kjoyce4Our Top Tips:
- Make sure you check parking rules ahead of time. Parking along Route 73 is restricted and the parking lots are small.
- Giant really is a giant mountain, make sure you and your dog have plenty of food, water and energy.
- If you’re trying to complete the 46, easily and often combined with Rocky Peak Ridge.
Hike Basics:
Length: There are two trails the Ridge Trail is shorter (6 miles), if you add RPR it’s 8.9 miles and the Roaring Brook Trail is 6.3 miles.
Elevation Gain:
Ridge Trail – 3,000 ft.
4,400ft. with RPR
Roaring Brook Trail – 3,200 ft.
Dog Friendly? Yes
Off-leash Friendly? No. Dogs need to be kept on leash.
Look Out For: The trail to Giant Mountain is very dog friendly. Lots of water and shade for the most part with a few exposed scrambles and some easy to handle climbs.
Giant Mountain was Chloe’s first 4,000 footers and one of my favorite mountains in the Adirondacks.
It was the longest and hardest hike I had done at that point, but we took our time and honestly even though I didn’t think we’d make it, we did. (Mostly because Chloe didn’t want to turn around.)
It also helps that there are plenty of exposed sections before you reach the summit to take in the view and recharge before trekking on.
Make sure you have plenty of food and water for you and your dog. It takes a lot of resources to rescue someone, especially in a pandemic, and no one wants to end their day with a rescue.
I did a lot of hiking around the mountain before actually trying to reach the summit. I hiked the Nubble one day (mostly because of the name) and spent a lot of time exploring the smaller surrounding mountains. That made reaching the top that much cooler since I had seen it so many times. It also helped me get a feel for hiking in the Adirondacks before hiking a high peak.
While I would recommend hiking the high peaks, as they are truly something special, there are so many shorter peaks that are worth climbing. I’ll be sure to mention more here in the future. Look out for those posts in the future.