"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

"My return to Rocky Mountain, the summit that sold me on peakbagging 2.5 years ago! What better place to complete my first ever hiking challenge: The Fulton Chain Trifecta. The short ascent was just as steep as I remember it being, the summit was just as majestic as I remember it being, and the descent was just as effortless as I remember it being. Unhappy with the poor traction of my new boots, I put on my microspikes 0.1 miles into the hike in spite of there being very little ice on the trail. This helped me get better footing on the hard snow. I also wore them on the way down. There was no shortage of entertainment at the summit. Snowmobilers were racing on the frozen lake below, a dog greeted me right away, and someone had constructed a small snowman that made for a great photo opportunity! " — theascent • Mar 9, 2019

"we joined Doree for a fun day in the woods completing the Fulton Chain Trifecta. which includes three small mountain hikes (Bald, Rocky and Black Bear)- all with beautiful views. Throughout the day we would hike just over 8 miles with a small gain of only 1600' - a fun day in the woods!" — deb-and-rob • Jan 26, 2019

"Set out today to do the Fulton Chain Trifecta for a Winter Rocker! Not much of a Winter, not much snow on the trails and what was there was packed down, just needed Micro-Spikes for all three mountains. Started with Bald, little icy in spots but a lot of exposed rock, little snow. Went on to Rocky Mountain, very wet conditions as well as icy. Black Bear was a bear! Like a swamp until we started the climb, then very icy. All in all a lot of fun and even though there was overcast views were great below. Just wished for more snow, we had the cold but the day before was warm and rain that seemed to dampen things!" — hbotc • Dec 29, 2018

"Had a great time hiking and completing the Winter Trifecta with several good friends from the Brockville Hiking Club :-) ALMOST came home without my poles after leaving them on Rocky - If it hadn't been for a couple of very helpful hikers on their way up who knew we were going to Bald, and returned them to our car!" — RangersApprentice • Dec 27, 2018

"Out doing the "Fulton Chain Trifecta" 3-Summit Challenge with the Hiking Group From Brockville,Ontario,Canada Trails were snowy with icy patches but well packed trail, Micro spikes 100%, Snowshoes left in the car. Sunny to cloudy conditions with temp about -7*c, Excellent to Hike in, Great day with awesome friends! Thanks Ramjet63" — ramjet1963 • Dec 27, 2018