The Outblog blog, No. 29 for the week starting May 5, 2003.
Friday
Cole Hill State Forest, ATV Trail
Boondocks is about farms, rural life, and power toys.
Energy looks at high energy prices and our future.
Enviroman looks at man and the environment.
Hayseeds looks at politics and life in our nation.
Individual looks at myself and how I'm changing
Transit looks at the changing ways we get around.
Truck gives you stories and trips in my Ford Ranger.
Cole Hill State Forest, ATV Trail. Parked at the main Cole Hill State Forest pull-off. The one I got stuck at in January. Well, there is an ATV trail (suppostly only for Handicaps—we know everybody rides there) along there, that is quite interesting, to the east of the Route 1. I knew it was a loop, but I had not idea how much of a loop it really was. Maps can be desceptive.
Hiked starting from the lower, well marked ATV trail. Light woods, nice trail. Birds are chriping. It's already coming aparrant that you have to keep moving, or get killed by the bugs. Spring is nice. Especially May. :)
Hiked straight, turning off the main ATV trail. Descended downwards the hill a bit, past a thick CCC forest, back out towards the road again. I noticed a junk pile along the trail. Nothing too interesting, just rusty old fency material and some other assorted junk.
Hiked back up to the main trail. Continued on, heading along a well marked old woodsroad/ATV trail, with the forest cut back on both sides. Some views off the cliff, between the trees. Hiked around the corner, and saw a campsite. Lots of junk there, especially around the campfire area. I guess they didn't get a fire hot enough to burn it. At any rate, I see somebody shot up a fire extingisher, and was trying to burn it. Very, very mature.
Surpising, the trail that had been quite level in the past, started to go downhill, fairly steeply. The part of the path that would have been basically Sundance passable, was only really now the domain of ATVs and 4x4 pickup trucks. With that steep drop, there was a steep climb on the other side. There was an old woods road that went off the side—something to explore in the future, I guess.
Hiked up the big hill. Well, it really wasn't bad, but it was pretty steep. Trail winds back and forth, near a bunch of swamps. Just to make the bugs worst. And there were some big bolders around. Off the trail a ways, was an old construction sign, I guess somebody was using for target pratice.
Returned to the road, and hiked up the top of the hill, so I could take another look at the infamous 'All He Wanted Was To Be Free' view, in front the of the Catskills, the one you see on top of every page. Returned to car. P'Link
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