Photograph by Johnathan Esper
This spectacular view of the Whitney Wilderness Area and Little Tupper Lake comes to you courtesy of a very good boy. In 1933 two veterans of Byrd’s 1929 South Pole expedition, Jack Bursey and his lead sled dog St. Lunaire, hauled the bones of a 60-foot fire tower up Buck Mountain, in Long Lake. Now the tower has been rehabbed, and an easement donated by Cedar Heights Timber allows a new generation to follow in St. Lunaire’s pawprints.
The 1.2-mile trail was a group effort—Hamilton County, the Town of Long Lake and the Adirondack Mountain Club collaborated on the path up the peak, adding almost a dozen hand-built rock and wooden staircases. Climbing all those steps will get you more than a can’t-miss view: the hike checks off boxes on both the Adirondack and Hamilton County Fire Tower Challenges.
If You Go
The hike’s trailhead and parking area, at 484 South Sabattis Circle Road, is about 10 miles north of the hamlet of Long Lake. Learn more at www.mylonglake.com.
