Adirondack Peaks
September 13, 2005
Provided by: Eric Cohen, Westhampton Beach High School
Summary authors & editors: Eric Cohen; Jim Foster
This early morning photo of the Adirondack Mountains of upper New York State was taken on June 30, 2005 from the Marcy Dam. Mount Colden (4,714 ft or 1,437 m above mean sea level) is at left and Avalanche Mountain (3,800 ft or 1,158 m) is at right. On this delightful summer morning, I was hiking along the Van Hoevenberg Trail to the summit of Mount Marcy, which is the highest point in New York State (5,344ft or 1,629 m). Neither Mt. Colden nor Avalanche Mountain makes the list of the top 10 tallest peaks in the Adirondacks. The col between these two peaks is the location of Avalanche Lake, where the flanks of both mountains dip precipitously to lake level. Note the veil of radiation fog above the still pond.
The Adirondack Mountains have been both severely folded and sheared by ductile deformation and shattered by brittle deformation. Nearly all of the rocks within this prominent range are metamorphic and Middle Proterozoic in age.
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