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Huntersfield from Rt 32C - Apr 18

Ashland Pinnacle, Hayden, Huntersfield, Lake Heloise, Mt Pisgah (durham) Nebo, Sticklers, Steenburg, Richmond, The Knob, Zoar
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mtnclimber
Posts: 496
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2009 10:46 pm

Huntersfield from Rt 32C - Apr 18

Unread post by mtnclimber »

Mike and I headed up to Rt 32C that runs between Richmond and Ashland Pinnacle. The forecast was for less then 1/10 of an inch of rain or snow. Some parts of the mountains were in the clouds. We headed out with a light covering of snow on the ground. It is really too bad that they cut down all the conifer trees next to the road. It look horrible now. It was such a nice forest.

When we got to the road into Ashland Pinnacle, we couldn't find the Long Path markers, so we bushwhacked in. After a short period of time, we did find it. Who ever designed this part of the path did a poor job. Once we got on the trail the path was littered with limbs. We picked up most of them. As usual, the path was difficult to follow. Wasn't really muddy, which was nice. The trail was fairly flat, and went up and down will some of the hills on the ridge line.

As we approached Huntersfield mountain we hit some of the fields. Soon afterwards, we lost the Long Path, but kept following the established trail. Lots of prickers, but this time of year they are not that bad. By summer they should be some horrible monsters.

Just before we reached the top we found the Long Path again. We stopped at the summit to look at the USGS marker. No big deal. Headed over to the Lean-to for lunch. Mike registered us in. By this time, the clouds had lifted, and we had a nice view. Perfect timing! By the time we were done with lunch, we were starting to get chilled. We then headed back.

When we started down the path, we decided to follow the Long Path markers instead of the established path. Wow, what a mistake. The path was just someone walking thru the woods with a paint brush! Nothing was cleared. Limbs were everywhere. Prickers were just as abundant. Not sure why anyone would take this path. It is absolutely horrible! Very hard to find the paint markers. Wait until summer, someone is going to get very lost here. We finally came out by one of the fields. NO markers anywhere. Thank god, mike had his gps. Otherwise, we would have been horribly lost. Finally, we were back on course. I got a little scared because I lost my bearings with the fields. While we were walking thru the woods, it started to rain and snow. Our shell jackets were wet from bushwhacking.

We then headed back down the path. When we got to Ashland Pinnacle, we took the side trail. This trail is horrible. It is like being on the snowmobile trail on KHP. You can skip this side trip. No views, but there is lots of mud. The trail is for ATVs.

We headed back. When we got to the road (Ashland Pinnacle), we checked out the parking lot. Still snow in the parking lot. We headed back up the hill. We then took the trail back. We checked out the cleared section next to Rt 32C. Unfortunately, the debris was never cleared from the clear cut tree operation. Not sure why the DEC cleared this section. The sign says that they had blow down, but I have never seen blow down here. They continue to cut out all the conifer forest, and ruining the entire range.

I will try to get some photos up soon.
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mike
Posts: 1442
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2009 9:20 pm
Location: Ravena, NY

Re: Huntersfield from Rt 32C - Apr 18

Unread post by mike »

It was a very different hiking experience then some of the other trails. In the morning we were hiking in t-shirts, and when we returned, we had our fleeces and jackets on. The cold front moved in quite nicely.

This nice thing about this trip is that it is remote. Saw NO one all day. And, it looked like no one had hiked the trail in quite a while.
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