Clap Mountain

Kailee and I love to go camping at Sharp Bridge Campground in North Hudson each Summer.
It's an old, sleepy campground on the bank of the little Schroon River. I can't believe that I haven't done a review on Sharp Bridge yet! And, I promise that I will... Soon... It might be a long blog... We like the place!

Anyhow, there's a bunch of trails within an earshot of the campground and some in the campground itself. The main trail is the 5.2 mile Trout Pond-Ensign Pond Road Trail which has a number of destinations that one can hit up. We tried hiking to the East Mill Flow earlier in the Summer but our trek was cut short thanks to a downed tree taking out foot bridge #4. (We did make it to the East Mill Flow last year).

When we returned to Sharp Bridge on August 14, we planned to hike the Sharp Bridge cliffs instead of trying the main trail again.

Looking up at the Sharp Bridge Cliffs.

To get to the cliffs, you sign in at the main trailhead and walk a short distance over a foot bridge and then the trail splits. Take the left trail to get to the cliffs. It's an unmarked trail, but you can't miss it and it's only about a quarter mile to the top of the cliffs. We've actually seen people climbing the cliffs with ropes and belays in the past. But, you can get to the top of them by veering left and then climbing to the right up a steep pine needle covered hill.

The Sharp Bridge Cliffs are a part of Clap Mountain and they have some cute rock edifices which make it a great place to have lunch and gaze out over the the river valley cutting through the mountains to the Southeast. There's a lot of beautiful fauna on the
cliffs and I have run into garter snakes up there on numerous occasions. There is a smaller ledge on the backside of the cliffs that looks out towards the Dix range.

A Garter Snake friend!

The rocks at the top of the cliffs.
A great place to have lunch or relax!

From the main ledge at the cliffs, one can turn left and see the Summit of Clap Mountain and more ledges. Looking at the Summit, Kailee and I decided to try and get there.

There is no trail from the Sharp Bridge Cliffs to the Summit of Clap Mountain. We were aware of this from our previous adventures... So we had to bushwhack it. Which wasn't that bad. It was maybe another 600-800 meters to the Summit.

View of the Little Schroon Valley
from the top of Sharp Bridge Cliffs.

The ground was mostly covered with birch leaves and we walked on them doing our best to not disrupt the wildlife. In certain areas you descend before arriving to the final climb which is not difficult for an able-bodied adult or kid. After a short ascent, you reach the tree covered peak.

Clap Mountain offers limited views to the East and West. There's a thin ledge facing the West but I wasn't going to bring Kailee down to it. Aside from the fun little peeks outward, we saw a number of cool things on top of the mountain including rocks, mushrooms, and an incredible root system of a downed tree.

Our path to the Summit of Clap.

At 1,610' above sea level, Clap Mountain isn't very remarkable by any measure. It's basically a big hill that happens to have some pretty cool ledges and views of the Adirondacks. Because of this, there is very little information available on the internet about Clap... (Go ahead & Google it... I'll be here waiting...).

Looking West from the Summit area of Clap.

It took us a minute or five to find some familiar landmarks before we bushwhacked our way back down to the cliffs and eventually the campground.

Kailee and I weren't trying to set any records by climbing Clap. We just did it for the fun of it. And, she seemed to really enjoy the whole experience of it. That being said, in our personal record books - it put Kailee at 3 Summits for the year and me at 7.

Kailee descending Clap Mountain.

As I stated, Clap Mountain isn't remarkable in it's level of incline or difficulty. But, it wasn't a worthless climb for us either. It was something fun to try... And now, there might be one more Google entry out there when someone happens to type in Clap Mountain!

Clap Mountain is located off the trailhead in Sharp Bridge Campground in North Hudson
on Route 9.

Really cool roots of a downed tree near Clap Mt Summit.