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Cotton Hill Lean-To in Late Winter

Andy | March 21, 2010

For the first day of spring it was around 65 degrees and sunny. The forecast promised only to get down into the upper 50s. The snow was gone in Albany, but in the mountains there was several feet. A top Cotton Hill, there was about two feet of snow.

Amazingly enough when I got up there, I was the only person who had been up to the lean-to since the last snow storm, probably two weeks ago now. It was very quiet except for the sounds of nature, from the snowy owl to the churbing robins.

Reaching the lean-to, with gear all set up for the the night.

My backpack, and flannel shirts.

Sitting in the lean-to, looking at the setting sun. At the front of the lean-to, snow had melted off the roof, and was piling up in the front, creating a snow berm, keeping cool drafts away. Ironically, at this point due to the warm weather, I was sitting in a t-shirt and no jacket on.

As I enjoy a nice a fire.

And night rapidly approaches.

At times it was a bit smokey in the lean-to, as I played on my cellphone, jotted down some notes, read some books, and just enjoyed the first night of spring.

It was a nice night. When I woke up, it was a gray cloudy morning and I made up some breakfast and got cleaned up.

And I packed my bags…

Burned my garbage from the past night…

And off I went, down to the truck, then off to Middleburgh Cliff. Here is a map of where the lean-to is.

View Cotton Hill Lean To in a larger map

Vromans Nose in Winter

Andy | March 21, 2010

On the second day of spring I went hiking up Vromans Nose. A short little hike, it’s a favorite in Schoharie County for it’s sweeping views of the agricultural lands below. Below is a picture of Vromans Nose, as seen from Middleburgh Cliff.

Sign for the trailhead.

Hiking up the mountain on a very brown-grey winter day.

NY 30.

A farm off the edge of Vromans Nose.

West Off Vromans Nose looking towards Towpath Mountain.

With all of the snow melt, the Schoharie Creek was fairly swollen.

Looking from the Tip of Vromans Nose towards Middleburgh, with Middleburgh Cliff in the background.

Here’s a map of hike.

View Larger Map

Severance Hill in March

Andy | March 7, 2010

Severence Hill, mis-signed by the NYSDEC as Severence Mountain is located just North of Schroon Lake on US 9. It is a short hike, taking 45-minutes or so to go up, and is right off the Ticonderoga Exit of Adirondack Northway.

I’ve been up it a couple of times back when I was in college — if you have hour and a half to use up and your driving on the Northway near Saranac Lake it’s a must do.

The first part of the trail goes under the two carriageways of the the Northway in a series of tunnels.

The next 1/4 mile of the trail is relatively flat until you cross a brook and head up a series of stairs, followed by a 1/4 mile ascent, some flat areas, then a quick ascent to the top.

As you reach towards the top, you have broken views of Schroon Lake to the South.

Reaching the top of the mountain, you have some beautiful views of Schroon Lake. Unfortunately the village is too close to see from the mountain and trees block the partial view.

On the top of Severence Mountain, overlook Schroon Lake is this cute little lean-to shelter hand-made out of branches.

On the top of the mountain, the trail proceeds for another 1/4 mile, with broken views of Pharaoh Mountain.

As you continue along the trail to it’s end, you left with a good view of Paradox Lake with Skiff Mountain in the background. Blocked by that mountain range, after a significant descent, is Ticonderoga and Lake Champlain.

You come back the same way you came up the mountain. This is looking towards the southern-most portion of Schroon Lake at the mountains at the southern portion of the Adirondacks.

Here is a map of the hike.

View Severance Hill Hike in a larger map

Black Mountain Snowmobile Trail

Andy | March 7, 2010

Black Mountain is the tallest peak between Lake George and Lake Champlain and contains an old fire tower that is currently used by the DEC Forest Rangers for communications equipment. It’s elevation is 2,640 feet, however accessing it from Pike Brook Road Parking area, your already at over 1,700 feet after driving up the very scenic Huletts Landing Road from NY 22.

In the winter, the old woods road up Black Mountain is also a low-speed and narrow snowmobile trail that has occassional snowmobiles on it. At 3 miles, it’s a relatively short hike with an elevation gain of about 900 feet.

The first 1.2 miles up the mountain the trail is relatively flat. After the split between the valley trail to Black Mountain Pond and other lakes running down towards Lake George, and the trail up Black Mountain Fire Tower. The next 1.6 miles is much steeper, as the trail winds up the mountain following a Jeep Trail with many switchbacks.

As you start climbing, you get a broken view of the fire tower on top of Black Mountain.

The snowmobile / old woods trail is narrow and steep as it winds up to the top of the mountain.

Reaching the top of the mountain, you can see the DEC Forest Ranger Communication Tower, with wind turbine, solar panel, and fire tower converted to communications tower. It’s disappointing that they had to convert the tower to a communications tower, because it would have otherwise provided nice views to the south.

Looking across Lake George towards Five Mile Mountain and the Adirondack Mountain in the distance.

North on Lake George. In the foreground is Hague, farther in the distance is Elphant Mountain, the end of Lake George and the La Chute River down pass Ticonderoga.

Looking to the North-West off Black Mountain. In the foreground is Sugar Loaf Mountain, and just beyond that is the “Drowned Lands”, the marshy farm lands surrounding the southern portion of Lake Champlain. Even further beyond that is the Green Mountains in Vermont.

Elephant Mountain, near Ticonderoga.

Here is a map of the hike.

View Black Mountain Hike in a larger map

Hunter Mountain via Spruceton Horse Trail

Andy | February 21, 2010

On Sunday, February 21, 2010 I got up at 5 AM and started out on the Spruceton Horse Trail to Hunter Mountain around 8 AM. Previously I went up Hunter Mountain using the much steeper Mink Hollow Trail, which in a couple of parts would be challenging to snowshoe for a novice like myself. The Spruceton Trail is 3.5 miles and an accent of 1,900 feet versus Mink Hollow Trail at 2.1 miles and 2,200 feet accent.

Here I am starting up the mountain, with trail-less high peak Rusk Mountain in the distance.

The Old Hunter Road (abandoned 1937) is straight, wide, and modest ascent. With the sun rising, I had issues with snow blindness, but it offered some interesting broken views of West Kill Mountain in the background.

About half-way up the Mountain, you reach the “saddle” between Rusk and Hunter Mountain. After snowshoeing for a little over an hour, with this sign telling you there is 1.7 miles to go, an accent of 1,100 feet is a bit discouraging, but so be it.

After about 2 hours of snowshoeing I reached the spring. The past half hour of hiking, from the saddle up to the spring, may not be a long distance at 1/2 mile, it is a vigrous but not not steep 500 foot ascent by an old but wide abandoned truck trail.

The AMC’s Best Day Hikes in the Catskills and Hudson Valley suggests that one has to be careful with drinking out of this spring, because thirsty horseback riders sometimes bring their horses back to give them a drink too, ignoring the sign.

Going a little bit farther past the spring, you come across the trail down to the John Robb Lean To. About 1/4 mile and 100 feet below the Spruceton Trail, after going a narrow little rock crevice, there is the Spruceton Leanto.

From the Lean To, it’s approximately 1 mile to the Hunter Fire Tower. The next mile is either flat or a slight ascent, until you reach the last 1/4 mile of the trail where is ascent quickly with switchbacks, but again, not steeply.

Finally after about 4 1/2 hours of snowshoeing (including breaks and taking photos), I reached the Hunter Mountain Fire Tower. By now it had clouded up, and it reminds one of a picture out of a movie.

It felt good to get the snowshoes off, stop, and have some lunch for an extended break.

Looking North off the Fire Tower towards the Catskills famous TriMount-range aka Thomas Cole, Black Dome, and Black Head Mountains.

To the due east one can see Catskill’s Sunset Point, the upper Hudson Valley near Catskill, and in the distance, the Taconics, including the other Sunset Point in the Taconic State Park.

It was frigid on the fire tower with the winds blowing. Off the tower it wasn’t quite so bad. After spending a little time relaxing at the picnic table, and putting another layer of clothes on, I headed south along the blue trail to the Hunter Mountain Overlook which overlooks the South-Western Catskills.

Reaching the Hunter Mountain Overlook, the views where quite amazing, showing mountains from Mount Tremper to the east to West Kill Mountain in the West.

The saddle between Hunter and West Kill Mountain. It was amazingly beautiful.

After taking half a dozen photos at the Overlook, I headed back to the Fire Tower, and went up it once again. Here I am looking to the North West towards Blenheim Mountain and Schoharie County. The former Hunter Mountain Ranger’s cabin is in the foreground, with a snowboarder who snowshoed with board on back from Hunter Mountain Ski Resort on the balcony.

Here is South Hunter Mountain, looking due South.

Heading back down the trail, looking at Rusk Mountain.

I arrived back to my truck around 4 PM. I was tired, as snowshoeing is a lot more work then hiking. Snowshoes kind of drag on the snow, and the cold just makes everything a bit more tiresome. Yet, the beauty was amazing even at a balmy 22 degrees.

Make sure to browse all of the amazing photos from the hike up there. Also, see my April 12, 2009 trip up to Hunter Mountain via Mink Hollow.

Here is the map of the Spruceton Horse Trail up Hunter Mountain.

View Hike to Hunter Mountain via Spruceton Trail in a larger map

Mid-Winter Walk at Partridge Run

Andy | January 30, 2010

The last weekend of January the snow melted away at Partridge Run and I was able to drive out to Fawn Lake with little problem, except for the road being a little bit soft.

I hiked down to White Birch Pond, where in the shady side of the mountain there was a little bit of snow left.

Walking along the headwaters of the Switzkill Creek at Partridge Run.

A map of the route.

View Fawn Lake to White Birch Pond in a larger map

Snowshoeing at Thatcher Park/OSI

Andy | January 7, 2010

The Thatcher Park OSI Parcel with High Point and Hang Gliders Cliff have rapidly become one of my favorite local places to visit. It has replaced Partridge Run as a personal favorite, mainly because in addition to interesting woods to explore, it also has the Escarpment to look off.

The day when I went out hiking I had previously gone to the doctor with a horrible sinus infection. I was feeling pretty sick, but the bright blue skies just beckoned me to go outside and get some fresh air. So I donned my beat up old cowboy hat, took some Zyrtec and my antibiotics, and off I went.

I didn’t plan on snowshoeing too far, so I decided to park up at the old Bluestone Quarry off of Carrick Road. Carrick Road was a sheet of ice, with about 2 inches of packed snow on it. Fortunately the Quarry had an area that was well plowed and it was a perfect place for me to park and not worry about getting my pickup stuck. Even with 4×4, I am so paranoid about such things these days.

The bright sun and the blue skies were so delightful. In winter, it seems like gray snowy weather is always the norm, and it’s rare to get a truly nice day for snowshoeing. On this particular day, there was not a cloud in the sky, and it could almost not have been much nicer.

Here is the junction of the White Connector Trail and the Red Ski Loop which is multiplexed with the Long Path. This is only a short distance from High Point. The light and the weather was just so amazing on this afternoon.

I hopped off the Red Ski Trail and took an old woods road to High Point. I had never been over this way before, and when I reached High Point from this angle, I almost didn’t even realize it was High Point, looking out through a clearing.

While I go up to High Point quite a bit, it is the first time I really noticed this classic looking farm in Guilderland with the barns and the house. Obviously, you can’t tell what kind of livestock they raise from this picture, but it is a very classic old farm house and old barns, probably from back when it was a dairy operation some time ago.

All of the sun and fresh air made me start to feel better so I snowshoed on south to Hang Gliders cliff. While I usually would take the unmarked escarpment trail all the way on over in the summer, I took for the first part the Long Path and cut over to the unmarked trail, to avoid the section that runs right along the edge. Here we are looking off Hang Gliders cliff, down into the valley.

Settles Hill can viewed from Hang Gliders Cliff quite well. I have always loved the look Settles Hill if only for it’s rolling nature and all of beautiful small farms up on it. Most of this country is still in the Town of Guilderland, although some is in Princetown.

Snowshoeing along Hang Gliders Road. There was some icy patches and I passed a group of young kids snowmobiling, probably from one of the neighboring farms.

One of the things I don’t like about this time of year is the days are so short. That said, each and every day is getting a little longer, and twilight is now around 5 PM every night. In a month, the twilight will be much closer to 6 PM. Sunset was about 4:30 PM.

There was waxing crescent moon hiking back to the truck. Quite beautiful, as the sun set in the opposite direction. It made for a beautiful hike on back to my pickup, as I headed home for the day on this wonderful day.

The route I took is in green.