Sullivan County High Point Trip Report
spot elevation 1/2 mile NE of Hodge Pond (3,118 ft)
Date: August 24, 2000
Author: Michael Schwartz
Supplement to Dan Case's very thorough trip report. The turn off NY 17 is to the north, and does go
through Parksville, but the sign on 17 shows Parksville to the south and Cooley to the north. Ignore the
sign and head north. After passing the fish hatchery, the left fork onto Beech Mountain Road is now
signed, and we did not see a sign for the Frick Pond trailhead. When we reached the barrier at the edge of
the Beech Mountain Nature Preserve, we would never have spotted the overgrown woods road mentioned
by Dan if we hadn't known to look for it. In summer, the first few feet off the main road are so overgrown
as to make the woods road invisible. It soon opens up a bit and never gets worse than heavily fern
covered. We then followed Dan's route to the summit (no views now), and found the clump of dirt at the
long-fallen tree. I placed a foot-wide flat rock in the crook of the fallen tree and scratched a cross into the
upper surface. It should stay there for awhile, and I'm looking forward to a finder's report from someone.
Coming down, we wanted to avoid the steep downhill bushwhack, and so headed north on the uppermost
grassy path. This soon led to a lovely overlook and a perfect slab for sitting. There is an open view down
to Hodge Pond, and long vistas to the south and north, even in summer. The overlook is heavily posted
with danger signs, presumably to keep off-road vehicle riders of whatever stripe from riding off into
oblivion. From here we continued north on the grassy path, and soon picked up another obscure and
overgrown woods road heading downhill to the north. Hoping this was the trail shown on the topo that
hooks up with the road system NE of the pond, we followed it downhill, and it soon curved to the west. In
short order it intersected the road system, and we were able to take a slightly longer but much easier
descent back to the car. I would use this as an ascent route, but the woods road peters out about 100 feet
from the dirt road, and would be very difficult to spot from below without knowing its exact location. At
least is makes the descent easier.