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Acra Loop

Acra Point, Black Dome, Blackhead Mtn, Burnt Knob, Dutchers Notch, Elm Ridge, Thomas Cole, Windham High Peak
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mike
Posts: 1442
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2009 9:20 pm
Location: Ravena, NY

Acra Loop

Unread post by mike »

The weather on both Saturday and Sunday didn't look that great. But, Saturday looked better, so we headed off to the Blackhead Parking lot in Batavia Valley. The weather was overcast, but it wasn't suppose to rain, so we were grateful. The weather was cool enough that we didn't feel overheated.

After crossing the wooden bridge and registering at the DEC booth, we crossed the new stone bridge over the babbling creek. In the past, it was a difficult crossing if the water was high. The rocks were usually slippery. But, today it was an easy crossing. The hike up the the hill to the col between Acra Point and Burnt Knob was nice. Lots of flowers coming out. We saw hundreds of trilliums

At the col we ran into two young sisters in the early 20's from Albany who had only hiked in the Catskills once. But, liked it enough to return again. We would run into them multiple times during the day. They were young and didn't have a map, but seemed happy enough to be in the woods in a nice day. They finally decided to tackle Blackhead. I warned them that the climb up the face was steep and would be memorable. Always nice to see young people hiking in the woods instead of attached to their cell phones.

There are now multiple view points on both the east and west side of Acra Point. Being a view junkie, I never complain about new view points. We stopped at Acra Point and had a bit to eat, and then pressed on. The hike across the ridge line was nice. It always is. No shortage of flowers.

At the base of Blackhead, I checked out the old road down the face to Cairo. We then headed down the hill to the parking lot. After the switch backs we discovered that the DEC had just added a new tent campground. It is half way between the trail junction to BH and the Lean-to. Finally, we get a campground where it is needed.

We then stopped at the lean-to and talked with a guy from Conn. He was hiking the Escarpment Trail from South to North. We had a nice conversation, and then meandered down the trail at a slow pace. Overall, we had a real nice hiking day.

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New stone bridge at the beginning of the hike

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mtnclimber
Posts: 496
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2009 10:46 pm

Re: Acra Loop

Unread post by mtnclimber »

Looks like the flowers are out in force. Looks like you guys had a nice hike.

Nice that they put in that stone bridge over the creek by the reg box. Lots of people got hurt there over the years.
dundee
Posts: 95
Joined: Mon Jun 09, 2014 5:01 pm

Re: Acra Loop

Unread post by dundee »

Mike, when you say multiple and new views from Acra Point, I'm assuming these are man-made views?
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mike
Posts: 1442
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2009 9:20 pm
Location: Ravena, NY

Re: Acra Loop

Unread post by mike »

There used to be one view point. Now there are five or six view points. I don't know if someone made the new view points, or if they were intentionally done. They look like they were professionally done.
dundee
Posts: 95
Joined: Mon Jun 09, 2014 5:01 pm

Re: Acra Loop

Unread post by dundee »

I guess Forever Wild doesn't mean much. What about LNT?
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