Hurricane Mountain - 3,694'
The climb up to Hurricane is slightly longer than your average Fire Tower experience, but not as difficult as your average High Peak; putting it comfortably within the middle area of repeatably enjoyable and not incredibly arduous. This one is up there with Giant and Ampersand as some of the most enjoyable and repeatable climbs in the ADK, and not so prominent as to be deterred by too many visitors. Here are the essential details.
This is a 9/10 experience in the ADK and is one that almost anyone can enjoy. Its accessibility and ease also make it ideal for less seasoned hikers. Hurricane is one of the few climbs (besides Giant, Macintyre and the Gothics) that Kevin and I have done and will continue to do pretty much every year. We have traversed it in every New York weather condition and it delivers on every front. Even those sluggish early spring months are beautiful on Hurricane.
The “rating” systems we use when categorizing these climbs is pretty tenuous and discriminate, but I promise that hurricane is probably the best Fire Tower hike in the Adirondacks.
- Parking here is basically road-side and fairly limited, but also not incredibly popular.
- We’ve seen this lot both empty and packed, but the mountain has never been crowded.
- The trail is gradual and doesn’t have any really tough scrambles, save a little at the very end.
- Its position makes it very windy under certain circumstances, winter climbers beware for low temperatures.
*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 Rt. 9N, 5 miles west of Elizabethtown.
STATUS: Still remains but is in danger of being removed by the DEC.
When this observation station was established in April 1910, no tower was immediately erected, as an unobstructed view was available due to the lack of tree cover on the mountaintop. There is currently no evidence that a tower was ever built on Hurricane until 1919 when the Conservation Commission erected a 35′ Aermotor LS40 tower.
The tower was closed about 1979. The tower was slated for removal in late 2001 or in 2002 as it is deemed a “non-conforming structure” in the Hurricane Mt. Primitive Area. However, it still remains at this time and there appears to growing support to retain the tower even though it’s deemed by some to be in violation of the State Land Master Plan (SLMP). Hurricane Mt. now appears on the National Historic Lookout Register.
The DEC is currently working on completing the unit management plan for the Hurricane Mountain Primitive Area, which could reclassify the summit from primitive to wilderness. If the reclassification is successful, the tower would be removed under guidelines for wilderness areas. The Friends of Hurricane Mountain Fire Tower group encourages all interested parties to contact the DEC in support of declaring the summit where the tower stands as a Historic Area, similar to John Brown’s Farm, Crown Point and most recently Camp Santanoni, so the tower can remain for historical and educational purposes. That concept was later deemed inappropriate under the current guidelines in the SLMP.
The future existence of this tower is hotly disputed by most environmental groups due to the fact that the SLMP regards this fire tower as “non- conforming use.” The APA has tabled final decision on this and all other towers pending the completion by the DEC of a fire tower management plan covering all towers within the Adirondack Park.
After a five year battle, on April 15, 2010 the Adirondack Park Agency has yielded to public pressure to allow both Hurricane and St. Regis Mountain Fire Towers to remain where they stand and amend the State Land Master Plan to recognize this decision. In addition, the Adirondack Council, who campaigned long and hard for their removal has indicated that it will not challenge the decision in the courts.
Hurricane 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: 9/10
Rating considers trail conditions, difficulty, views and other notable characteristics