Bald Mountain - 2,350'
Bald Mountain is on the “very short” end of the day climb spectrum, but is no less enjoyable for it. I’ve mentioned before that there are certain qualities about more accessible trails that I dislike (annoying people and vandals) but this one is mostly spared significant indignity. It has a few moments where you need to scramble a bit, but the trail is largely easy to complete and navigate. If you’re someone less capable or are just starting to get your feet wet with climbs, this would be an excellent place to start.
The views are supposed to be pretty fantastic on this one generally, but as you can tell from the photos, we weren’t blessed with the best conditions. All of that is fine though since we got cover from the rain inside the cabin of the fire tower. On short climbs like this where we’re normally all wrapped up before noon, we like to grab a beer-to-go for hanging out in the tower.
- It seemed like there was a good a mount of parking here but I think it can also be a popular spot when the weather is right, so make sure you come early.
- As mentioned, there are a few pretty nice scrambles that you have to climb about half way through, which account for most of the elevation gain.
- Kevin tracked this one on his Garmin and got 1.9 Miles in total, which includes us walking around and taking in what little views could be had. Even with our 30+ min break, this climb totaled less than two hours.
*this excerpt was salvaged from the now defunct www.nysforestrangers.com, thanks to the Way Back Machine, written by Captain Paul T Hartmann (ret.)*
LOCATION: North of State Rt. 28, 3 1/2 miles northeast of Old Forge.
STATUS: Remains and has been restored by the Friends of Bald (Rondaxe) Mt.
The first structure on Bald (Rondaxe) Mt. was a wooden tower erected by Conservation Commission in 1912. It’s believed that the State arbitrarily named the mountain “Rondaxe” after a nearby lake to prevent any confusion between this and the Bald Mt. in Lewis County, only 23 miles to the northwest. So one might conclude that this site is the Rondaxe Fire Observation Station on Bald Mt. The wooden tower was replaced with a 35′ Aermotor LS40 tower in 1917.
This tower was closed in 1990 and was reputedly the last operating fire towers in New York State. It now appears on the National Historic Lookout Register and the National Register of Historic Places, being added to the latter on September 23, 2001.
Harriet Rega was the first women observer hired by the State and Nehasane Park to serve on Mt. Electra from 1924 to 1930. She later served on Bald (Rondaxe) from 1933 to 1936.
The group, The Friends of Bald Mountain, was formed about 2002 and has since restored the tower to its original condition. The “Re-opening Dedication” was June 18, 2005. For detailed information about their work, visit their site by clicking here.
The Friends of Bald Mountain recently signed a formal 5-year. commitment “Adopt-A-Natural-Resource” agreement with the DEC. In addition to restoring the tower, the committee plans to work with local DEC personnel on trail maintenance, improve signage, and an educational component that teaches good conservation practices including fire prevention.
We Give This Trail: 7/10
Ratings are subjective: considers trail conditions, difficulty, views and other notable or unique characteristics