We casually drove into Clarence Fahnestock's campground on a Saturday afternoon in May to find hoards of families barbecueing and partying it up with not a site to be had! We were pointed in the direction of Snow V
alley Campground up the road but it just...wasn't for us. So thank Apple for iphones we were able to find an open KOA about an hour north in the Woodstock, Sugarties area. I've stated my opinion about KOA's before but the Woodstock/Sugarties Campground was a breath of fresh air! The staff was great and we ended up in site T-8 which was as secluded as any state park site we've found. We set up camp and basked in the quiet as there were only a few large RV's down a few sites for company. I took a minute to snap some photos of the greenery while Charlie Dog chilled out by the fire pit.It was almost 90 degrees this weekend in the tri-state area so we decided to hang out and grab a beer before building the fire for dinner. (Beware that there's a new law in effect in New York State that states you can only build a campfire for cooking). We went with simple sausages and seasoned black beans for dinner and couldn't resist having at least one s'more. We've been buying precooked organic chicken sausage for camp meals which come in a large assortment of fillings/flavors.
We awoke early and brewed up some coffee while we cooked a woodsy Sunday brunch of organic turkey bacon and scrambled eggs served over fresh baked rye bread I found at a local grocery store on the way up. Breakfast tastes so much better outdoors especially when you're gearing up for a hike, so we were happy to eat our fill.
After packing up our one nighter campsite we headed back down to Clarence Fahnestock. There was a 6 Mile loop I had wanted to try for some time which I had grabbed off of trails.com back in the snowy months. We drove down to the trailhead on Route 301 and began our hike.
This is a pretty complex string of trails to follow and some parts are better marked than others, the NYNJ trail conference has an excellent description of the Charcoal Burners/Cabot/Perkins/Fahnestock Trail Loop here, and you should get a trail map from the Station, it's very easy to miss markers and we ended up doubling back a couple of times.
The first part of the trail is very slim and skirted on both sides by very heavy brush. After awhile it opens up into a beautiful open new growth forest.
But the best part of the trail was yet to come, it's over halfway through the hike, but the trail opens up into beautiful enormous green pastures with absolutely stunning views back toward Jordan pond. Complete with goat...yes...goats. Make sure you close all the gates behind you and pay attention to the yellow blazes here because the trail runs through private property here!
And watch out for the unmarked electric fence.
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