Sleeping Beauty Mountain

Sleeping Beauty Mountain, Adirondacks (6/16/2011)

This was the last of four wonderful hikes we did during a five-day stay in Lake George in the Adirondacks of New York State. We stayed at the Lake George Bed & Breakfast, a lovely B&B just a block north of the lake. Hostess Marilyn (the sweetest hostess ever) made scrumptious breakfasts for her guests every day. It was terrific.

Today we climbed Sleeping Beauty Mountain, which (like Buck Mountain) overlooks Lake George from the east. But it's a bit further east, closer to Vermont, so the views are a bit different, though equally spectacular. This is Hike #19 ("Sleeping Beauty Mountain") in the book Five-Star Trails in the Adirondacks (1st edition), but with two substantial adds-on. The hike described in that book begins at a dirt parking area named Dacy Clearing. The way to get to this clearing is by following a narrow dirt road from the Hogtown Parking area (on Shelving Rock Road). Well, that road was closed today, which meant in order for us to even get to the trailhead of the hike, we had to walk 1.6 miles. This added 3.2 miles to the hike, making this one of the longest hikes we've done recently. We also turned the described out-and-back into a lollipop by returning down the mountain north towards Bumps Pond, adding additional mileage.

One of the highlights for us (beyond the amazing views at the top) was the hundreds of dragonflies we encountered at Bumps Pond. At one point Laura had a total of at least six sitting on her arms, legs and hat!

Total distance travelled today was 8.2 miles in about 5 hours.

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