Number 8 Mountain & Stevens Mountain(Pharoah Lake Wilderness-Adirondacks)

Stevens Mountain may only rise to 2174 feet, but its bare, mostly open summit has left me wanting to climb it for quite a while now.  With warmer weather finally melting winter's ice and snow, I talked my buddy Jim into heading north to check out this gorgeous section of the Pharoah Lake Wilderness. To get to the mountain on state land, we had to get started from the north end of driveable Pharoah Lake Road(off of Beaver Pond Road) at the large DEC parking area.  Only one other truck was there when we started, at a low elevation of 940 feet.  The old road sits at the foot of Park Mountain on the west and Number 8 Mountain on the east, meaning it was extremely wet and muddy from all of winter's remnants melting down the slopes on each side.

With the old road being so wet, we opted to quickly leave it and head off into the woods to begin our bushwhack. 

The west slopes of Number 8 Mountain are steep, but open and very easy to navigate.

Soon we could see a clearing to our right(south), a little before the summit.  We headed towards the clearing and voila...

The spectacular cliffs on Number 8 Mountain, looking SW over Brant Lake.

The view is nearly 180, encompassing a good portion of the southern Adks.  To the west, over neighboring Park Mountain's shoulder are the unmistakable ski slopes of Gore Mountain, with Eleventh Mountain's long ridge just south of that.

SE views towards The Brothers, a trio of nearby peaks.

A steady descent east brought us off Number 8's summit and towards Little Stevens Mountain.  For such little mountains(relatively speaking), the drop is quite significant.  We decided to head slightly south of Little Stevens to a small 1660 foot knob we dubbed Baby Stevens.  From a ledge on the way up, we caught a cool glimpse back to Number 8 Mountain.

Baby Stevens appeared to have quite a bit of open rock near the summit, so we headed up to it.

Once we hit the bare rock just off the summit, the views were great!  Number 8 Mountain and the view west.

Another view of Brant Lake, from a slightly lower and different angle on Baby Stevens.

One of the best finds of the day was a small vernal pond on the summit of Baby Stevens which seemed so out of place.

We wandered around exploring the open rock and checking out the views for a few minutes, eventually finding an amazing view north all the way towards the snow capped High Peaks.  Mount Marcy stands front and center.

Approaching the true summit of Baby Stevens.  This small knob was definitely worth the visit.

 

One last view from the amazing little summit of Baby Stevens. 

A very small, almost unnoticeable drop off Baby Stevens lead us north about 1/3 of a mile to Little Stevens.  A fun climb brought us up to the summit area.

Jim, arriving at the open rock atop 1730 foot Little Stevens Mountain.  While it was open at the top of Little Stevens, the views weren't anything close to those of Baby Stevens.  We looked around for a little bit, before heading over towards Stevens, which was still one mile away to the east.

A fairly uneventful drop and reclimb through mostly hardwoods brought us over to Stevens Mountain's summit.  The wide open blue skies on the final approach promised big things. 

Once atop the summit, the views did not disappoint.  The 2174 foot summit was our high point for the day, and provided a neat look back west towards the summit's that we had just climbed over.  Number 8 Mountain is center back, with Baby Stevens(left-front) and Little Stevens(Right front).

Several enormous glacial erratics grace the wide open east summit area.  An early 1900's fire left extensive damage on this summit, we is still noticeable today.

To the east the views stretch all the way towards the Green Mountain's of Vermont.  The impressive Barton High Cliffs are easily spotted in the center of the photo as well.

I wandered all around the open rock on the east side of the summit.  What a spectacular summit area!  That little speck at the top is Jim, soaking in the views.

The Brothers look close enough to touch from these open slopes.(Third Brother-left), Second Brother-right)

The summit of Stevens Mountain is one of the best that I have been on in the southern Adirondacks.  It is a real gem.

Simply incredible!  A bit windy, but otherwise perfect.  Crane Mountain is the high mountain in the distance to the right of Brant Lake.

After enjoying the summit for nearly 45 minutes, we finally turned back, heading back off Stevens and Little Stevens.  Recent snowmelt meant we were treated to several pretty waterfalls on the drainages on the slopes of Little Stevens.

Instead of reclimbing Number 8 Mountain, we side hilled the lower slopes of the peak, heading west back to Pharoah Lake Road.

An fun and amazing day in the Adks!  8.5 miles RT(mostly bushwhack) with nearly 2500 feet of ascent.  We were not able to secure permission to park a car at the Scout Camp at the base of Stevens Mountain, which would have made this a much shorter hike.