September 22, 2017 – Tupper Lake, NY

Difficulty: Easy – moderate

Length: Approximately 2.2 miles

Max elevation: 2178 ft.– total elevation gain approximately 581 ft.

Route type: Out and back

Map: Goodman Mountain Trail Map – Adirondack Trail Map

Trailhead parking: NY-30 Tupper Lake, NY 12986

Goodman Mountain is a small peak in the Adirondack Region of New York State. It is part of the 17,140 acre Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest, located mostly on the southern shores of Tupper Lake.

A 1.6 mile hiking trail was constructed to the summit of Goodman Mountain in the summer of 2014 that was dedicated to Andrew Goodman, a twenty year old civil rights activist murdered in Mississippi.

View the Google Earth Fly-Through video of the hike below.

Goodman and two fellow activists: James Chaney and Michael Schwerner; were kidnapped and killed by the Ku Klux Klan in June 1964. The name was changed in 2002 from Litchfield Mountain to Goodman Mountain. The 1988 movie “Mississippi Burning” was loosely based upon this national tragedy.

After a brief rest from hiking Coney Mountain, we walked over to the kiosk and signed in at the trail register.

It was time to begin the second leg of the Tupper Lake Triad.

The trail crosses Cold Brook on a wooden footbridge.

The red-blazed trail begins on a paved road which rises gently. This old road used to be Highway 10 between Long Lake and Tupper Lake. The road continues northeast and begins to steepen.

After almost a mile on the paved road, the trail leaves the road and turns left.

The trail ascends gradually through the woods as it heads northwest.

The trail then turns sharply southeast towards the peak and climbs a bit steeper to the shoulder. The trail then follows the ridgeline before it finally ascends to the summit.

Looking south from the summit, Coney Mountain, which we climbed earlier, is visible.

The southern end of Tupper Lake is visible to the northwest.

While we were hanging out at the summit, a couple of hikers from Tennessee arrived to take in the view. It was a beautiful day and unusually warm for late September. We soaked it all in and then began our descent. Since this hike is an out and back, we retraced our steps down the mountain and back to the parking area. We had now completed 2/3 of the Tupper Lake Triad, Mount Arab was next, which we would do the following morning.

Pros: Great views, short hike, well blazed, earn a patch.

Cons: Some road noise can be heard from the summit.