SpencerVT
Member
My wife and I cruised out to Long Lake this weekend and hiked Kempshall Mountain. A long, but easy and scenic hike. Trail the whole way. We took the NPT north from Long Lake to Kelley's Point. It says this is 4.8 miles, but it felt more like 3.5 miles. 1/3-1/5 mile after Kelley's Point you come to a 4-way intersection. The western path leads to the Lake and the eastern path is the old, now closed, Kempshall trail.
Someone has done some serious work on this trail, because it was in very good condition, easy to follow, with fresh cuts everywhere.
My only complaint is that a lot of the cuts were of saplings 1-3 feet off the ground, leaving all these ground spikes, which irks me. That's not the way to do trail maintenance. I don't believe in leaving spikes sticking out of the ground like that. Plus it looks shitty.
Anyhow, we did appreciate that this long-closed trail was very much as if we were on an official still-maintained trail (see photo). All the elevation for Kempshall is gained in the last mile. Nice mossy summit clearing with artifacts from the old fire tower. In an abundance of caution I bushwhacked to the next nubble past the firetower in case that was the true summit, although the firetower nubble definitely feels like the higher, true summit. A couple of peak-outs where you can see through the trees to Long Lake below.
This was an easy, awesome hike. The NPT is very flat going to the old Kempshall trail. Kelley's Point is incredibly beautiful - there is an old hotel foundation there and nice large rocks making for a great swimming / lookout area. I would love to know when the Kempshall Firetower came down and what the deal was with that old hotel at Kelley's Point below. Some really interesting history. Total hike took 6 hours not counting stops.
The closed old Kempshall trail is still in very good condition. I've been on plenty of official open NYS trails that were way worse!
Artifacts from the old firetower atop Kempshall.
Someone has done some serious work on this trail, because it was in very good condition, easy to follow, with fresh cuts everywhere.
My only complaint is that a lot of the cuts were of saplings 1-3 feet off the ground, leaving all these ground spikes, which irks me. That's not the way to do trail maintenance. I don't believe in leaving spikes sticking out of the ground like that. Plus it looks shitty.
Anyhow, we did appreciate that this long-closed trail was very much as if we were on an official still-maintained trail (see photo). All the elevation for Kempshall is gained in the last mile. Nice mossy summit clearing with artifacts from the old fire tower. In an abundance of caution I bushwhacked to the next nubble past the firetower in case that was the true summit, although the firetower nubble definitely feels like the higher, true summit. A couple of peak-outs where you can see through the trees to Long Lake below.
This was an easy, awesome hike. The NPT is very flat going to the old Kempshall trail. Kelley's Point is incredibly beautiful - there is an old hotel foundation there and nice large rocks making for a great swimming / lookout area. I would love to know when the Kempshall Firetower came down and what the deal was with that old hotel at Kelley's Point below. Some really interesting history. Total hike took 6 hours not counting stops.
The closed old Kempshall trail is still in very good condition. I've been on plenty of official open NYS trails that were way worse!
Artifacts from the old firetower atop Kempshall.
