Report by Tracy Verma. On Tuesday, December 28, at Texas Schoolhouse State Forest on Jones Road near New Lisbon, 14 ADK hikers joined on this remote hike of about 2 miles on rough terrain. There had been some freezing rain over about 1/2 inch of fresh snow the night before, but the trail was safe for hiking. There were no incidents other than a few times that people’s waterproof boots broke a little ice into a wet puddle below on the ruts in the logging road trail. We hiked down to the beaver pond and inspected the sturdy dam that was quickly rebuilt by the clever furry engineers soon after the wash out last May. A second dam was in process before hibernation time, to be completed next spring. We could see remains of the old dam washed down stream as we continued hiking on the trail.
The sun was kind enough to shine on us for a few moments during this cloudy, dreary-looking day.
For those that saw the Art On The Trail exhibit sponsored by the Butternut Valley Alliance last June, our memories were full of exquisite art that had lined the return loop of our trail.
After we all made it back to the parking lot, 3 of us explored the hike across the road, adding another 2 miles to our trek. It’s a worthy hike for anyone who’s curious. This trail was marked on the map at the beginning of the other hike that we had just completed. It dead ends, so retracing our steps back to the starting point we could see a different perspective on the views.
Photos by Tom Austin, Jendy Murphy and Tracy Verma.
Susquehanna Chapter 