Southern Schunemunk Mountain

Southern Schunemunk Mountain (4/6/2008)

Last week we hiked this mountain beginning at its northern-most tip, at the Moodna Viaduct on Otterkill Road. Today we hiked the mountain from its southern-most tip, the trail head of the yellow-blazed Jessup trail at Seven Springs Road. For unknown reasons, the section of Seven Springs Road north of Route 44 was closed, so we were unable to park at the actual trail head. Instead we parked at a pull-off (good for about three cars) on Seven Springs Road just south of its intersection with Route 44. We parked next to a sign that said "No Dumping $10,000 Fine". The sign was surrounded by couches and cabinets and other trash that had been dumped there since the sign was installed.

The entire hike was along the Jessup trail (which is also the Highlands trail on this mountain). Nearly all of this part is inexplicably chopped off of the newest NYNJTC map for Schunemunk (Trail Map 114, West Hudson Trails, Fourth edition 2006). Oddly, it does appear in its entirety on Map 8 of the NYNJTC book "New York Walk Book" (Seventh Edition, 2005). Go figure. We took the trail north to the antenna farm, about a half mile before the Jessup intersects with the Long Path. We then turned around at the antennas and headed back. The hike was just under 7 miles and offered spectacular views both east and west of the ridge.

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