[Journal entry for May 30, 2018; Hill of Pines, Black Rock Forest, Cornwall New York] The morning was gray and chilly, but the clouds broke up in the late afternoon and the sun began to shine. I drove up to Black Rock Forest in the late afternoon, arriving at the hikers’ parking lot on Reservoir Road at about 6PM. I hiked along the road, stopping to view Black Rock Mountain from an overlook. Lots of millipedes were crawling about, creeping across the road and rock ledges. The road passes the Science Center and follows a stream that leads to the spillway of Upper Reservoir. The later afternoon sun was lighting up reservoir and hills surrounding it very well. The hardwood trees that surround the lake are now fully leafed out. Their lime green spring color has mostly darkened into the deeper green of summer.

I took Bog Meadow Road southward and picked up the Stillman Trail (blazed in yellow) where it crosses the road. It heads up the Mt. Misery, the first of a line of steep hills. The little stream on its flank that was running strongly during my hikes is the early spring is now completely dried out. I spotted a juvenile toad hopping through the leaves. The summit is consists of open woods underlain by blueberries. They are in bloom now, with many tiny white flowers. I stopped at the viewpoint, which affords a good view of Black Rock Mountain. While I could see Aleck Meadow Reservoir on earlier visits, today it is recognizable only as a depression in the canopy.

I followed the trail off the mountain and down into the narrow valley between Mt Misery and Hill of Pines. It is full of angular stones that have fallen off of the many rock ledges on the south flank of Mt Misery. I then joined the Scenic Trail (blazed in white) and took it up the north flank of Hill of Pines. The trail leads to a rocky overlook consisting of several rounded knobs of beige Highland gneiss. True to the name of the hill, a few solitary Pitch Pines grew amongst the rocks. The land drops off precipitously to the south. I was standing at the edge of a glacially-plucked scarp – one of many in these Hudson Highlands. It was formed when the great glacier of the Ice Age tore away rocks on the lee side of the hill as it headed towards the sea. The view of the surrounding hills, and especially Rattlesnake Hill, is very nice. While I had a good view of Big Meadow Pond during my early spring hikes, the view is mostly obscured by trees today. I spent a few minutes at the overlook, enjoying the warm sunlight and then continued on. The Scenic trail passes and enormous pile of huge angular blocks of stone. They have fallen off the cliff face in the twenty thousand years since the glacier’s retreat and have started to fill in what, at the end of the Ice Age, must have been a valley scrapped clean of all vegetation and debris.

I joined Carpenter Road , a woods road that runs through the valley between Hill of Pines and Rattlesnake Hill, and took it west to Big Meadow Road. It passes a small swamp, out of which I could hear the calls of frogs. I then walked that road north, back to Upper Reservoir. I made one short detour, bushwhacking along the edge of the Aleck Meadow Reservoir to its shore. This was rather a mistake, for the area is full of bushes with wicket thorns. I did my best to thread myself through them, but wound up with quite a few scratches, nonetheless. The view of the reservoir was very pretty (though not worth the scratches). The sun was lighting up the trees on its eastern shore and the rest of the reservoir was in shadow. After standing a few minutes on a sandy spot at the water’s edge, I retraced my path back to the road (gaining a few more scratches in the process).

I stopped at the overlook along Reservoir Road and watched the sunset. The view is more or less due west, across the relatively flat land north of Schunnemunk Mountain. I was joined by one of the Forest staff members, who drove up on an ATV, and I introduced myself and chatted with him while we watched the sun set. I left after the last bit of sun was gone but with the clouds on the horizon still glowing orange.

I stopped for a snack at the Chestnut Mart in Fort Montgomery before heading home. About two and a half hours.