After packing up camp, I talked the beau into hiking another small mountain with me. I reassured him that while I hadn’t done any research prior to the trip, local brochures/reports stated it was a much easier hike. (Blue was rated difficult and Goodnow was rated moderate with benches along the way -ha!) The drive wasn’t too long, maybe thirty minutes from the campsite and easy to find, with a big white ESF sign on 28N. I had told him that if the lot was packed, I was okay to go home; hiking on a “highway” especially in the heat is not my idea of fun. We laced up, signed in and headed up the trail at 10:19AM.
Immediately the trail goes up, similar to a Catskill hike, but quickly evens out. You can hear the traffic for quite a ways, but the forest seemed much greener and enjoyable than the previous day. We only noticed a couple of spots along for the guided tour; unfortunately there weren’t any print-offs at the start for us to read. I was surprised by the amount of trail work on this mountain: someone had been cleaning out the rock bars, there were a number of planks to walk on, a bridge and benches made of downed logs. It’s definitely a family friendly hike and lucky us, we only saw one family/group on the trail near the summit. Don’t get me wrong, you do climb a mountain, it just seemed like a breeze compared to Blue Mountain. After a final push to reach the summit before the group of kids, the fire tower was in view at 11:20AM.
There weren’t any views on the rock, but the views in the tower, as usual, were amazing. And this was a TALL tower! I’m becoming confident climbing them and this one made me stop two or three times to regroup… I just felt like I kept climbing and climbing… but it was worth it! And was very windy up top but the tower felt sturdy (unlike others I’ve been on). Just as we were soaking in the views, this little blonde girl, probably 5 or 6, came bopping into the tower with her dad; she was super cute! He took our photograph before the rest of the gang climbed in. We climbed down, ate a quick bar, and left the summit at 11:34AM – we had afternoon plans and needed to hit the road. The climb down was easy and uneventful – in the car at 12:28PM.
We were both starving by the time we reached the car, so we decided to make the trip to North Creek to grab some lunch. There was a cute little cafe, Izzy’s, that we each had a delicious sandwich at, and a local hiker decided to serenade us with a song on the piano. It was a wonderful way to wrap up a weekend away in the mountains. We’re already planning the next trip! Goodnow brought my fire tower count to 18/23 (my 13th ADK tower)
