Sunset Ledge on the Long Trail

Author's Comments

The name does not lie. Sunset Ledge faces directly west, and from that flat shelf of rock you look out over the Champlain Valley with the Adirondacks layered behind it in receding blues. The hike in is short, less than a mile, but it climbs honestly enough that you arrive having earned the view. I like this place best in the last week of September, when the valley below has started to turn but the high peaks across the lake are still holding green. The light at that hour, in that season, does something specific. The valley fills with a soft amber that you can almost feel settling, and the Adirondacks go from blue to violet to something darker as the sun drops behind them. The trick is timing the return. The trail has rocky sections that are honest in daylight and unfriendly in the dark, so a headlamp is not optional. I tend to stay through the last color and then move quickly. Parking at Lincoln Gap is limited and the road closes for winter, which gives this place a real season. Go in October on a clear evening and you will likely share the ledge with a few other people who understand what they came for. Nobody talks much. The view does the talking.

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