Chatiemac Cliffs aka Gore Mtn's SE Shoulder(Siamese Ponds Wilderness-Adirondacks)

Headed into the Central Adirondacks on a picture perfect early June afternoon to try to locate a set of cliffs on Gore Mountain's extreme SE shoulder.  In recent years the cliffs have become a popular rock climbing destination but are still not well known to the general public or even the hiking community.  I parked at the trailhead for Second Pond off of Chatiemac Road, where there is room for about 3-4 cars.  There was one couple leaving as I pulled in, but otherwise I was blessed to have the woods to myself.  Elevation to start was 2280 feet as I set out on the yellow blazed Second Pond Trail.  

Just a couple minutes into the hike, the trail crosses Chatiemac Brook and provides nice views out across a beautiful beaver pond, which is actually attached to Chatiemac Pond.

 

I hiked the trail for about 2/3 of a mile before leaving the trail and beginning my bushwhack.  A short distance into my bushwhack, I picked up a pink flagged herd path, which I assumed was made for rock climbers heading towards the same cliffs I was heading to, so I followed it.  The path was mostly clear and easy to follow, crossing Black Mountain Brook as it headed east.

As suspected, the herd path leads directly to the base of the cliffs, which are VERY impressive and much larger than I thought they would be. The path skirts its way around the edge of the cliffs, which sprawl out quite a ways, offering no way up(other than rock climbing)so I headed back to a more suitable spot. 

A steep but fun scramble up a chute brought me to the first set of open ledges, which offered up spectacular views and was well worth effort.  Emerging from a hand over hand crawling climb, I found early views of neighboring Height of Land Mountain.

Although the elevation at the ledges was just over 2400 feet, the views are truly outstanding.  The long ridge of Eleventh Mountain rises impressively to the south.

Broad views stretching out towards Huckleberry and crane Mountains with Windover Lake and Edwards Hill in the foreground.

After enjoying the initial views, I continued to ascend through scratchy spruce and cliff bands making my way over to another sweet set of ledges. 

Views from ledges from over 2600 feet looking at Height of Land Mountain(Right), and Eleventh Mountain(left).

Eleventh Mountain once again.

Ledge views.

After enjoying the great views, I had to carefully make my way down through the dead spruce and steep slopes.  Luckily this didn't last too long.

After the steep drop, the terrain eased up and the woods opened back up, turning much more deciduous as I eventually made my way back down to the DEC trail.  Interestingly enough, the pink flagging and herd path doesn't go all the way to the marked trail.  

Made a short detour to a large, scenic beaver meadow on Black Mountain Brook that sits just a short ways off trail.

 A short walk on the trail brought me back to car for a nice and easy 3.3 miles RT, with about 800 feet of combined ascent on a gorgeous late spring afternoon!  The breeze actually kept the bugs away too!

Map below. Blue P=Parking  Blue X's=Views