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3 Climbing log entries Found.


May 18, 2015 (Mon.)
Elevations: 3899 feet, 3861 feet; Order of Height: 50, 57
Participants: Andrew Lavigne, Jennifer Innes, Caroline Doucet
Click to Enlarge

A repeat of our pleasant 2010 loop over the two main peaks of the Mckenzie Range, just west of the actual lake of Lake Placid.

We parked at the start of the re-routed Lake Trail, on Blodgett Road (the old Chipmunk Lane access is closed). This new stretch bypasses all of the upscale homes and boathouses, but eventually rejoins with the old Lake Trail route (some attention required to follow properly). From there, we continued along the Lake Trail as before, to a point below Moose's summit, then caught the trail that leads up to it. The morning was humid but sunny, clear, and still. Shortly after heading up-slope towards Moose, we were drenched in sweat.

The snows of winter had all but melted away, and we had a mostly dry ascent to Moose's summit. Some excellent trail clearing and a very un-eroded path provided a quite straightforward ascent, despite being a bit steep in places. A stop at picturesque Loch Bonnie, about halfway up, was welcome.

We took in the limited views from Moose's summit, then continued on, along the ridge trail over to Mckenzie. This, in my opinion, is the gem of this loop: a long, meandering, beautiful little path, soft and springy, relatively free of blowdown, and through picturesque taiga-type woods. And very secluded; likely you'll meet no one else. The first half from Moose is best; the second half that climbs up over bumps to Mckenzie's summit is a little bit less enchanting.

We stopped on Mckenzie's excellent western lookout for lunch, then continued on, hoping to beat some approaching bad weather. We descended the more-travelled southern approach to Mckenzie, and the extra wear and tear on the trail was quite apparent. Once at the valley floor, we turned left on the Mckenzie Pond / Jackrabbit ski trail and completed the section back to Whiteface Inn Road (Blodgett is perhaps just a hundred yards farther, completing the loop).

Please refer to the link below for the full trip report with lots of pictures.

Trip Reports, Image Galleries or Other References:
 Image Gallery: May 2015 McKenzie and Moose Mountains Loop


Mar. 27, 2010 (Sat.)
Elevations: 3899 feet, 3861 feet; Order of Height: 50, 57
Participants: Andrew Lavigne, Jennifer Innes
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A hike meant to fit into our day before the 2010 winter 46r dinner. I'd never done Moose, the northern peak in the McKenzie Mountains, and it was close to Lake Placid (location for the dinner), and it promised to offer some interesting views of Lake Placid and Whiteface Mtn.

We parked at the end of the Whiteface Inn Road (Chipmunk Lane, to be precise), and walked the Lake Trail along the shore of Lake Placid, past upscale homes and boathouses. We continued along the Lake Trail to a point below Moose's summit, then caught the trail that leads up to it. There was only patchy snow down by the lake, but up above it was plentiful and extremely hard -- So much so that we did not need to use snowshoes at all.

There was no sign of previous hikers, and the biggest challenge of this hike was making sure we stayed on the trail. Fortunately there is a reasonably plentiful sequence of SOA trail markers, so with a bit of scouting, we were ok. Moose Mountain's summit, although wooded, does have some very nice lookouts, and the beautiful day made them well worth visiting. We continued along the somewhat rambling ridge trail over to McKenzie peak (again we needed to be careful to not lose the trail), over the top of that peak, then down to the Jackrabbit ski trail and east back to the Whiteface Inn Road, completing a nice 7.5 hour loop.

Please refer to the link below for the full trip report with lots of pictures.

Trip Reports, Image Galleries or Other References:
 Image Gallery: March 2010 McKenzie and Moose Mountains Loop


Nov. 16, 2002 (Sat.)
Elevation: 3861 feet; Order of Height: 57
Participants: Andrew Lavigne, Andree Plouffe
Click to Enlarge

A frosty day. Not much snow down low, just a dusting. Hiked northwest from the trailhead near Whiteface Landing until we reached a four-way junction. The trail north to McKenzie mountain was signed by an elaborate carving in a tree. Trail went pretty much straight up - on steep spurt, so to speak. At the top there was a bit more snow but nothing too major. Lots of neat snow formation on the trees. Several small up-and-down false lookouts and we were on the top. Very good views of Lake Placid (the lake). Also very good views back west towards Saranac Lake and the lake country. After a brief lunch we were starting to get pretty cold so we quickly headed down east to complete our loop hike, and it wasn't long before the hiking warmed us up again. (oh, btw, lots of distinctive and good signage from the trail maintainers). Bartlett pond had an aluminum rowboat frozen into it. The trail continued downhill next to 'Two Brooks', and, as it did so, we went below the snow line. Not far from the head of 'Two Brooks' we encountered the remnants of some sort of Dam-works.

From here we had to carefully traverse between all sorts of very fancy 'cottages' on the shore of Lake Placid. Lots of 'warning' and 'no tresspassing', etc. type of signs. Some really nice residences, though, and some good views of mountains from Lake Placid's shore. Eventually ended up at the end of the Whiteface Landing road (our starting point). See maps in attached image gallery for precise start/stop location.

Trip Reports, Image Galleries or Other References:
 Image Gallery: November 2002 McKenzie Mtn Hike


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