Blackhead

Today's hike: 5.4 mi | 3.4 h | 1.6 mph

Seems like the stats for today's hike of Blackhead were almost identical to last week's stats for Slide Mountain. That's curious, because today's trail had a section that was much steeper than anything we'd encountered on Slide. The steep part was fun. You have to clamber up some rocks and tree roots. The not-fun part was that quite a lot of the trail was wet, even on the steep section.

I was hiking with Maggie's boy again, today. This was our second 3500-footer in the Catskills. We started at the Big Hollow Parking Area, and went clockwise over Blackhead. Originally, we thought we might go over Black Dome as well. But we ran out of gas, and descended after covering only the one peak.

Aside from the one steep section, there were a few interesting things about the trail that we took. First, the lower portion of the trail is criss-crossed by several well-made wooden footbridges. Presumably that's required because there's a large stream that flows near the trail in this area. The footbridges are high up above the stream. The fact that the stream was quite lively and wide at this time of year, after an extended drought, made me wonder how high the stream would get during a wet year.

mini waterfall along the wide stream

On the way up and down, over a short band of the trail, we encountered a lot of small moths fluttering about madly. It was a surprise for this time of year. The temperatures were in the high 40Fs or low 50Fs, but it's certainly been freezing overnight.

small light brown moths fluttered around. can you spot this one?

A little higher up, there's a lean-to close to the path. Not sure I'd be tempted to camp there. It seems too close to the trailhead.

lean-to sign

We had seen some small, bright red berries on the trail at Slide, and the same was true here. We sometimes saw these on tall trees near the trail, too. I haven't figured out exactly what they are yet. Are they possibly winterberries? Note: we also heard birds now and again. I think they were nuthatches, and maybe some titmice and chickadees as well. I wonder if they like these berries. Maggie's boy saw some birds hanging out in a small pool of water on a rock at an overlook! I missed them, since I was lagging behind him.

bright red berries on the trail in the Catskills

Near the top, it was cold enough that we saw some icicles hanging off a moss-covered rock face.

icicles! The trail is so cool here!

There's nothing to mark the top of Blackhead, too bad! Just a trail sign. The peak is covered in evergreen trees.

trail sign pointing to Black Dome at top of Blackhead

Shortly after crossing this area, you get to an exposed section of the trail with rock slab, a bit of "graffiti", some lovely, newly constructed slab stairs, and great views.

We didn't linger for the views. As we'd hiked up Blackhead, the trail was sheltered from the wind with lots of evergreen trees, or maybe there was no wind on that side of the mountain. Once we started our descent, the woods became mostly deciduous, and were bare of leaves. The section of trail with rock slabs was fairly open and exposed, so you could see Black Dome to one side, which was nice. But it was very windy and raw here, and overcast to boot.

view of Black Dome with stone "graffiti" in foreground

Overall, the trail quality was mostly similar to the trail we took up Slide. We rarely come across a tidy dirt trail. It was either loose chunks of rock and/or pebbles and/or running water covering the trail. It makes me wonder how these trails were made!

We were pretty tired by the time we got back to the car. This is a cool trail loop, and I hope to get back to it sooner or later! I'd like to check it out in the warmer months.

Slide Mountain

Today's hike: 5.6 mi | 3.4 h | 1.6 mph

I'm no longer in NH, but I hope to get back to the White Mountains and complete the 4000-footers over time. Who knows!? The Catskills are now the closest challenge, so I've put the 3500-footers in my sights. My first was Slide Mountain.

The weather was not welcoming: upper 30s, with a slight wind, and completely overcast. We decided to take the shortest possible route as described by the DEC. This meant starting at the "Oliverea Road South (Slide Mountain Trailhead) Parking Area".

We began by hiking up the Phoenicia East Branch Trail. We knew that we'd need to turn left onto the Burroughs Range Trail in about 0.7 miles. Soon, we came to a "T" in the trail. We turned left and hiked on for about 2/10 of a mile before realizing that we'd made a mistake. We turned too early, and were on the wrong trail. We turned around and headed back. This trail needs more clear blazing and a sign to make the way clear! Here's a picture of the current unclear sign where we went wrong.

bad sign (not clearly visible when hiking up)

For the rest, it was a pretty straightforward hike: up 1,780 ft and back down again. But there are a few fun points of interest. First, here's something that might be described as a "slide"? This starts after you've done most of the uphill slog, so the grade is quite mild here. (I still don't understand why this is called Slide Mountain).

slide on Slide Mountain?

The footing on this trail is poor because it's often covered with pebbles and loose rock. Here's a look at one section of the trail where you can see where those pebbles are coming from.

some kind of conglomerate rock on the trail near the top

Here's the marked top of Slide Mountain. My first Catskills 3500-footer!

peak of Slide Mountain

There are some artifacts at the top. A slab of concrete?

concrete (maybe) at the peak

As we hiked back down, we noticed little flakes of frost on the ground. It was that cold! Some of the pine trees were covered in a fine layer of ice.

ice on pine trees near top of Slide Mountain

All in all, it was a fun hike, despite the gray day. Pretty easy compared to the NH 4000-footer hikes that I've done. I think Slide Mountain is one of the easier 3500-footers in the Catskills. Some of these mountains involve a bushwhack to the top. That will get interesting, for sure!

another look at the cross of questioning

Someone recently asked about the "cross of questioning" over at Crow Hill Ledges.

I passed by there recently. It is very faded in comparison to my last photo. I don't know what to make of that. I wonder why it was so clearly marked when I saw it. I don't think I'd notice it these days. Here's the way it looks now:

cross of questioning in 2015

geodetic survey lafayette

As I struggled through the blasts of wind to the summit of Lafayette, I looked down at my feet and discovered this geodetic survey marker. I just got lucky finding this one, since I didn't intend to spend a lot of time scouring the area for markers in these high winds.

The marker reads "US COAST & GEODETIC SURVEY TRIANGULATION STATION FOR INFORMATION WRITE TO THE DIRECTOR WASHINGTON D.C. $250 FINE OR IMPRISONMENT FOR DISTURBING THIS MARK 1958". There's a triangle in the middle, and a word which looks like "HIGH". Cool!

graffiti art

graffiti art
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Today I hiked for 2.75 hours, about 5 miles at Blue Hills Reservation. I hadn't seen this graffiti art before. It can be found along Accord Path. Weird, interesting! What does it mean?

midstate trail end

midstate trail end
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is another terminus marker for the Midstate Trail, alongside the first one. It looks like it would make a nice bench, but I didn't try it.

It reads:
MIDSTATE TRAIL
N.H. 1985 R.I.

midstate trail end

midstate trail end
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I hiked rapidly down from Watatic on a gravel trail - so rapidly that I missed the turn off into the woods. (Coming back, I didn't see a clear blaze pointing the way, either).

Heading down, I saw a trail runner coming up the gravel track. We gave each other a smile as we passed each other. Trail running looks fun, but strikes me as too risky. I have a tendency towards sprained ankles.

In any case, before long I was certain I had missed my turn off. I came to the bottom of the gravel trail, where I found another giant granite monument to Watatic from the year 2000 (there's also a smaller one at the top). The whole place down there looks strangely abandoned, with a giant concrete foundation bordering on some wide open space, and some phone wires running over the ground. In fact it felt a bit creepy.

I had two choices - I could head back up to Watatic and look for the Midstate cut off, or I could look for a trail heading west. I decided on the latter. I found a poorly maintained track which crossed a brook, went up some hills, meandered around. But I finally made it to the Midstate. I'm not entirely sure that I was on public land all the way, hm.

From there, I easily made it to the New Hampshire state line. I found the same marker that I found last year, which reads "Borden 1834". Since I wasn't so tired, I had the energy and common sense to follow the wall a little further west, and found this post which reads "A & A MASS 1894". Is this really from 1894? Very cool!

I was delighted to have found this marker, which I missed last year!

eye graffiti

eye graffiti
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Today's hike: 1 h 45 min | 4.5 mi | 2.6 mph

I did the yellow arrow loop at Blue Hills Reservation today. Nice pace, faster than I've been doing lately, but the trail is actually pretty easy.

seasonal shrine

seasonal shrine
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I hiked for 3 h 10 min along the Midstate Trail, yesterday. I did a section along Crow Hill Ledges to Redemption Rock. The trail was unusually busy. I passed 4 or 5 small groups of people.

I stopped to visit the shrine on the way. Someone has left a couple of pumpkins at the site, giving it a festive look.

Gilbert Lookout

DSCN3098
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

The climb to Gilbert Lookout is pretty steep near the peak, and it's not well marked, but it's well worth the effort. The view is glorious. Plus there's this very cool marker. I would recommend against trying the climb in wet weather, however.

survey

survey
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I'd be amiss if I didn't mention the survey marks at Barre Falls dam. One is located just next to the little cemetery south of the dam, and the other is located just across from the dam building itself.

This one reads:

CORPS OF ENGINEERS - U.S. ARMY
SURVEY MARK
$250 FINE OR IMPRISONMENT
FOR DISTURBING THIS MARK
BOUNDARY
STATION DESIGNATION
BF-14
YEAR 1978
AGENCY
ELEV. 846.13 (??)

triangulation

triangulation
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This marker is hidden slightly off the Summit Trail, up near the modern fire tower at around 530 feet, at Moose Hill. Someone had laid a small rock and a reflective disk next to it, perhaps to make it more noticeable.

It reads:
MASS DEPT OF PUBLIC WORKS
TRIANGULATION STATION
MOOSE HILL
1886 1936

I love these things! It was a treasure to find; I almost missed it, since it was off the main trail.

memorial

memorial
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I stumbled upon this memorial near Flint's Pond.

It reads:

AUREET BAR-YAM
Sept. 8 1957 - Jan 7, 1991
SHIVER TO THINK OF HER LIGHT, HER WARMTH,
FOREVER FROZEN IN THIS CLEAR COLD POND.
MAY ITS GLIMMER GIVE YOU PAUSE..
FOR ICE BROKE HEARTS THE DAY SHE DROWNED.

chimney

chimney
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I took a two-hour hike around the Lincoln trails system today. I didn't have a map, so I just followed one of the major bike trails.

My blistered heels didn't bother me in the least, fortunately. Instead, I suffered a bit of a cramp in my left hamstring, and decided to cut short the hike. I had planned on doing three hours.

shrine

shrine
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Another neat little surprise is this shrine, as you head towards Redemption Rock. It's really quite amazing how much effort went into this. It looks out towards Mount Wachusett.

cross of questioning

cross of questioning
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

There must be a very big fan of BOC up in these hills! This engraving of the "cross of questioning" is very nicely done, and a neat surprise along the Midstate Trail.

old route 128

old route 128
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

After coming down off Buck Hill, I followed an unmarked trail all the way down to Old Route 128. The road is no longer functional. I always get a spooky feeling around abandoned human structures. Blue Hills is peppered with some interesting artifacts.

hut

hut
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

You can see a little hut from outside the fence at the Nike Missile site on Chickatawbut. Since I'd been listening to the Lost soundtrack on my drive over, Jacob's cabin came to mind. However, this hut is a bit small for that.

No trespassing

No trespassing
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

At the top of Chickatawbut Hill, there's a fairly large area that's mysteriously fenced off. I wondered if it was a Nike Missile site, but the idea seemed far-fetched. It turns out I was right; there's an old Nike Missile site up on Chickatawbut!

Chickatawbut Tower

Tower
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I visited the Chickatawbut Tower at Blue Hills Reservation while on my hike yesterday. Unfortunately, unlike the tower at Sleeping Giant, it is closed off; you can't go up inside and take a look around.

The Blue Hills Reservation reminds me a lot of Sleeping Giant State Park in CT. I may be biased, but so far I like Sleeping Giant better. Blue Hills strikes me as overly crowded with trails, and overused. But then, I didn't hike Sleeping Giant much on the weekends, so my perspective is skewed.