A beautiful day was on tap, so Holly and I got out for a short hike on the east side of Lake George. Shelving Rock Mountain is only a 1.7-mile hike from Shelving Rock Road, and has great views of Lake George for a minimum of effort. Neither of us had been here before, and new territory is getting harder to find, so this was a very interesting day out.
Many of the trails off of Shelving Rock Road, west of the Hogtown Trailhead, follow old carriage roads built long ago by the Knapp Estate (can't find a good link). The trail to Shelving Rock Mountain is no exception, with gentle grades and many switchbacks.
At the summit was a great view of southern Lake George. It almost didn't look real.
To the east, we could see the cliffs of Sleeping Beauty Mountain.
Below the summit, we found a herd path to the top of some cliffs with panoramic views of the lake, from its south end to Montcalm Point, the southern tip of the Tongue Mountain Range. We had lunch here and lingered for a while.
On the descent, we noticed some of the only wildflowers of the day, many columbine growing on the sunniest hillsides.
When we got back to the car, we replenished our water, and then walked a short distance down the road to another gated carriage road, this one leading to the top of Shelving Rock Falls. This was a very nice waterfall with a steep gorge below. But since waterfalls are best viewed from the bottom, we found our way down for some wonderful views.
Returning to the car, we had covered a grand total of 3.7 miles and taken in some wonderful scenery close to home on a beautiful day. The obligatory ice cream stop finished it off as we headed for home.
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