Giant Mountain

Giant Mountain, or “Giant of the Valley,” is the dominant peak presiding over the Keene Valley of New York State. This was our fourth hike of the Adirondack 46ers and an ambitious one, this trail is a 3,375 feet climb out of the valley.

Consulting our map, we decided to approach this twelfth highest peak from the Roaring Brook Trail off Route 73. The trail starts out on a soft path of pine needles and quickly begins to climb following a brook for the first 1,000 ft of elevation change. The trail continues up to a ridge that you essentially follow-up to the summit with a few ladders and scrambles along the way.

After each new hike, Ginette sees a need to buy more gear. This time we brought along our new go-to adventure microspikes; you slip these babies on over your hiking boots and rest assured of a non-slip footing over icy terrain. We were glad to have them along climbing this ladder.

There is a lot of exposed rock faces on Giant and learning to navigate these is nothing too difficult but still a challenge when you are new to scrambling.

And the reward; panoramic summit views looking southward over the entire Great range, Dix range and many of the other High Peaks.

Giant Mountain — there is nothing little about you, you are big on our list.

No. 4 of 46