Huckleberry Point, Hurricane Ledge, Plane Wreck Crank Shaft

[rkugel]

Faced with a need to "burn up" a vacation day, I took off work on Friday 10/08/2010 and hiked to Huckleberry Point. The day was warm, sunny, and beautiful, and it was my first visit to Huckleberry.

I've read many warnings about the trail being difficult to follow and was a little extra vigilant along the hike. I must say, the park service has done a superb job of marking the trail. In most cases, yellow blazes are less than 50 feet apart. However, the trail is somewhat vague in the area of Mossy Creek. Compounding the problem is that it zig-zags a bit and there are several unmarked trails and woods roads branching off, presumably to the many abandoned quarries in the area. As long as you keep your eye on the blazes, you shouldn't have any trouble.

Due to recent rains, Mossy Creek was up pretty high (about one foot) and hopping stones to cross it was not a practical option. Approximately 30 feet north of the trail, I found a log spanning the creek and used that as a natural "bridge". The photo below shows where the trail crosses the stream and the log that I used to cross.

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Approximately a quarter of a mile from Huckleberry Point, you will encounter a "T" intersection. This is the most likely area to wander off the trail since the markers do not indicate any kind of a turn. The photo below was taken with my back facing Huckleberry Point. The trail on the left is the marked trail that you should follow when returning from Huckleberry Point back to your car. The trail of the right is unmarked and probably leads to a quarry site.

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Huckleberry Point is a beautiful ledge that exceeded my expectations. It is truly breathtaking! Plan to get there as early in the morning as possible, as the sun quickly moves over the south end of the clove, making viewing and photography difficult. The photos below were taken around 10:00 am.

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After finally managing to tear myself away from Huckleberry Point, I returned to the Long Path junction and decided to head for Hurricane Ledge on Kaaterskill High Peak. After hiking the Long Path for about a mile and a half, I came to the junction with the unmarked trail leading to the Mohawk Indian Camp. Regrettably, the cairn was toppled over. After rebuilding the cairn, I headed west to the camp and then bushwhacked another few hundred feet and intersected the snowmobile trail. I came out only about 100 feet from the plane wreck. Not bad!

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Once on the snowmobile trail, I hiked west about three quarters of a mile to the large cairn marking the south access to KHP and proceeded up the south access trail to Hurricane Ledge. I've noticed that as time goes by, the climb seems to be getting more and more difficult. Either the ledge is getting steeper or I'm getting older....I have a sinking feeling it's the latter....

Once at Hurricane Ledge, I was greeted with an astounding surprise. Lying in the grass was a crankshaft which I believe belongs to the plane wreck at the summit of KHP (not to be confused with the wreck along the snowmobile trail). Obviously, someone placed it there recently, since it was not there as recently as 09/18/2010 when Mike and I hiked to KHP.

The crankshaft easily weighs in excess of 150 lbs and lifting it was beyond my capability (much less carrying it back to the summit or the crash site)! I would love to see it returned to the crash site, since it is such an important historical artifact. My concern about its current location is that it is extremely tempting for someone to either carry it off again or push it over the side of Hurricane Ledge as a "thrill". Either fate would be a crime to history and to the memory of those who perished in the crash. If anyone has an interest, I would love to relocate this important artifact back to the crash site where it rightfully belongs.

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I was hoping for some dramatic fall color, but was somewhat disappointed. The colors this year (at least so far) have been very muted and more like pastels, instead of the bright, vivid shades of red, orange, and yellow that we eagerly look forward to seeing. Regardless, I took a few shots from both the north and south sides of KHP and then retraced my route back to my car. All in all, it was a great day and certainly beat having to work!

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[mike]

Great pictures Rich! I have never gotten there early in the morning. I am going to have to try this sometime. I am usually with others who are not in a hurry to get there.

At least the mystery of the crankshaft has been solved. I guess they didn't have enough brains to leave it where it has been for decades, but did have enough brains to try and not take it down the South Access route. Now, we just need to return it to it's rightful location.

Looks like you had a great time. Good day to take off work.

[rkugel]

Thanks Mike.

Honestly, I don't know how anyone managed to move that crankshaft anywhere. It is HEAVY!! I would say a minimum of two people (possibly three) will be required to move it back to the crash site.

[mike]

It is much easier to carry something heavy downhill then uphill.

[mtnclimber]

Awesome pictures!

[bikenhike]

Great pictures!