On the second of our two full days in the Adirondacks, Carol and I spent the morning geocaching in Saranac Lake, including an "adventure lab" driving tour of five "cure cottages," private sanatoriums used for the treatment of tuberculosis from the late 1800s through the 1940s. We then took a walk on trails in a small in-town preserve known as "The Pines," finding two out of three geocaches there.
Partway into the afternoon Carol dropped me off at the trailhead for Haystack and McKenzie Mountains (two peaks on the popular Saranac 6er list). She headed back to Saranac Lake for some more geocaching and I set off on the trail approach for a bushwhack to ledges on Little Burn and Big Burn Mountains, two lower peaks on the southern edge of the McKenzie Mountain Wilderness. I had looked over at these mountains from Haystack Mountain a few years ago, and had read about Little Burn in Barbara McMartin's Discover the Northern Adirondacks.
Nice hardwood forest as the trail approaches the base of Little Burn.
A distinctive glacial erratic.
The trail makes a long traverse along the base of Little Burn.
After a mile or so I headed off-trail, up the slope, soon passing this neat rock wall.
After a steep climb to the little ridge I headed up the crest towards the ledges. Hardwoods and birch were everywhere in this area.
Looking down into the lovely valley between Little Burn and Big Burn, which I would cross a little later.
The Little Burn ledges may be low in elevation - just 2300 ft. - but they offer a big-time view to the High Peaks.
Scarface Mountain, another Saranac 6er peak, dominates the view southward across the valley.
Looking SW to Ampersand Mountain (yet another Saranac 6er summit) and Oseetah Lake.
Zooming in a bit, from L to R are Pitchoff, Cascade, Big Slide, Yard, Armstrong and Gothics.
Marcy, Gray, Colden, Wright, Algonquin and Iroquois.
Jack pines (needles in pairs) growing behind the ledges.
Parting shot - love the puffy clouds!
On the north side of the ridge I found a ledge with a view NW to McKenzie Pond and Baker Mountain (the lowest of the Saranac 6ers).
Close by to the north I could see the cliff band on Big Burn Mountain. The ledges looked like they could be accessed from above.
I dropped into the secluded hardwood valley between Little Burn and Big Burn.
I made a flanking maneuver to gain the ridgecrest coming down from Big Burn and climbed steeply through open woods with lots of birch. Both of these mountains were burned in a 1908 forest fire.
I soon reached the first of three clifftop vantages looking out over the crest of Little Burn.
Steeply sloping slabs with a High Peaks vista.
More views to the SW. Seward Mountain can be seen at the L, behind a shoulder of Scarface.
It was getting on towards evening, but I decided to continue up the ridge in search of more ledges. The wonderfully open woods made the decision easy.
Deer antler.
Approaching the next level of the ridge, a shoulder at ~2700 ft.
A peek out at McKenzie Mountain (L) and Moose Mountain (R), the two highest peaks of the McKenzie Mountain Wilderness, both over 3800 ft.
Wow, did I find some great whacking territory this week.
Found a higher south-facing ledge, with an expanded High Peaks view.
A hurried search on the north side of the shoulder paid off - a big expanse of ledge with a wide vista to the NW, including distant Saint Regis Mountain (yes, another Saranac 6er) to the left of McKenzie Pond and Baker Mountain.
To the north, a close-up view of Haystack Mountain (L) and McKenzie Mountain (R), giving me clear views of all the Saranac 6ers on this hike.
I left these ledges at the late hour of 6:30, but the bushwhack descent of 800 ft. elevation went quickly thanks to the great woods and mostly reliable footing. Then it was an easy mile or so on the trail back to meet Carol at the trailhead with daylight to spare (well, not a LOT of daylight).
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