Ampersand Mountain

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Ampersand Mountain

Ampersand Mountain from Middle Saranac Lake
Elevation 3,352 ft (1,022 m)
Location New York, USA
Range Adirondacks
Coordinates 44°14′04″N 74°12′02″W / 44.23444, -74.20056Coordinates: 44°14′04″N 74°12′02″W / 44.23444, -74.20056
Topo map Ampersand Mountain 44074-B1

Ampersand Mountain is a 3,352 ft (1,021.7 m) mountain in Franklin County in the northeastern Adirondacks, east of the High Peaks in New York State. The trail up the mountain begins on NY-3 8.1 miles (13.0 km) southwest of the village of Saranac Lake, near Middle Saranac Lake; it is a popular day hike. The mountain takes its name from nearby Ampersand Creek, so named because it twists and turns like the ampersand symbol[1].

The summit is bare rock, with extensive views of the High Peaks to the east and the Saranac Lakes to the west. The summit was tree covered in the early 1800s, but Verplanck Colvin cleared the summit while working on his survey of the Adirondacks, and subsequent erosion left the summit bare. There is a memorial to hermit Walter Channing Rice, who manned a fire tower on the summit from 1915 to 1923.[2]

Ampersand was the first mountain that wilderness activist and explorer Bob Marshall climbed, in 1915, when he was 14. In 1925, Marshall and his brother George became the first to climb all 46 of the Adirondack peaks over 4,000 ft (1,200 m),[3] becoming the first Adirondack Forty-Sixers.

View of Ampersand Lake and the High Peaks to the east

View of Lower Saranac Lake to the north.

Northwest view from Ampersand of Middle Saranac Lake (left), with Weller Pond directly above. Upper Saranac Lake is just visible at top, and Lower Saranac Lake at far right.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Goodwin, Tony, ed., Adirondack Trails, High Peaks Region, Lake George, New York: Adirondack Mountain Club, 2004. ISBN 1-931951-05-5
  2. ^ ibid.
  3. ^ Brown, Phil (ed). 2006. Bob Marshall in the Adirondacks. Saranac Lake, New York: Lost Pond Press. ISBN 0978925408.

[edit] External links

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