×

Landowner closes Little Porter Mountain trail

KEENE VALLEY — A short and popular trail in Keene Valley has been closed by a landowner whose property the trail crosses.

The trail from The Garden parking area in Keene Valley to the top of Little Porter Mountain has been closed due to hikers trespassing on the private land the trail crosses, according to a sign posted at the trailhead, a photo of which was posted to Twitter Friday by Department of Environmental Conservation forest ranger Scott VanLaer.

“Due to problems with trespassing on private property, the landowner has pursued his right to cease allowing the public to cross the private lands,” the sign says. “Please respect private property and use one of the other two routes to the summit of the mountain.”

From The Garden, which is operated by the town of Keene, the trail to Little Porter Mountain is just over a mile, according to the Adirondack Mountain Club. The mountain, which is not a High Peak but sits east southeast of Porter and Cascade mountains, can be reached via two other routes, but both of those are considerably longer.

From Marcy Field, a trail takes hikers to the summit of Porter Mountain at about 4.5 miles. Hikers would then have to travel south just over two miles to Little Porter. The other route goes from the Cascade Mountain trailhead on state Route 73 outside of Lake Placid. According to the ADK’s map of the region, this route would be 2.8 miles to the summit of Porter Mountain. Hikers would have to hike the 2.1 miles to Little Porter from there.

This is the second such trail closure in just two years in the Keene and Keene Valley area. Last summer, after too many cars blocked access on a private road, a landowner closed the trail to Owls Head Mountain, just north of Porter and Cascade. Since early June last year, the landowner has prohibited parking on the private road from 4 p.m. on Friday to 7 a.m. on Monday each weekend. That trail is almost entirely on private land, with the state land boundary just below the rocky and open summit.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.75/week.

Subscribe Today