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Wakely Mountain Firetower

Andy | July 22, 2010

On the afternoon of Thursday July 22nd I hiked up to the Wakley Mountain Firetower. The weather wasn’t perfect, but it was still quite popular, passing several hikers and families visting this tower. The views are pretty good, but probably not as good as Pillsbury Mountain or Snowy Mountain to the south. The nice thing is it’s a 5 minute drive from Cedar River Flow and pretty close from Moose River Plans too, and provides a great overview of the Plains.

You can print the above map, by clicking it, to be taken to a high resolution (500 DPI) that will print nicely on a laser or inkjet printer.

When you first start up the mountain, you pass a “Warning! Road Washed Out” sign. This sign is at the parking area for Wakely Mountain, to warn drivers that they won’t get very far on Wakely Mountain Road, since the DEC has basically abandoned it.

Washed Out Road to Wakely Mountain. I honestly don’t expect the DEC to fix this road, but instead will make people walk the entire 3 miles up the mountain, because that keeps the eco-facists happy.

The End of Wakely Road. That said, you’d be hard press to get a vehicle this far, due to the wash out at the earlier marsh.

As you climb, you pass this big boulder On side of Wakely.

The first two miles of the trail are pretty flat, a small incline that increases above 400 feet in elevation over two miles.

Marsh Along Wakely Mountain Trail. That’s Payne Mountain, not Wakely Mountain in the background.

The Final Mile. You might think the previous two miles of the Wakely Mountain trail where easy, rising maybe 300 feet, until you hit the last mile, as indicated by this sign. It’s another 1200 feet on up for that last mile.

The trail up Wakely Mountain is badly eroded due to heavy use and neglect by the DEC.

The last mile up Wakely Mountain is a long one, especially if you start late in the afternoon as I did. You are treated with some limited views while climbing Wakely Mountain, but all and all, there isn’t a lot to see except steep trail (but no open rock face!).

Once you almost reach the top of the mountain, you come to the Wakely Mountain Helipad. This is used by emergency responders, providing quick access to the top of mountain, to either access the tower for observation, or to help those injured on top of the mountain.

Next to helipad is a trash pile. I was wondering how this trash ended up top of the mountain, but after thinking about it a bit, it probably was trash from the ranger’s cabin, that was dumped here some time in the past, and was dug up in the re-construction of the helipad.

Eventually you reach the fire tower, about a 500 feet from the Helipad. The Wakely Fire Tower is an interesting Aeromotor LS 25 tower, that originally lacked a staircase, but was added in the form of an internal ladder, for the convience of hikers and the fire warden alike. Prior to the 1919 addition of the “stairs tower within the fire tower”, you had to climb a ladder on the side of the tower, to get all 60 feet to the top of the tower.

Here is the original ladder you had to climb. They removed the lower flights to discourage people from trying to use the ladder, although the stairs themselves also lack any safety fencing, so it’s a bit scary if your not used to climbing towers.

A close up over the tower within the tower.

The firetower presents one with spectular views of the upper Moose River Plains, from the marshy end of Cedar River Flow to the Lost Ponds area, to around Wakely Dam and Wakely Pond.

To the east is the Blue Ridge Wilderness and Blue Mountain.

Looking down towards Indian Lake from the Fire Tower. There are many beautiful peaks to the south east.

You can also see the High Peaks from Wakley Mountain.

And the Fulton Chain of Lakes.

Cellar Mountain somewhat blocks the views to the west, as you look down to the plains, towards the ridges that follow along the NY 28 Corridor.

The tower’s foundation sadly is in bad shape and needs work. The cabin of the tower is also only accessible via ladder, if your crazy enough to do that. It lacks safety fences on the various landings. Hopefully the state will find the funds and resources to restore this beautiful and popular tower, even though it’s likely to be expensive due to the need to use to Helicopter in supplies and possibly ironworkers to restore it.

A Google Map of the hike…

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Snake Mountain in a Snowstorm

Andy | December 28, 2009

I was up in Addison, Vermont to watch the demolition of the Champlain Bridge and I figured while I was up there I would go for a hike in the afternoon to see some of the beautiful vistas of the Champlain Valley. I have only been hiking once before on the Vermont side of the lake, and never down in this part of the Champlain Valley.

I really was hoping for a nice clear day with blue skies. What I got instead was heavy snow squalls and cold winds whipping along the mountain. I am sure things would have been quite beautiful if that was the conditions. Yet things where just a bit snowier throughout the day. This is what it looked like 3 PM when I was done hiking and reaching my truck to return back to Albany.

Regardless, it was a beautiful hike up the mountain with the trees being snow covered and the trail easy to follow. Everything looked so fresh from the morning’s snow, and the on-and-off sometimes very heavy snow throughout the day. As you can see, the trail is easily accessible on foot in the summertime, and in the winter by cross country skis or snowshoes.

There are occasional trail markers up the mountain, including signs on turns for the Summit, but a few side trails so you will want to make sure you have a map. Fortunately, you can get one from Vermont DNR with on Snake Mountain WMA. One thing with that map is it doesn’t include a lot of the switchbacks, so you might think you have gotten off the trail even though you haven’t. For the most part, it’s not bad, as it’s an old woods road.

The view off the summit of Snake Mountain is one of the most remarkable ones (so I’ve been told on the Internet), but not a day when it’s snowing. You can see a little of the farm fields below when the snow let up a little bit, but it pretty much was a blind view. I was seriously disappointed, after driving up to Addison from Albany, NY and seeing neither the demolition of the bridge or off Snake Mountain from the snow.

At times walking around the Summit of Snake Mountain I couldn’t really tell if it was snowing as much as I was up in the clouds. It was cold and the wind was whipping around, and visibility was really poor.

It’s winter out, and it is snows in Vermont. The moral of the story is while hiking is delightful in fresh winter snows, it also means that visibility off the mountain really isn’t all that great.

Harmon Hill

Andy | September 19, 2009

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.

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Ashokan High Point

Andy | July 13, 2009

Ashokan High Point is a mountain overlooking West Shokan and the Ashokan Reservoir, however due to trees the views to the east are limited. It is reached from a parking lot off of Ulster County Route 42, a windy low-speed road that lacks guardrail protection.

I visited this after doing Red Hill Fire Tower in another section of the Sundown Wild Forest, some 15 miles to the west (30 miles via road).

The first two miles up the trail is up an old woods road, that is relatively flat and a pleasurable walk along the Kanape Brook and in a deep clove between Ashokan High Point and Mombaccus Mountain.

After you walk about a mile or maybe 45 minutes, you arrive at this nice little campsite right near the brook and the trail. It’s in a field, but has limited light for big portions of the day because the clove is so deep.

The trail seems a bit long at times, but this is the kind of delightful walking you experience. Markers are sparse along this section of trail, but if your following the old woods road it’s easier to follow.

You then reach the sharp turn off the old woods road, to where the trail splits to the upper loop. As you can see, the turn is well marked.From here on out, you gain about 1,000 feet over the next one mile. It’s quite a bit steeper, but nothing is hands and knees hiking.

As you start to do some serious climbing, you get partial views to the west.

And the trail gets steeper for the next 1/2 mile. They have put in several rock steps to make the climb a little bit easier. Nothing that couldn’t be made by a child or a pet though, and no scary views/ladders.

Once you are within a 1/4th mile to the top, you stop doing much climbing. If your caught in a storm, this rock offers some protection.

You’ve basically reached the top when you get this nice westerly view of Moccabus Mountain through the trees. You can stop over here, or continue to the top for better southernly views.

From the top, you have limited views looking south towards the Shawangunks, surrounded by trees. There supposedly is an unmarked trail you can take down to the “ledge” for 180 views. Without a good map, I decided not to proceed down to the ledge.

The Shawangunks, shrowed in haze. They are small compared to the Catskills but an interesting profile in the sky.

Along the top there is a trail that runs through a 1/2 mile of Blueberry fields. I was foruntate to be there when they where in season.

On the other side of the mountain, there is an informal campsite with fantastic views of the High Peaks Region of the Catskills.

The trail down the backside of the mountain is without views, and is less steep but much longer, and winds up and down a few ridges. Nothing really worth visiting — go back the way you came.

You return back to where the loop splits, and return back the trail you took up. It’s a 7.5 mile hike total, but a relatively easy one that you can do in a few hours in an afternoon, and not be totally exhausted.

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Crane Mountain

Andy | July 5, 2009

I went hiking at Crane Mountain in the Adirondacks on July 5, on a partly cloudy day. I didn’t get to the trail until around 10 AM, in part because of the Detour on the Adirondack Northway due to the bus crash. Regardless, it still wasn’t that crowded until later in the afternoon.

The drive up Ski Hi Road is quite rough, and minimally marked, except for a few signs that Crane Mountain. Ski Hi road may be inaccessible with a 2-wheel drive after some rain, so be aware. It’s a steep uphill drive, and very much so dirt. Only once it enters the preserve does it get rutted and rough, but very much passable by people who had cars up there.

The first part of the trail is quite steep, but you quickly get views of Granite Mountain and other mountains that surround the valley near Crane Mountain Road and Ski Hi Roads.

The trail up it quite steep, climbing over rocks for the first 1/2 of a mile. There isn’t a clear marked trail, you follow one of many routes through the rocks.

The trail is minimally marked, with a few old trail markers and arrows to help you follow. That said, it’s worn enough, and with enough bare rock faces, that it’s quite followable, even without too many markers.

The farther you get up, the better the views get.

The trail splits between one trail to the pond and one to the Escarpment/Summit. The trail to the Escarpment is relatively flat, with a few up hill sections until you get to a 30′ ladder to get up to the top.

But once you get there up that ladder, the views quickly become quite amazing. The ladder may be 30 feet high, but it’s securely attached to the mountain, so it’s an easy climb. Also, the trees block the view outwards, so it’s not a bad climb.

Now I’m looking due to west to Granite Lake.

Looking North West, along the trail as it proceeds North along the Escarpment. I turned on the Mp3 player, and was listening to America’s Horse with No Name. Good music for the amazing views.

Continuing donw the trail. I must have spent an hour snapping photos, reading, and just enjoying the landscape.

Next the trail proceeds down steeply towards Crane Mountain Lake, with one viewpoint with good northerly views, including an overview of the popular fishing spot of Crane Mountain Lake. At least on this side there is no ladder to climb on down.

Down at Crane Mountain Lake. I sat down here, and spent some time reading. A few people where around fishing and exploring, more people where heading up the trail with polls later on.

The trail, while unmarked splits between going along the top of the ridge between the second and first latter up Crane Mountain, not that you would know it from the lack of signs. There is a lot of exposed rockface on this relatively steep trail, due to aggressive logging a century ago destroying the soil cover, along with steep slopes.

The trail descends quite steeply through rocks, and then further down. It’s a quite steep descent to say the least.

A rather pretty house from a converted barn on Crane Mountain Road, which is viewable from the descending trail.

The last mile of the trail is along an old woods road.

The route I took.

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Some sites on Crane Mountain:

More pictures of Crane Mountain.

Palenville Overlook

Andy | May 25, 2009

On Memorial Day 2009, I decided to go on an afternoon hike to the Palenville Overlook, along the old Catskill Mountain House Road, which was used for horse and buggies during the era of that great mountain house prior to the installation of the inclined railroad and later automobile.

The first part of the trail is a moderately steep old wagon road that climbs about 1,000 feet to the site of the Halfway House / Rip Van Winkle Hollow. If it wasn’t gated closed, it would be passable by an automobile. When you reach the ruins of the Halfway House, there are horse tie-downs and ruins of the old tavern known as the Half Way House. It’s where passengers could get a good strong drink and so could horses, as they made their way up to the Mountain House.

After this nice place for resting, the trail climbs a bit more and becomes a lot less steep. You pass by a private hunting cabin, and finally into the forest preserve. You arrive at a pinic area with nice views of the valley, a picnic table, horse tie-downs, and a fireplace full of trash.

From there the trail gently goes up, with two big switchbacks. The trail to the Palenville Overlook switch-backs down about 100 feet off the old Catskill Mountain House Road, and then winds on a narrow trail about another mile to the Palenville Overlook.

You then cross the ruins of the old inclined Otis Railroad tracks, in which all that remains are foundations. According to “AMC’s Best Day Hikes in the Catskills”, the rails and other scrap metal was sold to the War Department during World War I. By then the automobile had made this mode of obsolete as the old horse trail up the valley. All that remains is the cut on mountain, where a high-tension power wire runs.

You eventually reach the Palenville Overlook. The views are amazing, although it was fairly hazy the day I went there. There are awesome stone-built chairs out of old Palenville Mountain House ruins, that provide a great place to sit with a book, as you enjoy views of the Hudson Valley looking south-east. There is another view along the escarpment of the valley somewhat to the north, that gives more due-east views.

From there, I hiked back to the old Catskill Mountain House road, and up to the site of the old Catskill Mountain House ruins. I took some pictures, and then started down the mountain, when I realized I had left my hat up the Catskill Mountain House site. So I ended up backtracking, and ended up missing Memorial Day dinner at my parents house. But so be it.

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Plateau Mountain

Andy | April 12, 2009

Plateau Mountain, directly east of Hunter Mountain is one of the Catskill 3500 ft Mountains, but rarely gets much attention. It has a good trail up it, a bit a fairly steep one, that has wonderful southerly views, out towards Edgewood and many Catskill Peaks. It climbs about 1,900 feet in 1.8 miles — a good 20% grade, including several relatively flat places.

Once you reach the top, there is one section where you have to climb up hands and knees up two 4′ steps. Beyond that the trail is essentially flat for the next two miles. There some decent views over Tannersville and of the TriMount region of the Catskills. From there for the next mile and a half there are no views, as the trail wanders around properly lines until it reaches the easterly descent into Mink Hollow.

Not a lot to see once on top of the mountain, long and sprawling with dense forests. Regardless the various views are nice off this mountain, and it’s frequently overlooked as a mountain to hike in the Catskills.

It was a nice hike with some truly beautiful weather. The only mistake I made is I did not bring enough water. I was through 2 liters of water before I knew it. Still I conserved water and made it down safely by about 2 PM (I started up the mountain at 7:45 AM).

Be sure to see the Central Catskills Photos, where many are from Plateau Mountain.

Hikers – Devils Tombstone Parking Area
Green Line – Plateau Mountain Trail
Balloons – Various views from Plateau Mountain

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