On July 4th, I decided to go for a walk up to Thatcher Park/OSI parcel to check out the cliffs once again now that we are fully in the summer season with all of the grass out a bright green color.
High Point and Beyond.
Corn growing along Gardner Road.
Light and dark landscapes off High Point.
The trail passes several meadows and open areas.
The old query with some interesting rocks stacked up.
The trail when it follows hedgerows in farm fields.
The final night of my Finger Lakes Trip I spent the night up at Sugar Hill State Forest, a series of 9,500 acres of state land, popular for horse owners. This parcel has two main camping areas, about 90 miles of horse trails, 3 lean-tos geared to equine users, and one nice new lean-to that is accessible solely by foot.
You don’t see signs like this located in downtown Albany.
This is all conveniently located about 15 miles from Watkins Glen, at the headwaters of Townsend and Glen Creeks that make up the water that flows through the Glen.
While I didn’t spend a lot of time going around and grabbing pictures of the Horse Camp, I did take some pictures and have some from when I visited this area during the previous summer. This was in part because the last day was rather gray, with heavy rain at times, and I was frankly quite tired.
There also is a firetower at the main horse camp area, which is filled with RVs, horse trailers, and horses during the summer weekends. This is shown below:
Here is the fire tower:
Here is the main horse camp, with new bathroom facilities including flush toilets. This was installed two years ago due to the popularity of the horse camp and contamination concerns by the overuse of the conventional pit privy.
Horses tied up. I took this last year, when they where still building the replacement bathroom for the pit privy, and therefore the porta-potties.
Some wildflowers noticed along a short walk…
A bed of fog over Kueka Lake from the Firetower from last year.
Thunder clouds approaching from the west from the Firetower. It was not of course thundering when I was on the tower. I’m not that stupid.
Descending the firetower, looking east towards Seneca Lake.
Rather then camping at the main horse camp, where there where several people set up with horses, I decided to camp at the lower area, which is much less popular, but as nice if not nicer.
They still have lots of things for the horse owner to use.
In the evening it started to rain. It didn’t bother me much, as I had the tarp over my truck and the picnic table, and thanks to the cement base under the table, there was no mud or muck to get kicked up.
This was my camping arrangements, as seen in the morning. Not bad, especially for a free campsite.
Making some coffee in the morning. I drank an incredible amount of coffee during this week.
Where I camped, after everything was all packed on up.
Farms from off Six Nations Hill in the rain, looking south.
Maps from the DEC of Six Nations Horse Camp:
I drove the following route on Day 3 of the Finger Lakes Trip, in yellow. The loop is where the firetower and main horse camp is. Following the green line due south, takes you to the southern horse camp where I spent the night camping.
Day 4 I visited Corning and checked out Big Flats, which is now unfortunately little more then suburbanite crap. Corning was kind of neat, except that it started to pour when was down there. I then drove down to Sayre, PA, and through northern Pennsylvania so I could pick up some fireworks for the forth of July. I probably could have come right back into the state, but I certainly didn’t want to be followed by undercover cops, with my fireworks (yes, I’m a little paranoid).
Rural Pennsylvania was quite pretty, except for the heavy rain and the fact that Route 706 was so damn narrow and twisty. When I got back to NY, I really appreciated how much better our state’s roads really are. I drove back via I-88, occasionally hopping back on Route 7 for some additional variety to my trip. I got home around 4 PM.
The green line follows my return trip. It took about 6 1/2 hours, including stops in Corning and other places.
I happened to be driving through Watkins Glen on my trip from the Finger Lakes National Forest to Sugar Hill State Horse camp, so I figured I would take a walk up the trail once again. I’ve been there before, but I figured this would be a chance to get photos when the light was better.
The last time I was there it was early in the morning. This proved to be a problem for photograhpy, without a tripod, because it was so dark in there. It was much lighter in the middle of the day, abit much more crowded. It also was a very humid day out there.
In several sections of Watkins Glen the trail cuts through caves to get around mountain faces, then emereges out to the most beautifully lit green areas.
The trail follows the edge of the Glen, crossing it several times on beautiful stone bridges.
The trail is beautifully designed and a pleasure to walk, although on a humid day like today, it was pretty hot, despite being largely in the shade.
The trail goes under several waterfalls, and after the week’s rainy days, it was pretty wet in spots.
And almost magical scene in Watkins Glen. This whole area somewhat spirtual feeling, especially on the backdrop of such rich greens.
When you reach the top of the glen, the waterfalls become farther appart and less steep and the creek is relatively flat.
At the top of the Glen is this old railroad bridge. It appears the line is actively used; it would be neat to capture a train going over the Glen. Maybe someday.
Here is a map of the trail I walked in Watkins Glen.
Here are maps of Watkins Glen.
After spending the night at Burnt Rossman I decided to go up Vromans Nose for a short hike, where I could sit out and watch over the Schoharie Valley and take some pictures. I’ve been up Vromans Nose a dozen of times before, but it’s always nice to go up for another visit.
The old roadbed up the mountain.
The edge of the mountain.
With thunderstorms coming in the sky was the most interesting of colors.
I spent about an hour up there before coming down.
Last Saturday I went hiking up Mount Tremper in the Catskills. This is one of five remaining fire towers in the Catskills, and I was excited to do my fifth tower in the Catskills.
It was a nice day out, warm, but not to warm. It also was quite clear which I discovered when I reached the top of the mountain. The trail is 2.5 miles to the top, but it’s elevation increases are moderate, following an old woods road to the tower the entire way. Parts of the old woods road are eroded away, but it’s still an easy hike, as long as your patient.
As I often go hiking along, one technique I use on such a trail like this is to bring my Mp3 player and listen to podcasts as I hike on up. I knew it would be about a two hour hike up, so I put two hour long programs on the player, and the time passed quickly.
About 2/3rds the way up the mountain there is a lean to, the Baldwin Shelter once can stay in. There also is another lean-to adopt the mountain.
Once you reach the top, there are no views except a few between the trees. The only views you can see from this mountain are from the fire tower, which are quite spectaular, however you must go all the way up into the tower’s cabin before your above the tree level.
The views from the tower are amazing. This is out toward Hurley and the Ashoken Reservior.
Here’s Devils Clove. Some reflections are noticeable from trying to shoot through the windows of the Fire Tower cabin.
Slide Mountain through the windows of the tower. It was hot up there, and the bugs and glass made it hard to get pictures. I tried to open a window in the tower, but the latch wouldn’t budge.
Descending the tower.
I walked a ways onto the blue trail beyond the tower, searching for other views, however there are no views except on the tower on Mount Tremeper. A nice hike for sure, but I would have preferred some views where I could sit down, have my lunch, and enjoy the edge of the mountain.
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