Cascade Mountain

Cascade Mountain is an ADK 46er in the Adirondack High Peaks region of Adirondack Park.
Its name comes from a series of waterfalls on a brook near the mountain's base.
Of the 46 Adirondack High Peaks, Cascade is the most accessible and the most frequently climbed.
The main trailhead is on Route 73, 6 miles east of Lake Placid, at Cascade Pass, overlooking Cascade Lake.
The summit is visible from the trailhead, a rare occurrence in the High Peaks.
The mountain's bare-rock summit resembles the alpine summits found on many higher peaks but instead is the result of a 1903 fire.
Porter Mountain, another of the ADK 46ers, is an easy side-trip that is usually climbed in the same outing.

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Routes

Trail from Route 73

153 summits • 5.8 mi • 2,292 ft gain • 5 hr 0 min

To Porter

8 summits • 6.1 mi • 2,392 ft gain • 5 hr 6 min

Cascade Mountain 5.0 mi route

1 summit • 5.0 mi • 1,867 ft gain • 4 hr 6 min

Cascade Mountain 5.1 mi route

1 summit • 5.1 mi • 1,886 ft gain • 4 hr 29 min

Cascade Mountain 6.6 mi route

1 summit • 6.6 mi • 2,363 ft gain • 5 hr 26 min

Cascade Mountain 8.5 mi route

1 summit • 8.5 mi • 2,249 ft gain • 6 hr 17 min

Latest summits

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"Went on my annual Thanksgiving Day hike with Kim. We decided to spend the holiday in Lake Placid this year and she had not yet hiked Cascade and Porter. The most popular 46ers maintained that distinction even on the holiday as we saw at least 30 people on our way back down. Luckily, we started pretty early in the morning and only saw two groups on our way up. Summits were mostly socked in unfortunately, but we did catch a break on the summit of Cascade where we were able to see all the way into Lake Placid. Trails were mainly muddy, but we did have to put microspikes on towards the top to contend with ice on the trails. " — LGH-Tom • Nov 26, 2020

"Hiked Cascade and Porter with Tom on Thanksgiving Day. The weather was surprisingly mild and the trails were mainly muddy with ice at the higher elevations and in the saddle between the two mountains. We saw a lot of people once we were making our way down, but were lucky to have both summits to ourselves on two mountains that are usually full of people. Two more 46ers down for me. " — Kim-Stilson • Nov 26, 2020

"Did a traverse with Kathryn and Tom of Cascade, Porter and Blueberry mountain from RT 73 to the Keene Valley airport. Beautiful weather and great views on our way down from Porter over Blueberry even seeing our air BnB barn on airport road in Keene Valley. Ridge trail certainly doesn’t see a lot of use at Porter end so it’s a bit narrow in spots kind of like a herd path. Kathryn is up to #27 on her 46r quest and Tom got his first repeat peaks. " — Nimblefoot • Sep 6, 2020

"The perfect way to enjoy a socially distanced July 4th! Incredible sunset from one of our favorite summits and not a soul around while we watched the fireworks over Placid :)" — deb-and-rob • Jul 4, 2020

"Jen said a few weeks ago, “I want to do the 46.” Today she completed her first two, Cascade and Porter Mountains. Jen took the lead the entire way (she says I’m too fast 🤔) and kept a great pace, proud of you! Slightly cloudy but still beautiful visible views for miles. 2/46 and well on your way now! Today the American Flag is also carried for Flag Day, a reminder how great our country is and can be further if we are all willing to work as one. " — scottturner • Jun 14, 2020

"Hiked with 3 friends, all multiple round Forty-Sixers. We had a beautiful late fall day - down to shirt sleeves while hiking, wind at summit not too bad, microspikes were very useful." — PJSelmer • Nov 25, 2019

"My first ever High Peak. We wanted to summit Cascade at sunset. There were not many people still on the trails, and all but a few were coming down as we started up. We were a bit later than planned to get started so we had to hustle. Jeff kept us to task on the time so we would make it. I was surprised that the trail was so "easy" in terms of being wide and well traveled. It was still a workout, especially as we nearly ran at the end to climb up to the summit. The view was amazing along the way as the sunset lit up the sky. We barely made it to see the sun sinking quickly below the horizon. So beautiful. Sitting up on top of that mountain and watching the colors fade and then grow dark was a truly incredible experience. " — kvander • Sep 21, 2019

"First high peak in ADK's. Great day spend with my brother, Guy, sister-in-law, Julie, their dog, Luca and Jack and I. Luca got so many compliments ..... so proud of him. He's only 14 weeks old and climbed a high peak mountain. " — jasaru • Aug 31, 2019

"We commenced the peak around 12:00pm EST (my girlfriend and I). The weather was warm, about 18 degrees celcius however had some overcast. Took us about 2.5 hours to summit the peak with about 30 minutes worth of breaks around the top especially. Once we summitted, a light drizzle of rain commenced, and did not quit up until we hit the bottom. Did not attempt Porter as the rain drizzle and my girlfriend was exhausted as this was her first ever hike and I made her tackle a 46er. " — mtlinton84 • May 25, 2019

"Started of at the bottom of the mountain with snowshoes, about half way up had to switch over to micro spikes for it got very icy, we summited porter mountain first, it was an overcast day with great views from there, by the time we hiked over to cascade about 35 minutes later the clouds rolled in covering the top of cascade so we had no view." — williamcasey • Mar 29, 2019