Jones Hill: An understated trek in Schroon

Summit can be reached from two directions in this one-way or out-and-back hike

By Tim Rowland

Humble little Jones Hill, an 1,880-foot bump in the town of Schroon, doesn’t draw much attention—just yet. 

A mountain in hiking limbo, with trails sketched in from two separate directions, neither of them complete, it fell victim to the state’s ill-fated plans for snowmobile connector trails that were ruled overly intrusive on the wilderness in May of 2021 by the courts. The state’s response was to halt most all trail building and the project languished.

But Jones Hill is to be part of the North Country Scenic Trail (NCST), a 4,600-mile odyssey from North Dakota to Vermont, loosely bisecting the Adirondack Park. Seven miles of it will traverse Jones Hill, from the Big Pond Trailhead on Hoffman Road west of Schroon Lake to the Dirgylot trailhead on Route 9 between Schroon Lake and North Hudson.

The summit of Jones Hill is 4 miles from the Big Pond trailhead, 3 miles from Dirgylot.

The route had been flagged and partially cut before the state put a stop to it. The trail from Dirgylot grew vegetation and became difficult to follow, but the trail from Big Pond, by 2023, had gained critical mass, and neither the Lord nor the state government could turn back the hands of time once hikers began to discover this sweet destination. The route became easy to follow and even began showing up on hiker maps and apps.

As a popular bushwhack, Jones Hill had gained a well-deserved reputation for fine views and perspective of the long ridge leading to Hoffman Mountain, a panorama immortalized—with sundry artistic license—by famed Hudson River School artist and environmentalist Thomas Cole.

Two distinct approaches

Last spring, it offered an easily followed path to the summit from the southwest. 

From the northeast, things may be treacherous, with a serious brook crossing to negotiate, and a trail that was sometimes theoretical.

Both approaches are good mud-season options, as you will spend the entirety of your hike on soft duff, not up to your ankles in black ick. 

For our hike, we settled on a north-to-south traverse, dropping a car at Dirgylot and driving another to Big Pond.

The trailhead is reached from Hoffman Road about 2.5 miles west of Schroon Lake. Hoffman Road climbs to the well-marked Big Pond parking lot on the right.

The entirety of Big Pond trail passes by its namesake and to the signature trail of the Hoffman Notch Wilderness, the 7.4-mile traverse from Blue Ridge Road in the north to Loch Muller Road in the south. The area is known for a small recreational settlement and the fabled Loch Muller white pine, which, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation, was planted in 1845 by Paschal P. Warren when he and the tree were 12. Warren is credited with later installing a plaque pleading “Woodsman Spare That tree, Touch Not a Single Bough, In Youth It Protected Me, And I’ll Protect It Now.” 

From the south, we took the Big Pond trail before turning right and heading east along the south side of North Pond, just visible through the trees. A spur trail to the shore reveals a secluded wilderness pond, ringed by hardwood and conifer forests and artfully framed by mountains.

The main trail meanders to a sturdy bridge and climbs the flank of Hedgehog Mountain before dropping to the foot of the Jones Hill ridge. From there it’s a straight, steady and occasionally steep climb to the top.

Views emerge from open grassy and rocky glades of Pharaoh Mountain and its rugged chums to the east.

This was the heart of blackfly season, and the blackflies were quite effective at crowd management. We would have liked to spend more time gazing.

Near the top, we met trail steward Bill Herman and his partner Jim Geiger clearing debris from an old hunting camp. They said we should feel free to pack out any artifact.

I chose a saw with a wooden handle that looked like something adorning the wall of a Cracker Barrel.

The summit, providing views of the Hoffman Notch wilderness and Hoffman Mountain inspired Thomas Cole’s passage: “I do not remember to have seen in Italy a composition of mountains so beautiful or pictorial as this glorious range of the Adirondack.”

His resulting work from an 1837 Jones Hill ascent, “View of Schroon Mountain After a Storm,” beefs up Hoffman’s mild, pointed prominence into a near Matterhornian countenance amid clearing storm clouds and a symphony of autumn color.

It is a fine view of rolling mountains, High Peaks and the wilderness, an unspoiled 40,000 acres of backcountry where little has occurred since the state took ownership in the late 19th century.

In the mid-1800s the hemlocks were mown down for their bark, and their tannin fed into the voracious maws of the half-dozen nearby tanneries.

The state management plan notes the prodigious industry and also the prodigious waste early on when the great trees were stripped, their mighty trunks left to rot.

Pines and spruce were also harvested and sent down flooded brooks and rivers, of course, but hardwoods generally escaped because they didn’t float, and there was no other way to economically remove them from such a remote locale.

Blackflies be damned, we spent some time at the summit, swatting, greatly appreciative of this grand vista.

Even though it’s a mile longer, this route from the south will likely prove the most popular, given the multiple views. But being dedicated correspondents—and because that’s where we left the other car—we kept going to Dirgylot.

If you have never noticed the Dirgylot trailhead you can be forgiven; it’s an easily missed nook about 1.7 miles north of the four-way stop just off Northway Exit 28 and leads through a couple of tunnels under the interstate onto a woods road.

After a half-mile or so, turn left onto what is known as the Dirgylot Hill Trail. Once past Smith Hill, the route, cross Platt Brook before attacking the northeastern flank of Jones. 

For us, coming at it from the other direction, it was matter of reverse engineering, as we descended Jones, following the flagging that led to the brook.

This is a lovely, chattering watercourse, and for those who do not have a climb in them, it would be a good destination.

As of last June, the route would have still been considered a bushwhack; the flagging was helpful, but inconsistent. That will likely be changing.

When the NCST is formalized, this likely will be a popular spot (the state unit plan contemplates a lean-to near the stream) but today it is remote and seldom visited.

If you want the adventure all to yourself, now is the time to strike.