Vanderwhacker Mountain

"Beauty day in the Adirondacks climbing. Mt. Vanderwhacker 3386ft, number 28/32 on my quest to climb all the fire towers in the Adirondack park, Today also marked another milestone as being my 200th summit climbed in four years of loving this amazing pastime. Todays hike was a 10miler and only cause the gate was locked at the highway and added an additional 5 miles to the hike , kinda felt like I was back on the AMR lake road lol Trail was rugged, wet and slippery and in need of some much needed love but the tower was looking good and offered some amazing views of the western high peaks, weather was cloudy, slight drizzle to granular snow at one point but didn't last long. What an awesome way to end a hectic week at work, Enjoy my friends" — ramjet1963 • Sep 23, 2022

"Kelly and I departed the car at 9:46 am under partly cloudy skies @ 68 degrees. The state deemed the bridge on the 2.5 mile long Moose Pond Road unsafe and locked the entry gate. So either mtn. bike the road to the trailhead like we did or plan on adding 5 miles on foot to your day. The trail up was well marked with some mud and blow down which were easily skirted. Summited at 11:49. Views from the open tower cabin were 360 degrees and beautiful despite some haze from the humidity. On the way down we shared the trail face to face with a boar black bear at 20 yards. Pics and videos were taken. Mtn biked the remaining 2.5 miles back to the car arriving at 2:45. Nice bike and hike day!" — garyogden • Jun 15, 2022

"Drove all the way to the trailhead! Even went across the bridge with the "bridge out" sign! It's in great shape and others had crossed it many times! Nice easy warm up on the trail then up, up, up in the last mile or so. Trailhead sign said 2M to the tower! BS, it was 3! In the clouds with no view today:-(" — Retiredtop2004 • May 23, 2021

"Left the sun at home for Rain most of the day 😜 a small break at the peak but No view. Bugs were at bay most of the time . Not too bad despite the muddy conditions . We enjoyed the hike!" — andrewbearjustin • Jun 16, 2019

"5 happy hikers and 5 pups enjoyed a quick hike up Vanderwhacker - a nice easy hike of ~ 6 miles RT with a gain of ~1700 - most of which is during the last 1.2 miles. The fire tower offers a commanding view of the High Peaks." — deb-and-rob • Dec 2, 2017

"Beautiful Day - probably the nicest hiking day I've had all year. About 34 degrees at the 8:30 am start, brilliant sunshine for the entire hike. Nice trail. Excellent views of the High Peaks. My 18th Adirondack Fire Tower. Enjoyed some quiet time at the summit, lots of people heading up as we were heading down. AWD/4 wheel drive with high clearance recommended for the drive in from 28N." — PJSelmer • Sep 2, 2017

"This was a very long hike and I struggled on it.. taking a good 20-30 minutes longer than I would have expected. The views are enjoyable, but there is a huge effort required to get to them - except for those with a truck that can drive along Moose Pond Club road to the trailhead. For those that don't have a high-clearance vehicle, there are other mountains with shorter hikes that have better views than Vanderwhacker." — RangersApprentice • Jun 25, 2016

"We parked just off the 28N, So we did the whole 11 Miles. That road is loooooooooooong on the way back, I'm sure someone stretched it why we were at the summit. All in all a great, not too difficult hike, but a very long one. My car is low clearance so didn't want to risk driving up Moose Pond club road. I still can't believe that's an actual "road". But, job done......Fire Tower #13 bagged." — HikingViking • Jun 25, 2016

"Hiked with Tommy. The "ten mile death march." Couldn't get to the trailhead by car due to high snow on the road leading up to it, so we had to add 5 miles to our hike by starting out on the side of the road. No one had signed in for 16 days and with fresh powder, even between the two of us, breaking trail was terrible. Went up straight after a midnight shift at work so we were both absolutely exhausted. The Firetower book said "relentlessly steep"- & that was no idle threat. Real huff & puffer for me. The Rangers cabin was interesting as it was open, but also contained many items as if someone just left. Very odd but neat! Not much for a view since it snowed. All. Day. Another firetower in the books though. " — kellieirene • Jan 19, 2016

"Hiked with my sister. Moose Pond Road isn't plowed in the winter, so we had to start from Rt.28N. Made quick work of the undulating road walk to the main trailhead. Signed in and noticed nobody had been there in a couple weeks. Had to break trail all the way to the summit. Startled a deer that was bedding down at the summit about 20 feet away from the base of the tower. 7 degrees at the start of the hike. With the elevation gain and wind chill factor it was well below zero at the summit." — LGH-Tom • Jan 19, 2016