.
I let Sunny off leash for the descent for safety. We met our first people on the way down and his recall was good. We did a lot of chatting, but still made it back in 45 minutes or so.
GPS took us on a jaunty ride down the gravel road to 30 which took us through Speculator and Wells. Then, it took us East through Northville, over the Sacandaga via Bachelorville Bridge. We wandered a bit down various roads to 147 which shoots fairly straight through flat, but pretty farmland. This road crosses 146 and down into Glenville and Schenectady. It was a great drive through pretty Autumn country, and I stopped a few places along the way for snacks and road sodas.
I made it back in plenty of time to pick up Wendy from work and get Quinn to the rink for his hockey class.
I'm glad we took it easy and enjoyed this mountain instead of trying to squeeze in two mountains. It was very relaxing after a taxing week at work. I do look forward to exploring further up 30 for more fire towers in the future. I do believe I saw some car camping sites on the maps, so we'll research those a bit more and see what kind of adventures we can plan.
