Blue Mountain Fire Tower is a 4.8 mile heavily trafficked out and back trail located near Blue Mountain Lake, New York that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as difficult. The trail is primarily used for hiking and snowshoeing. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.
Red trail markers make this trail very easy to follow. The trail is almost exclusively in a rocky drainage course until the summit block is reached. The trail is shaded until the summit. Trailhead can become crowded so, you might want to get an early start. Poles and hiking boots or high tops are recommended as there are lots of rocks and some roots.
2/26/21 Beautiful sunny morning. Snowshoes needed with reminders at sign in. About half the hikers we saw had micro spikes and post holing was worse on the top 1/3 of trail. Unfortunately just as we crested the summit 8 snowmobiles came up the utility road. Circled the tower and ruined the perfect snow. Fumes, noise cheap beer and cussing, I’m No saint but this was not the place and it is illegal. We waited them out. No words for the beauty up there. Highly recommend.
nicely packed until the last quarter mile. can't beat that fire tower view!
Everything I hoped for. Wonderful bluebird day with temps in the 30s. Views for days. Snowshoes are needed, especially toward the top!
Steeper than I remember 30yrs ago. Absolutely beautiful..the snow on fire tower and trees was astounding to see! Trail was very loose, not packed down...i recommend snow shoes...also supposeded to get more snow tonight..sooooo..skiers loosened up the trail. Bare booters caused post holes..so becareful should they freeze tonight. Great day!
Hiked on 02/14 and the trail was super packed down. You could definitely get away with wearing yaktraks or micro spikes, but we snowshoed up. The trail is moderately difficult most of the way, but the frost and snow covered trees make the hike up very enjoyable. It was too cloudy to get a view from the top when we went but I’m sure it would be beautiful if you can snag a sunny day. Bring your snow/rain paints because there is some excellent butt sledding on the way down!
Hiked with Dan and Samson for winter credit. Cold, sunny, clear day. Beautiful views from the top. Trench was in pretty good condition, minimal post holes. Lots of people on the trail, about 60% wearing snowshoes.
Amazing day. Blue skies 25 Degrees and very little wind. Packed trail was easy with micro spikes. Brought the snowshoes but didn’t need them. Spikes were good to have for the tower as everything was iced over. It’s a must for the season!
Great hike. Packed trail. Used boots with yaks and was fine. Tower was beautiful, encased in ice. My reading was 5 miles.
Really beautiful views!! Wore snowshoes (saw people hiking with just boots idk how). It’s approx 4.2 miles, not sure why All Trails says it’s over 5. Plenty of parking. Perfect hike
Had an amazing trip up Blue mountain!! Snowshoes entire way..beautiful track to follow. Jaw dropping winter wonderland from the start but when the trail reached approximately 3,000 ft it was like being in another beautiful snow bound world. Wind was whipping at 40+ mph with no views. Fire tower was encapsulated in ice. Switched from snowshoes to micro spikes for climb up being that there was at least 5-6 inches of ice on the stairs. One of the most beautiful and fun hikes I’ve done in recent memory
Phenomenal hike, snowshoes were necessary and the views were beautiful.
Best hike ever. Snow covered everything at the top. Spikes all the way up but snowshoes would have given better footing.
Great trail. Easy to follow and not too busy. I wore micro spikes... should have worn snow shoes.
me and my 11 year olds started at 7:30am, it was 8degrees but actually ended up shedding a layer because we worked up a sweat! we had some fresh powder from a little morning snow. spikes needed after the first mile! absolute beautiful morning!
Definitely enjoyed this hike! Got out there Jan. 2 for my first hike of the year. I was the first on the trail with about 2” of fresh powder to create that winter wonderland feel. It was cloudy and snowing so I didn’t see much besides the spruces and firs on top. Well worth waking up early!