Upcoming trip, Hamilton Mtn??? Help!

[TBPDPTI]

Hello all, I had recently (~ 1 month ago) posted about an upcoming trip to climb Cliff, Redfield, Blake, Colvin, Dial, Nippletop, and Sawteeth to finish the 46. I have decided that the way home will be an attempt at Hamilton Mtn (SE of Lake Pleasant). My question is this: On the 1978 USGS Topos, there is a trail shown just E of Hamilton Lake, which immediately forks. The left fork heads E towards Gilmantown, and the right fork heads down to Hamilton Mtn. The trail headed down S to the mtn is no longer shown on the ADK maps. Does anyone have any info on this trail? Is it still followable; if it is not current?

Should this trail be completely unfollowable, then how about a bushwhach to Speculator Mtn? It looks as though there are two ways to get there: First, is a bushwhack up the SW ridge from the aformentioned trail. If not, then perhaps taking the small trail to the cemetary from the SE corner of Lake Pleasant, and then following the stream up as far as possible??


Please help with this for those of you who have been there!!

[forgedin78]

I think that trail starts on private property around hamilton lake, but not sure. Redhawk lives close to that area he would probably know if the trail is still there, and if hikers can access it from the private property.

[Bill I.]

There used to be a fire tower on Hamilton Mountain, and the trail that you see on the map used to be the public trail to the tower.

However, the tower was removed many years ago and the trail was abandoned by the state. As noted above, the trail began on private land and there is now no public access from that direction. The through trail to Gilmantown is also posted at both ends.

A friend and I bushwhacked towards Hamilton from Gilmantown Road, from a place where there was state land frontage. We got up on the ridge, but never quite made it to the summit (this was in December, with not much daylight to work with). We were not expecting many views anyway.

Last winter some friends of mine bushwhacked up Speculator Mountain, and they did find some through-the-tree views. I'm not sure what approach they used, though.

[TBPDPTI]

I think that we're gonna try to find the trail to the cemetary and take the stream. If nothing else, it will be something new!!