Hand Hollow State Forest(New Lebanon, Columbia County)

Did a little exploring at Hand Hollow State Forest in the Columbia County woods after work this afternoon.  The State Forest, located in the town of New Lebanon, consists of 518 acres and is split north and south by County Route 34.  A marked trail to a 10 acre pond can be found crossing the road and heading south, while there are no marked or maintained trails to the north.  My ambition today was to bushwhack around the northern part of the State Forest, checking out the woods and hitting a pair of small unnamed peaks.  Although the skies were blue, there was a definite bite in the air, with wind chills hovering around 0 as I set out from the marked parking area along County Route 34(elevation 870 feet).

From the parking area, I quickly picked up an informal hunters path that crosses the meadow and then entered a dark, hemlock forest.  There was a remarkable amount of blue, pink and red paint on many trees throughout these woods.  Not sure of any specific meaning but it was literally everywhere.

Most of this land was farmed a century ago, so it was no surprise that I crossed over an old stone wall, as well as spotting several others along the way.  Only about 2 or 3 inches of crusty snow covered the ground making for pretty nice bare boot hiking.

The public land forced me in a general NE direction, slowly gaining elevation and crossing over a tiny drainage stream in between ridges.

The woods were remarkably open as I continued meandering my way NE, when suddenly I came across a very intact woods road as well as an.....abandoned car?

Sure enough, it was a Subaru hatchback that someone had apparently gotten stuck.  This was a first for me..finding an abandoned car in the middle of the woods.  These are the reasons I love to explore.

Beyond the car, I followed the woods road for a short distance NE before leaving it for yet another, lesser woods road, which headed due north before eventually disappearing. From that point, I simply continued heading north, bushwhacking right up the steepest slopes I saw all day.

On my way up, there were a ton of coyote and deer tracks in the snow.  It's always so fascinating to see the footprints and animal activity in the winter woods.  The climb was fairly straightforward and uneventful, as I soon arrived at the wooded 1364 foot peak.  This would mark the highest spot I hit all day. 

Again, private land forced me in a direction I didn't necessarily want to go, heading south off the summit and momentarily leaving the main ridge.  As soon as I saw the state land open back up I headed east up the slopes of the next ridge.  Once up high, I cheated to the steeper north slopes in hopes of a possible view. 

Unfortunately, the trees blocked any substantial views, but there were nice filtered views all around.

Approaching the next high spot on the ridge as well as my next destination.

Bon apetit?

Just below the summit, I hit another remarkably well preserved stone wall.

There were a couple of similar looking high spots but this appeared to be the true 1348 foot summit, which was completely wooded.

I took my time on the return hike heading basically west towards the setting sun, soaking in the solitude.  A sliver of the late afternoon sun poking through the trees and splashing light on a tributary of Hollow Brook was the highlight of the day for me.  

Hiked about 4 miles total with over 900 feet of combined ascent.  Today's rough route below.