All the Different Mountain Ranges within Keene Valley NY
If you are unfamiliar with the Adirondack Mountains, you may not know, that within in Keene Valley, New York, there are many different mountain ranges. Some of the famous mountain ranges located in or near Keene Valley NY are, the Hurricane Mountain Area, the Giant Mountain Range, the Dix Mountain Range, the High Peaks Wilderness, the Jay Mountain Range, and the McKenzie Mountain Wilderness. All of these mountain ranges have beautiful hikes and views to see, that I will talk all about in this post.
*Note this is a disclaimer* Starting May 1st 2021, if you plan to hike any of the AMR or Ausable Club hikes, between May 1st through October 31st (do not need for winter hiking) you will need a permit to hike them. This will ONLY concern the AMR parking lot, NO OTHER parking areas within Keene Valley and Lake Placid, at least at this time are affected. You can make a free reservation through this link.
This post is all about Keene Valley NY.
Keene Valley NY:
Hurricane Mountain Area
The first wilderness area on our list, is the Hurricane Mountain Area. This range of land, is a great place for new to intermediate hikers. Some great hikes that I recommend for beginners are Big Crow & Little Crow. These two trails are very quick, but offer great views, as you can tell below! If you do both, they are about 3.5 miles roundtrip, with a total elevation gain of 1,778ft, which it’s a great introduction to hiking.
You can access them from the same trail, but about half way to Big Crow, there will be a sign, indicating, to continue on the red trail, to Big Crow. Or to continue on the white trail to Little Crow. However, the white trail, does begin to become trail-less, but if you follow what looks like a trail you will be fine, or download the map from AllTrails. Also, the name indicating the beginning of Little Crow, does not say Little Crow, I’m not sure what it says, but it is the Little Crow summit trail.
I also recommend hiking, Hurricane Mountain, which is a total of 6.6 miles roundtrip, with an elevation gain of 2,017ft. This was one of my first hikes I completed when hiking in Keene Valley NY, so I hope this helps all you newbies too! You can actually access Hurricane Mountain from the same parking lot as the Crows which is the Northern Approach, or you can access it from the Southern Approach, via NY-9N S. The other things this mountain range offers is 13,784 acres of land, several different designated campsites, cross-country & snow shoeing trails, rock & ice climbing, and a couple different ponds. You can find more information about this mountain range, here.
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Giant Mountain Wilderness
Oh boy Giant! The Giant Mount Range is QUITE the range! This is definitely more geared towards high intermediate to expert hikers. The most famous hiking trails this range offers, are Giant & Rocky Peaks. Both Giant and Rocky Peak are two of the Adirondack 46ers or two of the Adk 46 High Peaks. And even though Giant Mountain and Rocky Peak are shorter than most of the other High Peaks, BOY do they make up for it in STEEPNESS! Both these High Peaks are BEAUTIFUL mountains to hike and well worth the uphill battle!
Some other great peaks to hike within these mountain range are, Owl’s Head Lookout, Bald Peak, Mount Gilligan, Blueberry Cobbles, Spread Eagle Mountain, Giant Washbowl, Roaring Brook Falls, and Giant’s Nubble Loop. This mountain range encompasses 23,100 acres of land, with two High Peaks (mountains over 4,000ft), almost 30 miles of marked hiking trails, 16 designated campsites, rock & ice climbing sites, fishing, cross-country & snowshoeing, and many different ponds. More information about this mountain range can be found, here.
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Dix Mountain Wilderness
Aww the Dix Range. This mountain range incorporates 45,208 acres of land, almost 49 miles of marked trails, 33 designated campsites, 3 lean-tos, rock & ice climbing (on Beer Walls and King Philip Wall), fishing, cross-country & snow-shoeing, paddling (on Chapel Pond), and much more.
Now, the most famous peaks from this mountain range are, Dix Peak, East (formerly known as Grace Peak) & South Dix Peaks, Hough Peak, and Macomb Peak, also known as the Dix Range. You can spilt this range up into two different hikes, instead of hiking all 5 in one day. You can do Dix Mountain and Hough Peak together (via Round Pond parking lot) and then another day do, Macomb, and East & South Dix Peaks together (via Elk Lake Lodge).
How to Get to the Dix Mountain Wilderness
To get to the Elk Lake Lodge, you will get off at Exit 29 from Interstate 87 North. Then take a left, toward Newcomb and onto Blue Ridge Road, and Tupper Lake. Then in about 4.2 miles you will turn right onto Elk Lake Road, then in about 5 miles you will arrive at the parking lot. However, from November to May, this parking area is closed off to the public, and reserved for it’s member’s hunters. Also, keep in mind this 5 mile road is a rough road, so be prepared for that as well!
To get to Round Pond, you will start on either Interstate 87 North or South (depending on where you are coming from). You will take Exit 30 towards Keene Valley, Whiteface, and Lake Placid. You will take a left from the exit (if coming Northbound) then continue straight for about 2.2 miles. Then you will continue to your left towards Whiteface and Lake Placid. Then continue straight for about 3.1 miles, then the parking area will be on your right. After you park your car you will walk backwards until you see the Dix Mountain Wilderness. This will be the start of your trail.
Some other hikes in this area are, Noonmark, Round Mountain, Dial & Nippletop (also High Peaks), Mount Colvin & Blake Peaks (also High Peaks). More information about this mountain range can be found, here. Easy to say, she is QUITE the mountain range!
Jay Mountain Wilderness
Okay, on to the next wilderness, the Jay Mountain Wilderness. This is one of are smaller mountain areas, but it still offers incredible views of its surrounding areas. This mountain range offers 7,951 acres of land, hiking, and cross-country skiing & snow shoeing. The major hike of this area is, Jay Mountain. You can find out more information about this wilderness, here.
High Peaks Wilderness
The High Peak Mountain Wilderness is EPIC!!!! Most of you probably already know about this INCREDIBLE mountain range, and it’s LOADS of BREATHTAKING hikes available within this range. However, incase you are not familiar with this show stopping place, here are some of the most famous hikes, that will NOT disappoint if you decide to hike them. However, I WARN you, you MUST be in DECENT shape to attempt most of if not all of these hikes, they are all difficult trails.
Alright some of the best hikes within this mountain range are, Cascade & Porter, Rooster Comb & Snow Mountains, Mount Adam Fire Tower Trail, Ampersand, Gothics, Lower Upper WolfJaws & Armstrong, Big Slide, Street & Nye, Phelps & Tabletop, Mount Colden, Haystack Basin & Saddleback, Wright Algonquin & Iroquois, Santanoni Range, Allen Mountain, Mount Marshall, Mount Redfield & Cliff Mountain, Steward’s Range, and Mount Marcy Gray & Skylight.
In addition, this mountain range offers a total of, 275,460 acres of land, many different crystal-clear streams and waterfalls (Opalescent River, Johns Brook, Klondike Brook, Marcy Brook, Cold River, Moose Creek and Cold Brook, Lake Tear O’ the Clouds, which starts the Hudson River), many different campsites, however ONLY camp in DESIGNATED campsites, canoeing & kayaking, and much more. You can find more information, here. This mountain range also encompasses the town of Keene Valley NY and Lake Placid.
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McKenzie Mountain Wilderness
Okay, our last and final major mountain wilderness within the Adirondacks is, the Mckenzie Mountain Wilderness. This mountain range includes, 37,616 acres of land, five different bodies of water (Lake Placid, McKenzie Pond, Moose Pond, Franklin Falls Pond and the Saranac River), camping at many different designated campsites, rock climbing, paddling, boating, hiking, fishing, and cross-country skiing & snow shoeing!
P.S. L.L Bean and Eddie Bauer are great websites to find camping and hiking gear, here and here you will find some of their gear!
Some of the main hiking trails here are, Mount McKenzie, Haystack Mountain (not the High Peak one, different), Whiteface & Esther (the High Peaks), Baker Mountain, the Moose Pond Trail. You can access more information about this wilderness, here.
And that wraps up the major wildernesses that you can hike, within or near Keene, NY and Keene Valley NY. I hope this helps, and you found some great new areas that you can’t wait to explore. For more information, here is a map of all the different wildernesses, wild forests, state parks, canoe areas, and much more in the Adirondacks. Also, some other great towns to stay in are Lake Placid (about 35 minutes from Keene), Saranac Lake (about 40 minutes from Keene), Lake George (about an hour), Tupper Lake (about an hour), Old Forge (about 2 hours), and Long Lake (about an hour). Thank you so much for reading, take care, and get HIKING!
