Trip report
Jul 3, 2025 — Jay Mountain offers a gorgeous ridgeline hike with a much easier approach than most peaks in the region, though it seems often overlooked, likely because it sits so close to the more popular Adirondack High Peaks. The trailhead is poorly marked, but there’s a large pull-off on Route 9N near the tiny town of Jay.
I began under a canopy of trees, easing into the day with a gradual ascent through lower-elevation forest. For the first couple of miles the trail kept a gentle pace and offered little in the way of excitement, until it steepened and reached a junction marked “Scenic Overlook.” I took this short spur to get a glimpse of the Jay Mountains ridgeline to come, though it seemed silly considering the views along the ridgeline would soon be far superior.
From there, the trail climbed to the ridgeline, where the trees frequently gave way to open slickrock, revealing sweeping views of an overcast sky and rolling hills in the distance. The second half of the hike unfolded like this, alternating between exposed rock and wooded stretches, with occasional grassy clearings and scattered cairns marking trickier sections. The relatively low effort to get here was quickly rewarded with grand views along Jay Mountain’s spine stretching out behind me.
At the base of the false summit, a short scramble led directly to the top, though a bypass trail skirted around the left. This false summit where most hikers call it a day, but the true high point lies farther east along a less-defined trail and requires more scrambling.
I continued east from the false summit down the slickrock, and reached a short Class 3 downclimb through a weakness in a cliff. Beyond that, a short spurt through the forest led up to a notable cliff with multiple options to overcome it, and then I wove through a small maze of rock outcrops, each offering light scrambling options. Broad slickrock reappeared, and shortly after I reached the true summit of Jay Mountain.