[Journal entry for April 8, 2018; Hill of Pines, Black Rock Forest, Cornwall New York]. I finally found the turnoff to the Reservoir Road tunnel, which Dallas had told me about, but I’m not sure that I will use it much! It’s a very sharp right at the intersection of Mountain Road with Route 9W northbound, just past Storm King. The tunnel is barely wide enough for a car; reversing direction at Angola Road (as I did last time) might save me a few scratches!

Anyway, I parked at the hiker’s lot at about 5PM and hiked Reservoir Road past the Science Center to Upper Reservoir. The morning has been overcast, but the clouds were starting to clear and I hoped for a clear evening. Almost all of the snow is gone now and the streams are much less vigorous than during my visit last week. One little rivulet, coming off of Whitehorse Mountain, and very lively last week was a mere dry gulch today. I walked past the dam on Upper Reservoir and took Bog Meadow Road south until I crossed the inlet stream to Aleck Meadow Reservoir. I then took the Swamp Trail (blazed in blue) eastward, through the valley between Mt Misery and Hill of Pines. Without the snow, I could now see how the Stillman Trail wound up Mt Misery; when I climbed it two weeks ago, in a foot or more of snow, I could not keep to it and wound up bushwhacking up between the rock ledges on its flank. Today I had no trouble locating the Scenic Trail (blazed in white) intersection either, though as it is marked by both cairn and a sign, I suppose that I could have found it in deep snow, too. It took me uphill towards the summit of Hill of Pines.

The sun was shining between clouds as I ascended. It lighted up the woods around the trail making all the trunks of the bare trees blaze yellow. Unfortunately, it dipped behind a cloud just as I reached the open rock ledges of the summit. Though disappointed, I nevertheless enjoyed the view, which is spectacular. I could see the fire tower to the east. It was being snowed upon by a wisp of a storm. I could see the ledges on Rattlesnake Hill that I had visited last week. And between them, in the distance, I could see the blue waters of Big Meadow Pond and the very linear dam at its far end. I sat down on a knob of rock and ate some chili, spooning it cold out of the can I had brought with me. Though I had a few moments of bright weather, generally speaking the sky darkened and the air grew cold. I decided to continue along the trail, and took it downhill, southward to Carpenter Road. A few flakes of snow fell upon me. I passed a high rock scarp, one of the many in the Highlands, plucked vertical and cleaned of debris by the great Ice Age glacier that covered all these hills. Its base is strewn with a great many angular blocks, some six feet high, that have fallen off during the last twenty thousand years. The cliff has overhangs and shallow caves that would be fun to explore on a warm, sunny day; today I merely hurried by.

The sun came out just as I reached Carpenter Road – a pleasant surprise! I turned about and hike back up to the summit of Hill of Pines. The overlook was much more beautiful in the sun. The rocks were better defined by shadows and the Pitch Pines that are the hill’s namesake seemed greener and more cheery. I explored the rock ledges and walked around a giant pancake-shaped boulder – a megalith, really– that sits a little below the summit to the north. I couldn’t tell how far the glacier transported it. It’s local Highland gneiss, so probably not far. Maybe it was just dragged a bit up the north flank of the hill.

I then retraced by outward route back to my car. I stopped to admire Upper Reservoir, now lit orange by the light of the setting sun. And I stopped at the west-facing overlook along Reservoir Road and viewed the sun as it dipped behind clouds along the horizon. Several wisps of snowstorms were hanging from the clouds. I did not stay for sunset; it would not have been visible.

About two and a half hours.