Franklin, NY 12989 - Franklin County

Introduction

Located in the northcentral section of the Adirondack Park, Baldface Mountain Forest is surrounded by Forever Wild State Land with a deeded access point touching the paved, year-round maintained County Route 26. From the lands clearing an incredible view of the nearby Baldface Mountain peak and associated rock outcroppings unfolds offering direct access to this scenic landmark. The property also holds a private pond near its center for paddling, fishing, and swimming options.

Location

Baldface Mountain Forest is an easily accessible multiple-use property located in the northcentral section of New York's Adirondack Park. The land is surrounded by the 83,405 acre Debar Mountain Wild Forest, one of the largest wilderness units within the Park. From the property, is direct hiking access to the 2,867 Baldface Mountain, whose peak (just 1,760 to the west), and exposed rock outcrops looms large over the property, creating private hiking access to this scenic mountain.

Locally, the surrounding landscape is distinguished by its vast natural beauty, which is forever wild and natural. Given the considerable local state land and nearby Sable Highlands Conservation Easement ownership covering over 84,000 acres, there are no nearby homes. This undeveloped region is anchored by the nearby lakeside hamlet of Loon Lake, 9 miles to the south, a popular, seasonal tourist community.

The largest nearby towns are Saranac Lake (population 4,825), 28 miles to the south, and Malone (population 14,139), 22 miles to the north, both communities offering full retail and dinning amenities.

Albany, the states capital and home of the Albany International Airport is a 3-hour drive. Montreal, Canada is a 2-hour drive.

Access

While the property is virtually surrounded by DEC Wild Land Forest ownership, the land touches the paved and year-round maintained Route 26 (aka Port Kent-Hopkinton Turnpike), providing legal access to the land.

An existing gated gravel driveway leads into the land directly from Route 26 and heads in a westerly direction for +/-440 to a large clearing and former log landing, an ideal location for an off-grid camp or home with incredible views of Baldface Mountain.

Internal access is provided by several logging trails which wrap around the lands private pond. These trails have begun to grow in with vegetation so maintenance will be required by the new owner to allow for easy walking.

Site Description

The property offers three notable attributes starting with its unique position of being entirely surrounded by State Wildlands, a seldomly occurring situation within the Adirondacks, offering protection of the lands scenic vistas and direct access to this conservation gem. For those who enjoy hiking, the adjacent Wildlands offers endless hiking to the nearby peaks and lakes within the State Preserve.

A second notable attribute is the lands scenic view of Baldface Mountain and surrounding landscape which are available from the potential home/campsite.

Lastly, the property includes the entire shoreline of a private, unnamed pond just a short walk from the clearing. The pond is roughly 5.3 acres and rimmed with a dense, old softwood forest stand. This pond is well suited to paddling, fishing and for some, swimming.

The lands terrain is variable but mostly gently sloping with the exception of some steeper land along Baldface Mountains eastern slopes, and an oxbow along the lands small stream as it leaves the propertys southeast boundary. This latter location offers a nice hiking destination.

Elevation ranges from 1,920 along the lower slopes of Baldface Mountain to 1,560 where the stream exists the property. Aspect is variable but open and sunny at the potential home/campsite.

Timber

The forest resource was partially harvested about 8 years ago. On areas where most of the logging occurred, the residual forest cover is variable with some areas heavily cut with few overstory trees and in other areas a partial overstory remains. The entire area around the pond is mostly untouched and consists of dense, older stands where the average tree is about 80 to 100 years old. This area is scenic and easy to walk around. In addition, the oxbow along the stream in the southeast corner of the land had more limited harvesting where the overstory is much more intact. The trees in this area are also quite old.

Most of the soils are high and dry except for some areas along the streams. Given the significant adjacent Wild Forest landscape, large mammals such as black bears, coyote, fisher cats, and white-tailed deer are common.