We completed this 9.1 mile loop in June 2020. Some people suggest doing Thomas first, however we opted to do Cat Mountain first which is what I would recommend.
We started this hike - MUCH later in the day than we normally would have. I think we didn't actually hit the trailhead until 1 pm (which normally we would've started at around 7/8 am) but we knew we could get it done before dark.
Cat Mountain starts out very much meandering, nothing challenging for the first mile or so. You walk by a nice pond and get to soak in some beautiful Adirondack views.
After this, you approach a fork in the road where the trail splits - Thomas or Cat Mountain. We followed the trail up to the Cat Mountain Summit. This features about a .5 mile of steep elevation.
Funny thing about this incline is that most people take the rocky steep face up to the summit, but the trail ACTUALLY goes through the woods. Which is quite steep and difficult BUT I thought it seemed much easier than scrambling over the rocks. So take the woods route, follows right along side the rocks (and it's the actual trail).
The views at the top are very beautiful. This is again, a very popular Lake George hike so it was busy with young teens and families.
We had a snack and snapped some photos for about 20 minutes and then continued our journey over to Thomas.
This was a lot of up and down sections to reach the mountain. I got a bit fatigued at this section but the views were so worth it.
Thomas turned out to be one of my favorite mountains in Lake George. For one, we didn't pass a single person on this part of the trail. And two the views were just as good (if not better) at Thomas than Cat.
We stopped at a beautiful look out rock where we enjoyed a local beer and soaked in the views.
Then you continue hiking for another .25 mile or so to the actual summit. There used to be a cabin at this point but they had to tear it down.
Now this is where it gets tricky. There are yellow markers all over the camp site at the summit of Thomas, make sure to pay attention to your trailmap to find the correct one to descend or else you could easily get confused and lost at this point.
It took us a few minutes and a few wrong turns to get our bearings but once we found the correct route it was smooth sailing.
Nice easy downhill section to finish off the loop!
Great trail for families who want a little challenge, or you can easily do each mountain individually if 9 miles is too much for you. But make sure to check out Thomas - nice quiet hidden gem.
This was our 2nd and 3rd peak of the Lake George 12ster challenge.