Allen Mtn from Mt Redfield; McDonnell Mtn is to the left.

14 Photos

Route:

• East River Trailhead on Upper Works Rd. to Twin Brooks 

• Herd path to base of Allen Mtn

• Ascend to Allen summit; retrace route to Upper Works
  

(Numbers in parentheses such as (ADK #123, McM #456) on these and all other pages of Adirondack Journey, refer to trail numbers assigned by the McMartin and ADK guidebooks.)

 Peak View Rankings         

The Trip In A Nutshell 
Hurricane Floyd struck the Adirondacks September, 1999.  It devastated much of the route from the Mt. Adams parking area on Upper Works Rd. to Allen Mtn, although DEC has reopened the route.   It will be several generations, if not 3 or 4, before the ground is healed and a young forest reaches a state of adolescence.  Much, much longer than that will be required to attain maturity.  

CAUTION: Most  of the route you will follow before and after crossing the Opalescent River is private land.    You have the right of passage, obtained by the state,  only as long as you remain on the trail.  Arrest is only one possible outcome of being nosy and leaving the trail.  There are other less desirable outcomes.  

For this hike, start at the parking lot at the East River Trailhead  on the right side of Upper Works Rd.  This trailhead is 9.3 miles north of the turn-off from Rte 28 onto Lower Works Rd. and 0.6 miles south of the north end of Upper Works Rd.  DEC signs mark the trailhead at the far end of the big parking lot at the trailhead.  You're at the right place if the sign tells you that this is also the route to Mt. Adams.  During the first 0.9 mi. the trail markings are ample, but at 0.6 mi. you will encounter the first of many cleared areas that reflect hurricane damage.  The suspension bridge across the Opalescent has been rebuilt so you can still get across the river without getting wet.  From here onwards you will repeatedly cross clearings where the state or private owners have worked to clear blow-down and restore the trail.  Trail marking in the clearing may be a bit sporadic.  The terrain is generally flat.    

Continue on the   yellow   Opalescent Trail (ADK #123, McM #42) 5.1 miles from the parking lot to a point about 0.2 miles  beyond the confluence of Lower Twin Brook and the Opalescent River.  Here the herd path to Allen branches off to the right.  Up to this point it has been a level walk on DEC right-of-way across private land with the occasional mobile home or cabin visible through the trees.     

The Herd Path to Allen from Upper Works  
The herd path to Allen is plainly marked.  It has been significantly rerouted since Hurricane Floyd which did a job  ripping up this whole area for hundreds of square miles of the southern High Peaks area.  The path you will follow runs over private dirt roads as well as decent DEC trails.   It winds through an area that has was forest before Floyd and has now been significantly cleared.  Then it crosses onto state land at 1.8 mi.  Thereafter, the path continues true to its pre-Floyd route all the way to Allen's summit. 

Terrain is hilly, but there is more "up" than "down"; overall, as you work your way toward the base of Allen.  The herd path rises about 600 feet from where it starts at its junction with the Opalescent River to where it reaches the base of Allen at Skylight Brook.  The brook, when you reach it, is quite substantial.  Do not mistake  the 3 or 4  smaller brooks you cross en route for Skylight Brook.  Also, the herd path does not pass within sight of  the  confluence of Allen Brook (which flows straight down Allen) and Skylight Brook.  

You'll cross only Skylight Brook (which, as its name suggests, finds its source on the steep slopes of Mt. Skylight)  a goodly distance downstream from the point at which Allen Brook joins it.   Good campsites are located immediately upon crossing Skylight Brook.  We suggest that if you are planning to make this an overnight that this is the spot to stop for the day.  You can't miss the fact that  once across Skylight Brook the climb up Allen begins rather abruptly. 

About 30 min. after crossing Skylight Brook the herd path will join Allen Brook.  Allen is flowing down from its source well up on Allen's slopes.  Not far from where you crossed Skylight Brook, maybe 100 yd. or less, you may see a faint path coming in from your right.  You DON'T want this path as it leads to private land.  We encountered a group using that path, obviously illegally.  According to them it was the original route up Allen that leaves the Opalescent River to follow Dudley Brook (metric maps) or the South Branch of the Opalescent River (English system maps).   

Difficulty 
Taken as a whole, this hike is very strenuous and considered by many to be the most strenuous one-peak day hike of the Forty-Six, although, that would be a point better argued around a campfire in the evening than here.    

The hike divides itself into three distinct segments.  

1. The first 5.1 miles from Upper Works to the start of the herd path is moderate flat walking on good terrain.  

2. Next, the herd path to the base of Allen is 2.2 miles of moderate hiking over hilly terrain.  

3. The third segment, the ascent of Allen itself, starts at the crossing of Skylight Brook and covers 1.4 miles ending at the summit.  This piece is  strenuous but less strenuous than, say, Mt Redfield. 

4. The elevation change from the Skylight Brook crossing to the summit via Allen Brook is 1950 feet.  Allen Brook runs straight down the mountain, no kinks, no turns, just straight as an arrow right on the fall line.  Don't let that discourage you, though, it is a beautiful path.    

As Allen Brook reduces to a trickle at higher elevations you will start  following a modest and wet slide, often muddy (see photo).  As slides go, the Allen slide is not much to write home about, but at least you will be able to say you've climbed one.  It is slippery in spots and particularly so in the Spring.

Views
Allen has good views.  You may even consider them excellent if you like at-a-distance panoramas of whole ranges of peaks, which Allen is rich in.  You'll get nice photos of the entire Colvin Range, good slices of the Great Range, and even the Dixes.  Panoramas #3 and #4 in the photos below are the best examples.  To see how Allen stacks up, refer to our View Peak Ratings.    

When you reach the summit,  be sure to cross to the opposite side of the tiny summit clearing and follow a very short (50 ft) path down to a small overlook that provides nice views East and North.  The panorama views on this page were taken there. 

Trailhead Info for This Ascent
Go to the Upper Works Page.

Water 
Water isn't much of a problem if you have a filter.  Water is available fairly continuously from the Opalescent River until you leave the river and start on the herd path.  From there on, you will cross streams occasionally and then follow Allen Brook most of the way to the summit.  

Allen Mtn USGS Trail Maps 
These Maptech topographical maps are the latest metric maps, as recent or more recent than those you can buy in a store.  Print them and use them on your hike.  We suggest that if you do use these, that you seal them in a plastic food bag for protection against moisture which will cause the ink to run and the paper to very quickly become one large spitball.  Be sure to set your printer to "landscape" when printing maps.

Map 1:  Trailhead for Allen on Upper Works Road.		Map 3:  Herd path from Twin Brook to Allen's base
Map 2:  Opalescent River section of trail to Allen		Map 4:  Summit of Allen

Maptech® U.S. Terrain Series™, ©Maptech®, Inc

The Hike In Photos and Text

The Herd Path from the Opalescent River to the foot of Allen Mt (ADK n/l, McM #43)* 
* (The numbers at left or above refer to trail numbers used by the ADK and McMartin trail guides.)

Ascent of Allen Mt from Skylight Brook via Allen Brook (ADK n/l, McM #43)
4	Views from the trail ascending Allen Mtn are fair to poor.  The forest canopy seldom opens sufficiently to see what's out there.  And when you can see, there really is not much to be seen; the view during the ascent is consistently to the rather vacant NW.   Thus one sees only nearby Mt Adams and the distant Seward Range to the NW and later Redfield comes into view to the N.
5	Allen Brook well above its confluence with Skylight Brook.  The trail crosses Skylight Brook at Allen's base, and immediately  turns to the NE to climb slowly to intersect Allen Brook.  It reaches Allen Brook in about a half hour.  This photo is of Allen Brook 150 ft. above the point where the trail first intersects the brook.  From this point onwards, the trail follows the brook straight up the mountain.  Further up the slope it becomes more apparent that Allen Brook is tracking alongside  a slide.  The path begins to cross back and forth across the slide.  Cairns occasionally mark the path.  Previously, plastic markers had been used.  We did not see any of these.  While the falls in the picture is a bit higher than most, there are a number of nice falls to be seen on the way up.
6	One of our party on the Allen slide.  You can see the steep incline, but, while very steep, it's fairly short.  There is also a goodly amount of soil on the rock in most spots providing fair-to-good footing throughout.  See the next thumbnail.
7	Allen Brook follows the slide until there is no more Allen Brook, just slide.  Not far above this point the herd path leaves the slide to the left and reaches a saddle between the true summit to the north and a false summit to the south.  This looks steeper than it is.
8	Almost at the summit of Allen, views of Redfield appear.
9	If you walk straight away from the canister on Allen, you'll almost immediately drop down onto a sort of ledge that's hidden by trees and shrubs.  It takes 30 seconds to get to it from the canister so you'll know right away if you went wrong.  This view is S from Allen.  The Boreas Ponds are shown.  Boreas Mt is the low mountain to the left and somewhat behind the Ponds. The 3 "bumps" just beyond the long foot of Allen in the foreground are Moose Mtn.
10	A spectacular view of Gothics and the Range taken by Ralph T. Keating of the Albany ADK Chapter.
11	This view to the SE shows the Marcy Stillwater center foreground.  If you look very closely almost dead center you will see a tiny glimmer of Elk Lake.  The mountain with the slides in the left background is Macomb of the Dix Range.  In front of Macomb is the SW end of the Colvin Range with Pinnacle's telltale knob-like shape exactly below the most obvious slide on Macomb.  The mountains to the right of Elk Lake are not the Colvin Range, but the northern reaches of Boreas Mtn.
12	From Allen Brook looking at Skylight.  Taken by Ralph T. Keating of the Albany ADK Chapter.
13	This shot to the East is a great testimony to the rugged diversity of the Adirondack Mtns.  In the foreground is Bartlett Ridge which comes directly off Haystack Mtn out of the photo to the left.  Behind and above Bartlett Ridge lies the entire Colvin Range.  Look carefully; the mountain with the long slide on it that looks like it is part of the Colvin Range is actually Nippletop.  The slide is the very long and very difficult slide on Nipple Top's W slope.  The slide is a good half mile behind the Colvin-Blake Col, but it points right into it, thus Colvin is just to the left and Blake just to the right of the slide.  The only other named peak on the Colvin Range is Pinnacle near the right or SW end of the range.  Finally, behind the Colvin Range lies the Dix Range.  From left to right:  Dix, Hough, Pough, S. Dix, and Macomb Mtns.  At the extreme left you see the beginning of Sawteeth just over Bartlett Ridge and that must be Giant and Rocky Ridge behind Sawteeth.
14	More of Bartlett Ridge as we now look NE.  The rise of Haystack looms behind the trees to the left.  The familiar bare rock faces of Gothics and Pyramid are just behind Haystack and to the left of Sawteeth.

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This page was last updated on 03/04/07 08:45 PM