"We decided it was finally time to finish the Lake George 12ster, so we embarked on this hike to complete Fifth Peak, French Point Mountain and First Peak. The walk into Fifth Peak was moderate with a wide trail through an open forest. We reached the summit of Fifth Peak in 1-1/2 hours and spent about 15 minutes on the summit at the lean-to and at a lookout just beyond with excellent views of Lake George and the surrounding mountains. We then headed to French Point Mountain by dropping into a very steep col that was somewhat difficult to negotiate. Due to the leaves on the ground at this time of year and lack of people on the trail, the trail was a bit difficult to follow at times. The time to French Point was 1 hour, 35 minutes. Leaving French Point after 20 minutes, we headed to First Peak and arrived 52 minutes later. Another great view of the lake looking south. Sixteen minutes later, we were back at it again in what seemed to be the longest trek down a steep col to the "tongue" point and then back around for the 5+ mile slog back to the car along the lake. There was some "up and down" but no real strenuous elevations to conquer....just a seemingly endless hike out. Total mileag..." — TJandMS • Oct 1, 2025

"Friday may 26/23. Another incredible day in the lower Dacs working on the Lake George 12ster hiking challenge. Hiking the Tongue range traverse @ 19miles with approximately 5000ft of elevation gain overall on six peaks. First peak, French point mountain, Fifth peak, Fivemile mountain, Huckleberry mountain, and Brown mountain. Flat to start, then some tough ups and downs added some steep bush whacking on the lower section of the range then nicer to moderate trails on the upper range, buggy by midday but got better later in the afternoon and no rattle snakes to report, Long day with some outstanding views" — ramjet1963 • May 26, 2023

"Summited First Peak at 11:00 am. We decided to bushwack north back to our car rather than drop south all the way down to Mount Calm Point. In the end this nocked 2+ miles off the day. Returned to car at 1:30 pm. Great day with awesome views of Lake George!" — garyogden • Apr 26, 2023

"Finishes my Lake George 12ster on First Peak. The southern part of the Tongue Range is grueling. It was wet and slippery rocks were everywhere. Interesting how the character of the forest changes from the northern Tongue. The summits for French mountain and First are grassy and pretty, but made me leary of snakes. The views of Black, Erebus, Sleeping Beauty, Buck, and the island chains are excellent. Thank you to Jim for presenting me with my 12ster patch on the summit. We saw deer, loons, and HOT DAMN but didn’t we see a timber rattle snake along the trail on the way out. It was coiled on the side of the trail and clearly intimidated by us. I’m glad to have seen it, glad I was not by myself, and feel it rounded out the Lake George 12ster experience nicely." — bethmorgan • Jun 21, 2019

"Did an overnight backpack of the Tongue Range with Bhakti. We climbed the ridge via the Clay Meadows Trailhead, then headed south over Fifth, French, and First Mountains. We then backtracked over the south summits and climbed the northern peaks, stopping atop Huckleberry for a great wooded camping spot. In the morning we broke camp, shot north to bag Brown, then backtracked over the northern summits and down to the car. " — wacbravo • May 18, 2019

"Long hike, 13 miles around the tongue mountain range loop, first 5th peak then french point, then 1st peak, then the hike down to montcalm point, took 7 hours 45 minutes to complete" — williamcasey • Apr 12, 2019

"A full day of hiking in order to complete the Lake George 12 Challenge. Conditions were a bit icy on the way up to Fifth Peak & then intermittent snow along the ridge for the remainder. Snow shoes were not needed, but did wear spikes. Views from French & First Peak were awesome. I chose to walk back on the lake as the ice was still thick & many ice fishers still out. " — billsussdorff • Mar 26, 2019

"Started out the day cloudy, some rain and windy at the summits, especially since we hit fifth peak by 9:30am. The weather then started to clear up and by the end of the day it was clear skies and warm. Views of Lake George were to be had from each mountain. The hike down fifth and up French was probably the toughest part of the trip but wasn't bad at all. The summit of both French and First look like a park, very open and grassy almost like it was maintained. Scenery was to be had almost everywhere you turn. The hike is long especially the 5 mile trek back from Montcalm point. All in all a great trip and we were surprisingly tired by days end!" — hbotc • Oct 20, 2018

"French & First for my LG12ster finish clockwise. The trail was a little bit of the worst of every season. I hit my first face height spiderweb across the trail. The first 50% of the hike was comprised of rotting re-frozen ankle roller post holes. The second half was piles and piles of slippery leaves and yawning mud bogs, as well as a couple of questionable water crossings. The trail was woefully ill-marked- I wandered right off of it quite a few times. Lake George is hit or miss, sometimes every tree has a marker, and sometimes you get no markers at all with no discernible trail to follow. It was a nice day to tackle these two peaks and get this list over with once and for all. " — kellieirene • Apr 2, 2018

"So, after French Point I continued on to First Peak. Once again a pretty uneventful hike between the two peaks. After First Peak i headed all the way down to Montcalm Point. The five miles from the point back to the trailhead was somewhat annoying, mainly since I was hoping it would be an easy flat stroll out, but it still had a lot of pointless ups and downs. I made it back to the car finishing the 12.8 miles hike in 5 and a half hours. Quicker than I thought considering I felt so out of shape during the hike. " — LGH-Tom • Nov 25, 2017