The increasing heat of the day went head-to-head against the cooling effect of altitude. An occasionally bit of blessed breeze refreshed us from time to time.
Shortly after 10 a.m., we arrived at Moose Mountain's summit crest. Although the summit is forested (ie not bald), there were still a couple of decent lookouts - one offering a great view of nearby Lake Placid, and one offering a view of the flatter lands to the north, as well as nearby Whiteface Mountain.
courtesy JInnes
courtesy JInnes
With our summitting of Moose Mountain, the second phase of our loop hike was complete (the first being the walk along the Lake Trail, the second being the climb up to Moose). Next up was the traverse phase - the long, rambling walk along the crest of the Mckenzie Range from Moose to the summit of Mckenzie itself. An appropriately-placed sign indicated a distance of 3.1 miles, along with an arrow pointing pretty much directly at the wooded tip of Mckenzie Mountain, clearly visible in the distance.
The SOA-marked trail (known along this stretch as the "Ridge Trail") headed west, down from the summit of Moose. Right from the start, it was a beautiful path: first expertly carving through the dense scrub near the summit, then down into bigger and more open forest. It was nearly always lightly-eroded - a delightful, winding track over pine needles and loamy forest floor. It was often springy - sometimes even spongy - as we walked along. Along with a fairly consistent and gentle downgrade and a minumum of blowdown, we moved along at a fairly rapid pace.
courtesy JInnes
The initial two kilometres (1.2 miles) from Moose Mountain's summit is all downhill - easy downhill, through very pleasant ridgetop forest. In most places, the ridgetop is fairly broad, so you simply get the sense of travelling through forest, not particularly along a ridge. The forest along this stretch often has a west-coasty sort of vibe to it. Lots of moss and shade and green. And once again, a delightfully untrammelled path. It is clear that not many folks hike along here. A nice departure from the typical beat-down hiker highways of the Adirondacks.
The ridgeline between Moose and Mckenzie bottoms out at roughly 3250 feet (approximately 650 feet down from Moose's summit). The trail begins a series of climbs, interspersed with stretchs of flat and small descents. An occasional sign along the path gave us intermediate distances between Moose and Mckenzie. Unusual.
A sharp turn at the 2.7km mark from Moose (1.7 miles) marked an abrupt shift in the general direction of the route. Up to this point, we had been travelling west. Now, we had shifted south, heading more directly to Mckenzie Mountain. The steep uphills increased in frequency as we began climbing over a series of small subsummits. The trail quality along here had declined somewhat (as compared to the angelic stretch down from Moose), but it was still very nice by Adirondack standards.
The day grew hotter and more stifling as we worked our way over the bumps leading up to Mckenzie. In great contrast to the extensive multi-foot snowpack we encountered on the way up Whiteface just two weeks before, today we only encountered only lonely patch of snow, a ten-foot stretch between one of the two sub-summits. I guess winter 2014-2015 was finally completely over!
courtesy JInnes
Presently we came to the junction with the upper end of the Two Brooks Trail. The lower end of this trail is encountered shortly after starting out along the Lake Trail. As a result, if you want a much shorter Mckenzie Loop, you can choose the Two Brooks trail.
courtesy JInnes
A couple of hundred yards beyond the Two Brooks junction, we reached the summit of Mckenzie. The summit is an elongated, fairly narrow crest. If it weren't forested, it would actually feel a bit airy.
The summit isn't open, however, and the highest elevation is marked with a simple white disc of plastic mounted up on the trunk of a small conifer.
Although Mckenzie's summit is forested, it does have two lookouts - one facing southeast over Lake Placid, and the other facing west. The western lookout is the real beauty here - a wide open ledge of bedrock with a big 180-degree panorama of the beginning of the lake region west of the High Peaks. This is by far the best viewpoint along the entire loop. A great place to stop for lunch, even before accounting for the wonderfully cooling breeze.
