Hannah the hiker

The Santanoni Range is a 20 mile hike over three of the 46 Adirondack High Peaks near Newcomb, New York. It has about 4,600 feet of elevation gain.

I started the trail on June 30, 2021 at 7 a.m. the trail starts on the Santanoni Road which is just an old logging road. It’s mostly dirt and gravel and goes for about 2 miles until you take a bit of a right onto the Bradley Pond Trail.

Around the 4 mile mark you take a bit of a right to stay on the Bradley Pond Trail. After about half a mile you will take a left and start on the Panther Brook Herd Path. Since it is a herd path you will not find any trail markers and will rely on a path pretty much forged by previous hikers. If you need to take a break, Bradley Pond is to the left of the trail and is a nice place to rest.

You will gain about 1,300 feet of elevation gain in around two miles, which is where the junction is in between the trails to each respective summit. This junction is named “Times Square” and is suppose to have paths to each summit, but is just a bunch of herd paths. When I went it was raining the entire day which made it a little bit difficult to find the correct paths. I ended up going to the top of Panther first. Heading north from the junction will take you to Panther. It was only a couple hundred feet of elevation gain and about half a mile from the junction. Since it was so rainy there was not much to see in the matter of views, but it did feel nice to get one mountain out of the way so quickly. I made it to the top at 11:20 a.m.

From here I headed back to “Times Square” and tried to find the herd path to Couchsachraga. This trail was so much worse than I anticipated. For one, the summit is two miles away from the trail junction and you lose almost 900 feet of elevation gain since Couch is the smallest of the 46 High Peaks. There is a tremendous amount of mud on this trail, especially when I passed through. There was a bog that had some floating logs to help you navigate, but you pretty much had to choose the best route on your own. Trekking poles would be extremely helpful in this section. Other than that the trail wasn’t terrible to the summit. Couch had limited views as well since it is a wooded summit and was windy/rainy that day. I reached Couch at 1:00.

From here you have to make your way back to the glorious “Times Square” and then to Santanoni Peak. Santanoni Peak is only a little over a mile from the junction and around 200 feet of elevation gain, so honestly not a bad climb. The view from Santanoni is probably very nice if you go on a day with nice weather. I reached Santanoni at 3:30 that day.

From the summit you have to backtrack a little bit until you find the Santanoni Express Trail. This trail will take you back to the Bradley Pond Trail, and eventually back to the parking lot along the same trails you took on the way in. The Express Trail is pretty steep so be prepared to have some sore legs. I finished the hike at 7:20 p.m. so, it took me a little over 10 hours to hike 20 miles of trail.

overall thoughts on the trail

This was such a trip. It was raining the entire time which made the trail difficult to follow in some sections, and made the mud that much worse. I would recommend packing extra socks and trekking poles to make the bog more bearable. I honestly have no idea if the bog is ever more than bearable, but maybe wait till the forecast doesn’t call for rain to avoid being completely soaked.

Also for “Times Square,” I would recommend sticking to one solid herdpath. It is easy to get lost here (if you are like me) so just use a compass and follow the most beaten path.

Be prepared for a long day, 20 miles and three mountains is no joke. The trail/terrain isn’t all that difficult but it can feel like its dragging on. So, pack some ibuprofen and some tasty snacks to keep you going.

what i brought

• 10 L hiking pack
• 2 L Camelback
• Nalgene water bottle (with gatorade powder)
• running shorts
• tank top
• long sleeve shirt
• light rain jacket
• baseball cap
• hiking socks (2)
• Merrell Moab 2 mid ventilator hiking boots
• small first aid kit
  • food
  • peanut butter and jelly sandwich (2)
  • cliff bar
  • trail mix
  • homemade “hiker bars” (my mom made)
  • apple
  • small bag of tortilla chips