I’m not a “hiker” in the fanatical sense of the word. But give me the short hike, big rewards stuff any day of the week!
I have passed through Warrensburg thousands of times in my life and noticed the flag waving near the top of Hackensack Mountain in recent years.
This post on the The Saratoga Skier and Hiker turned me on to climbing the mountain. It looked like great views for a short hike, exactly what I’m gunning for.
Hackensack Mountain is part of a Park and Recreation Area in Warrensburg. When you see the Subway shop on Route 9, turn onto Emerson Avenue and follow the signs back to the parking lot where I started from:
Make sure you pay particular attention to trail markers, because there is a network of trails near the base of the mountain that aren’t on this map.
Helpful hint: Shortly into the hike where there is a stump in the middle of trail, there is a fork in the trail but no trail markers visible. Take the right and you’ll see the trail markers again. If you take the left like I did, you’ll find a neat little ruin from the long forgotten Blister Hill.
If you see this, you’ve gone the wrong way! Backtrack to where you came from to rejoin the trail:
The hike to the base of the mountain was easy. The next quarter mile was a mad, steep dash to the top: You go from 780 feet above sea level to over 1250 feet in a hurry!
Much of the climb was in the shady red pines and hemlocks. There wasn’t much of a view on the way up, but at least the strong late summer sun wasn’t pounding on me.
Full disclosure: I used this rope climb.
This boulder field means you’ve almost made it to the flag!
My patience was soon rewarded:
Warrensburg down below:
Pine Mountain (Hickory Ski Center), front and center!
Exit 23, Northway:
But wait, there’s more! Continue onto the summit. It will take you less than 5 minutes to get there from the flag. It’s not as exhilarating as being on the rock ledge by the flag, but you do get treated to this killer view of Crane Mountain:
Hackensack Mountain may not be for you if you want to “get away from it all.” I heard car traffic all the way up to the top. In contrast to a lot of the hikes in the Adirondacks that aim to get people completely away from civilization, this one combines the charm of looking down at the village below with the natural beauty of the background scenery.
Sometimes, just stepping back from mankind a bit is just as relaxing as completely going off the grid. I didn’t encounter one other person on the hike or at the top of Hackensack during the late summer Saturday afternoon I did this.
Anybody in halfway decent shape can get from the trail head to the flag well within a half-hour. To get these kind of views in that short of a hike is absolute money in my book.
The pictures don’t do the views total justice. Peak foliage colors in Warrensburg usually occur the first week of October around the time of the World’s Largest Garage Sale. So that would be a great time to try it. You’ll be glad you did.
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
ps. If you make the climb, let me know how it went in the comments section. 🙂
