From the summit, there is an open vista of Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains to the west.

The view from the summit is sometimes called "Grand View.”[6] Over 400 million years ago, the Champlain thrust fault placed a 550 million-year-old slice of rust-red quartzite on top of gray shale in central Addison County.

From this, hundreds of millions of years of erosion carved out the landform we now know as Snake Mountain.

Eventually the waters receded, exposing Snake Mountain and other hills along the thrust fault in the Champlain Valley.

[4] The mountain was once the site of the Grand View Hotel, which was built around 1870 by Jonas N. Smith.