Brown Mountain(Lake George Wild Forest-Adirondacks)

The forecast called for a very mild winter day with abundant sunshine, so I took advantage and headed north to do a snowshoe hike in the Tongue Range of the Lake George Wild Forest.  My goal for the day was to summit Brown Mountain and then drop down to a long set of ledges on the east slopes of the peak, facing Lake George.  I parked at the north parking lot for the Tongue Range(the Deer Leap Trailhead) on Route 9N and laced up my snowshoes to head out.  It was already close to 40 degrees when I started, at an elevation of 1065 feet.

I followed the DEC trail, which climbs steadily past its junction with the Deer Leap trail, towards Brown Mountain's summit.  The true 1966 foot summit sits just off trail.  A gain of 900 feet in about 1.5 miles.

The wide open woods near Brown's summit were extremely pleasant, offering up screened views to the south and east.

I continued a short distance south beyond the summit before leaving the trail, heading east and dropping below an impressive set of ledges.

I continued east through deep, softening snow before finally arriving at the breathtaking ledges that ring much of the east slopes of the peak.

 

Hard to beat the commanding views across Lake George towards Black Mountain. To the left(north) is Elephant Mountain, with Sugarloaf peeking out behind

South views towards Five Mile Mountain from the ledges. The cliffs were quite extensive and allowed for much exploring.

NE views towards Spruce Mountain with even more of the incredible ledges visible below.

The SE view stretching down across the lake towards Buck Mountain.

Although the snow was deep and mushy in the woods, the open ledges were bare in spots.  I wandered around for quite a while, checking out the multitude of views to be had.

After finally getting my fill of the ledges, I headed back into the woods towards the trail, with a bit of up and down along the way.

 

The warming temperatures were really turning the snow into mush.  The "gloppy" snow made for slow going in the deeper woods.  Even with temps close to 45, two feet of melting snow and thick ice were a constant reminder that winter was still hanging on.

I soon arrived back at the trail and followed it back out to the car.

Here is my route for the day.  About 4.4 miles RT with just over 1000 feet of ascent.