Chenango County High Point Trip Report

Date: May 2001
Author: Dan Case

two areas 1 3/4 mile west of East Afton (2,040 ft)

From the BM Slawson area in Broome County, I went back to Perry Road and found Miller Road running north between two farms. This climbs and then crosses into Chenango County (the signs marking the Sanford-Afton town line) and then descends gently, crosses a brook and ends at Hunt Road. Turn right, and continue along this sometimes pitted (but always quite passable) dirt road for a couple of miles as it climbs, starts passing chunks of Melondy Hill State Forest on the left side, and finally reaches the bend at a posted.

Instead of following the woods road along the old stone wall between the state forest and the adjoining private land, I just bulled my way toward the highest ground I could see, through this fairly thick beech grove over what was so obviously pasture land less than a century ago.

The two bumps are actually some distance from this road. The beech does not make visibility easy, but you can see where the ground goes up, and eventually the woods opened up more as a small sharp outcrop presented itself, with the Catskill shale again showing.

I think this first rise is the southerly of the two areas. It's not the higher by a long shot, but you could see how it would breach the 2,040'line. It gives you a connecting ridge, of sorts, to walk on without being troubled by the sometimes bamboo-like beech as you make your way to the higher ground to the northwest. Upon reaching the top of this level bump, it took some searching to find the highest ground near some oak trees. This bump really lifts up, and might even approach 2,060'. It's my favorite for true highpoint.

To the northeast, I spied a stone wall. Hmm, could this be the one along the eastern property line from the way in? I began following it back. The wall isn't always there, but roughly approximating the line took me to an area aside a Norway spruce grove, an obvious state effort at reforestation. And that in turn led to the fence coming back, signs of an old road along it getting overgrown, and finally a property corner, seconded by the fences. This turn led back out to the way I came in, and suggests a somewhat easier, if less intuitive, way to the HP if you reverse it.

one area 1/4 mile west of East Afton (2,040+ ft)

This is the one behind the house with the pond just off East Afton Road, the best road in the area. The landowner didn't appear to be home, I was running a little low on time and it didn't look to me like it could be as high as the other bump, so I will probably get around to it again at some point in the future, but I'm not in a rush.