Watch Hill

 

 

Today was a travel day, as we were driving north to Wilmington, New York, where we've rented a house for one last grand hurrah of summer fun before Frankie returns to school after Labor Day.  This drive takes about four hours, and since we couldn't check in until 3 pm, this presented the perfect opportunity for an "on-the-way" hike.  I know some people just want to get where they are going and get the driving over with, but I always look forward to the chance to explore a new trail or other attraction that I wouldn't otherwise get to see, something close to neither home nor the ultimate destination.  Poring over maps, I started looking closer at the Indian Lake region, where I can't remember ever spending any time.  Seemed like a good enough reason to drive through there.  I've always wanted to hike Snowy, but it is a little more mountain than we wanted to tackle on a drive day.  But little Watch Hill is right across the road.  Sold!

 

It wasn't raining when we arrived at the trailhead, but we had driven through rain fairly recently and there were low threatening clouds.  Since I had no data, I couldn't check the radar, so we set out in rain coats to be on the safe side.  I let Frankie keep his sneakers on and we didn't carry packs, though, because Watch Hill is such a short, easy hike.  The trail starts out on flat, wide trails and then starts to gain elevation very gradually.

 

After about half a mile, there is a junction; apparently continuing straight leads to the Snowy Mountain trail, but we turned right to continue up Watch Hill.  After this the trail narrows and steepens somewhat, but is still fairly easy.  Mostly soft dirt underfoot, then some rooty bits and exposed bedrock higher up. 

Once the ridge is reached, there is a ledge with partial views (pictured above).  We paused briefly here, and as I was taking the photo, another hiking party came out of the woods and let us know much better views were coming up ahead.  This was welcome intel because we had been wondering if this was the summit or not; the trail they emerged from was downhill from the ledge.  We knew the trail continues downhill past the summit of Watch Hill, all the way down to the shoreline of Indian Lake, and (sadly) weren't planning to go to the shoreline today.  Happy with the news that this ledge was something of a false summit, we followed the trail down into a col, then climbed again briefly and soon reached the true summit of little Watch Hill.  Ahh!  These views are definitely worth that last extra climb. 

There was one other party there when we arrived, a woman and her dogs.  She kindly offered to take a picture of Frankie and I together (the cover image -- thank you!) then gathered her pups and headed back down.  I got the impression she hikes this trail regularly, and I can see why.  Alone on the summit, Frankie devolved into his total goofball self. 

the summit of Snowy Mountain is up in those clouds

After goofing and lounging on the summit for a while, we decided to head back down and continue our drive, after a last look back at those views.

MapMyRide mapped this little hike at 2.5 miles with 335 feet elevation gain.  It was a perfect mini-adventure for our drive day.  The views are incredible for such an easy hike, and I would love to return sometime on a day with clearer skies to see even more of them.  I also think I'd like to hike down to the shoreline on Indian Lake; it looks beautiful and mid-hike swims are always fun.