Chimney Mountain - Out of the Ordinary

On a beautiful October day I decided to climb Chimney Mountain on my way home from climbing Blue Mountain.  It is a small and very odd peak south east of the Town of Indian Lake.  As shown here, the trip from Blue Mountain Lake to Indian Lake was a leaf peeper’s paradise.  The summit of Chimney "illustrates a complex tectonic origin that has left not only an interesting chimney but also myriad caves". 

It seems like a long drive from the highway to the Chimney Mountain trailhead, but its not really that far.  You can get there by taking Chamberlain road (or ever Parkerville road) south from Route 28 to Big Brook Road and then following it to the end.  Or you can get on Big Brook road by turning east off of Route 30 just south Indian Lake and follow it across Lake Abanakee to where it turns south.  All I can say is that once you are on Big Brook road south of its intersection with Chamberlain road, the correct route seems like the main road, even after it turns into a very good gravel road near the end.  There are a couple of signs strategically placed at intersections along the way.  Your car trip ends at private resort parking lot where they require (request) that you pay $2 to park, so bring along a couple of bucks to "feed the meter".  Continue walking further along the parking lot road to near the end of the clearing that is straight ahead.  Near its end you will see some signs for the trail which enters the wood there.

I had climbed Chimney Mountain a couple of times before, once 25 years ago with my family.  My hazy recollection and a quick glance at the map without my reading glasses made me think that the ascent was only 500 feet.  The first part of the trail is a very easy traverse across the hill and includes an ascent of maybe 300 feet.  After that the trail turns decidedly up hill on a much steeper gradient.  Imagine my surprise when after my altimeter said that I had ascended 500 feet to look up and see another almost 300 feet of steep ascent to go.  (The actual ascent is 760 feet.)  The trail follows Adirondack tradition of eschewing switchbacks for the direct approach.  Presently I reached the summit area of the main ridge and scrambled up onto a lesser chimney to get this picture of the main chimney.  Some people climb the main chimney, but it is too steep for me. 

The area north of the main ridge/summit is a jumble of rocks and "caves" which emit cold air even on a hot summer (or in this case fall) day.  In order to wander among this jumble, one must leave the main trail and follow herd paths.  I would not recommend doing this unless you are very sure footed and have an excellent sense of direction.

Instead, on your way up (or down) you should see a small herd path trail off to the left (right, descending) when you are pretty close to the summit ridge.  You can follow this small trail over to the northern ridge where this picture of the neighboring summit was taken.  On the trip with my family those many years ago, we got ourselves climbing up the slanted north side of the north ridge with me pushing them up the best way that I could while trying not to slip back myself.  At that point my five year old son exclaimed that "this was one of those once in a life time experiences that I wish I wasn't having".  I was more shocked by his "life time" perspective than I was at our peril.  Since then, he has gone on to become a middle level rock climber.  All in all it was a fine Adirondack day.

NOTE: For a more complete description of the trail, please see ADK's guide to ADIRONDACK TRAILS - Central Region, pp 64-65.

Have a great hike!
Bob Goodwin