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Undulating out-and-back.
This Jay Mountain Hiking Trail is one of my top hikes from 2022. It’s quiet-quiet-quiet until, all of a sudden, major wow views. This is an absolute jewel of a hike.
This hike is in two parts. This first part covers the hike to Jay Mountain Lookout, Blueberry Lookout, and Jay’s western summit.
The second section is covered in Jay Mountain Ridge which is an astonishing hike between Jay Mountain’s two summits — with insane views along the way.
Who doesn’t love a ridge walk? It’s why I picked this hike. But I had no idea it would make for such an incredible day. I can’t wait to do this route again.
This trail guide covers the initial climb to Jay Mountain’s western summit and the beginning of the ridge.
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Jay Mountain Hiking Trail
This hiking trail includes…
- Undulating woods trail
- Multiple excellent lookouts
- Jay Mountain’s western summit
- Decent cell coverage most of the way
This trail guide is new. The hike was completed on 10/6/22 under which date this page will eventually be filed.
Jay Mountain Hiking Trail Notes & Gallery
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The trail register a little way into the woods.
This route is 90% woods walk, extremely lovely in the fall. Until you gain the summit of Jay Mountain, there are no views.
Jay Mountain is busy. On this day, I passed many Canadians. It must be on their radar as a key destination. You’ll soon see why.
Follow the trail over the ridges and furrows for 2.3 miles until you come to this junction…
The first pair of lookouts is 250ft to the left.
Jay Mountain Lookouts
The first lookout is pretty great, overlooking Hurricane Mountain into the Adirondack High Peaks…
And lots of other lower Adirondack peaks…
But push past this first lookout to get to the second lookout, which is bananas…
You can see Jay Mountain’s eastern summit and Lake Champlain in the distance…
Just incredible views all round…
From here, it’s a short easy hike back to the junction, and then to Blueberry Lookout and the summit of Jay Mountain.
Blueberry Lookout
On the way to the summit, you’ll pass through a huge blueberry heath with great views of the glen below.
Jay Mountain Summit
The summit itself is unremarkable, although there are some sweet peekaboo views along the way.
The marked trail ends Jay’s western summit. From here, you have the choice to head back to the trailhead, or to continue on, via an unmarked and difficult herd path, to Jay Mountain’s eastern summit — the hike along Jay Mountain Ridge is one of the most spectacular hikes I’ve ever done.
Similar Hikes
Check out the add-on section hike over Jay Mountain Ridge.
This hike is one of the most scenic hikes I’ve completed.
This a popular hike and a moderate hike.
It is definitely one of the best hikes.
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The parent mountain for this hike is Jay.
If you do this hike, LMK how it went…
Trailhead Info for this Hike
Smallish road-side lot.
Google Maps Location: 44.315795, -73.720652
The map below shows the exact topographic location of the trailhead
Cell Service
Medium LTE signal at trailhead. Good cell coverage for most of route. My network is Verizon. YMMV.
