Sugar Hill LbNA #2443
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Add Location| Owner: | Cock o' the Trail  |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | May 1, 2001 |
| Location: | Sugar Hill Recreation Area |
| City: | Watkins Glen |
| County: | Schuyler |
| State: | New York |
| Boxes: | 1 |
| Found by: | Zatarra83 |
|---|---|
| Last found: | Sep 2, 2017 |
| Status: | FFFFFFFaFFFOFFFF |
| Last edited: | May 1, 2001 |
(Originally placed May 1, 2001; replaced after vandalism, Sept. 2006; replaced a second time, again in a new spot, July 2010. Verified in place, May 2014))
State Forests crown many of the glaciated hills in the southern Finger Lakes. Sugar Hill, located about seven miles west of Watkins Glen, and giving rise to the Glen Creek that carved the famous gorge there, is among the highest at 2,100 ft. The Sugar Hill Recreation Area includes a no-fee campground, now with modern cold-water restrooms , field archery courses, the extensive Six Nations horse-trails and several lean-tos located on or handy to the Finger Lakes Trail. Snow-mobiling and XC-skiing take advantage of the greater depth and longer duration of snow cover at high elevation.
A century and more ago maple sugar vied with cane as the sweetener of choice because of greater availability to pioneering families. Many came here in season to set up camp and tap the native sugar maples on hilltops that had largely remained wooded; the valleys had been cleard for farming.
The Recreation Area is maintained by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (Region 7, Bath, NY) and administered and policed by a local forest ranger. Area rules are posted in a new kiosk, and the fire tower can be climbed to, but not into, the summit cabin for a fine view above the trees of the south-central Finger Lakes. The gate controlling access to the summit and campground is usually closed from December through April but it’s only a ¼-mile walk. Camping is on a no-fee basis, but there are limits to duration and group-size. There have occasionally been large groups there for special field archery or horseback-riding events.
DIRECTIONS TO SHRA:
At the junction of NY 14 and NY 414 in the village of Watkins Glen, proceed west on NY 409, turning up the hill at Milliken’s Corners (of racing fame) for a half-mile before bearing off to the right on CR 28. A mile farther, take the left fork - CR 23. Continuing over the tracks and uphill until 6.5 miles from the village intersection, you’ll find a sign for the Sugar Hill Recreation Area at CR 21. Turn left (south) for one mile on CR 21 and then west again at another sign on Tower Hill Road (gravel) to the top of the hill.
For an approach from the west, though less direct, the same CR 23 intersects NY 226 four miles farther west at Tyrone and continues on over hill and dale and between two little lakes toward Hammondsport and Bath. This is the western continuation of the historic Catskill Turnpike that provided an alternative route to western New York south of the Finger Lakes, when the region was settled after the Revolutionary War.
And finally, the clues:
Having gained the top of the hill near the fire-tower, go first to the kiosk to read the Recreation Area rules and take in the handsome map of the Six Nations Horse Trails. It also includes the route of the Finger Lakes Trail, traced in white on the map; in the woods it’s marked with white blazes. Please register your visit.
Looking off beyond the fire tower, find the boulder with plaque giving tribute to Charles O. Harkness, Forest Ranger "for his efforts in the establishment and development of the Sugar Hill Recreation Area". Good for you, Charlie! Note that the face of the boulder nearly lines up with the left rear corner of a nearby cabin @ ~50 degrees. What you are looking for sits underneath, atop that concrete foundation post. Before you go there, look around to see who might be watching!
(This was the first letterbox placed by 'Cock o’ the Trail', and the first in Schuyler County.)
State Forests crown many of the glaciated hills in the southern Finger Lakes. Sugar Hill, located about seven miles west of Watkins Glen, and giving rise to the Glen Creek that carved the famous gorge there, is among the highest at 2,100 ft. The Sugar Hill Recreation Area includes a no-fee campground, now with modern cold-water restrooms , field archery courses, the extensive Six Nations horse-trails and several lean-tos located on or handy to the Finger Lakes Trail. Snow-mobiling and XC-skiing take advantage of the greater depth and longer duration of snow cover at high elevation.
A century and more ago maple sugar vied with cane as the sweetener of choice because of greater availability to pioneering families. Many came here in season to set up camp and tap the native sugar maples on hilltops that had largely remained wooded; the valleys had been cleard for farming.
The Recreation Area is maintained by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (Region 7, Bath, NY) and administered and policed by a local forest ranger. Area rules are posted in a new kiosk, and the fire tower can be climbed to, but not into, the summit cabin for a fine view above the trees of the south-central Finger Lakes. The gate controlling access to the summit and campground is usually closed from December through April but it’s only a ¼-mile walk. Camping is on a no-fee basis, but there are limits to duration and group-size. There have occasionally been large groups there for special field archery or horseback-riding events.
DIRECTIONS TO SHRA:
At the junction of NY 14 and NY 414 in the village of Watkins Glen, proceed west on NY 409, turning up the hill at Milliken’s Corners (of racing fame) for a half-mile before bearing off to the right on CR 28. A mile farther, take the left fork - CR 23. Continuing over the tracks and uphill until 6.5 miles from the village intersection, you’ll find a sign for the Sugar Hill Recreation Area at CR 21. Turn left (south) for one mile on CR 21 and then west again at another sign on Tower Hill Road (gravel) to the top of the hill.
For an approach from the west, though less direct, the same CR 23 intersects NY 226 four miles farther west at Tyrone and continues on over hill and dale and between two little lakes toward Hammondsport and Bath. This is the western continuation of the historic Catskill Turnpike that provided an alternative route to western New York south of the Finger Lakes, when the region was settled after the Revolutionary War.
And finally, the clues:
Having gained the top of the hill near the fire-tower, go first to the kiosk to read the Recreation Area rules and take in the handsome map of the Six Nations Horse Trails. It also includes the route of the Finger Lakes Trail, traced in white on the map; in the woods it’s marked with white blazes. Please register your visit.
Looking off beyond the fire tower, find the boulder with plaque giving tribute to Charles O. Harkness, Forest Ranger "for his efforts in the establishment and development of the Sugar Hill Recreation Area". Good for you, Charlie! Note that the face of the boulder nearly lines up with the left rear corner of a nearby cabin @ ~50 degrees. What you are looking for sits underneath, atop that concrete foundation post. Before you go there, look around to see who might be watching!
(This was the first letterbox placed by 'Cock o’ the Trail', and the first in Schuyler County.)