Blackhead Range Trail Hike

[trailblazer]

I plan on driving to the Barnum RD trailhead to start my hike and would like to hike to Thomas Cole, Black Dome and Blackhead. Since I'll be hiking by myself, I'm undecided if I should turn around at the end of the hike and take the trail back to Barnum RD or take the trail to Big Hollow RD (56) and hike back around to the trailhead on Barnum RD. If anybody has any pointers for me than please comment, thanks!

[kennykb]

The north side of Blackhead has some pretty intense scrambles, which is great if you like that sort of thing. (Don't try it in ice without full crampons.) When I did it last fall, I did it as a backpack. The plan was to tent near the Batavia Kill lean-to, and come back the next day over Acra Point, Burnt Knob and Windham High Peak. That would have meant a three-mile roadwalk to close the loop, rather than the longer roadwalk back out Big Hollow. The second day would be a nice easy walk over the northern Escarpment, rather than all the scrambling in the Blacks.

The best laid plans gang aft agley. There was a hellacious thunderstorm that night, and I accepted a lift from Jon back to my car in the morning. He was a sight. The wind had messed up his hammock tarp and everything got soaked. I wasn't much better. I got off the ridge just before the storm started and used the lean-to rather than trying to pitch camp in the gale. The roof leaks.

For these almost-loop hikes, I sometimes have half a mind to stash a bicycle near one trailhead and ride back.

[trailblazer]

My hike was great. I started on Barnum RD and did all three mountains. You're right the north side of Blackhead was all ice near the top! I hiked down it and it was awesome yet scary. I was lucky enough to hitch a ride back to Barnum RD from another hiker that I had met on the trail. I'm working on my hikes for the 3500 club.

[trailblazer]

What are the waterfalls that you can see way in the distance from the north side of Blackhead? I thought I saw two of them.

[kennykb]

I don't know! I know of a few brooks that flow down from the Windham ridge (one by the Elm Ridge trail, one by the northern part of the Black Dome Range trail, and a couple in between), but none of them has much in the way of a waterfall. It might be something that runs only when there's snowmelt. Mike, you're the waterfall aficionado among us: any ideas?

[mike]

I haven't explored the creek running off the NE side of blackhead yet. I believe that there some waterfalls up there. Hard to get there. I have been on the south branch of the shinklekill. Then there is the large "gorge" area that some people call a slide. Not sure you would be able to see any waterfalls from Blackhead.

[trailblazer]

I can't post a picture because I don't know how to shrink it. Do you guys know how I can make it smaller so that I can post it on here? I was hiking down the NE side of Blackhead and WAY off into the distance it looked like waterfalls. I need to post the picture for you to look at.

[kennykb]

I usually post pictures on Flickr, which has very generous size limits, and then link to them from here. That way, people can click through to see them at full resolution.

[mike]

Most likely, you saw the giant gorge that runs off Arizona Mtn. I believe that there are some waterfalls in the gorge.