White Face Mountain in the Adirondacks - A Must Visit

On one of the days in Lake Placid, we met a couple while waiting for the trolley. They told us, they had gone to White Face Mountain, and that it was worth the trip.

We took Hwy. 73 toward Lake Placid, then turned onto Hwy. 86 NE.

I was enjoying the senery, and playing with my new smartphone, not doing my job of navagating. I thought Joe knew where he was going, because he never asked for any directions.

We past Whiteface Mountain Ski Lodge, but I still didn't say anything, because I thought he knew where he was going. We started to approach Lake Placid, when  Joe realized, we had gone to far. At  that point we discussed who knew what about where we were going. We turned around and back tracked about 10 miles.

We pulled into Whiteface Mountain Ski Resort.

We got information about how to find the road up the mountain. At the resort you can take gondola rides up the mountain to the top of the ski runs, on Little Whiteface Mt..

We had to go back an additional 3 miles to Hwy 12 to get to Whiteface Mt Veterans Memorial Highway.

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The cost was $10 for the car, and $6 for me.

At the gatehouse there is a informational center inside with history of the area and the flora and fauna of the Adirondacks. There is also a pond next to the center that is stocked for fishing, especially for children. There is also a 10 minute trail around the pond.

It had been hazy most the time we had been in the area, but this day, the sky's were clear.

There are  9 designated spots to pull over for views and marker information.

The road going up the mountain was terrible with big dips and blowups of pavement sticking up, many places we had to slow to 5 mph to avoid bottoming out with our low slung car.

We decided the roads were not fixed, because they made for great speed bumps, and kept the traffic at a slow speed.

Closeup of previous picture.

The paved road rises over 2,300 feet in 5 miles.

Our first view of Lake Placid.

As we near the stop, we see the summit above.

I was using my new smartphone for my pictures, on this day trip.

Whiteface Mountain Ski Resort is below in this picture.

Whiteface Mt is New York's fifth highest peak.

Alpine flowers on Whiteface Mt.

We reach the top, and Joe is directed to drive to the top and turn around and then head back down the Mt. to find a parking spot. You have to drive through the Mt Castle to get turned around. Joe said, he would hate to be driving a larger car, because it made him nervous driving the Honda through the Castle, it was very narrow in the drive through.

After parking I got a picture to show you the Mt.Castle you have to drive through to get turned around.

I walked to the wall to get a view down. What a view!

We walked into the castle to use the restrooms before we started our climb to the summit.

The steps up seemed OK, as we started up.

Another great view of Lake Placid. You can see Lake Mirror to the far top left corner of the picture. You can also see Saranac Lake to the right of Lake Placid.

In this picture, you can see2 lakes to the right in the distance behind Lake Placid. I am going to tell you now, that you are going to get tired of all the Lake Placid pictures. Just a pre- warning!

The pictures changed so much as we climbed to the summit with different cloud coverage and at different zoom settings.

The hike up to the summit was only 1/5 of a mile, but the air is thinner, and the climb is steep. I had to make many stops to catch my breath going up.

With the temperature being only 63, we started with jackets, but the climb warmed us up very fast, and the jacket got striped off.

This part of the summit has no rails.

I will have to say, this has to be the number 1 site for me on the east coast.

I start my trip down the stairs by myself.

Joe enjoyed the views, but the heights make him feel very uncomfortable.

There is a elevator for those who want to take it up or down to the parking lot.

My self portrait and Lake Placid with my new smartphone, 1/3 the way down.

As you can see, the stairs run right along the spine of the summit.

You have to be very careful going down, as some places are smooth and slippery. I did slip on one spot and almost landed on my bottom, but I had a hold of the railing, and caught myself before I hit the rocks.

Sorry! But I just loved this view.

This place was just magical to me.

There are some very large step downs or step ups, on the path.

And you definitely need to watch your step, as the path is not even.

Joe and I had hiking shoes on, but many people had sandals on.

It's funny how railings can make a difference on how you feel. I never would have come up here without railing. But with the railing, the hike didn't bother me a bit.

I finally got to the stairs. The stairs also has a cable to hang on to, while going down.

I could see boats down on the lake with full zoom in on my camera.

A 1/5 of a mile is longer than you think.

Almost to the bottom.

When I reached the bottom, I took a picture of the start of the path up.

Joe was waiting for me at the bottom. We went through the castle to get back to our car.

A picture from the castle walk through.

Joe took pictures on his way down too.This is his trek from the elevator through the tunnel.under the mountain.

Joe exiting the tunnel

Joe looking back to the entrance to the tunnel to get to the elevator.

View from our car to the castle.

As we drove down the mountain, I took a picture of where we came from.

A picture Joe took while we were at the summit.

This video is a 360 view at the summit. Just a note, because I was just learning how to use my new smartphone, the end of the video is pretty funny. All you will see are my legs the ground, and other peoples legs and feet. If I knew how to edit it out I would. I tried put couldn't figure it out. I was walking around to different spots and turning on the video( actually turning it off). If you watch the whole thing, you'll get the picture. I would just turn it off at that point, because you won't see anything more.