2023-12-31: Cannady Hill

Cannady Hill, elevation 2144'. Solo ascent via Long Path and bushwhack. 1.56 mi, 312' gain, 29m RT. Middleburgh town highpoint; Schoharie County town highpoints 6/16.

It was a snowy Sunday afternoon on the last day of the year, and I was spending my day grabbing Schoharie town highpoints after church. After completing a hike up Cotton Hill, my next goal was another highpoint, Cannady Hill. The public Long Path heads just to the south of the highpoint, but the summit itself is located behind a house some distance off the main road.

The drive from Cotton Hill to Cannady Hill was a little frustrating, as the peaks are quite close to each other, but the roads wind through mountain valleys, making it a much longer drive than would seem necessary, which in light snow was somewhat concerning. I was also a little concerned about parking, as satellite images didn't seem to show any parking area near my proposed trailhead on Cannady Hill Road. However, on arrival, I found that the road had wide enough shoulders to park on, so I pulled over and began my hike.

The trail starts in an easement through private land that runs mostly parallel to the house's driveway. Signs here warn hikers to stay on the trail under threat of video surveillance; these disappear after awhile. The trail winds through the edge of a field that on this particular day was swampy almost to the point of freezing, forcing me to walk around it through the field. At the end of the field, it starts climbing in elevation through the woods. There are two trails here which also run parallel and occasionally intersect, and in some areas they're surrounded by wide clearings.

The trail after it enters the woods, with the characteristic green Long Trail blaze.

One of the wide clearings along the trail after it enters the woods. I left the trail shortly after this clearing.

The trail soon came to a col between Cannady Hill and a smaller subpeak to the southwest, near a large clearing. Here, I left the trail to bushwhack northeast towards the summit. The forests here were mostly very open, and I was able to easily avoid any denser areas. I crossed two rock walls on the easy ascent and, just below the summit, I ran into a lawn chair and a great length of wide plastic tubing. The chair was presumably used for hunting; I can't imagine what the tube was for. Soon I was at the clear highest ground on the round peak, a forest of young trees not far from the backyard of the house.

Snowy hardwood trees at the summit.

I didn't hang out too long to celebrate before turning around and heading back to the trail. I did this largely without the GPS, as the bushwhack was very straightforward, and soon I emerged back in the clearing. This time, I took the second of the two parallel trails back down to the trailhead. The snow stopped sometime on my descent, leaving the sky a dull grey.

Descending via the wider trail, designed for snowmobiles. Note the muddy ruts in the trail, indicative of general trail conditions here.

Soon I was back at the car, and thankfully the falling snow hadn't covered the shoulder enough to get me stuck. I was cold and felt thoroughly accomplished, but I had one more highpoint that I wanted to bag before heading home for the day.