A fresh take on Baxter Mountain

The true summit of Baxter, a popular jaunt in between Elizabethtown and Keene, takes a bit more work to reach

By Tim Rowland

I would be willing to bet that many casual Adirondack hikers who think they have climbed Baxter Mountain in Keene have not truly climbed Baxter Mountain in Keene. I know for a long time I hadn’t, even though Baxter for me was a frequent “lunch hour” hike that would call out on drives up and over Spruce Hill between Keene and Elizabethtown.

Baxter, located on 9N between Keene and Elizabethtown, is hardly an off-the-beaten-track hike through the temperate seasons, but if you’ve stayed away due to the crowds, you will find opportunities for solitude on this beautiful little peak after the boys of summer have gone, as Don Henley would put it.

Hiking Baxter on a weekday in early December, there were zero cars at the base, and I met zero people on the trail. Angry clouds were roiling through the valley, but the snow squalls seemed to be hung up on the High Peaks, so a dramatic little window of opportunity was presenting itself. Another advantage at this time of year is that, at a low 2,349 feet in elevation, there is usually no need for snowshoes or other forms of Sasquatch Pursuit footwear.

The scenery was familiar as I crossed under the powerlines and entered the beautiful mixed forest of evergreens and a who’s who of Adirondack hardwoods — beech, birch, maple, ash. Desirous of a bit more of a workout than the (somewhat) newly carved switchbacks could provide, I climbed it old school, taking the vintage route that went straight from the bottom to the ridge, no switchbacks, no contours, no pussyfooting around in any way, shape or form. 

I don’t recommend this abandoned relic, but if nothing else it makes you appreciative of the brilliant work of modern ADK trail builders, whose lyrical routes are easier on the knees and always seem to include a hidden point of interest — in this case, a nice view (in winter) of Baxter’s summit high above.

The official trail winds along until it reaches, at a little less than a mile, the junction with another trail coming up from Keene Valley. From here, the climbing is steeper and trickier, compounded on this day by 3-4 inches of fresh snow. While slick in spots, not quite worth the headache of rummaging around the pack for the spikes.

Several quick scrambles lead to a variety of open ledges, a land of 10,000 selfies, with grand views of Keene Valley and the High Peaks beyond. At the final lookout on the ridge, Mt. Marcy sits at the end of the Johns Brook Valley like a diamond in a setting.

As the TV hucksters would say though, “But wait, there’s more.”

Popular online hiking guides get it right on the map, but the narratives typically treat this last ridgeline overlook as the top. It’s easy to see why, as the trail from this point plunges steeply down into a ravine and looks for all the world as if you’re starting down a second Baxter Mountain route, known as the Upham Trail, to Keene Valley. Continuing on for another tenth of a mile, however, and you will start to climb again to the true summit with another fine view from slabs of open rock.

So does it matter? Not much. The view is largely the same, and my gizmo indicated that the difference between the summit and non-summit was nine feet — 2,439 to 2,431. Still, this has to be a crushing blow to people who think they’ve completed the Lake Placid 9 hiking challenge, of which Baxter is a part, for some reason.

I recall being on the stony pinnacle of Jay Mountain when an exhausted couple struggled up to join me — dismayed at the sight of a slightly higher, but heavily forested, piece of real estate sneering at them from across a deep chasm.

They weren’t about to soldier on to the true summit, so they asked me, like I was some kind of backcountry Dear Abby or something, if they could still tell people they had climbed Jay Mountain even if they didn’t reach this spit of higher but less attractive ground. I said sure.

However, if you’re greedy, there is a reason to continue on the Baxter Mountain Trail, even past its true summit. You will descend down some steep ground that you will obviously have to reclimb, but in another tenth of a mile and change, you will be greeted by another broad overlook that’s materially different from any other along the hike. This will look off to the west in the direction of Keene and the Sentinel Range.

The entire climb was an honest 850 feet and took about two hours. Even to the true summit and a little beyond, the trail is shy of its advertised 1.5 miles. My round trip totaled 2.7 miles, my shortcut on the way up having pared about a quarter mile from the total. It’s  hard to imagine a better lunch hour, or two, than that.