Ampersand: The Best View in the Adirondacks

I had planned on going to my campground after leaving Panther Mountain and then hiking a mountain near there but I had gotten a book about hikes in the Adirondacks and saw that I was close to Ampersand Mountain which is supposed to be really nice. Plus its only 5 miles round trip, not 6.5 round trip like the other hike I had planned. However, I never really looked at the elevation gain, which is something I really need to give equal weight to. I always figure that it’s a mountain so obviously the trail goes up to the top and then back down so who cares what the elevation gain is? Well Ampersand goes up an abrupt 1800' of elevation in 2.7 miles with 1500 of that in the last mile. That was when it was pretty much straight uphill over wet, muddy rocks. Apparently this trail was infamous for being one of the most unpleasant sections of trail in the Adirondacks. It was a steep, rutted, slippery, eroded mess until the late 1990’s. At one point you even have to climb up the roots of a tree that are spread over a rock. Then finally you see a sheer expanse of rock with yellow arrows and are greeted with this view:

While Ampersand is probably the toughest hike I’ve done in the Adirondacks, it definitely has the best view by far. Here I am looking worn out after my arduous hike up.It’s only 3,352 feet high but the summit is bald, massive and unusually long, extending east to west and affording a variety of vistas in every direction. The mountain itself stands separate and alone, overlooking a vast expanse of lower landscapes and lakescapes on all sides. Ampersand also happens to be scenically situated between the northern lake country of the Adirondacks and many of the High Peaks and other mountains of the region. I stayed up for about a half hour trying to take it all in. There was a lot to explore on the summit if you were daring. By jumping over a few crevices I came across this sign commemorating the Ampersand Hermit- Walter Channing Rice, who manned the fire tower from 1915 to 1923. I then played around with my camera to get some self-timer shots. Finally, I decided it was time to head back down. I checked out some cave type things that I passed on the way up.I made it to the end of the trail around 5:00pm, covered in mud. I hopped in my car and took the scenic route to my campground. I stayed at Meadowbrook Campground and it’s definitely one of the weirder campgrounds I’ve stayed at. It’s on the main drag next to a Ford dealership and behind a BBQ restaurant that plays live music until 9:30pm. My spot was in the woods at least. I had to do some quick cleaning since Irene had knocked down quite a few limbs. I refueled with some chicken corn chowder and read while trying to tune out the blues music.