Not to be confused with Mount Haystack (yeah, I guess they couldn’t come up with something else) this one is a nice out and back commonly paired with Mckenzie, since they split from the same trailhead about 2 miles in.
This is not a particularly difficult climb on its own, but could make a pretty challenging day if you climbed both. We tackled these ones separately on our fist times and although it was still fun, we’d recommend doing both and making it a full day.
- Trails here are pretty solid and on the Haystack side a lot of elevation gain will be happening in the last mile.
- A smaller lot right outside Raybrook, there’s a pretty decent amount of space here and I’ve never seen it packed.
- There is a pretty unavoidable water crossing so be prepared for that.
Haystack Mountain - 2,878'
Haystack is pretty solid all around, not my favorite but certainly not the worst 6er (that title belongs to Scarface), nor the most difficult or boring. The trail split for the two peeks is about 2ish miles in and it leaves a fair amount of additional trail on both sides.
-this is a solid Saranac 6er, and the location is perfect for a beer afterwards-
We did this one in March and it was fairly cold, fairly snowy and fairly wet. Honestly, that late winter / early spring time is not always a great time to climb, particularly on trails like this one where there are water crossings.
The peak here is pretty good all things considered and the views are quite exceptional as well, particularly pf the nearby sister peak. The climb is also pretty level as well with w few more technical scrambles near the peak.
We Give This Trail: 6.5/10
Rating considers trail conditions, difficulty, views and other notable characteristics