Region
Highlights
- Views to the southeast are excellent, including Seventh Lake, Fawn Lake Mountain, Limekiln Lake, and Cascade Ridge. A blue trail goes past the summit a short distance westward to another good view which includes Fourth Lake.
Routes
34 summits • 6.0 mi • 656 ft gain • 2 hr 49 min
5 summits • 4.9 mi • 715 ft gain • 3 hr 19 min
1 summit • 11.2 mi • 1,419 ft gain • 6 hr 7 min
1 summit • 3.4 mi • 653 ft gain • 1 hr 41 min
1 summit • 5.3 mi • 877 ft gain • 3 hr 31 min
1 summit • 6.3 mi • 485 ft gain • 5 hr 42 min
1 summit • 6.8 mi • 658 ft gain • 3 hr 24 min
Latest summits
"Blue trail up, yellow trail down. Some real steep parts on the acent! Trail was muddy but the bugs weren't bad. The most beautiful section was heading down the backside on the yellow trail where I could see the Tongue Range and the alpine flora was awesome. Gorgeous hike. Perfect weather. 5.6 miles. " — stacydedring • Jun 10, 2023
"Absolutely beautiful. Amazing fog, that later burned off and was a fantastic, and warm day. This was my 3rd completion, but we brought some friends from our boxing gym on their first hike, and they loved it. Completed all 3 peaks! " — sherrih • May 6, 2023
"Completed the Fulton Chain Trifecta March 24th 2023. Rocky, Bald Mountain, and Black Bear.. What a challenge 1st time hiking in winter.. Went up slow and came down slow but on a positive note the views were great and the best part No bugs...." — JohnD315 • Mar 24, 2023
"Took the yellow trail (which I would NOT recommend due to it being long, unfun, and VERY muddy), took a while (around 2 and a half hours total) but the view at the top was quite splendid, the peak is very significant when compared to that of Bald Mountains. I would suggest you climb to blue trail up and down as it is both shorter plus funner. - 2/10 mountain points" — The-Irate-Mountaineer • Oct 23, 2022
"Completed Fulton Chain Tri-Fecta with my pal Deb & er canine Rue. Perfect 51 degrees, partly sunny, beautiful views and leaves not quite at peak but close! Majority of elevation on Black Bear, the last 1/2 mile which gave the trail some nice challenge. Not difficult;t, but fun!" — carolynsnook • Oct 4, 2022
"fun hike. Great views. went up blue trail, down yellow trail. Blue trail is shorter, but more technical. Yellow is longer, and seems to take forever-although it is not too bad" — mom23ADK • Oct 11, 2021
"Made last minute motel reservations so couldn’t get into my usual choice, Shaheen’s, so had to settle for the Tupper Lake motel. It was ok, right acrossed the street from the IGA, but I wouldn’t highly recommend it. After a leisurely start in the AM climbed Stillwater to finally hit all 25 of the fire towers in the ADKs at least once. Short easy hike so it was more drive then hike. Then moved onto Black Bear, Rocky and Bald to complete the FC trifecta. Fortunately I had nice sunny warm weather and managed to find parking as the Columbus Day weekend crowds haven’t arrived yet. Great views from all peaks once you climb the tower on Stillwater.
" — Nimblefoot • Oct 7, 2021
"Followed the yellow trail up from route 28. Alanna and I both completed the trifecta that day at 12:39pm. Took 3.5hrs round trip because I had her do a scavenger hunt along the way." — kaytt987 • Sep 4, 2020
"A great hike, the best hike of the 3 mountains near Old Forge and Inlet. This is rated as the tallest of the 3 Fulton Chain. If you hiked Bald Mountain and are looking for a better challenge, hike black Bear and take the blue trail at the split, it is a little tricky if you have young ones. However you can continue straight on the yellow trail and it loops around to the summit. " — alexreiff • Jul 26, 2020
"Like an old friend back to where it all started! The Fulton Chain Trifecta, "Seasonal Version". Was my very first visit to the Adirondacks with Mark Earle in the winter 2018 doing my very first patch challenge as well as my very first fire tower, I was hooked right from the start. So today I decided to pull a solo and climb 3 mountains, one day, that make up the Trifecta, Black Bear, Rocky and Bald with a fire tower bonus. Lots of trees down on the drive down but mostly cut up and cleaned up but the storm rains over the last 24hrs left the trails very muddy and wet but still all and all a very pleasurable day. Challenge complete! Doing what we love" — ramjet1963 • Nov 2, 2019