Livingston County, New York, United States
time : Jan 16, 2022 1:13 PM
duration : 4h 8m 50s
distance : 5.6 mi
total_ascent : 967 ft
highest_point : 1000 ft
avg_speed : 1.5 mi/h
user_id : arm2008
user_firstname : April
user_lastname : Miller
Oh, look, my trip write up didn't save correctly, now I have to rewrite it :(
Parked near Perry entrance. Gates now close off the Park Road south of here.
Planned on doing a lollipop down the Big Flats Trail (17) to Smokey Hollow trail (15) then back to Big Flats Trail on the northern leg of SH. Started getting late so looped back on the road.
Hiked down to the river on the old road that at the junction of the BF and SH trail. The first part of it was clearly raised, then closer to the river less obvious. I'm guessing that they don't keep this open as an official trail is because it is periodically flooded, and/or they don't want to encourage people going down by the river because they might be inclined to get in the river.
Followed the unmarked trail along the ridge south to a nice overlook of the river. All along this lower trail there were views of the cliffs across the river with several very scenic frozen waterfalls.
Up near the road you can see where the trail was moved off the old road a short distance. Both of these trails follow roads shown on old USGS maps. Trash dumped along the southern leg of SH is confusing - things like plastic oil bottles but I would have thought these roads were gone by the time they showed up.
Along this southern leg it was interesting to see the large amount of driftwood pushed up over the trail, which is a good 20-30 feet above the normal river height.
Surprising amount of footprints on the road. By the time I got back my car was the last in the lot, and it had been pretty full when I arrived. Saw maybe a half dozen people earlier in the hike, so the other people must have been on the road or the fitness trail.