create account login
|
Welcome to budget-travels-tips.com create account login |
|
South Taconic Trail
August 31, 2003 Hiked the South Taconic Trail from the Whitehouse Rd Trail Head north over Brace and to Alander and back. Total mileage was approximately 12 RT, over 9 hours with appoximately 1.5 hours of break time. Trail conditions were very good on the first part of the white blazed trail going north to Brace Mtn. Going up the "wall", the ledges just up from the trail head was well blazed, though extremely difficult at times going up and especially coming down late in the day after a long hike. Elevation gain is made quickly though, and on fresh legs an adequately conditioned hiker should get through this first leg without too much difficulty. From the top of the ledges, the hike to Brace was a steady slog uphill, lots of veiws along the way to pause with or to pace oneself. From Brace, the trail then descends, sometimes steeply, sometimes at shallow angles most of the way to Alander. Of note on this day was some trail maintenance had been done on the White blazed trail from Brace to the old logging road about 2 miles north. Branches of scrub oak and other small trees adjacent to the trail were cut and simply left in the middle of the path, a lazy and somewhat stupid way to perform trail maintenance. Several times I found my feet tangled up in this stuff, even as I was trying to fling these things off to the side of the trail. Whoever is doing this, it is probably preferable to just leave the branches on the trees and not deposit the cuttings onto the trail where people can be injured. As the trail descends to the spilt at the Alander white/blue blazed trail, the condition is very good, dry with some loose stone one should watch their step on. At the Blue Blaze trail, moving up the south shoulder of Alander, I took that route as opposed to dropping down into the hopper and taking the White blazed trail, which is far more punishing it its ascent. About 50 feet into the blue blazed trail, the trail markings all but disappeared, deadfalls were abundant and required some skills to find the trail through the overgrown ferns and plants along the old brook. Once out of this area, the trail was evident and fairly well laid out to the top of the shoulder where the trail splits (no sign here, so take the left turn that goes straight uphill). From the top of the first grade, the shrub oak has closed up around the trail to the point you cannot see the trail or ground. Cuttings of these branches from previous trail maintenance, which appeared to be a year or more old, still littered the trail and got tangled up in feet where the trail was hidden from view. This habit of leaving cut branches in the trail proper is very amateurish and really should be discontinued. Having read of rattlesnakes in the area of Alander, I used my hiking staff to thump the bushes through the areas I could not see underfoot. Coming out onto the first exposed ledge, where you can see the top of Alander, I found some snakes. Five of them to be exact, all scattered around, apparently sunning and well tucked in under the shrub oaks and difficult to see had they not started rattling. Avoiding them as best as I could, it took about 30 minutes to thrash and beat bushes all the way to the juncture of the White blazed trail by the old shed. Talking with hikers who had preceeded me up the Blue trail and followed, it seemed the snakes move around continually, some seeing one or two, others never seeing any. Until the Blue blazed trail is better maintained,anyone planning this route should have a hiking staff with them and use it in front of them starting where the Oaks start to cover the trail. Evidence is high there is a den site nearby, as there were many snakes out this day, though as a rule these are very shy creatures which will rattle like crazy when you get inside about a 6' area of them. Please, unless immdiately threatened, do NOT kill them. They are protected, however, they do appear very frightening in their "defensive" coil with the rattle going. They are more appearance than supstance, with the only real danger being stepping on one. Again, some trail maintenance will help in this regard, hopefully cutting a few feet on either side of the trail so hikers can see if they are lurking about. At the summit of Alander, I decided to return to the trail head and abandon the idea of hiking to Bash Bish Mtn and back, which was the original goal. The topo maps showed more of a traverse than the actual lay of the trail, which was all downhill from Brace to Alander, which concerned me. According to the topo map I was using, the trail showed following a fairly level track from brace to Alander, then with a steep descent, a fairly level trek to Bash Bish (assuming one did not walk down to the falls). In reality, it was far from the way it was depicted. I will now get a USGS map of the area with these trails fairly well marked on it rather than use some of the topo maps found in the hiking books and in stores that carry trail maps and powerbars. Not wanting to battle more rattlers, I descended the White trail off of Alander, a very steep trail which took some time to arrive at the logging road. Turning left to go back to Brace, the road was a steady slog uphill for the next 3.4 miles to Brace. From there, it was a steady downhill to the trail head, including a very difficult descent on tired legs over the ledges and down the ravine slope. The trail book I found this hike in recommended to leave a car parked at Bash Bish and take a one way hike on this trail north. In retrospect, this would be my advice as well, and what I will do the next trip up there. Additional recommendations; The day of my hike was about 68 to 70 degrees, fall like, with low humidity and I went through a great deal of water. Normally I can suffice with a half quart per 2 hours (give or take 15 mins), however, this was a thirst buster, especially on the way back. There was no water source on the trail of any merit once I passed the ledges and the brook that provides the waterfall there, so you have to hike in with your own. If you are making the northbound hike to Bash Bish (about 9 miles), 2-3 quarts is probably ok per person. If you are doing a round trip to Alander and back, a gallon should be budgeted. Only hikers in decent to good condition should consider the round trip to Alander and back. Endurance is the operative word of the day, which made the last third of the trek more of a survival journey than it was enjoyable. From the top of Brace, one can easily see Alander and it looks deceptively close and easy to get to, however, the trail does not follow the flat ridge you see from Brace to Alander, but curves west and descends into the hopper that is just southwest of Alanders summit. It can be an easy call to make for a novice to make that hike and a caution is urged. It is about a 12 mile round trip, the second half of the trip all uphill, some very steep, followed by a very difficult Class 5 descent of the ledges where a mistake could cost you dearly. The trail book I read termed this trail \"difficult\", which I have done other such named trails and did not find them as difficult as this one. On a scale of 1 - 5 on the difficulty scale, I would rate it at a 5, with a plus given the difficulty of the ledges traverse.
Directions to Hike
Contact Information
 submit a new trail review
About Our ReviewsMany people ask us to recommend a place to go hiking. Instead of us deciding what places are best, we let the backpacking community help out. The reviews on budget-travels-tips.com have been submitted by our viewers. Some reviews are positive and some are negative. If you don't agree with a review, feel free to submit your own trail review.
|
SearchReady to Buy Gear?Sponsored Links
Great Outdoor Sites |
||||||||
