Hiking Azure Mountain / Potsdam, NY
Hiking to Azure Mountain Fire Tower | Potsdam, NY | August 2024
Today was a Saturday, and knowing how busy it can be in the Adirondacks on a summer weekend, we set our sights on a hike in a more remote area that we hadn’t visited before. From where we were in Tupper Lake, it was a little over an hour drive Northwest to the Northern end of the Adirondacks and our trail for today, Azure Mountain. This is another one on the Fire Tower Challenge that we didn’t do when completing it in 2016/2017, mostly because it was so far out of our way from our home in Ballston Spa.
We were hopeful that Charlotte would be able to hike this with us, and for the first half of the trail, she did pretty good. The trail started off mostly flat, was easy enough for her, and we gave her lots of encouragement. But like many firetower peaks, the hard part came halfway through where the trail basically goes straight up the mountain. It was starting to warm up like it had been other days, but going at Charlotte’s slower speed, neither Curtis or I were too uncomfortable. Charlotte, on the other hand, was starting to act like this was the hardest thing we’d ever made her do. I would shower her in praise for every short stretch, give her plenty of water and let her take lots of breaks, but she clearly wasn’t enjoying any of it.
When we were just over ⅔ of the way done, we finally decided to finish the peak separately and let her either rest where she was, or start making her way down if she wanted. The moment she realized she won the battle, she immediately turned around and started walking downhill at a quick pace, hardly stopping at all until she was near the beginning. Something tells me she may have been faking being tired and that she successfully tricked us into letting her do what she really wanted, which was hanging out in the parking lot, sniffing around or sleeping in the lawn.
I requested that I be the first one to summit this time, knowing that if I had to go back down with Charlotte and then retrace my steps back up there was very little chance I’d actually make it to the peak, and I really wanted to hike this one. Curtis obliged, and I continued the trek up while Charlotte dragged Curtis down the mountain. I tried my best to keep a steady pace so that I wouldn’t take too long, but once I started walking faster than Charlotte’s slow uphill pace, it wasn’t long before I was winded and felt overheated. The trail continued going straight up a steep slope, and I knew walking down wasn’t going to be much better.
I wasn’t tracking my progress on my phone so I was never quite sure if I was getting close, so when I finally came to the final stretch where I could see the fire tower and the clearing, I was quite relieved. There was a rocky outcropping with a view to the South on the left, but I chose to go straight up the tower so that I could get above the trees and hopefully catch a breeze. Thankfully it was indeed cooler and a little breezy at the top, so I took my time enjoying the view, cooling off, and hydrating. Finally it was time to head down, and I did so cautiously so that I wouldn’t slip on the slick, steep ground. I had been alone at the peak, having crossed paths with a few people on my way up, but saw many more heading up as I went down. They all looked just as hot and tired as I had felt, which made me feel less bad for myself. I made it back to the parking lot where I found Curtis and Charlotte hanging out at a picnic table. Curtis opted to leave right away for his hike and have lunch after, so I grabbed a book from the van and took my place next to Charlotte for the next hour or so. Thankfully the bugs weren’t bad at all here, and we stayed cool in the shade while we waited.
When Curtis returned, we had some snacks and made plans for our evening. We now had 2 nights before we would arrive in Oswego for work, and we wanted to spend the rest of our time on the road exploring the Thousand Islands region, an area we hadn’t visited before. Since we had good luck the night before camping in a city park in Tupper Lake, we decided to try another that was located in Potsdam. It was about an hour drive, mostly through farmland as we were now North of the Adirondack Mountain Park. I guess there was a reason we never found ourselves up here!
After arriving in Potsdam, we made our way to a parking lot just North of Ives Park, where overnight parking is allowed in certain spots. We parked and set up the van, then went for a little walk around the park and along the Raquette River. There was a gazebo nearby where a band was warming up for a Saturday evening concert in the park. I returned to the van to make dinner, then we found a spot to sit a little out of the way where we could eat and enjoy the music. And since there was an ice cream stand across the street, we couldn’t not go grab a little dessert…the town was letting us park for free, after all, might as well support their local economy! While we love camping out in nature and enjoying the peace and quiet, we can also see the value in these urban spots. Just as long as there’s a park nearby for Charlotte to enjoy!
