“Expectations are the greatest impediment to living”
-Seneca
Thomas Mountain:
Getting to this summit was relatively quick for all of us. I was with my brother and two of our close friends. Although there wasn’t any snow on the trail, it was a frigid morning. The summit wasn’t anything too impressive in my own opinion. I must say though, it’s better than a wooded summit. The view itself was about 180 degrees. Not too long ago, stood an incredible cabin at the mountain. It had the nostalgic Adirondack style that most look for. Something that makes you realize that you’re one with the wilderness. Unfortunately, they tore it down which was a bit agitating. This happened only a few years ago. It could’ve been a complex issue but nonetheless, it should’ve stood. Anyways, we shot at the mountain for awhile and made our way towards Cat Mountain.
Cat Mountain
Around 270 degree views, Cat Mountain is worth the extra mileage. The only down side that I noticed within the scenery was smoke clouds slowly erupting from factories. I climbed Spruce Mountain once and this was something I noticed from the fire tower. It might be that I’m accustomed to hiking in the High Peaks so it’s highly unlikely to see such a thing. Outside of that, I was able to see a small island with a house on it which was an unreal scene. Unfortunately, my 70-200mm lens couldn’t capture this in enough detail. On the other hand, I’ll talk a bit about the trek itself and give a small overview.
The Trek
Heading towards Thomas Mountain, the hike was a gradual climb. It was icy in certain areas and I’m assuming that the trail should be covered in snow now. From Thomas Mountain to Cat is a bit different. It seemed as if the trail wrapped around the entire mountain before we started the ascent. At least that’s usually how our treks go in the Adirondacks. This had fairly steep sections but it was gradual most of the time. There was an area on the trail that indicated we went a tenth of a mile which was quite bizarre. Dropping into a col, it seemed much longer than that. At the end of the day, a watch gave us an entirely different mileage than details online. Heading down from Cat Mountain, we found ourselves at a separate parking lot from the one we came from. We decided to head down this way instead of going back over Thomas Mountain in order to get to the car. Walking on the road for a few miles wasn’t too bad but we could’ve went back over Thomas Mountain as well. Either way, it probably would’ve been more mileage going back from where we came from anyways. On the other hand, here’s a small overview of the trek itself.
Overview:
- Full RT: 9.1 miles (according to AllTrails) since we went a different direction, our trek was over ten miles
- Elevation gain: 1,719 ft (according to AllTrails)
- Trail Type: Loop
- Family friendly
- Dog friendly
- Gear: I brought my Garmin inReach, Kahtoola’s, Gerber Knife, Food/Water, Balaclava, Bandana, Gaiters, Gloves, Beanie
- Gradual/Steep climb
Much appreciation!
As always, I like to thank anyone who took the time to go through this blog. I’m always trying my best to cultivate both story and detail in these writings. If there’s any questions you have, please feel free to let me know. Same goes with any topics/ideas you want to hear about. Until next time, go find that mountain to climb!
-Alex
T & H 