Decided to pay a visit to the 802 acre Chestnut Woods State Forest, located along the New York State/ Vermont border in rural Washington County. I had heard of this place but couldn't find too much information on it, so figured I'd give it a look. There are no marked trails in the forest and it is well off the beaten path...a perfect recipe for solitude. I parked in the small pull off(beneath a state forest sign) on Chestnut Hill Road, elevation 875 feet. Just beyond a metal gate, I picked up a very good woods road heading east.
Passing beneath a gorgeous pine plantation. From here an informal path bypasses some blowdown before rejoining the woods road.
Near the border of private property, a pretty stream drains down along the woods road, compete with many tiny cascades.
The woods road continues onto private property, so I began to bushwhack straight up towards the ridge. The slopes were fairly steep but very open and easy to negotiate. The screened views were good, but the bugs were worse! Ugh!! Finally a nice day and the bugs were out in full force. This is a look directly west at the ridge across Chestnut Hill Road.
Temps in the 60's and full sun brought out the spring beauties .
A final steep push up towards the ridge, provided more filtered views of rolling farmland of White Creek and North Hoosic stretching to the south.
The first high point on the ridge, elevation 1640 feet was very open and pretty, with a carpet of green underfoot.
The state land heads north from the first summit bump, but does not stay on the ridge, instead dropping down to the steep east slopes just below the ridge. This was a bit frustrating but just as the state land began to open back up onto the ridge, a steep climb up brought me to this great view east over Shaftsbury Hollow. West Mountain and its multiple summits make up the ridge just beyond.
A zoom view towards Shaftsbury Hollow. This spot was literally right at the corner of state land and private land, and is clearly man made.
Continuing north up towards the next summit bump, elevation 1790 feet. The small grouping of rocks, barley noticeable in the photo, was indeed a feeble attempt at a rock cairn.
High up on the ridge, well above 1800 feet, a found a sturdy old stone wall. It always amazes me how past generations truly utilized all the land around them.
The woods were remarkably wide open and nearly 100 percent hardwoods.
After hitting the furthest bump north on state land(elevation 1950 feet), I began my descent with more screened views all around. Instead of bushwhacking back over all of the summit bumps on the ridge, I decided to descend west back towards the north parking area on a rough 4 wheel drive road.
Once back down low, an easy mile and a half road walk got me back to the car in no time. Hiked about 6 miles total for the day with 1600 feet of ascent.
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