On Sunday morning, I bought my bottom shifting a bit sooner than ordinary. Breakfast for Ziggy and me? Verify. A hydration reservoir filled with sports activities drink? Verify. A clear litter field for the Zigmeister? Accomplished and dusted. After stopping at Nori’s for a supplemental espresso, I lit out for Paul Smiths.
100 yards down Keese Mills Street from the VIC’s Black Pond path head, the Saint Regis Mountain path head is on the opposite aspect of the street. At 2838 ft, it’s removed from the most important peak within the Adirondacks.
In truth, it’s the 213th largest mountain up right here. With snow remaining up at excessive altitude, I wished to proceed climbing bumps like Jenkins Mountain, that I’d by no means summited.
Saint Regis Mountain is a part of the Saranac 6. This grouping might have been created to draw individuals away from Lake Placid, or it may need been created to ease hiker strain within the Excessive Peaks. The opposite 5 mountains are Baker, Scarface, Little Haystack, McKenzie, and Ampersand.
Final summer season, Ripitz, Freebird, and Powerman pulled off an epic journey, bagging all of them in someday. Saint Regis can be my fifth of the six that I’ve bagged over time. With a bridge out on the Scarface path, it’ll be some time earlier than I full this record.
I slathered Bye-Bye Black Fly, shouldered the hydration pack, and began strolling. From the car parking zone, I walked a couple of tenth of a mile up a fireplace street. An indication pointed into the woods. I signed in on the path register and set out.
The path began out with an honest incline, however total, it was dry and straightforward going. As soon as I used to be away from Decrease Saint Regis Lake, the black flies weren’t unhealthy. After going by a darkish stand of evergreens, the path descended for half a mile earlier than ramping again upward. The grade was regular, by no means actually horrible.
A few mile in, I discovered an indication proclaiming “Mose Sawyer Sugar Bush.” Moses Sawyer was an Adirondack character. Born in Canada in 1840, he emigrated to the Adirondacks aged 21. He labored at Paul Smiths Resort and was a caretaker at what’s now Camp Topridge on Higher Saint Regis Lake.
He was additionally a information, together with his extra well-known purchasers being Teddy Roosevelt and Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau, the tuberculosis researcher, proper right here in Saranac Lake. One in every of his descendants is Gary Trudeau of Doonesbury fame.
Within the second mile, the forest thinned out. There have been some mature bushes, however there was little or no understory. Studying later within the day, I discovered that forest fires had burned over a lot of this a part of the Adirondacks in 1903 and 1908.
Within the final half mile, the path bought steeper and wetter. Hangry black flies lurked within the muddy bits ready for people. There have been two stretches of constructed steps, however there have been not one of the enormous rock ledges that function on Mount Colden, Algonquin and different excessive peaks.
The summit was partially naked — in keeping with Wikipedia, a surveyor’s celebration led by Verplanck Colvin began a fireplace on the summit in 1876. The hearth tower affords nice views in all instructions. However I used to be too rooster to go greater than midway up the steps. I took some pictures, had a chew to eat, and swatted black flies.
After grokking the summit, I began again down. The cranky proper knee that dogged me on Jenkins Mountain complained once more as I picked my approach down the steep bits. A kilometer down from the summit, the going bought simpler.
Not like Jenkins Mountain, I didn’t have solitude on Saint Regis. But it wasn’t loopy crowded the best way the Excessive Peaks can get. I went dwelling, to a cheerful cat and a pleasant dinner.
Saint Regis Mountain is a pleasant hike for many who are new to the Adirondacks. Nice views for an affordable effort. If you’ll find it, Bye-Bye Black Fly works fairly nicely as a repellent for the New York state insect. Deet-free, it’s domestically formulated proper right here within the Adirondacks.
