2021-9-29, Schaghticoke Reservation Bypass, Appalachian Trail, Kent, CT, and Duchess County, NY

 On 2021-9-29, I walked (twice) the new section of the Appalachian Trail that was built to avoid going through the Schaghticoke reservation.  I made an interactive map with location numbers that I will refer to.  Here's a link to the interactive map: https://arcg.is/1Hmvmu .  Here is a static screenshot of the interactive map.



1.  I parked on Schaghticoke Road maybe 100 feet north of where the Appalachian Trail leaves Schaghticoke Road and goes northwesterly into the woods.



2.  No picture, but, before I got to the re-located section of the trail, I noticed a flattened area about thirty feet across where the earth was black.  This was where a pile of wood was turned into charcoal through a controlled smoldering process, I believe.  I saw other places on the old trail that I think were also places where charcoal had been made one hundred years ago or more.


3.  I was still on the old trail when I got to a lookout point on bare rock.  I noticed this snake which was about a foot long.  With the help of a person on iNaturalist.org, I learned that this snake was a Red-bellied Snake (Storeria occipitomaculata).  It seems that, if I had turned the snake over, I would have seen a red belly.



3.




3.  There I was, standing with the view behind me.




4.  Here, I was where the new section began as one hikes northerly.  "NOBO" means "northbound," I think.



5.  A representative view of the new section.  Many huckleberry or blueberry bushes had been cut to make the new trail, as well as small trees and mountain laurel plants.  When I went through, there were still many "trip stumps" ---- stumps about four inches high and an inch in diameter that are very easy to trip on.




6.  At a ford on the new trail.



7.  No picture.  The northern end of the new section of trail where there was another sign like the sign at 4.


8.  On the way back, I noticed, by a "Schaghticoke Mtn. Campsites" sign, a blue-blazed trail that branched off to the south and crossed the stream.



9.  At the southern end of the blue-blazed trail.  The blue-blazed trail passed four numbered campsites, all just bare earth with no fire pits ---- signs said all fire had to be contained in stoves.  There was a "wash pit" and a metal box for storing food in a way that protected the food from bears.



6.  On the way back, I noticed a waterfall, mostly obscured by trees.



5.  On the way back, I took a picture of this blackened tree shard on the new section.



10.  Also on the way back, I took a picture of these rocks on the new section.



11.  On the way out, I noticed this plant.  One the way back, I decided to take a picture so that I could add the picture to my collection of pictures of plants that look like poison ivy but are not poison ivy.  I think this was some species of ticktrefoil.



12.  I am not sure if this was the same species as the plant at 11, but I don't think it was poison ivy, although it looked a lot like poison ivy.
















David Reik

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