Taghkanic Lake State Park(Columbia County, NY)

With potential severe weather north of Albany in the forecast, I decided to head south after work this afternoon to visit the 1569 acre Taghkanic Lake State Park located in southern Columbia County and just east off the Taconic State Parkway.  I had previously been here many years ago on a very cold winter day, so suffice to say I was happy to arrive today with temperatures soaring through the mid to upper 70's!!  I parked near the public beach along the west side of the lake(elevation 650 feet) and headed south on the white blazed Lake View Trail, passing by the rental cabins , enjoying great lake views nearly the entire way.

At the very south end of the lake there is a large flooded area that pushes the trail out to a rough dirt road.  Even here the scenery is quite nice.

Once back in the woods, I decided to leave the trail altogether and dive into the woods, bushwhacking east towards a small unnamed peak which is also the high point in the park.  The woods were wide open and nearly 100% deciduous making for very easy going.

Near the 935 foot summit, I spotted a very well built stone wall on a steep slope almost at the very south edge of public land. 

As mentioned, the woods were very open and easy to navigate....a bushwhacker's paradise!  Arriving at the open area atop the peak, elevation 935 feet.

I wandered around the summit area in search of views and found one small view to the east.

After enjoying the summit, I continued my bushwhack NW towards another peak, just slightly lower but still on state land.  A slight descent and re-climb soon found me atop this wooded 885 foot peak.

Just below this summit, on the northwest facing slopes above the lake, I found some nice ledges with screened views over the water and towards the distant Catskills on the horizon.  The wind was really picking up now, gusting quite strongly.

A short but steep drop brought me back down to the familiar white blazes of the Lake View Trail.  To the north I could now see the main park offices and public beach across the choppy waters.

I followed the Lake View Trail east, basically hugging the south shore of the lake, only leaving it for a few minutes to check out the orange blazes of the Winter Trail.  Back down on the white trail, crossing over a small stream near the SE end of the lake.

 

I decided to check out a couple of the trails on the east side of the lake, but there wasn't anything too much to see so I headed back down towards the Lake View Trail.

The trail along the east side of the lake skirts a very large wetland, accompanied by a symphony of spring peepers.

Once on the north end of the lake, I basically headed back west towards the car, hugging the shore again.  Although the temperature was still quite warm, a stiff wind kept me moving.

Hiked about 6.3 miles total, with 1200 feet of combined ascent.  I had a really great day, but unfortunately did have to pick several ticks off of me.  I guess it can't be all good!

Today's route below.   Red=Trail     Blue=Bushwhack