2024-06-02: Petersburg Mountain

North Petersburg Mountain, elevation 2300'. Cobleskill town highpoint; Schoharie County town highpoints 8/16. 0.5 mi, 87' gain, 13m round-trip. 

Following an ascent of Blenheim Hill the previous week, I headed out after church to bag two more town highpoints in Schoharie County. The first, and nearest, was the town of Cobleskill. While Petersburg Mountain itself is located in neighboring Fulton, a spot just to the north along the town line is the highest point in Cobleskill.

Tower Road that goes nearly to the summit of Petersburg Mountain, where a communication tower is located. I had been up here several times before; in fact, my first time driving as a teenager was on Tower Road. It's a fairly remote area in the aptly-named Petersburg State Forest, and people often camp in the woods near the summit.

The cell tower at the summit of Petersburg Mountain.

This time, however, I was going a bit farther than the dirt parking area. I bypassed the tower and headed into the woods behind it. The true summit of Petersburg Mountain is back here, a few feet higher than the tower itself. The forest is very open, with tall grass covering the forest floor, something that's rare in the Catskills but more common in Schoharie County.

Open, grassy forest near the summit of Petersburg Mountain.

This was probably the first time I had stood on the 'true' summit of Petersburg, but that wasn't my goal today. I kept walking past the summit, leaving the herdpaths and heading generally northward. The terrain past the summit is fairly gradual, although it steepens as you approach the town line.

Ferns and young saplings past the summit.

The town line isn't marked, so I had to use my phone to figure out exactly where the town highpoint was. However, the forest transitions abruptly from mixed hardwoods to mostly hemlock at the border, suggesting that logging activity in the past followed the municipal boundary.

The highest point in the town of Cobleskill.

Farther into Cobleskill, I spotted another communications tower, so naturally I continued downhill to check it out. This one is taller than the one on Petersburg's summit, but with a lot less ground infrastructure. It looks like an access road heads up from the Cobleskill side of the mountain to this tower.

Looking up the Cobleskill tower.

I hiked back up to the summit of Petersburg Mountain, lingering awhile in the pleasant grassy forest. There were a number of old campfires here, and it really does look like a lovely place to spend a weekend. Eventually, I left the woods and headed back to my car with another town highpoint on my agenda for the afternoon.