"My third hike of the day. After Black Bear, I did this hike. A short and steep hike. I was feeling it on the way up. Excellent views from the summit. Directional views overlooking part of the Fulton Lakes." — newenglandwarrior • Sep 19, 2024

"After hitting Castle Rock I drove to Inlet to hike Rocky and Black Bear. Hit Rocky first. Rocky is a short hike with big views. Left the trailhead at 11:00 and summited at 11:15 to find many families enjoying the open view of the Fulton Lake Chain. Returned to car at 11:34 and immediately headed up Black Bear as they both share the same parking lot. About a mile into the hike the trail splits. The blue trail to the summit is shorter and more aggressive. Summited at 12:25. Open view of 7th lake was waiting. Returned to car at 1:28. At this point I decided to drive another 25 miles to climb Stillwater while I was in the area. Unfortunately I never was able to find the trailhead even using the peakery app. " — garyogden • Jun 19, 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

"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

"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

"Rocky Mountain has a great view from the summit, a much better view then bald mountain. If you hiked rocky mountain and you need a better challenge i would highly recommend hitting black bear mountain as you can access it from the same parking area. " — alexreiff • Nov 2, 2019

"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

"Fulton Chain Trifecta - Did these 3 as an early season training hike. Seems like it's becoming quite popular as parking lots were at 80%-90% capacity. Good weather & nice views from all summit. Nothing ridiculously challenging, but enough that I feel it the next day. 5 hours total for all 3. Excellent chicken wings at Screamen Eagle in Inlet after as well! Black Bear Mountain - Did this as a loop, up the "short" way (blue trail). Muddy, some tiny scrambles near the top, black flies are swarming (and a few are starting to bite!). Nice views of distant peaks from the expansive summit. Alpine-ish vegetation up top. Descending the "long" way (yellow trail) which was very gradual and mostly unremarkable. Rocky Mountain - Short and moderately steep. Basically a half mile climb up a pile of boulders. No hands required. Probably only 15-20 minutes in each direction. Great views of Fourth Lake from the summit. Would have stayed longer if not for the swarming black flies. A light breeze and lack of mud kept them more at bay than on Black Bear. Bald Mountain - A moderate incline over rocks and pine needles for the first 10-15 minutes, then essentially walking on one co..." — ndru-virus • May 18, 2019

"Birthday summit #2 of 2 (hiked Black Bear Mountain before this.) Started out around 0830 after a grueling drive up Route 28- wicked pot holes! Parking is limited in winter, so I was really hoping no other ambitious weekday hikers were out, and I was in luck to be the only car in the ~3 car width plowed parking spot when I arrived. ~19° and very sunny. Barely any wind. I crossed the snowmobile trail & signed into the register - one of those that is very disorganized, people starting it front & back, some pages with only two people signed on it... this isn’t that hard! Haha. After hiking Black Bear Mountain, I scooted over to this trail, and as with the first one, it was bare booted and post holed BADLY, worse than the first climb. Annoying. Trail was easy to follow, the snow was a bit greasy at this point in the day, but not too bad. This hike reminded me of Baker in Saranac Lake- short and sweet, uphill but not difficult by any means. 19 minutes to summit, 13 to return! I’m glad I knocked it out today rather than having to come back to it. I had a nice clear view, and the summit to myself again- sat and enjoyed it for a bit, and returned the way I came. A nice ea..." — kellieirene • Mar 25, 2019