"'Northeast" Crane Mountain(OSI/ Wilcox Lake Wild Forest-Adiorndacks)

Took advantage of a rare free day to do some exploring in the southern Adirondacks on a warm, late August day.  Today my explorations would be to a rarely visited NE ridge on popular Crane Mountain. The Open Space Institute has protected the land north of Crane Mountain, which allows access to state land on not only Crane, but Huckleberry Mountain as well(which I had visited a couple years ago). I parked at the gated access road off of South Johnsburg Road(Elevation 1205 feet) and headed south, making good time on the old logging road.

 After about 1.2 miles, I came to a crossing over Crystal Brook, which was an easy rock hop across.

Continued on the logging road beyond Crystal Brook for a little under half a mile, when I began my bushwhack up through open woods.

 

At first I headed south, before turning more SE over towards a series of steep, rocky cliffs.

From these rocky cliffs, I was able to find several very good view points to the north and east.  This is the view east towards the large wetland at the foot of Number Twenty Six Mountain, with Partridge Mountain just beyond.

 

To the north, the rocky, lower slopes on Hucklberry Mountain's east ridge can be seen.  In the distance are (L-R) Mill, Stockton, Pine and Gage Mountains.

Climbing along the NE slopes of the ridge was a fun experience as I passed over many large areas of open rock slab.

Circling around the east face of the ridge, I found more open view points stretching far and wide to the SE.

After enjoying the multiple view points, I dropped south down into a small col, before ascending up to an even higher ridgeline, which was thick with spruce but fairly easy to penetrate through.

After a steep climb through the thick spruce, I arrived at a large area of open rock just below the "summit".

Wandering around the open rock at just over 2600 feet, I managed to find a good view SW towards the north facing slopes below Crane Mountain's true summit.

From the open rock atop this ridge, at nearly 2650 feet, I found even more stellar views.  Here is the view east.

To the north, a look at the lower ridge I had just been on.

A broader view north, again with Crane's far NE ridge in the foreground.

 

From the high ridge, I bushwhacked back down to the lower ridge once again(which sits below 2500 feet).  Near the top there are several large patches of open, moss covered slopes.

From the top of the lower ridge, I headed northwest on an obscure foot path for a short distance before bushwhacking north/ northeast back down to the logging road near Crystal Brook.  Once on the old road, it was easy walk out to the car.  Covered a touch over 6 miles RT, with 1600 feet of ascent total.

Map below.  Red P=Parking off South Johnsburg Road   Red X's=high point on each small ridge I hit  Blue=Route taken