Saturday, September 29, 2018

Black Rock Forest, NY


ABOUT THE PARK:
Black Rock Forest - Black Rock Forest Consortium

DIRECTIONS:

NOTE:  There is no longer any parking allowed along Mineral Springs Road.

GPS Coordinates 41.384312, -74.064820
Parking on Old Mineral Springs Road - CLOSED - as of March 2020 parking here is not allowed.

TRAIL MAP:
West Hudson Trails Map 113 - New York New Jersey Trail Conference
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HIKE DISTANCE:  9.1 miles

THE HIKE:
Highlands Trail/Scenic Trail from Old Mineral Springs Road.
The trail starts out as a wide woods road.
Just a short distance in, waterfalls.
The trail continues up parallel to the waterfalls.
Nearing the top, a quieter Mineral Spring Brook.
Rock hop over Mineral Spring Brook.
Lots of saplings at the top.
Off to the right the sign says "Blueberry Overlook - not a connecting trail - marked but not mapped."
It's not a very long trail.
It comes out at a clearing where the markers stop ...
... and there are a few cairns to the left ...
... but not much in the way of views.  Maybe when the leaves are down.
Continuing on to ...
Jupiter's Boulder
Much better views here ...
... but the Gunks and Catskills are under early morning low clouds so we'll have to stop again later in the day on our way out.
At a T-intersection the Highlands Trail goes left, the Scenic Trail goes right; we turned right.
The Scenic Trail leaves the woods road to the left.
It's a rugged trail along a swamp in this section.
At a T-intersection, white turns left joining the yellow Arthur Trail which is the way I was going to go but ...
... Brodie tried crossing and those boards went right under so we turned right on yellow instead.
Yellow ends at Jim's Pond Road where we turned left.
Jim's Pond Road
Jim's Pond
Looking back at Jim's Pond.
Jim's Pond Road continues on then veers left ...
... on Continental Road
A left at the Chatfield Stone House on Chatfield Road.
Stillman memorial at the intersection.
Chatfield Road to ...
Tammarack Pond
A belted kingfisher on that little island out in the pond.
A little farther along Chatfield Road, a left on the blue Chatfield Trail.
The trail comes out on an open rock slab ...
... with some views.
At the end of the Chatfield Trail, right on the Scenic Trail...
... then right on a different section of the Arthur Trail.
At the end of the Arthur Trail, left on the Highlands Trail ...
...then right at the fork when the white Scenic Trail joins in.
Now retracing on the Highlands Trail/Scenic Trail.
An open rock slab to the right ...
... with a helicopter ...
... a red-tailed hawk ...
... and a turkey vulture.
Then back to Jupiter's Boulder ...
... where the low clouds are gone and the Gunks and Catskills are visible.
Heading back down.
The top of the falls before descending ....
... to the large falls.