Belfry Mountain - 1,840'
One of the shortest Fire Towers and one of the shortest “trails,” Belfry is basically pit-stop with some decent views attached. Most of the nearly half mile walk is just a service road, since there is a communication tower of some sort fairly close to the actual Fire Tower. There is a picnic table near the Tower and were also broke beer bottles near the base, leading em to believe this is a popular spot for teenagers to hang out.
This is not something I could ever see myself checking out again, but it is a cool thing to see in a certain sort of way, most Fire Towers are not nearly this accessible. We didn’t run into anyone else during the hour or so that we were there, and I expect that it’s not “popular” in the traditional sense.
- There is no actually parking here, there’s a little roadside area you can get away with and that’s about it.
- If the service road were accessible you’d be able to drive all the way up to the base of the tower.
*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: Near Mineville, 8 miles southwest of Westport.
Status: Still remains but is accessible to the public.
The first structure on Belfry was a wooden tower constructed by the Conservation Commission in 1912. In 1917, the Commission replaced the
wooden tower with a 47′ Aermotor LS40 tower.
The tower ceased operation at the end of the 1988 season. The tower was officially closed in early 1989 when the Department of Environmental Conservation determined that towers were no longer effective and decided to phase them out of service.
The tower still remains on private lands and supports multiple radio antennas.
Belfry is one of the mountains included in the Fire Tower Challenge sponsored by the Glens Falls-Saratoga Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK). “To complete the Challenge and receive the official full-color patch, hikers must climb and document, by date, ascents of at least 23 fire tower summits: 18 of 23 Adirondack Park summits and all 5 Catskill Park summits.”
We Give This Trail: 3/10
Ratings are subjective: considers trail conditions, difficulty, views and other notable or unique characteristics