What You Need to Know Before Attempting McNaughton Mountain: Adirondacks

McNaughton Mountain, what a peak. By locals, it is considered the “47” High Peak out of the 46ers hiking challenge. Also known as “McNaughty,” this hike rightfully so, has quite the reputation. My friend, myself, and a guide, hiked McNaughton this past October and it definitely lived up to its name. It is a total of 17-18 miles with an elevation gain of around 3,000ft. Also, after the first 5 miles-ish, this hike is a complete bushwhack. Honestly, the hardest part of this hike is the bushwhack.

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This article is all about McNaughton.

McNaughton:

McNaughton Trail:

First, I want to clear up some confusion regarding McNaughton’s name. Some people spell this mountain’s name as, MacNaughton, but the sign does indeed say, McNaughton. This is why I’m going to continue to spell it as McNaughton.

Sorry for that brief side note, anyways, let’s talk about some statistics and basic things to do to prepare for hiking McNaughton. I would set aside at least 10 hours to finish this hike. My friend, myself, and our guide took about 12 hours to complete the hike. We started at 6am and ended just after 6pm. We are pretty moderate to fast pace hikers too and have hiked all the 46ers. A major reason why it took us so long is because of the bushwhack, it’s hard fighting the trees.

McNaughton Directions

To get to the trailhead, you will have to drive to the Adirondack lodge. To get to the lodge, you will get on Interstate 87 North or South (depending on where you are coming from). You will get off on Exit 30 towards Lake Placid, Keene Valley, and Whiteface Mountain. Then you will turn onto Route 73 going West towards Lake Placid, Keene Valley, and Whiteface. You can also find directions here via Google Maps.

You will stay on this road for about 13 miles, again continue left onto Route 73 to the high peaks. Then, you will continue straight for 11 miles, then turn left onto Adirondack Loj Road. Next, you will follow this road until the end (about 4.7 miles). You will come upon a window and the lodge. You will have to pay $18 for the day to park here. There are 4 different lots, one is kind of hidden, it’s all the way to the left. So make sure you check all the lots before you decide to park on the street for parking. If you park on the street, you won’t have to pay the $18 but it will add mileage to your hike. I don’t think it’s worth it to park on the street.

McNaughton via Indian Pass

Finally, let’s talk about how to hike McNaughton! I will link the AllTrails map here but if you hike McNaughton, PLEASE bring a map and compass and know HOW TO USE them. AllTrails will not be helpful once the true bushwhack starts. This is another reason why we hired a guide. We went through Rock and River. The owner, Ed is very nice and will call you before you go on your guided hike. He does this to make sure you have enough experience and stamina to go. Some other guided hiking services in the Adirondacks are Hike with Jackson, Adirondack Mountain & Stream Guide Service, and High Peaks Mountain Guides (High Peaks Cyclery).

Okay, once you have decided if you need a guide or not, you again, will park at the Adk Lodge. Then, you will head towards Street and Nye. If you haven’t hiked those peaks, don’t worry, you will park your car, then, head back towards the attendant window where you paid to park. Here, you will see signs for Heart Lake, Mount Jo, Street & Nye, and Indian Pass, follow these signs. Once you pass Heart Lake, again, you will continue to follow signs for Street & Nye and Indian Pass.

In about 1.7 miles you will follow signs toward Indian Pass & Rocky Falls. You want to get to Scott’s Clearing & Lean-to. This will be your first landmark at 4 miles in. Once you get to Scott’s Clearing, you will then follow signs to Scott’s Landing Campgrounds and Wallface Pond. It’s about a 1.5 miles to Scott’s Landing Campgrounds. This will be your second major landmark while hiking to McNaughton. You will want to stay to your right pass the rock castles.

Getting to Wallface Pond & Beyond

Okay, your third major landmark will be getting to Wallface Pond. Here, you will start to gain some elevation. However, the elevation gain is not difficult, just finding the trail. Getting to the pond will take about 2.5 miles and there will be some “fake out” ponds along the way. The first pond you get to will actually be Scott Pond in about 1.5 miles. This is also where the true bushwhack starts and you will need to know where you’re going. The next 3-4 miles will be a full out bushwhack, all the way to the summit. You will need to pull out your map and compass and figure out which direction you should be heading.

My friend wanted to test out her orienteering skills. And since we had a guide, my friend did pull out her map and compass and confirmed with the guide that her calculations were correct. Like, I’ve continued to state throughout this post, ONLY attempt this trail if you know how to read a map and use a compass or if you’re with a guide. You will get lost if you solely rely on AllTrails. When I say this is a true bushwhack and you are climbing through trees, branches, and plants, I mean it.

You want to stay more northwestish to get around Wallface Pond. Wallface Pond is the last pond you will see. In addition, after Wallface, the elevation really starts to pick up for the last .5-1 mile. Once you are at the summit, you will come to a flat section. Here, you can either go right to the summit sign of McNaughton or to the left for a nice, open, lunch spot.

Neither one has a view. But getting a picture with the summit sign is so rewarding. It truly is the “47th” High Peak. I believe it stands at 4,000ft, technically, meaning it should be on the list of 46ers. But for reasons unknown to me, it is not. At just 4,000ft this is still “short” compared to the highest mountain in the Adirondacks, Mount Marcy (5,343ft).

Getting Out of the Bushwhack

Now, getting back to your car may be a little tricky. Normally, I would say, retrace your steps. But that’s kind of hard to do without a trail. So again, you want to pull out your map and compass to determine what heading or direction you need to hike in, to get back to your closest landmark, Wallface Pond. First, make it back to the flat section where you can either go to the summit sign or lunch spot. At the flat section, take out your map and compass to determine what heading you will need to walk in for the next .5-1 mile to get back to Wallface Pond (it’ll be southeast-ish now).

Be careful where you step on the way going down because some of the land is very unstable and you might “sink.” Because of this, you will have to hike at a slower than normal pace then you are use to, so you don’t break/twist an ankle. Once you get to Wallface Pond, you will want to re-orient yourself, so you can decide which direction you need to hike in for Scott Pond. Once you get to Wallface Pond, your next landmark will be Scott Pond in about 1 mile. After Scott Pond, the bushwhack is pretty much over. Then you will make your way back to Scott’s Landing Campgrounds in about a mile-ish.

Getting Back to Your Car

Once you make it back to Scott’s Landing Campgrounds, you are in the home stretch. You have about 5 and a half miles left to your car. You will follow signs back to Rocky Falls, Indian Pass, and Scott’s Clearing & Lean-to. This part of the hike is very straight forward and has a hiking path. In total, this hike took my friend, our guide, and I about 12 hours to complete. If you know where to go, you could probably hike this in 10 hours including breaks. Again, this hike is difficult in the navigation sense but easy elevation wise.

Overall Thoughts

And that wraps up our article about McNaughton Mountain. Again, don’t attempt this hike unless you have experience using a map and compass or have a guide with you. AllTrails is NOT sufficient enough. Overall, I had a good experience hiking this mountain. We did go on a beautiful fall day. If it had been rainy or raining the day before, I don’t think I would have enjoyed this hike. There are tons of swampy and marshy areas. The day we went, was relatively “dry.” I would have struggled if there was more moisture and mud on the trail. However, this is a great accomplishment to do after your 46er challenge, as a bonus high peak and introduction to bushwhacking. Thank you so much for reading and take care!