Cascade Mountain
— the summit that opens all at once.
Not only on a wall.
Cascade Mountain, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.
Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.
“Cascade Mountain rises to 4,098 feet on the eastern edge of the Adirondack High Peaks, the lowest of the forty-six but the one most first-time peak-baggers climb. The trail leaves State Route 73 just east of Lake Placid and pushes through birch and balsam to a bare rock summit. The trees stop and the whole High Peaks range opens to the west, Algonquin and Marcy holding the far horizon.
The place, in three passes.
Cascade Mountain stands at 4,098 feet in the High Peaks Wilderness of Adirondack Park, in Essex County, New York. It is the thirty-sixth highest of the forty-six Adirondack peaks above four thousand feet, the list known as the Adirondack 46. The trailhead is on State Route 73 between Lake Placid and Keene, and the round-trip hike runs roughly 4.8 miles with about 2,000 feet of elevation gain. Its accessible grade and open summit make it the most-climbed of the High Peaks.
The last quarter mile breaks above tree line onto bare anorthosite, the same Adirondack bedrock that floors most of the High Peaks. The summit is fully open and unsheltered, which is part of its appeal and part of its risk. On a settled day the western view runs across Algonquin and Marcy and down into the central High Peaks; on a wet or windy day the rock turns slick and the wind picks up sharply over the bald. Weather can change in under an hour at this elevation.
Because of crowding, the Cascade trailhead now uses a shuttle from the Mt. Van Hoevenberg lot on summer and fall weekends, and roadside parking on Route 73 is no longer permitted along most of the corridor. The trail is open year-round, but winter and shoulder seasons demand traction, layers, and a willingness to turn back. Most hikers count Cascade as their first or second of the Adirondack 46. The summit register usually has someone signing in.
