Took advantage of the brilliant, cool, fall like conditions by heading up into the Albany County hilltowns to explore 356 acre Switzkill Farm located at 165 Game Farm Road in the town of Berne. I was pleasantly surprised to only see one other car there when I arrived for my post work, late afternoon stroll. First ventured onto the trails on the east side of the farm, passing by a pretty little pond sitting in a large, sprawling meadow.
Beyond the meadow, I dropped steeply down an unmarked path to a breathtaking beaver pond which completely took me my surprise. What an amazing little spot.
Days like these are really hard to beat. Barely a cloud in the sky along with a comfortable but crisp bite to the air. What a GREAT day to be outside!
I soon picked up a blue blazed trail, which at first was in pretty rough condition(quite overgrown in spots) but became very clear within just a couple minutes. This trail drops down a dark, hemlock covered hillside to a dried up tributary of the Switzkill Creek. Although barely a drop in the creek now, this small stream has several pretty cascades in wetter times of the year.
A steep climb brought me back up out of the small gorge, where I decided to leave the marked trail and head into the open fields. I headed back north through the fields back towards the first pond I had passed just a little earlier. From this vantage point, on the opposite shore, I caught a nice, colorful glimpse across a large area of goldenrod towards some early fall foliage.
You know it's a nice day, when even the road walk section of the hike is gorgeous.
I stuck to the perimeter, heading west, first on a pleasant farm road before becoming a foot trail. This section of trail enters the woods heading north, following the edge of a steep drop off to the west. The pleasant, grass covered hillside is really a joy to hike through.
From a small clearing just yards off the trail, I enjoyed a small view south towards the hills of the Partridge Run WMA on the near vertical slopes. The deep cut in the center of the ridge is a spot known as The Gulf, while the road that's visible climbing up is Ravine Road.
As the trail turns back east, it becomes much more shaded, passing by remnants of old stone walls.
On the trail map, a yellow marked trail appears to head south, but I couldn't find any blazes, so I followed an unmarked(?) trail toward yet another small, but pretty pond.
I left the pond and wandered south through the wide open fields towards a nice south facing vista. In the distance, beyond the nearby hillsides, the Catskills can be seen impressively rising up.
Crossing back over the fields heading north, I picked up the red blazed trail once again, which circles around the East Hill summit through more picturesque woods.
The true summit of East Hill sits just a short distance off the trail and can be reached quite easily on a wide old woods road. Unfortunately there isn't much to see at the 1610 foot summit, which is actually the site of a shale pit.
Just east of the summit is a beautiful stretch of stone wall, very well manicured, sitting atop a deep drop off.
A nice and easy descent past the Lodge brought me back down to my car for a total of just under 4 miles total, with over 600 feet of climbing. Remarkably I didn't see another soul the entire ttime on this gorgeous day.
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