Warren County High Point Trip Report
Gore Mtn (3,563+ ft)
Date: October 8, 2001
Author: Fred Lobdell
Gore Mountain is a ski area near the village of North Creek operated by the state of New York.
They encourage hiking and mountain biking during off-season. We chose to ride the gondola to the top of what
the ski area calls Bear Mountain (it's unnamed on the topo) and hike from there. Columbus Day, October 8,
was the last day this fall that the gondola was going to be running for us non-skiers.
Gore Mountain is also famous for its garnets. There is a large garnet mine operating here, and I've seen
Gore Mountain garnets that were more than a foot in diameter. Unfortunately, they're badly fractured, and
thus can't be extracted from the rock as single crystals. I believe that tours of the mine are given and that
there's a small museum in the area.
From North Creek, go south on NY 28 a mile or so to Peaceful Valley Road and follow the signs for the ski area.
Turn right on Peaceful Valley Road and go about a half mile to the entrance to the ski area, and turn
right again. Follow this road to the parking area.
Gondola tickets may be purchased inside the large building for $8 apiece (less for children). This is a new
system, installed in 1999, and it was clean and smooth-running. From the upper gondola terminus, it is a
round trip hike of about 1.5 miles on roads and trails, with about 500 feet of elevation gain, to the summit
and back.
The topo shows a small 1,086 m contour just north of the lookout tower, and we did feel that the ground
was a bit higher here. We accessed this area from the road coming from the north, as it was easier to get
into the thickly grown spruce there. There was another area in the woods a hundred feet or so southwest of
the tower, and a third area along the pipeline running south from the warming hut. It was difficult to
determine where the true high point was, but we made the traditional good faith effort.