Allen Mountain Hike - 7/4/25
Hiked Allen via (mostly) the East River Trail on 7/4/25 with my wife. High Peak 37/46 for both of us. Conditions were phenomenal, and we were shocked at how fast the first 4 miles went - extremely flat and fast trails that could easily be run.
The opalescent was easy to hop across if you have good balance and your legs are of average length or longer. I brought water shoes and didn't use them - my wife who is 5'0" opted to don her water shoes and wade to avoid falling in.
We decided to get a little adventurous and try taking Opalescent Road and Fujacks Road rather than sticking to the Allen Mountain trail for the entire trip in. Internet reports had shown that the DEC had previously "renaturalized" these roads by digging holes in them every ~50 yards or so, but newer reports indicated that they may have reversed this more recently. I can confirm that the holes and mounds from the renaturaliztion are still there. On the way out, we opted to stick to the traditional Allen Mountain Trail, since my wife found traversing the roads to be overly onerous. After hiking both routes, I personally think that despite the condition of the roads, they may still be easier to traverse, since they have almost zero mud holes to traverse. There is a short bushwhack at the end of Fujacks road to get back to the Allen Mountain trail, but it's only about 0.4 miles and relatively easy as ADK bushwhacking goes. The main Allen mountain trail between the Opalescent road turn off and the base of Allen has TONS of mud holes to try and hop/traverse.
The final ascent of Allen above the waterfall was steeper and more technical than we had anticipated, but tons of fun. Conditions were dry enough that we saw some of the notorious red slime, but were easily able to stay on dry patches of rock and avoid any real hazards. We did stay left on slide - can't speak for what the right side might be like. Apple Watch died exactly a mile from the car, so if its numbers are to be believed, we did more like 21.69 miles. Unsure if this is inaccuracy from the watch, or if our little detour and some small side trips added that much distance - likely some combination of both.
Happy to answer any questions.
