Haystack

I had absolutely no plans of completing the Saranac Lake 6ers by hiking Haystack when I woke up on August 8. The plan was to climb Baker with my daughter Kailee.

Sometimes, plans change...

We completed Baker in the morning and decided that we were going to try for two mountains in one day. We would take a shot at Haystack.

We arrived at the Haystack trailhead on Route 86 in Lake Placid around 1PM. Kailee quickly noticed that the sign also said McKenzie on it. She had asked me about all of the Sixer's earlier in the day and taken particular interest in both Scarface (intriguing name) & McKenzie (The Big Girl).

"Why does the sign say McKenzie?" she asked.

"Because, you can take this trail to both McKenzie and Haystack," I replied, "We're only doing Haystack."

And with that, we signed the register and hit the trail.

One word can sum up Haystack's trail this Summer:

Mud.

Mud.

It was everywhere. The trail itself wasn't too difficult for me and there were certainly a few spots that were tricky for Kailee... But, the amount of mud was outta control!


Aside from the mud, the trail provides peaceful and pleasant scenery. Crystal clear runoff with little waterfalls line most of the first 2/3rd's of the trail and it's a treat for both the eyes and ears.


I also noticed some different types of colorful fungi and interesting fauna that I hadn't seen on the previous five Saranac Lake 6ers trails.
There were a number of bright orange ice cream cone-shaped mushrooms with water collected inside their "cup" and I thought they were really freaking cool.

We passed the remains of an old cabin which still had an old bucket and some pipes on display.

Cabin Remains.

Supposedly, the trail to McKenzie breaks somewhere near here... But, I didn't notice it and was somewhat surprised by that... It didn't matter either... We continued following the blue markers towards Haystack.

We soon came to a dam where you have to navigate over a handful of rocks. The water is moving quick and there's a lot of it this year. I held out downed branches to act as a railing for Kailee to use both times we crossed the dam.

The trail continues on a very gentle incline until you near the Summit. At that point the incline picks up and I had to do a little climbing and Kailee had to do quite a bit of climbing due to her size. We took it easy and she did a great job on the rocks. Right after that, we hit a ledge which offered a charming view of Saranac Lake.

DAMMMMM...

After taking some pictures, we continued on the trail and hit the peak shortly thereafter. It took us about 2.5 hours to get there and we were awarded with striking views of Lake Placid and the High Peaks on a beautiful afternoon. Kailee initiated a game of "I Spy with my little eye," which is actually a really great game to play on a cleared Summit. We spotted birds, lakes, boats among other things during the game.

Ledge overlooking Saranac Lake.

After hanging out and checking some of the side trails we began our descent. Kailee once again did a great job of handling all of Haystack's obstacles.

 There were times where Kailee would stop to check something out and I'd end up a hundred feet in front of her and then wait for her to catch up. On our way down we didn't try as hard to avoid the mud so she was covered from head to toe when we reached the car.

At the Peak of Haystack. 6 out of 6.

With two Saranac Lake 6er's down in one day Kailee was off to a great start to someday completing the challenge on her own. For me, hiking both Baker & Haystack in one day meant my Sixer challenge was unexpectedly completed. And, I was ecstatic that Kailee was with me for that.

Kailee switched out of her muddy shoes and we hopped in the car and drove to Berkeley Green in Saranac Lake...
Haystack Mountain is Located on Rt 86 in Lake Placid.

Back at the car... Caked in mud.