Hike #895; Pawling to Stormville Mountain
I had finished the Jersey Perimeter, and there was so much more I wanted to throw onto the schedule. Of course, feeling backed up with all of this stuff, I decided to just throw some of the power items onto the schedule first.
One of these power items was to connect on the Appalachian Trail again, further to the north of where I had left off. I usually steer clear of doing full hikes on the AT because just about everyone and their mother does it, but in the Hudson Highlands and heading northeast from the Hudson River, it is very much a linear path and there aren’t as many other options to do circuit hikes. Because of this, the section of the trail gets less use too.
Most important, this would nearly get me to the Connecticut border.
Metrotrails hikes have taken place in five different states so far, and Connecticut will be the sixth. After this hike, I would be only 6.7 miles from entering Connecticut on the Appalachian Trail. There is a huge wealth of trails there just waiting for me to explore.
For this hike, we met in the morning where we had started off the previous hike in this series about a year earlier: Stormville Mountain.
I carpooled up with Gregg, thankfully because my car would leave me stranded only the next day from a broken tie rod. From Stormville, we shuttled with fewer cars northeast to the town of Pawling.
Well, the Appalachian Trail does not go to Pawling. It goes to just north of Pawling, but I had wanted to see the town, and get some snacks or whatever in the morning. It seemed like a good idea to start here, even though it was not to be part of the main trail.
We stopped at a little eatery to get some snacks and such, and then we were on our way. We walked parallel with the active railroad tracks on Charles Colman Blvd, past the old station and north out of town. It had a really nice downtown center, and some nice old houses as we wandered north out of town.
Speed Limit 55??
We followed to a right turn on Corbin Road. This road took us down hill and across Swamp River on a bridge. Swamp River is part of a twenty or so mile long Great Swamp that stretches to the north from Pawling through the Harlem Valley. Just before crossing the railroad tracks, a road called Libby Lane turned left.
Typically, I would follow my phone GPS to be sure of where I was going, but this time, in my haste and having overslept in the morning I forgot to pack my extra batteries. I had to go only on the battery I had. Amazingly, it would last me most the entire day with very little use, even though I had it on with no charger all night.
The road was narrow and small, and I didn’t realize it would not go through. We followed it anyway, and passed a sign that read “Speed Limit 55”, at a narrow spot that would certainly jump any light car going that speed.
When we reached the road’s end, we turned right and descended through weeds to the railroad tracks. We would just follow the tracks north to the Appalachian Trail station. Along the way, there was a store on Rt 22 by the intersection with River Road. Nick went in to get some drinks.
Appalachian Trail Station
The Appalachian Trail station is a pretty weird place.
I had been here once before with Jillane. The spot is very nice, and we took a break waiting for Nick to catch up, and for some to use a nearby restroom. Apparently the train will stop at this spot if there are hikers that need to get on or off. The trail leads into fields to the north, and to the south it goes onto boardwalks onto the Great Swamp.
Swamp river Boardwalk
Once everyone was together, we turned onto the AT to follow it across the boardwalk. This reminded me a lot of the Pochuck Quagmire in the Vernon Valley of NJ, but on a bit smaller scale. Design was very similar.
Puncheon
There was a bench out on the boardwalk that had Maine facing the northbound and Georgia facing the southbound. A pretty cool spot. The trail continued weaving around on the boardwalk, then crossed over the Swamp River on a pretty large foot bridge, gaining more elevation above the creek. From there, it headed onto Corbin Hill, a small hillside. It skirted the edge of the swamp for a while before making it’s way to the top. I was again rather tired out going up and down the hills here because I was still so used to the level stuff we’d been doing on the NJ Perimeter hike series.
Swamp River Bridge
There was no real view from the top of the hill. It just leveled off and descended slightly. The area was full of more stone rows from old pastures, like the rest of the Hudson Highlands.
Once at the top of Corbin Hill, we headed down slightly and the trail emerged into farm fields.
I love when the trail does stuff like this, because it adds so much interest. I talked with Nick about all the weird trails I had backpacked on with Jillane, and how they appeal to me.
Corbin Hill
The trail had some really nice views ahead of West Mountain, with it’s big rock outcropping that would be our best overlook of the day. We went over a few more puncheons as we made our way down hill.
I must have looked pretty crazy again, because i was wearing a pink striped shirt and a pink blazer. We passed a middle aged couple walking through that just sort of smiled as I went by, but then went by a Boy Scout Troop hiking northbound. One of them said “I love that jacket!!” enthusiastically as we went by. It was pretty much the only acknowledgement that it was odd for the entire trip.
The Dover Oak
We headed down hill and reached the magnificent Dover Oak, located on Dover Road north of Pawling. This was a White Oak; the largest Oak tree on the entire Appalachian Trail, and the champion tree of it’s species in NY. It was noted in the AT book as having a 20 plus foot circumference!
Telephone Pioneer Shelter
I had been to this spot before too, with Jillane when she took me for a tour of the places she had backpacked before meeting me, with a series of short hikes and points of interest.
We waited up for everyone to catch up here, then made our way further on, down hill and then up to climb West Mountain. This was probably the steepest of the entire trip. On the way up, Nick, Ed, and I headed over to the Telephone Pioneer’s Shelter, named for a volunteer group that developed it, and signed in on the book inside. Nick was talking about finding some trail magic in the form of a handle of vodka, but we found no such luck.
We continued climbing to the top, and got to a great overlook of Corbin Hill and toward Pawling to the south. We can apparently see to Connecticut from this point, though I have no clue which peaks are which, because I am so unfamiliar with the area. We took a nice long break at this point.
View from West Mountain
I noted from the top that I could even pick out the Dover Oak down below. It’s really that big a tree.
Other people showed up at the overlook while we were there, and some left when we arrived. Dan offered everyone Chex mix several times during the course of the day, and I indulged at this point too.
Dover Oak from West Mountain
The last time I had been to this point with Jillane, we had stayed in Connecticut over night for her birthday, and then visited this and other spots. I had taken a walk alone on the Housatonic River, and I looked off wondering what I might find when we get beyond those hills.
View toward Pawling
I could see up the Harlem Valley, and realized there was also a trail to the south somewhere through that too. We were now up in Dutchess County, but Westchester as well has tons I have yet to explore.
View northeast on West Mountain
We got back on the AT and continued along on our way from here.
The trail was nice, but there wasn’t a lot of stand out stuff. The guide mentioned a north facing view, but it really wasn’t much of anything. Nick and I powered ahead of everyone else pretty fast, chatting as we went. We crossed an old woods road known as Penny Road along the way and entered the Beekman Uplands, with gradual ups and downs and little sections of puncheons. A side trail to the right broke off, the Beekman Uplands Trail, which was originally the route of the Appalachian Trail before that was rerouted closer to Nuclear Lake. We wandered through more woods until the lake soon came into view.
Nuclear Lake
I had been to Nuclear Lake with Jillane too, on her birthday weekend a couple of years back. This was a neat spot to connect to because there were always visions of going there long before I’d been there. When I first joined NY NJ Trail Conference, one of the earliest news letters I had gotten were the ones where it mentioned the rerouting of the AT along Nuclear Lake.
The lake was a Nuclear testing facility until 1972, but that closed up and the lake has been reportedly cleaned up and opened with “no restrictions”. I take the “no restrictions” as meaning that swimming is alright too!
Swimming November in Nuclear Lake
Nick and I had been talking about swimming pretty much all day. It was so much warmer than anticipated, and so I was ready to jump in. Nick thought he might at one point, but it was indeed pretty cold when we had stopped. He decided against it.
I took my clothes off and carefully stepped into the cold lake, and at the edge of the rocky outcropping, I stepped off into the lake (I didn’t notice till the next day, but I must have stepped on something sharp, because my foot was badly sliced open deeply on the bottom). The water was freezing cold, but I could handle it. I got in, and waited for Nick to take a photo. When I got out and checked on it, I realized he had not taken the photo, so I had to go and get back in a second time.
After getting out, it didn’t feel nearly as bad, so I walked around in boxer shorts for a while and air dried. I was getting dressed by the time the next wave of the group showed up.
We must have waited forty five minutes at least at the lake, and I was concerned we would not get done in the daylight by this point. Teun and Shayna took a break further up along the lake, and were last to show up, though they weren’t actually far behind.
Bridge below Depot Hill
The trail turned from a footpath to a woods road briefly, then turned right on another footpath back into the Beekman Uplands. It at one point passed through a split rock I did not know about. We headed over a nice little stream and then to a power line crossing with a lovely view of a wetland below.
I got pretty far ahead of everyone else at this point. I headed across Rt 55 near Poughquag, then headed over a nice puncheon and bridge before crossing the railroad tracks. On the other side, I began to ascend Depot Hill, named for a time when there used to be a train depot just to the north.
This was a steeper climb than I thought it’d be, but it wasn’t too terrible. I headed up hill and stopped to wait for some of the group when I got to Depot Hill Road.
There were other hikers around on Depot Hill Road area, and I said hello to a few of them as I walked on. After a short while, Ed showed up in the woods behind me. I assumed the others couldn’t be that far behind, so I continued on to the Morgan Steward Memorial Shelter, passing by a few limited overlooks, and then took a break. Ed showed up behind me from there, and we paused briefly as I signed in on the book at the Shelter. We didn’t waste too much time, and he said that Nick wasn’t all that far behind, so we continued on along the AT.
Next, we reached an overlook to the north and west from Mount Egbert. There were three other guys there, so we stopped to chat with them and take some time while the others were catching up. The one guy was a photographer, and his two friends came along with him the places he was going to photograph. Ed and I gave them tips for nearby places we thought they’d love including Schunemunk and Hook Mountain.
View from Mount Egbert
We could see out toward the Hudson River pretty far this way, and I think we were looking out to the Catskills, which seemed pretty obvious. It was tough to get a good picture because the sun was going down.
The guys left to head back to their cars, which were near Depot Road, and Ed and I remained waiting.
Sunset on Mount Egbert
We must have waited a good forty five minutes again at this overlook, and the only person to show up was Terri. Michael S. had walked ahead of us much further back, and he texted me that he had stopped to wait a couple of times, but pushed on as to get done by dark. We didn’t see him again for the rest of the trip because he was too far ahead.
On Mount Egbert
I got the message that both Teun and Shayna opted not to continue on when they got to Depot Hill Road. Some “nice people” we were told offered them a ride back to Pawling. I wondered if it was our photographer friends, or maybe the middle aged couple we had seen earlier.
Ed and Terri decided to go ahead while I waited for a bit longer. We had to get down over these rocks before dark (we hoped). The hike was a bit more difficult than anticipated, but still not as hard as the previous one in the Hudson Highlands. I waited a while longer as the sun began to disappear over the farthest mountain. When it was going to be gone, I decided to just continue ahead, and I’d wait again after a bit. I got down one rocky area with no problem, and the rest wasn’t too bad to hike. There was another bypass trail called “Indian Pass” with “0.6 mi” on the sign, blazed in teal triangles. This was not on my map, and I just don’t know where it goes.
The trail went up and down a bit, and at a couple of places it was slippery on the rocks.
I eventually caught up with Ed and Terri, and walked with them for a little while longer before deciding to wait. Ed and I had determined the high mileage I thought was remaining was actually wrong. When I said there was eight miles left, there was only six, because I was looking at the trail guide book as if it was the entire “section”, and not where we were parked. At Stormville Mountain Road, it was not quite as far. From the overlook, it was less than three miles back.
Sunset on Stormville Mountain
When it seemed like the trail was losing a lot of elevation fast, we figured we were close to the road. We could easily hear Interstate 84, but we couldn’t see it. We definitely couldn’t see Stormville Mountain Road or it’s connector/continuation, Grape Hollow Road. I waited as they moved ahead, thinking the group might be just behind. After a short while, I heard three sounds of a car horn, probably Ed signaling me that he and Terri had made it back to the cars. When I heard this, I decided to turn back and look for the others. There was a less than quarter moon out, but it provided more than enough light for me. I do have excellent night vision, and was able to navigate along the trail until I came upon Nick, Pat, and Annika. They were all doing alright, but they said that Gregg and Dan might be forty five minutes beyond them. I was worried, so I hurried further on back.
Eventually, I could see Gregg’s flashlight and Dan’s cell phone light making their way along the trail. I came up to them to be sure they were alright, and they were. I tried walking with them for a bit, but I was blinded by the flashlights and couldn’t see the trail, so I jogged back down the trail most of the way I had already come.
Nick at the end
When I got to where Ed and Terri left me, the trail switchbacked rather easily, then went across a foot bridge over a small creek. Steps took me up and to the rest of the group on Stormville Mountain Road. It wasn’t long before Gregg and Dan made it the rest of the way back, and we were in Annika’s warm car heading back to Pawling.
Annika treated Gregg, Dan, Nick, and myself to dinner at an outstanding restaurant in Pawling. I had a mac and ceese style lobster dish that was both delicious and filling. Even I could not finish it, which is saying a lot, and I ended up bringing it home to have for breakfast the next day.
This ended up being more of the workout that I had been counting on, but it was a lovely laid back section.
At this point, I need only to hike a bit of the rerouted AT on Bear Mountain and the remaining section north of Pawling and I will have hiked the entire Appalachian Trail in NY. Similarly, I have only three tiny segments remaining and I will have hiked all of it in PA. With those and the one reroute in Wawayanda, NJ, I will have hiked the trail entirely in three states.
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