Tramp & Trail

Leader: Meg Higgerson
Co-Leader: Grace McNasser
Write-up: Meg Higgerson

Whatever possessed them? Was it the moderate spring temperatures? The blue bird sky? Or the delicious odor of Grace’s biscotti and cookies that wafted over the Mohawk Valley the day before? Why did thirty-seven  Tramps come out for a hike that was 2 hours away and rated as “Difficult”?

After the surprise at the size of the group that met in Mapledale at 9:00, we regrouped at “Bills Bathroom” in Eagle Bay. We continued to the road for the Minnowbrook Conference Center. Fortunately, there were few other parties taking in Castle Rock this day so we had adequate parking for our 12 car caravan.

“Carry your own cookies” and we were off by 11 AM. The trail of over 4.5 miles to Sargent Pond was often hard to spot and all hikers were warned not to stray far from the trail. Up and down over rolling hills (some more rolling than others) and through some Adirondack mud, we kept a good pace in spite of the huge group.

What we soon learned was that if we stopped for any length of time, the black flies were horrendous! The goal was to reach the pond for lunch which we did after 2.5 hours.


Lunch was leisurely and enjoyable on the rocks by the shore or in the pond though we all had the thought of the return trek on our minds. We were all delighted to reach the parking area around 4:30 with 9.5 miles under our boots, tired but glad to have enjoyed the marvels of Mother Nature and the beautiful day with friends.

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