[Journal entry for February 27, 2018; Black Rock Mountain in Black Rock Forest, Cornwall NY]. I parked at the Peck’s Road pullout on the southbound side of Route 9W, after using the Angola Rd interchange to reverse direction. This woods road follows Black Rock Brook; its flow was strong on account of the recent rain. I stopped at the hikers’ kiosk and grabbed a trail map, leaving a one-dollar donation. I took several side trips down to the brook, viewing a broken dam, a casade, a small waterfall, and a larger, still intact dam with a stone shed. The larger dam has a head of about eight feet. Its reservoir has completely silted up, bringing out the futility of damming mountain streams that are transporting a lot of sediment, at least in the absence of periodic shoveling! I spotted a Pileated Woodpecker, its red crest glowing in the sunlight.

I switched to the Black Rock HollowTrail (blazed in white) near the Filtration Plant, and took it uphill. It follows a heavily-eroded woods road through hardwoods and passes a small pond, which is set it a hollow besides a low cliff. Except for moss and fern, the woods are bare and the colors are all grey, yellow and brown. I encountered no evidence of spring growth, even though the weather has been fairly warm during the last few weeks.

The trail led to Aleck Meadow Reservior, a small impoundment with a long stone dam at its northern end. The dam has a big terraced spillway that glittered with water. I folowed a woods road along the east side of the lake and stopped at a little promontory that would make a good summer picnic spot. At the road wrapped around the south end of the lake and crossed the inlet stream, I bushwhacked north to the wild and marshy south shore of the lake to admire the view.

I took the White Oak Trail (blazed in yellow) to Arthur’s Pond (really an impoundment), arriving at the north end, just below the dam, which, like the dam on Aleck’s, is made of stone. It’s a pretty lake that is very long and narrow, with prominent rocky cliffs along its eastern shore. I forded the outflow and took Continental Road (a woods road) south to the Stone House. It’s an impressive two-story stone building, set up as a hiker’s hut in a small open clearing that includes a woodshed, an outhouse and an old-style cast iron well pump The door was open, so I went in an looked around. The bottom floor, with a picnic table, seems a bit dank, but the upper floor, with fireplace, tables and bunk bed is cozy.

I took a short trail walk down to Arthur’s pond, to a spot on the shore with a bench and a plaque quoting Henry David Thoreau’s Walking, “In wildness is the preservation of the world”. The view across the pond to the rock wall on the east side is striking.

I continued south on Continental Road until it wrapped around to the east and crossed the Arthur’s Pond inlet stream. I then bushwhacked upstream, past a marsh, to the south shore of the pond, squeezing between Laurel bushes and giant boulders, fallen off the cliff. Instead of bushwhacking back to the road, I climbed up a ravine in the cliff and joined the Tower Vue Trail (blazed in yellow). It does indeed offer a view of the fire tower, which is located on a hilltop west of the pond. I took the trail back to the dam, crossed the outlet stream once again, and took the White Oak Trail (blazed in white) towards Sphagnum Pond. I passed a sign marking the trail side trail to the Phil Faurot Birding Platform. I took it down to a short boardwalk that extends out into a marsh that is north of Sphagnum Pond. The boardwalk offers a great view if the marsh, though in the short time I was there I spotted no birds. The return proved rather confusing, and I make several wrong turns before reaching the sign on the White Oak Trail

I continued on the trail until I reached the dam on Sphagnum Pond. The spillway was overflowing and the last fifty yards of the trail were more of a stream. The dam was of similar construction to the other two I had visited today, but was in poorer shape. It has been reinforced with wood in a makeshift way and water was seeping from it in several places. The lake is L-shaped and pretty. I took Sutherland Road north. It follows the western edge of marsh (the same one with the Birding Platform) though which the outlet stream passes. The marsh has not yet gone completely to Phragmites, so in a few spots I was able to view open water and bushes.

I joined the Stillman Trail (blazed in yellow) at the intersection called Two Gates, and took it to the summit of Black Rock Mountain. The hill is misnamed, for the rock was the tan anphibolite gneiss and yellow-white leucogranite that outcrops on many hills in these Highlands. I did pass several impressively large glacial erratic boulders of sandstone, but they are at best grey and not black. The rocky summit, which is bare rock bordered by low bushes and a half dozen Pitch Pines, commands a great view to the north and west, which is mostly lowland through which the stately Hudson River flows. The river was turquoise blue today. In the purple distance, I could make out the rounded peaks of the Catskill Mountains.

I rested for a while on the summit, drinking the last of the coffee I had brought in a thermos. I then continued on the trail down off the mountain. I intersected very briefly with White Oak Road, where it crosses a stream. I then joined the Black Rock Hollow Trail and took it back down to Peck’s Road, and thence to my car.

Somehow I managed to lose both of my lens caps on this trip, to the telephoto and wide angle lenses. Bummer! I will need to design a better system for tethering them to my camera. I bought a pizza at Calabria’s in Orangeburg NY on my way home. About five hours of hiking.