A Complete Hiking Guide to Mount McKenzie & Haystack Loop in the Adirondacks, New York

And Treadway Mountain

Three great mountains of the Adirondacks are Mount McKenzie, Haystack, and Treadway Mountains. You can hike McKenzie and Haystack together, but not Treadway Mountain. McKenzie and Haystack are apart of the same loop trail, while Treadway is in its own wilderness area. All three are great hikes with great payoffs! 

You can hike McKenzie and Haystack in one of two ways. Either via the Jack Rabbit Trail or the Ray Brook (Route 86) Trail. Recently, I hiked (tried to hike these two peaks) over this past week, via the Jack Rabbit Trail. Looking back, I suggest hiking these two peaks via the Ray Brook Route, simply because of the convenience of parking and trail markers. Most people prefer the Jack Rabbit Trail, however, parking is much more limited here, as you have to park on the road, and there are only a few spots. Whereas the Ray Brook has its own parking lot. 

Both these trails and trailheads are located in Lake Placid, New York, apart of the McKenzie Mountain Wilderness. To get to the Jack Rabbit trail, you will start on Interstate 87 North or South (depending where you are coming from), and stay on this highway until Exit 30. At Exit 30 you will take a left onto Route 73 (if coming from 87 North, you will take a right if coming from 87 South), towards Whiteface, Lake Placid, and Keene Valley. In about 2.2 miles you will come to an intersection, where you want to stay left towards Whiteface and Lake Placid. Then you will continue straight for 13 miles, on Route 73.

You will pass through the town of Keene Valley, then pass through another little town of Keene. At the tail end of Keene, there will be a tiny intersection, where you can continue to your right towards Whiteface and Jay. And or you can take a slight left, towards the High Peaks, you want to stay LEFT, towards the High Peaks. There will be a small sign on your right, indicating this as well, so look out for the sign, and you will be fine. After this intersection, you will stay on Route 73 for another 13 miles, and you will pass some other famous trails, like Cascade, Porter, and Pitchoff.

After the 13 miles, you will take a slight left onto Military Road, then in 3 miles you will turn right onto Carolyn Road. Then in half a mile you will take a slight right onto NY-86, then keep left onto Saranac Avenue. Then in .4 of a mile, take a left onto Whiteface Inn Lane, then in about 1.3 miles, your destination will be on your left. You will have to turn around, so you can park on the right side of the road. Again, there are only about 4 spots maximum here, so plan accordingly (aka get here early). This is also located in a residential area, so it may feel like you’re not suppose to park there, but you can, to use the trail.

From the Jack Rabbit Trail, Mount McKenzie is about 3.6 miles away (one way), and to get to Haystack Mountain (from the trailhead) its about 4 miles or so, a little more (one way). In total this is a 11.5 mile loop. If you are trying to complete your 46er challenge, this loop will be right up your alley. These two mountains together do have a pretty high elevation gain of 3,303ft. I recommend hiking McKenzie first, because it is a harder climb than Haystack.

After parking at the Jack Rabbit Trail, you will continue walking straight, don’t turn left, keep straight, and you will come upon the hiker registration area. You will also see signs that say how far McKenzie and Haystack are. Hiking McKenzie from the Jack Rabbit Trail is much quicker than hiking it from the Ray Brook Trail. Whereas, the reverse is true for the Ray Brook Parking Lot. Haystack is much quicker from the Ray Brook Trailhead than hiking McKenzie. 

In about 1.9-2.1 miles you will come to an intersection, where the Jack Rabbit and Ray Brook Trail intersect. There will be a sign indicating to go left for Haystack (2.1 miles away) and another for the Ray Brook Trailhead. There will be no sign for McKenzie, but once you’re here, this is your indication to go right for McKenzie Mountain, which you will follow red markers for. There aren’t too many trail markers along the route for McKenzie, so just watch for the ones that are there and where you’re going. There will be a summit sign, on one of the trees for, indicating you have made it to the summit of McKenzie, yay!! It has a beautiful view of Saranac Lake.

Okay, to get to the other trailhead (the Ray Brook, which I recommend) you will also get on Interstate 87 North (or 87 South, depending where you are coming from), until Exit 30. And follow the same directions, as above, until you get to Military Road. You will take a slight left onto Military Road, but you will take a slight left in 3.6 miles onto NY-86, instead of a right onto Carolyn Road. Then in 1.4 miles the parking area will be on your right, and there will be a sign indicating the parking area for these mountains.

Once you park, you will walk to the hiker registration area. And from Ray Brook, Haystack is about 3.3 miles away, and McKenzie is about 5.2 miles away. This loop altogether, round trip is about 12.4 miles long. And for this loop, I recommend hiking Haystack first, then McKenzie, because they are right in a line with one another. Whereas the Jack Rabbit Trail, Haystack is to your left, and McKenzie is to your right. This has about the same elevation gain as the Jack Rabbit Trail, but its a little more straight forward, which is why I personally recommend hiking these trails this way. 

However, if you aren’t interested in hiking both of them within the same day, then I would park at the Jack Rabbit Trail for McKenzie (much shorter), and the Ray Brook trailhead for Haystack (again much shorter of a distance this way). Both have great views of the Saranac Lake Region and are great ways to get outside and enjoy the outdoors!

Okay, another great mountain, different from where McKenzie and Haystack are, is Treadway Mountain. Treadway is apart of the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness Area, where Pharaoh Mountain is as well. They are both located in Paradox, New York. Treadway has some rock scrambles and a rock top summit, just something to be aware of. Paradox is off of Exit 28 on Interstate 87 North. 

To get to the trailhead, you get on Interstate 87 North, or South, if you live north of Exit 28 on 87. You will take Exit 28 towards Newcomb. At the exit you will go towards NY-74 East toward Crown Point, Ticonderoga-Ferry. In .3 of a mile you will take a right onto NY-74 toward Paradox Lake, and Ticonderoga-Ferry. Then in 13 miles you will take another right onto Putts Pond Road, then finally in 4.1 miles, the destination, or trailhead will show up. 

From the trailhead/parking lot you will walk to the hiker registration area, sign in, then from there, follow the signs towards Treadway Mountain. In total this mountain is about 8.5 miles with an elevation gain of 1,312ft. It does have a rock top summit, it is super pretty, it overlooks Pharaoh Lake. It’s especially pretty for sunrise or sunset, with the water sparkling off the sun, super pretty.

And that wraps up our overview of 3 different awesome hikes! You can easily make these into more advanced hikes, with hiking Haystack and McKenzie together, or have a more moderate day with just Haystack and Treadway. However, just doing McKenzie, I would still rate as a difficult climb, because there are some sections that are pretty gnarly, so just be careful. Otherwise, these are awesome hikes, with gorgeous views! Thank you so much for reading, take care, and get hiking!