DSettahr
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The Elm Ridge Lean-to is the closest lean-to to Albany in the Catskills (although there are closer ones on State Forest land, like the Cotton Hill Lean-to), so I figured it made no sense to delay staying there any longer in my quest to spend a night in every lean-to. Coupled with a climb up Windham High Peak, it would make for an easy weekend backpacking trip.
On Friday afternoon, my friend Anna and I drove down to the Long Path trailhead on Route 23. We arrived at the trailhead just as the sun was beginning to set and hiked in to the lean-to in the gathering darkness. As we crested the ridge, we could see the glow of a campfire at the lean-to. Two guys were camped there, and they made space for us to join them, which we were grateful for.
In the darkness, we made dinner and prepped for sleep. I spend some time wandering around, looking for a water source… the two other guys camped in the lean-to said there was none and that they had brought all of the water they would need for 2 days with them. I wandered a little ways down the side trail to Maplecrest, as well as down an unmarked but obvious side trail following an old road to Hensonville, but found nothing. Near the lean-to are some large rock ledges, from which I found some dripping water, which I was able to use to fill up our nalgenes by leaving them beneath the falling water streams. I estimated that it took about 15 minutes to fill up a liter of water; and I doubt that this is a reliable water source during the summer.
With the advent of morning the next day, we were better able to take in our surroundings. The rock ledges just southwest of the lean-to are quite impressive, and those staying at the lean-to should take caution when wandering around in the night not to step off the edge. The ledges form the edge of a gully, which itself was filled with wild flowers: Trilliums, Sorrels, and such. Behind the lean-to, to the south, is a campsite presumably mainly used by hikers arriving at the lean-to to find it full. This is a nice campsite, situated on the edge of the ledges in a open and flat grassy spot. I’m not sure it’s far enough (150 feet from the lean-to) to be legal, but it’s pretty close… you’d probably need to get out a measuring tape to be sure. Either way, I doubt that anyone would get in trouble for camping there.
As we got ready to set out to climb Windham, the other two gentlemen, having climbed the peak the previous day, packed up and headed back to the trailhead. The trail up Windham is in very good shape. It starts out following the ridgeline up the mountain, passing through several different forest types. It was very interesting to see how the forest types instantly changed as the trail crossed old stone walls… clearly, some of these areas, those with hardwood trees, had once been cleared for farm/grazing land, and were still following through forest succession, while others, those with stands of spruce, had probably never been cleared and were at the climax state of succession.
About halfway up the mountain, we crossed a small stream that was flowing pretty steadily and refilled our water bottles there. Again, I doubt that this would be a reliable water source during the height of summer.
There was some blowdown on the trail, but nothing major. As the trail went higher, the amount of blowdown in the woods increased significantly. Near the top, there were hardly any trees that did not show any signs of storm damage. Clearly, this mountain was hit hard during a recent ice/snow/wind storm. The trail itself, however, was clear of all but a few pieces of blowdown here and there, which we easily stepped over. There was some mud on the trail near the summit, but again, nothing that severely impeded our travel.
It took us about 2 hours to reach to the summit from the lean-to. We had nice views to the south towards the Blackhead Range from the first lookout on the western edge of the summit. We encountered no snow or ice on the peak, however we could see quite a bit of snow still on the northern aspects of the Blackhead Range. From the central lookout on the north side of the peak, we spotted a Turkey Vulture gliding in the breeze. The eastern most lookout provided the best view north of the Heldeberg Plateau. Despite the haze and humidity, I was able to just barely pick out the Corning Tower at the Empire State Plaza in the distance.
We encountered quite a few people on the trail headed up the mountain; I counted 38 hikers. Given how much hiking I do during the week and the winter, this is the most people I’ve seen hiking on a given day in a long while. The warm weather certainly was encouraging folks to head outside.
Our return trip to the lean-to took only 1 hour, and we ate lunch right after our arrival. Rather than spend the afternoon hanging out at the lean-to, we elected to take a walk down the trail to Maplecrest all the way to the trailhead, 0.8 miles from the lean-to, and back. It turns out that in my quest for water the previous night, I should have traveled a little bit further down this trail. About a hundred feet beyond where I turned around is a nice spring consisting of a catchment made of rocks and cement on the north side of the trail, and a pipe sticking out of the ground on the south side of the trail. This water source, which is situated about two tenths of a mile down the trail from the lean-to, is shown on the NYNJTC Map but not the Venture Out Catskills map.
The trail to Maplecrest is in rougher shape than the trail from Route 23, but overall isn’t in horrible shape. We encountered some muddy spots, and there were several spots where streams ran down the trail bed for a short distance. Most of the trail is lined with old stone walls which were neat to walk between. We encountered no one on the trail, and I was surprised to see only 3 cars at the trailhead… I would think that given the shorter distance to the summit of Windham High Peak, and the higher starting elevation, this trailhead would be more popular than the Route 23 one, but I’m apparently wrong in that assumption.
Our return to the lean-to was uneventful. Shortly after reaching it, we were visited by a mountain biker who had come up from Route 23. He indicated that the parking area there was full. He seemed to know the area pretty well. He also mentioned that there is a reliable spring on the trail between the lean-to and the summit of Windham, on the north side of the trail, just past the last stand of evergreen trees, that not too many people know about. He said it was a pipe sticking out of the ground, hidden in the woods. Something to look for on a future expedition, I suppose.
We had the lean-to to ourselves on Saturday night. We saw and heard some bugs during the evening Friday and the day Saturday, but they were few and far between. The summit of Windham was pretty free of insects. A smoky smudge fire also helped to keep them away on Saturday afternoon. However, when we awoke on Sunday morning, we found that the black flies were out in force. It’s funny how they all come out at once, rather than gradually.
On the hike back to Route 23, we were able to appreciate the trail down the north side of Elm Ridge much better in the daylight. The recently routed switchbacks on this trail are much nicer than the old, brushed in trail straight up the hill looked. Additionally, the serviceberries were all in bloom near the trailed… hundreds of trees with hundreds of white blossoms each made for a pretty last quarter mile back to the car. This whole area has the characteristics of a bottom lands/flood plains ecosystem, something that you very rarely see while hiking in the Adirondacks or the Catskills, but it much more common while hiking in the south or the Midwest. Pretty neat to see.
Overall, a good weekend. The last hurrah of early spring, hiking without snow or bugs… for the next three months, it’s bug net season.
The Elm Ridge Lean-to is the closest lean-to to Albany in the Catskills (although there are closer ones on State Forest land, like the Cotton Hill Lean-to), so I figured it made no sense to delay staying there any longer in my quest to spend a night in every lean-to. Coupled with a climb up Windham High Peak, it would make for an easy weekend backpacking trip.
On Friday afternoon, my friend Anna and I drove down to the Long Path trailhead on Route 23. We arrived at the trailhead just as the sun was beginning to set and hiked in to the lean-to in the gathering darkness. As we crested the ridge, we could see the glow of a campfire at the lean-to. Two guys were camped there, and they made space for us to join them, which we were grateful for.
In the darkness, we made dinner and prepped for sleep. I spend some time wandering around, looking for a water source… the two other guys camped in the lean-to said there was none and that they had brought all of the water they would need for 2 days with them. I wandered a little ways down the side trail to Maplecrest, as well as down an unmarked but obvious side trail following an old road to Hensonville, but found nothing. Near the lean-to are some large rock ledges, from which I found some dripping water, which I was able to use to fill up our nalgenes by leaving them beneath the falling water streams. I estimated that it took about 15 minutes to fill up a liter of water; and I doubt that this is a reliable water source during the summer.
With the advent of morning the next day, we were better able to take in our surroundings. The rock ledges just southwest of the lean-to are quite impressive, and those staying at the lean-to should take caution when wandering around in the night not to step off the edge. The ledges form the edge of a gully, which itself was filled with wild flowers: Trilliums, Sorrels, and such. Behind the lean-to, to the south, is a campsite presumably mainly used by hikers arriving at the lean-to to find it full. This is a nice campsite, situated on the edge of the ledges in a open and flat grassy spot. I’m not sure it’s far enough (150 feet from the lean-to) to be legal, but it’s pretty close… you’d probably need to get out a measuring tape to be sure. Either way, I doubt that anyone would get in trouble for camping there.
As we got ready to set out to climb Windham, the other two gentlemen, having climbed the peak the previous day, packed up and headed back to the trailhead. The trail up Windham is in very good shape. It starts out following the ridgeline up the mountain, passing through several different forest types. It was very interesting to see how the forest types instantly changed as the trail crossed old stone walls… clearly, some of these areas, those with hardwood trees, had once been cleared for farm/grazing land, and were still following through forest succession, while others, those with stands of spruce, had probably never been cleared and were at the climax state of succession.
About halfway up the mountain, we crossed a small stream that was flowing pretty steadily and refilled our water bottles there. Again, I doubt that this would be a reliable water source during the height of summer.
There was some blowdown on the trail, but nothing major. As the trail went higher, the amount of blowdown in the woods increased significantly. Near the top, there were hardly any trees that did not show any signs of storm damage. Clearly, this mountain was hit hard during a recent ice/snow/wind storm. The trail itself, however, was clear of all but a few pieces of blowdown here and there, which we easily stepped over. There was some mud on the trail near the summit, but again, nothing that severely impeded our travel.
It took us about 2 hours to reach to the summit from the lean-to. We had nice views to the south towards the Blackhead Range from the first lookout on the western edge of the summit. We encountered no snow or ice on the peak, however we could see quite a bit of snow still on the northern aspects of the Blackhead Range. From the central lookout on the north side of the peak, we spotted a Turkey Vulture gliding in the breeze. The eastern most lookout provided the best view north of the Heldeberg Plateau. Despite the haze and humidity, I was able to just barely pick out the Corning Tower at the Empire State Plaza in the distance.
We encountered quite a few people on the trail headed up the mountain; I counted 38 hikers. Given how much hiking I do during the week and the winter, this is the most people I’ve seen hiking on a given day in a long while. The warm weather certainly was encouraging folks to head outside.
Our return trip to the lean-to took only 1 hour, and we ate lunch right after our arrival. Rather than spend the afternoon hanging out at the lean-to, we elected to take a walk down the trail to Maplecrest all the way to the trailhead, 0.8 miles from the lean-to, and back. It turns out that in my quest for water the previous night, I should have traveled a little bit further down this trail. About a hundred feet beyond where I turned around is a nice spring consisting of a catchment made of rocks and cement on the north side of the trail, and a pipe sticking out of the ground on the south side of the trail. This water source, which is situated about two tenths of a mile down the trail from the lean-to, is shown on the NYNJTC Map but not the Venture Out Catskills map.
The trail to Maplecrest is in rougher shape than the trail from Route 23, but overall isn’t in horrible shape. We encountered some muddy spots, and there were several spots where streams ran down the trail bed for a short distance. Most of the trail is lined with old stone walls which were neat to walk between. We encountered no one on the trail, and I was surprised to see only 3 cars at the trailhead… I would think that given the shorter distance to the summit of Windham High Peak, and the higher starting elevation, this trailhead would be more popular than the Route 23 one, but I’m apparently wrong in that assumption.
Our return to the lean-to was uneventful. Shortly after reaching it, we were visited by a mountain biker who had come up from Route 23. He indicated that the parking area there was full. He seemed to know the area pretty well. He also mentioned that there is a reliable spring on the trail between the lean-to and the summit of Windham, on the north side of the trail, just past the last stand of evergreen trees, that not too many people know about. He said it was a pipe sticking out of the ground, hidden in the woods. Something to look for on a future expedition, I suppose.
We had the lean-to to ourselves on Saturday night. We saw and heard some bugs during the evening Friday and the day Saturday, but they were few and far between. The summit of Windham was pretty free of insects. A smoky smudge fire also helped to keep them away on Saturday afternoon. However, when we awoke on Sunday morning, we found that the black flies were out in force. It’s funny how they all come out at once, rather than gradually.
On the hike back to Route 23, we were able to appreciate the trail down the north side of Elm Ridge much better in the daylight. The recently routed switchbacks on this trail are much nicer than the old, brushed in trail straight up the hill looked. Additionally, the serviceberries were all in bloom near the trailed… hundreds of trees with hundreds of white blossoms each made for a pretty last quarter mile back to the car. This whole area has the characteristics of a bottom lands/flood plains ecosystem, something that you very rarely see while hiking in the Adirondacks or the Catskills, but it much more common while hiking in the south or the Midwest. Pretty neat to see.
Overall, a good weekend. The last hurrah of early spring, hiking without snow or bugs… for the next three months, it’s bug net season.
