The Adirondack High Peaks are a set of 46
mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...
peaks in the
Adirondack Mountains
The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular ...
of
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
state. They have been popular hiking destinations since the late 1920s, when the list of peaks was published in Russell Carson's book ''Peaks and Peoples of the Adirondacks''. Those who have climbed all 46 High Peaks are eligible to join the
Adirondack Forty-Sixers
The Adirondack Forty-Sixers are an organization of hikers who have climbed all forty-six of the traditionally recognized High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains. They are often referred to just as 46ers. As of 2021, there were nearly 14,000 regi ...
club.
Origin
The list of peaks was originally compiled by the mountaineers Herbert Clark,
Bob Marshall, and
George Marshall
George Catlett Marshall Jr. (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the US Army under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry ...
, with input from Russell Carson. The Marshall brothers wished to climb every notable peak in the Adirondacks, which they accomplished with Clark between 1918 and 1925. The criteria used were that all peaks should be at least in elevation and either have of
prominence
In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...
or of distance from another peak. Several exceptions to these rules were made to include or exclude peaks based on their preferences;
Gray Peak,
Wright Peak
Wright Peak is the 16th highest peak in the Adirondack High Peaks, High Peaks of the Adirondack Park, and is located in the MacIntyre Range in the town of North Elba, New York, in Essex County, New York, Essex County, New York (state), New Yor ...
,
Armstrong Mountain
Armstrong Mountain is a mountain located in Essex County, New York, named after Thomas Armstrong, a local pioneer.
The mountain is part of the Great Range of the Adirondack Mountains.
Armstrong Mtn. is flanked to the southwest by Gothics, and ...
,
Upper Wolfjaw Mountain
Upper Wolfjaw Mountain is a mountain located in Essex County, New York.
Landscape artist Alexander Helwig Wyant (1836–1892) named the mountain, in combination with neighboring Lower Wolfjaw Mountain, c. 1870 for their appearance in profile. ...
, and
South Dix were included but did not meet either the prominence or distance rule, while Little Marcy,
Yard Mountain, and two then-unnamed peaks were excluded. Later surveys revealed that
Blake Peak,
Cliff Mountain,
Couchsachraga Peak, and
Nye Mountain
Nye Mountain is a mountain located in Essex County, New York, named after William B. Nye (''c''.1815–1893), an Adirondack mountain guide.
Nye Mountain is part of the Street Range of the Adirondack Mountains; it is flanked to the southwest b ...
are under 4,000 feet in elevation, but no mountains have been removed or added to the list due to tradition.
Location
All but three of the peaks are located in central and northern
Essex County, primarily south of
Lake Placid and
Keene Valley. The others are just to the west in
Franklin County. All of the
summits
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous.
The term (mountain top) is generally used only for a ...
are on land owned by New York State as part of its
Forest Preserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...
. Forty-two are in a vast tract of nearly known as the
High Peaks Wilderness Area
The High Peaks Wilderness Area, the largest Forest Preserve unit in the U.S. state of New York, is located in three counties and six towns in the Adirondack Park: Harrietstown in Franklin County, North Elba, Keene, North Hudson and Newcom ...
, subdivided into central (26 peaks) and outer (16 peaks) zones. Nine of the peaks in the outer zone are in an area formerly known as the
Dix Mountain Wilderness Area
The Dix Mountain Wilderness Area is the name previously given to an area of New York's Forest Preserve in the Adirondack Park , and is located in the towns of Elizabethtown, Keene and North Hudson, Essex County. It is roughly bounded on the n ...
, which was added to the High Peaks Wilderness in 2018. Giant Mountain and Rocky Peak Ridge are in the adjacent
Giant Mountain Wilderness Area
The Giant Mountain Wilderness Area, an Adirondack Park unit of New York's Forest Preserve, lies in Essex County, New York, in the towns of Elizabethtown and Keene. It is roughly bounded by NY 9N on the north, NY 73 on the west and south and U ...
.
Whiteface Mountain
Whiteface Mountain is the fifth-highest mountain in the U.S. state of New York, and one of the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains. Set apart from most of the other High Peaks, the summit offers a 360-degree view of the Adirondacks and clea ...
and
Esther Mountain
Esther Mountain is a mountain located in Essex County, New York. The mountain is the northernmost of the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains and its 28th highest peak. It was the only High Peak named for a woman until 2014, having been nam ...
are set slightly to the north, in
Wilmington.
Mountain ranges
There are many
Mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
s within the High Peaks. The
Dix Range
The Dix Range is a range of mountains in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks, southeast of Mount Marcy and the Ausable valley, in northeastern New York State. The Dixes are named for John Adams Dix, then Secretary of State under New York ...
includes five out of the forty-six High Peaks:
Macomb,
Grace Peak
Grace Peak is a mountain located in Essex County, New York. It is part of the Dix Range, named after John A. Dix (1798–1879), New York Secretary of State in 1837, and later Governor. The mountain was formerly called East Dix, but in 2014 it ...
, South Dix,
Hough Hough may refer to:
* Hamstringing, or severing the Achilles tendon of an animal
* the leg or Tibia, shin of an animal (in the Scots language), from which the dish potted hough is made
* Hough (surname)
Communities United Kingdom
* Hough, Alderle ...
, and
Dix Mountain
Dix Mountain is the sixth highest peak in the High Peaks Region of the Adirondack Park, and is located roughly on the boundary between the towns of North Hudson and Keene in Essex County, New York. The peak was named in 1837 after John Dix ...
. The
Great Range
The Great Range is a mountain range in the Adirondack Mountains, near Keene Valley, New York, United States. It rises in the heart of the High Peaks region between Ausable Lakes to the southeast and the Johns Brook Valley to the northwest.
T ...
includes seven out of the forty-six High Peaks:
Lower Wolfjaw, Upper Wolfjaw,
Armstrong Armstrong may refer to:
Places
* Armstrong Creek (disambiguation), various places
Antarctica
* Armstrong Reef, Biscoe Islands
Argentina
* Armstrong, Santa Fe
Australia
* Armstrong, Victoria
Canada
* Armstrong, British Columbia
* Armstrong ...
,
Gothics
Gothics is a mountain in the High Peaks Region of the Adirondack Mountains. The mountain gets its name due to its large rock slides' resemblance to Gothic architecture. The summit has near 360 degree views, which combined with its location in ...
,
Saddleback,
Basin, and
Haystack
Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated ...
. The Seward Range includes four out of the forty-six High Peaks:
Seward,
Donaldson,
Emmons, and
Seymour Mountain. The
MacIntyre Range includes four out of the forty-six High Peaks:
Mount Marshall, Wright,
Algonquin
Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to:
Languages and peoples
*Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia
**Algonquin la ...
and
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
. The Santanoni Range includes three out of the forty-six High Peaks:
Santanoni,
Panther
Panther may refer to:
Large cats
*Pantherinae, the cat subfamily that contains the genera ''Panthera'' and ''Neofelis''
**''Panthera'', the cat genus that contains tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards.
***Jaguar (''Panthera onca''), found in Sout ...
, and Couchsachraga.
Ecosystems
The region contains many alpine lakes and meadows, wetlands, streams, and forests. Atop the highest peaks, above the
tree line
The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snowp ...
, lies a small
alpine ecosystem, a remnant of a larger lowland tundra that retreated uphill following the
most recent period of glaciation. The amount of this ecosystem is constantly changing due to variation in the climate from year to year, and has been estimated by different methods to only cover between . The alpine ecosystem is considered extremely fragile to damage from hikers, and the
Adirondack Mountain Club
The Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1922. It has approximately 30,000 members. The ADK is dedicated to the protection and responsible recreational use of the New York State Forest Preserve, parks, wild l ...
launched an education campaign to avoid further damage in the 1970s, since which some peaks have seen documented recovery.
The Eastern High Peaks Wilderness area is the most regulated area. Fires are not permitted; dogs must be leashed; overnight groups are limited to eight people and day groups to 15; and bear-resistant food canisters are required from April through November. Camping is prohibited above any elevation greater than 4,000 feet on any of the Adirondack High Peaks.
Reaching the summits
Climbing neither
Mount Marcy
Mount Marcy (Mohawk: ''Tewawe’éstha'') is the highest point in New York, with an elevation of . It is located in the Town of Keene in Essex County. The mountain is in the heart of the Adirondack High Peaks region of the High Peaks Wildern ...
nor Algonquin Peak, the two highest of the High Peaks, requires technical skills. Of the two, Algonquin Peak is regarded as the more challenging climb. Twenty of the peaks have no official trail to the top, although rough informal routes, commonly referred to as "herd paths," have developed over the years. No true bushwhacking is required on any of the peaks, although some trails are still quite primitive.
The summit of Whiteface Mountain can alternatively be reached by motor vehicle on the
Whiteface Mountain Veterans' Memorial Highway.
The High Peaks
Some surveys list
MacNaughton Mountain
MacNaughton Mountain is a mountain located in Essex County, New York, named after James MacNaughton (1851–1905), the grandson of Archibald McIntyre.
The mountain is part of the Street Range of the Adirondack Mountains.
The western slopes ...
at , and some argue that it should be included in the High Peaks. However, more recent surveys list the mountain at .
See also
*
Adirondack Park
The Adirondack Park is a part of New York's Forest Preserve in northeastern New York, United States. The park was established in 1892 for “the free use of all the people for their health and pleasure”, and for watershed protection. The park ...
*
Catskill High Peaks
The Catskill High Peaks are all of the mountains in New York's Catskill Mountains above in elevation whose summits are separated either by ''or'' a vertical drop of at least between it and the next nearest separate summit. By usual standards, ...
*
Munro
A Munro () is defined as a mountain in Scotland with a height over , and which is on the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) official list of Munros; there is no explicit topographical prominence requirement. The best known Munro is Ben Nevis ...
*
4000 footers
*
Northeast 111
The Northeast 111 is a peak-bagging list of mountains in the northeastern states of the United States. It includes the sixty-seven 4000-footers of New England (48 in New Hampshire, 14 in Maine and 5 in Vermont), the 46 Adirondack High Peaks, an ...
*
Quebec 1000 meter peaks
This list of Quebec's 1000-meter peaks is a list of the highest summits in Quebec, used in the mountaineering sport of peak bagging. Ranked peaks have of clean prominence.
(Includes map of peaks.)
See also
* Northeast 111 4000-footers
** New E ...
References
External links
{{commons category, Adirondack peaks,
Adirondack peaks
Adirondack 46ersTrailsNH.com — Current trail conditions and more for the Adirondack High PeaksInteractive map of the Adirondack 46 Peaks
Adirondacks
*
Mountains of Essex County, New York
Mountains of Franklin County, New York
Tourist attractions in Essex County, New York
Tourist attractions in Franklin County, New York
Adirondack Park