Second Peak of Harmon
I hiked up here, but it is a view less used section of the Long Trail.
Taken on Saturday September 19, 2009 at Harmon Hill.Why ads? π€ / Privacy Policy π³
I hiked up here, but it is a view less used section of the Long Trail.
Taken on Saturday September 19, 2009 at Harmon Hill.Harmon Hill is a short but steep hike outside of Bennington, VT. You go up some 1,200 feet in a little over 1.7 miles from the parking area deep in the Dunville Hollow just west of Bennington for modest views up north and west of Bennington.
The trail up it is part of the Long Trail, which is duplexed with the Applachian Trail in Vermont. Here is the sign near the parking area.
It is a steep 1 mile as you make most of the 1,200 ascent. There are not much views as you climb out of the Dunville Hollow, just a lot of rock-steps and steep switch backs as one climbs up the mountain.
Likens along the trail.
Once you almost reach the top there are many meadows.
A destination sign tells you that you’ve reached the Pioneer Valley section of the Long Trail and are starting the Bennington section.
When you come to the top you have an interesting view of Mount Anthony, Bennington, and in the far distance the Champlain Valley and the Adirondacks.
You can see the Bennington Monument and the surround farms near Bennington from the mountain.
Towards the North, you can see some of the Adirondacks towering over the much lower range of the Green Mountains, including Grass Mountain.
This is the second peak of Harmon Hill, which is view less. I hiked to Harmon Hill and the viewless points further south on the Long Trail.
Here is a map of the hike.
[nycpseries postID=”22542″]
Alander Mountain is the highest point in Columbia County. I chose to access the mountain from Mt Washington State Reservation Park Headquarters in Massachussets. You can also visit there from New York State in several other directions, although the elevation increase is substantial.
While it was clearing when I left Albany around 7 AM, when I got out to Mt Washington State Forest, it was a misty-rain mix. I left my raincoat home, but fortunately it was more damp then heavy rain.
They do not allow casual primitive camping in the Mt Washington State Forest. That said, 1 1/2 miles up the trail there is two or three sites for primitive camping. Nobody was up there on the rainy days.
Primative Campsite No 1. Somebody left some cords up along with basic cooking things and water bottle, along with a nicely built up fire pit.
The trail got steeper as I continue up the mountain, and at the same time got clearer and nicer out.
When you arrive almost to the top of the mountain, there is a beautiful little cabin you can stay in for no charge. It appears to be fairly popular, but with 6 bunks and floor camping space. There was a fair bit of unburnable trash around — particularly liqour bottles, even though technically alcohol is prohibited in the state forest.
Regardless, it looked like a fine place to camp. There is a wood stove in the cabin so you can stay here in the winter. I didn’t look at the wood supply around, but it looks like that shouldn’t be a problem.
While there was no official camping allowed on the mountain, people where certainly camping up there, and there were places where one could get well off the trail, yet camp in an open area with minimum damage to the land.
Once atop the mountain, it was still foggy and damp, but it was clearing out.
As the morning progressed, the sky got progressively clearer.
There was a Turkey Vulture flying over the landscape.
When it cleared out the views where beautiful, but with still quite a bit of haze remaining from the morning. I want to be up here one day in the fall when it is much clearer out. Maybe spend the night at the cabin, and enjoy the sunset and the leaves under the morning light.
Brace Mountain and Ashley Hill as seen from Alander Mountain.
Farms and other uses throughout Copake Valley looking down towards Millerton.
Apple Orchards and Swamps. This is similar from the views from Sunset Point that I looked down from during a springtime hike.
Alander Mountain is partially in Massachusetts and partially in New York. The peak is in Massachusetts.
The lower unamed plateau I hiked along on the South Taconic trail. By 2:30 in the afternoon it started to look like rain once again.
Returning back to the truck, it still looked like rain. You can see Alander Mountain in the background, from the area near the Mt Washington forest headquarters.
This is a map of the route.