09/03/2026
Thank you Luke Dow Photography for sharing this perspective and highlighting the conservation background behind the Pinnacle Preserve, which provides our area with beloved trails and two iconic outlooks!
An important piece of that story to highlight is that although the LGLC transferred ownership of the property to the Town of Bolton, we continue to hold a conservation easement on it.
Conservation easements permanently limit development and ensures the land’s conservation values will be protected, regardless of who owns it in the future. This is an important tool we use in our work to ensure properties like this remain undeveloped in perpetuity!
Earlier this year I snapped a shot of the summit of the Pinnacle Hike in Bolton Landing, but with the morning sun, most of the features and the views east were cloaked in shadows, so I returned one afternoon and snapped another photo of the viewpoint of this iconic hike and there was even someone on the lower viewpoint!
Here you can see the top of the hike, while looking east-northeast towards the Narrows, Black Mountain (2,646'), and all the way down to the northern half of Bolton Landing/Green Island.
Funny thing is the way the viewpoint is on the top of the mountain, this view in the photo is not the view you see from the viewpoint! That view a 270° view where you see the southern half of Bolton Landing looking south towards the southern end of the lake and over towards Trout Lake.
Each year thousands of people climb this short/east 0.8 mile hike to this viewpoint, making it one of the most hiked trails in the region! The other ones? Prospect Mountain and the Pilot K**b Gazebo. And it's easy to see why.
This destination has been an instant classic ever since the 73 acre parcel of land was acquired by the Lake George Land Conservancy in 2015 for $525,000, which they then sold to the Town of Bolton for $150,000.
The LGLC did this because in 2010 developer, Ernest Oberer, first proposed building houses on the ridgeline. So the LGLC exercised it's option to purchase the land and after 5 years of intense negotiations (2 days before it's option expired!), it finally was able to acquire it and make it forever wild!
Anytime anyone comes to Lake George from other states, they are amazed by the lack of development around the lake and on the mountains (when compared to other lakes in their states), this is solely thanks to the efforts that created the Adirondack Park and the Lake George Forest in the early/mid 1900s and the Lake George Land Conservancy since then!
The Pinnacle Viewpoint
Bolton, NY.
August 18, 2026
