The
Ampersand Mountain trail, at only 2.8 miles one way, is a shorter
climb than St Regis (see previous blog post) and it starts out with a
long, fairly level teaser of a walk. But you pay for it because the
trail climbs almost 1800 feet to the top compared to Regis's 1250
foot gain. It is quite steep for a mile or so. The trail used to
be an eroded mess in some of the steeper sections but now there are
many rock steps that are a great improvement. It's a pretty
impressive job of trail engineering – and also represents a lot of
physical work. The final scramble up the rocks to the large bare
summit rewards you with a magnificent 360 degree panorama. No wonder
it is one of the “Saranac Lake 6er” mountains. One direction you
see mountains – the nearby Seward range of the high peaks – and
Long Lake far off in the distance. The opposite side view is
dominated by the 3 Saranac Lakes - upper, middle and lower. It is
definitely one of the best payoffs for a relatively short, but
admittedly hard at times, climb. On the opposite side of the road
from the trail head there is a half mile path leading to Middle
Saranac Lake and a sandy beach. I've never been on this but I've
read it would be a good spot for a post climb swim. I've snowshoed
up Ampersand a couple of times and those steep downhills made for
some exciting and fast trips down the mountain. Find the trail head
by driving south on route 30 to the junction with route 3. Turn left
on 3 heading toward Saranac Lake and go 7.1 miles to the parking turn
off on the left. The trail begins on the direct opposite side of the
road.
