2024-01-05: Tabor Hill

Tabor Hill, elevation 1522'. Knox town highpoint, Albany County municipal highpoints 6/13. Solo winter ascent from Tabor Road. 0.73 mi, 92' gain, 11m RT.

I was working over interterm on bagging town highpoints in upstate New York. Last summer, I finished the town highpoints in Greene County, and I had been working my way through neighboring Schoharie and Albany counties afterwards. In the course of my research, I had determined that many of the Schoharie town highpoints were located down dirt roads in remote areas, making access difficult in the winter without snow tires. Therefore, I shifted my focus to Albany County, whose higher population density made access easier.

On one cloudy afternoon, I headed out to bag three highpoints in the northwestern part of the county. The first of the three stops was the highest point in Knox, informally called Tabor Hill. Tabor Hill is located just southeast of Tabor Road in the south-central part of the town in a field behind a barn. There are three areas in the field that are above the 1520' elevation contour on USGS topographic maps, so I planned to hit all three.

Satellite and topographic maps of my route.

I parked northeast of the summit at the intersection of Tabor and Pleasant Valley roads, where a gas utility offered a convenient parking area. This hike crosses private land and is very open to the road, so I hurried up to the summit to avoid being spotted, cutting through some brambles on the way. (I later learned that public snowmobile routes cut through the field almost straight to the highpoint, making my fear somewhat irrational).

I stopped at the westernmost point, which is the largest of the three candidate areas and had the highest elevation reading in ArcGIS data. This spot certainly feels like the highpoint, but it's quite nearly level with the central spot to the southeast. Surprisingly, Tabor Hill supports some beautiful views, looking down on rural land to the west over the farm and out to the hilly Helderbergs to the east. I imagine nice weather or a summer ascent would make the area even more scenic.

Looking northwest over the towns of Knox and Wright.

Hills in Schoharie County to the southwest rise over the farm at the base of Tabor Hill.

After a moment at the summit, I walked over to bag the other two points. The central/southern candidate seemed roughly equal to the western candidate, maybe slightly lower. The eastern candidate, which lays directly on the snowmobile route, seems notably lower than the other two. This is located closer to some forest and brush, somewhat limiting the eastward views.

Looking southeast over the forests into the Helderbergs. Peaks of the Blackhead Range, some 25 mi south in the Catskills, peek over the limb at left.

Looking down across the first field. The utility where I parked is at right.

I followed the snowmobile trail along the treeline until I was parallel to the utility, at which point I left the trail and jogged through the field back to the car. After briefly getting turned around, I was soon on my way to my next destination: the Guilderland highpoint.