Cascade Mountain (New York)

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For other mountains by this name, see Cascade Mountain.


Cascade Mountain
Elevation 4,098 feet (1,249 metres)
Location New York, USA
Range Adirondacks
Coordinates 44°13′07″N, 73°51′38″W
Topo map USGS Keene Valley
First ascent Lon Pierce, 1872 (first recorded)
Easiest route hike

Cascade Mountain is in Essex County of New York. It is one of the 46 Adirondack High Peaks and is located in the Adirondack State Park. Its name comes from a series of waterfalls on a brook near the mountain's base. The lake it flows into and the pass between Cascade and Pitchoff mountains are also named Cascade.

Cascade Mountain towers over the Van Hoevenberg ski center, the venue for cross-country skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics.

Of the 46 Adirondack High Peaks, Cascade is the most accessible and the most frequently climbed, often by infrequent hikers who climb no other High Peak. The main trailhead is on Route 73 6 miles (10 km) east of Lake Placid, at Cascade Pass, overlooking Cascade Lake, and plenty of parking is available alongside the road. The summit is visible from the trailhead, a rare occurrence in the High Peaks.

The well-used trail follows red plastic markers and takes the hiker up 2.2 miles (4.6 km) and almost 2,000 vertical feet (600 vertical m) to the mountain's bare-rock summit, which although it may resemble the alpine summits found on many higher peaks is instead the result of a 1903 fire in the region.

Views are possible in all directions, and on a clear day with good weather in the summer months one can easily find many hikers up there taking it all in along with lunch.

Experienced and fit hikers, as well as those aspiring to become Adirondack Forty-Sixers, frequently add to the easy side trip to neighboring Porter Mountain, another High Peak.


The High Peaks of New York's Adirondack Mountains
Northern Adirondacks: Esther • Whiteface
Eastern Adirondacks: GiantRocky Peak
Colvin Ridge: Blake • Colvin • Dial • Nippletop
Dix Range: DixEast Dix • South Dix • Hough • Macomb
Northern High Peaks: Big Slide • Cascade • Phelps • Porter • Tabletop
Marcy Group: Allen • Cliff • ColdenGrayHaystackMarcy • Redfield • Skylight
Other Great Range: Armstrong • Basin • Gothics • Saddleback • Sawteeth • Lower Wolfjaw • Upper Wolfjaw
McIntyre Mountains: AlgonquinIroquois • Marshall • Wright
Santanoni Range: Couchsachraga • Panther • Santanoni
Seward Mountains: Donaldson • Emmons • Seward • Seymour
Street Range: (MacNaughton) • Nye • Street