Lebanon Springs to Tower Mountain, new TCT maps
Thursday I hiked up to the Taconic Crest Trail from the Lebanon Springs Access Trail. From here I hiked until I reached Tower Mountain approx. 2 1/4 miles to the North. According to the new set of maps I bought, a one-way trip should be around 3.3 mi, and with a gain of ~1175 ft. Round-trip time was about 3 and a half hours.
Speaking of these maps, the Taconic Hiking Club has prepared a set of 7 8.5 X 11, fully topo (1:12,000) maps of the entire 35 mile length of the TCT. I suggest getting yourself a copy if you come by one, only $10. I found mine at The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza.
The hike itself was quite nice. The mile long access trail to the ridge was somewhat dull, it was flattened out somewhat like a road and I imagine ORVs go through there all the time. In fact, while on the TCT an ORV passed me on the not-too-distant "Taconic Skyline Trail", which seems to have been created for the ORV crowd. Our encounters with these trails leave bad impressions of swaped out trail-lanes, circuitously navigated by rerouting the trail into the surrounding vegetation, impromptu I'm sure. The ORV trails of Thurdsay (and last Thursday) contained all these elements, but in addition putrid smells lingered in the otherwise fresh air.
The access road itself was clean, though I passed several colvert pipes, partially exposed or completely out from the ground. At the TCT junction there was one long, solid colvert that looked to have been made of steel; part of the middle was caved in from the top.
Here the real hike began, as I left the "road" and headed up and North on a small footpath, one that gave me the satisfaction of knowing that I was really in the woods and on a real, unabused hiking trail. There was a gradual steep climb for a while, and I saw many beeches (many still holding on to yellow leaves), oaks and birch. I passed an unmarked pond/bog to the left, which might correspond to a flat right spot below an x577; will need to investigate it more, especially in springtime.
Contiuing on I crossed several small streams of minor varying volume (certainly each of enough to filter water), probably 6 since the beginning. One note of possible interest: many sections of the trail are unmarked, at least for 20 ft. in some spots, and one must pay close attention to the ground and other signs to make sure he is still on the trail. Also, the typical white diamond on blue square TCT makers are tacked up only sporadically, and one must follow plain white markers for most of the way (mostly diamonds).
On the way to Tower Mountain there is a very nice view ridge, though the view itself is somewhat obstructed by trees. Still, it was quite pretty peering slightly down into the valley, while enjoying the golden sun streaming through the trees (that's right, this was the West side of the ridge). Tower Mtn. itself wasn't too spectacular, mainly slim views of the surrounding hills. But I was in a hurry so it is possible I did not reach the actual summit, or missed nearby views. Well, for another day. This was a good hike in any case, and will probably do it again.
Jesse on 11.05.05 @ 01:28 AM EST [link]