FLT/NCT: Maple Lane to Sugar Hill

We have taken so many endless walks in our neighborhood since March when we went into corona virus induced shutdown.  But our trip to Greece?  Cancelled.  Frankie's 3rd grade Adirondacks trip?  Cancelled.  Camping at the Pinery?  Cancelled.  I was restless, craving something adventurous, something different from our same old haunts.  I thought I had a good idea, but sadly, this hike did not work out as planned.

I knew the Adirondack fire towers were all still closed, and that makes some modicum of sense to me.  Many of those hikes are very busy, and there is no good way to social distance in the cabs or on the stairs of a fire tower.  I wasn't sure about the other towers, though, the ones NOT included in the Fire Tower Challenge.  They see a lot less traffic, so it stood to reason they might be open.  I went on the NYSDEC's website for Sugar Hill State Forest, and it had a COVID update, explicitly stating that the campground was closed.  It did not say the fire tower was closed, which seemed encouraging.  I went on Instagram and searched for Sugar Hill Fire Tower, and found recent pictures posted from the cab.  Maybe it was actually open!  Since the Finger Lakes Trail (FLT) passes right by, I knew it would be a nice hike.  I decided a fire tower, even one outside the Adirondacks, would be exciting enough to feel special, and Frankie and I set off on the long drive together.  We parked in the NYSDEC lot on Maple Lane, and set off hiking east, following the FLT as it twisted in a generally northeast direction for a few miles. 

bear corn (Conopholis americana)

When we came to the spur trail leading to the fire tower, we left the FLT and followed it northwest, then east.  This was an old road, much less charming than the single track of the FLT, but we were excited about where it was leading. 

The fire tower is visible from a ways off, situated in the middle of a big mowed grassy area surrounded by a few small cabins and scattered picnic tables.  We were very disappointed to see the base of the tower blocked off and a sign posting it as closed.  There was no one else there, except for a uniformed employee skulking about one of the cabins.

Frankie and I went and sat down at one of the picnic tables and ate our lunch.  The employee picked up a few sticks and spent a lot of time staring at her phone.  She went and retrieved something from a parked vehicle, but unfortunately returned to scroll on the phone some more.  When she walked over to the car, I had been hoping she would get in and drive away so we could hop the fencing and climb the tower.  Oh no!  She could apparently detect our nefarious intent because she eventually put her phone down and got more fencing out to reinforce the closure at the base of the tower.  We hung out for about 45 minutes (Frankie eats very s.l.o.w.l.y) and no other people came during that time.  It was still just us and the employee. 

We masked up and stopped and talked to her on our way out.  She told us she is stationed here for the sole purpose of preventing people from climbing the fire tower, due to the pandemic.  I looked all around: what people?  There were literally no people.  We had seen exactly zero people on the hike to the tower, no one else came looking to climb it while we were there, and we saw exactly zero people on our hike back to the car.  It is unclear who this employee was protecting from COVID, as we clearly could have climbed the tower with absolutely no risk to ourselves or others. 

I can't help but feel that this is a colossal waste of money, paying this employee to exercise petty tyranny and stare at her phone.  If NYSDEC wanted to pay an employee to keep the public safe, surely she could let individuals and family groups climb up, and simply prevent non-group members from climbing when the tower was occupied (which clearly doesn't happen often).  But it didn't really seem to be about safety.  The employee remained maskless the entire time we spent at Sugar Hill, even when we came over to talk to her, wearing our masks to protect her.  It's not a good look, giving lip service to safety while not wearing a mask.  I was more bitter after talking to her than before. 

common speedwell (Veronica officinalis)

Frankie was disappointed at first, but luckily he got over it pretty quickly.  We enjoyed our hike back out, and I promised we'd return another time to climb the tower, post-COVID.  It's on the FLT, after all, and we can always hike there from a trailhead in the other direction.  I'd want to hike it even if there was no fire tower.  So there!

MapMyRide tracked this hike at 5.2 miles with approximately 750 feet elevation gain.