I have been in search of climbing all the fire tower peaks in the Adirondack Park, not only those that still have towers but also those that once had them.

With this little venture, Debar Mountain was on my list. Corenne and I have been flirting with Debar Mountain for quite some time, and something always got in the way of us actually climbing the peak. This week was our week to go and nothing was going to stand in our way, short of a natural disaster.

Upon arrival at the Meacham Lake Campground, we drove through and found the dirt road leading to the trailhead. The long and narrow road, a bit rough, brought us to the trailhead and a decent-sized parking area.

We layered up on this cold day, painted in as much red gear as I could gather up, and headed up the trail. We made really fast time along the initial 1.2 miles, which follow an old woods road/snowmobile trail to the actual foot trail for Debar Mountain. Once we started up the foot trail, we were surprised at just how wet it was. Beneath a thin layer of ice, there were sometimes four inches of water, but the good news was that all the mud that had collected was frozen enough not to hinder our assault.

The trail quickly led us to the Debar Lean-to, which sits about three-quarters of a mile from the summit. This is where the climbing really began. Eventually, we came to the base of a new slide, where the trail appeared to have been slightly rerouted to avoid the pile of trees at the base. The climb up along the slide was fairly steep, but not quite as steep as the section that followed. This section was covered in a thick layer of ice over steep rock lips. The ice was so hard that we had to walk carefully, even with our Microspikes on, to stay upright.

We soon reached the summit, where we were greeted by a wonderful view that surprised us both. The rocky knob offered sweeping views of the surrounding area, but the frigid wind quickly drove us from our perch. Off to Black Peak we went. Oh, did I forget to mention that we planned to touch the summit of Black Peak on the way out?

Looking at the thick forest near the summit, we opted to descend the trail for a ways and traverse over to the peak from lower ground. Unfortunately for us, that meant descending the steep, icy glades along the trail. After a couple of near falls, we reached the woods and bushwhacked downhill past the ice to a safer location. We found an attractive, open hardwood area that looked like a feasible approach to the base of Black Peak, but we encountered a cliff just a few hundred feet off the trail. We zigzagged and leaped off a couple of small shelves and found ourselves in a nice, shallow valley.

As we climbed out of the valley and over another small rise, we spotted a couple of dozen trees with rub or chew marks on them. The marks looked similar to those made by porcupines, but they weren't quite the same. We could only assume they were made by a moose. The markings extended 8 to 10 feet up the tree trunks but did not remove all the bark, as porcupine damage typically would.

In about 10 minutes, our question would be answered: it was a moose. We didn't happen to see the animal, but the continuous piles of droppings left no question. One pile contained droppings half the size of Corenne's fist. This moose was either very big or had some gastrointestinal issues. Either way, part of us wanted to see him, while the other part was a bit nervous about a possible run-in.

We summited Black Peak expecting a nice view, but the wooded summit offered little. At 2,700 feet in elevation, however, it was a decent-sized little mountain and a fun adventure nonetheless. Our descent back to the trail took me slightly off course to the right, requiring us to traverse a bit of a side slope. Eventually, we regained the trail just a bit beyond the lean-to. After a brief break on a flat erratic and a cup of hot soup, we hauled tail back down the trail, pushing through the water rather than dancing around it. Soon, we were back at the car.

Interested in visiting some of the Adirondacks' fire tower peaks? Stop by a local bookstore to pick up a local guidebook. Want a guide to take you there? Saranac Lake can deliver. The area also has many great places to dine, shop, and rest your tired head.