28. South Mountain Road in Conesville, Schoharie County to West Conesville

Section 28: South Mountain Road in Conesville, Schoharie County to West Conesville

Quick Facts

Distance: 8.5 miles
Parks: NYC DEP Watershed land
Maps: Interactive Map
Print-Friendly Version: Link

General Description

This section of the Long Path is a mixture of pleasant woods walks and scenic road walks. The Long Path follows South Mountain Road, which has outstanding scenery, for about 3 miles. The trail then passes near Sicklers Mountain on private land, and reaches the ravine of the Manor Kill just before the section ends, providing great views of the Manor Kill and Manor Kill Falls.

Access

Take the New York State Thruway to Exit 21 (Catskill). Continue west on NY Route 23 for about 8 miles. Keep right on NY Route 145 and continue about 11 miles, then keep left onto Greene County Route 22. Continue straight onto Greene County Route 20 for about 4 miles. The road changes into Durham Road when it enters Schoharie County. In another 2 miles turn left onto Toles Hollow Road, then turn right onto South Mountain Road. In less than 2 miles the Long Path will come in from a forest road on the left, across from Cook Road on the right. 

Parking

0.00  A few cars can be parked near the corner of South Mountain Road and the forest road. (42.37356°, -74.31530°)
3.80  There is parking in Conesville. (unlocated)
7.00  Pangman Road (formerly Pangburn Road) (limited parking). (42.36942°, -74.41737°)
8.50  NY Route 990V and Prattsville Road (Schoharie County Route 39). (42.38064°, -74.43084°

Camping

Camping is available to backpackers in the reforestation areas near the start of this section. You may camp anywhere in the reforestation areas, as long as you stay 150 feet away from the trail and from water.

Trail Description

0.00  Turn left (west) on South Mountain Road. The next several miles will be roadwalking, but the scenery is outstanding.

3.05  Turn left on Potter Mountain Road (formerly Schoharie County Road 3).

3.80  Turn left onto Champlin Road in the hamlet of Conesville.

4.45  Turn right into the woods. For the next few miles the trail follows mostly old woods roads, and passes north of Sicklers Mountain. The trail is on private land here. Please respect the property, and sign the log book at the start of the trail.

The trail is closed from mile 4.45 to mile 7.15 during hunting season (October 1 to December 15), and you'll have to continue on Route 990V in the hamlet of Conesville.

woods in Schoharie County

Woods on the foot of Sicklers Mountain. 2010 [JAKOB FRANKE]

6.65  The Long Path turns sharply right on a woods road, then turns sharply left off the woods road.

6.85  The trail crosses hoses for the collection of maple sap, and an old barbed wire fence.

6.90  Turn sharply left onto an old overgrown woods road. To the right are views of the valley of the Manor Kill and the mountains north of it.

7.00  Turn left off the road. The trail goes slightly uphill, and follows to the right of a stone wall with barbed wire on top, and DEP signs.

7.15  The trail pases by a few old antennas and reaches Pangman Road, which is a gravel road. The Long Path turns left on Pangman Road, and in 100 ft turns right into the woods again.

7.35  An unmarked trail joins from the right.

7.65  There are views of the valley and mountains to the right. The trail follows an old chainlink and barbed wire fence on the right.

7.75  Turn right across the fence. There now is a barbed-wire fence on the left. The trail crosses a seasonal stream, turns left, then turns right, still following a barbed-wire fence. There are views to the right.

7.85  Turn left again, still following a barbed-wire fence.

8.05  The trail approaches a paved road, but turns right before it gets there, and continues over a small hill.

8.15  The ravine of the Manor Kill is to the right, the road to the left. The trail continues over another small hill.

8.25  Great viewpoint over the Manor Kill ravine and beyond.

8.35  The trail turns left and follows a woods road.

8.40  About 50 feet to the right is a good vantage point to admire the Manor Kill Falls.

8.50  The trail reaches Prattsville Road (Schoharie County Route 39), after turning left around a chain-link fence. To the right is the bridge across the Manor Kill, and the junction with Route 990V.

Manor Kill Falls

Manor Kill Falls. 2010 [JAKOB FRANKE]

 

Previous Section: Section 27
Next Section: Section 29

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Gedalyamil's picture

I did something different today. Rather than use a 2 car shuttle, I walked back to my car at the end of the hike via Route 3 and South Mountain Road. Together, it made for a full 16 mile day. Alternatively, I think todays hike could have easily been combined with Stage 27, but I didn't plan enough in advance. Besides, there is a certain purity in doing one Stage per day, no more and no less. Overall, today's section was excellent! The blazes were very easy to follow. I should also note that based on my GPS app, the Catskill Trail Map 141 and its indicated LP red line were accurate even where the LP left the 'vetted' part of the map, approximately midway thru today's hike. The combined South Mountain, Potter, and Champlin road walk today was safe and pleasant, if not magnificent, and the final 4 miles of the hike in the coniferous forest were a joy. I particularly liked the crunch of trodding on the ubiquitous pine cones. There were some perfectly bucolic views from the forest within the last 1.5 miles of the hike and Manor Kill Ravine and Falls were fabulous as were the surrounding sandy cliffs and the brief ridge-walk. Manor Kill is one of the most impressive waterfalls on the LP!! I also enjoyed my first view of Schoharie Reservoir. And then there were four: Neversink, Rondout, Ashokan, and Schoharie make up the Grand Slam of Catskill Reservoirs that supply NYC's drinking water. Actually, I just saw on Wikipedia that there are 19 reservoirs that keep NYC residents hydrated, but these 4 seem to be the most important. Speaking of drinking, I uncovered an interesting sociological finding on my trek back to my car today. In reality, I discovered this on the brief road-walk on Stage 20 in Phoenicia, but I confirmed it today. There are many discarded beverage cans and bottles on the sides of the country roads and they are overwhelmingly from alcoholic beverages. The ratio of alcohol to soft drink is ~30:1 based on my survey from road-walking in Conesville and Phoenicia. I think what's happening is that people are drinking while driving and then tossing the evidence out the window. There would be no need to similarly discard one's Coke or Pepsi from a vehicle. This lends evidence to my theory that drinking is bad for the environment. Now, if discarded cans of Bud only caused "climate change" (#fake), then perhaps people would listen.
bvirol's picture

Hi, I'm walking the Long Path north and am almost at the point north of Rt. 10 near Conesville where there is a note on the NY-NY Trail Conference map that reads, "Work to reroute the Long Path over Huntersfield Mountain and off 4.5 miles of roadwalk is ongoing. Contact the Traii Conference for more details." Has that re-routing has been done and is there is a map of the new route? Really appreciate the work of the Trial Conference! Thanks, Phil
Daniel Chazin's picture

The Huntersfield Mountain reroute is not yet complete.  Both the Trail Conference map and the online Long Path Guide remain accurate.