Brace Mountain, NY - 8/22/2004

Date(s) Hiked: Sunday, 8/22/2004

Trails(s) Hiked: Unknown - "Red Gate Trail" off Mount Washington Road; South Taconic Trail

Total Distance: ~4 miles. Up and Back.

Difficulty: Easy, but WET!

Conditions: Clear and Sunny. Trails extremely wet.

Special Required Equipment: A good attitude to enjoy the hike despite wet feet.

Trip Report: Plan was to hit Brace Mountain in New York today. On the way up the Mount Washington Road, we saw a black bear! We estimated it at about 275 lbs and 3+ feet at the shoulder. Once I saw him, I stopped quickly to grab my camera. My brother David took a quite shot of it when we caught up with it. It then headed off into the woods. First bear sighting for me and Erica, my ten year old niece.

Excited by our sighting, we left the trailhead at around 9:15 AM. Not sure of the exact trail name, but it is sometimes known as the "red gate trail". According to Topozone, it's the trailhead at 593.4' and begins SSW of Gridley Mountain off the Mountain Washington Road. Connecticut received a lot of rain Friday and Saturday and the remnants were still very obvious along the trail to Brace. There were two instances where we needed to head off trail to get around large bodies of pooling water. Much of the trail was a shallow stream and we quickly accepted the fact that our feet would be wet. My daughter happily hummed along high and dry in the Kelty Pack.

At around 10:40 AM, the two Daddy/Daughter teams reached the summit of Brace Mountain in New York (trailhead is in Connecticut). We took in the views and enjoyed some snacks. We also had a nice conversation with a fellow named Kevin from Saugerties. We then descended down a somewhat "drier" trail. Not really dry, but some of the water receeded.

All in all a great hike and great weather. I was very impressed by my niece's perseverence, despite the trail conditions.

Images to follow...

uphillklimber said:

One question: Do you use poles for the downhill with the weight of a child on your back? Why or why not?

Click to expand...

Nope. I don't use poles while hiking at all. The weight of the Kelty Pack with her in it is probably 30-35 punds so it's less than my typical overnight pack weight. I may try poles someday for descent, but I just haven't gotten around to it...

Okay. HERE are this pics. Some of the quality is not great. I had the wrong ISO setting on the camera. I wish we were able to get a better pic of the bear...

Greg - How do you find this one on Mt. Washington Rd? After doing Alander on Saturday, we drove the rest of the way down Mt. Washington Rd heading back toward Salisbury (the first time, we went up Undermountain Rd and over around Catamount). I saw there were a lot of turn offs on that dirt portion of the road, but not really any signs (other than no parking after 8PM and no camping). We wanted to try Frissell sometime, and it looks like that comes off of Mt. Washington Rd, too, but where?

Brace Mountain

Hello,
My family and I hike brace many times each year. If you are traveling
north on the Mount Washington Road (which is called "East Street" on
the map), from Salisbury You will come to a lake with a damn. I think it is
Riga Lake. From there go another 1 to 2 miles and you wll see a large
metal gate across a trail with a small parking area on the left of the road.
Park and walk around the gate. The land is owned by a lumber company
and they don't mind hiking. Because it is a private trail, there are no markers, but it is impossible to get lost. The trail is very wide all the way to Brace Mountain. Follow the trail about 45 minutes and you will come to the
South Taconic trail. "Marked with white markers".
http://www.thebackpacker.com/trails/ny/trail_816.php
Bang a left on the South Taconic Trail for about 5 minutes to reach the summit of Brace. Beautiful 360 degree views.
You can also reach Brace from Rte.22 in NY which is in the URL I have enclosed.
An excellent trail map can be purchased from the New Jersey Trail Conference, http://www.nynjtc.org/store/member/itm00023.htm ,
for about 4 bucks. ENJOY!