Hike the Little Pond Loop

Swamp just above Little Pond on the Little Pond Trail

OVERVIEW

Trail Name: Little Pond Campground Trail

Trail Name: Touch-Me-Not Trail

Trail Name: Little Pond Trail

Trail Name: Little Pond Nature Trail Loop

Forest: Delaware Wild Forest

Parking Area : 40 spaces in the Little Pond Campground (Southeast side)

Parking Area : 5 spaces in the Little Pond Campground (Northwest side)

Winter Access: Campground closed between May and October

Lean-to sites: none

Campsites : 75 campsites ($) in the NYS DEC Little Pond Campgrounds

Trail Length miles: 4.92 miles

Trail Tread Type : 79% single-track trails - 21% double-track trails

Hiking Time : 3-4 hours (total)

Lowest Elevation : 2,029' (A)

Highest Elevation : 2,998' (A)

Views Locations : Two (Beaverkill Lookout & Beaverkill Vista)

Trail Difficulty : Moderate

USGS Map: USGS Arena Quad Maps

USGS Map: USGS Lewbeach Quad Maps

DEC Trail Map: DEC Delaware Wild Forest Map (free)

Digital Mapper: Topo Terrain Satellite

Maps to Little Pond Loop

Notes About Hiking the Little Pond Loop

TRAIL

To hike the Little Pond Loop, you need to enter the Little Pond Campground. To hike for the day, you must pay a fee based upon the type of vehicle you arrive in. In 2023, motorcycles cost $4 per day, where cars were $8 per day. The prices are set each year, so visit the link at the bottom of the page for the current cost.

This hike can be done with just the loop. You hike up the Little Pond Campground Trail. Then west on the Touch-Me-No Trail, and then down Little Pond Trail. This particular listing includes a hike up to Cabot Mountain and the Beaverkill Lookout.

Beware that the Beaverkill Lookout is near the summit of Cabot Mountain on the Touch-Me-Not Trail. The Beaverkill Vista is on the Little Pond Trail near the old homestead. Similar names, with different locations and trails.

For the purpose of this page, we listed the loop in counter-clockwise direction. The climb up the Campground Trail is steep, where the Little Pond Trail is not nearly as steep. So, some hikers like to hike the loop in clockwise direction.

In September you need to be aware of yellow-jacket bees. They are most prevalent in September. The climb up Cabot Mountain often has yellow-jacket nest near or on the trail. Look for holes in the ground that are about 1" in diameter. Usually, you will see yellow-jackets near the hole. If you are near a nest hole, walk on the ground gently past them.

PARKING

There are basically two good places to park inside the Little Pond Campground:

Southeast Side The parking area is quite large, and very close to the Little Pond Campground Trail. It is often the preferred parking location. Enough parking for about 40 cars. Not available in the Winter.

Northwest Side - The parking area is small, but close to the Little Pond Trailhead. There is enough room to park 5 vehicles. Not available in the Winter

Barkaboom Road - Big Pond - There is enough room for 5 vehicles. This is a DEC parking area. The Barkaboom Road is maintained in the Winter. This parking options adds miles to your hike.

OTHER INFORMATION

WATER: Bring water with you for the entire hike.

There is limited cell phone service in some parts of the region (as of 2023).

DIRECTIONS to the Little Pond Campgrounds from Exit 19 (Kingston)

Big Pond Parking Area - WGS84 (DEC): 42.03776, -74.74394 - Elevation is approximately 2010 feet

Big Pond Parking Area - Deg/Min/Sec: N42 02 15, W74 44 38 - Elevation is approximately 2010 feet

Big Pond Parking Area - GPS: N 42 02.266, W 74 44.636 - Elevation is approximately 2010 feet

Big Pond Parking Area - UTM: 18N 521194 4654000 - Elevation is approximately 2010 feet

Get off New York State Thruway at Exit 19 (Kingston).

Take a RIGHT out of the NYS Thruway onto Route 28 West.

Go approximately 46.3 miles on Rt 28 West

Take a LEFT onto Route 30

Go approximately 8.2 miles on Rt 28 West

After crossing the bridge take LEFT onto BWS Road No 8

Go approximately 1.9 miles on BWS Road No 8

Take a RIGHT onto Barkaboom Road

Go approximately 6.1 miles on Barkaboom Road

Take a RIGHT onto Little Pond Road - Campgrounds

Go approximately 0.9 miles on Little Pond Road

After Campgrounds Ranger Station go 250 feet STRAIGHT for Southeast Parking Area

After Campgrounds Ranger Station turn LEFT - go 0.3 miles for Northwest Parking Area

MILEAGE CHART - for the Little Pond Loop

Mileage Mile Point Altitude Notes
0.00 0.00 2,029' Little Pond Campground Trailhead

0.83 0.83 2,804' Touch-Me-Not Mountain Summit

0.31 1.14 2,749' Trail Junction for Touch-Me-Not Trail

0.49 1.63 2,493' Trail Junction for Little Pond Trail

0.68 2.31 2,975' Beaverkill Lookout

0.13 2.44 2,995' Cabot Mountain Summit

0.13 2.57 2,975' Beaverkill Lookout

0.68 3.25 2,071' Little Pond Trail Junction

0.24 3.49 2,426' Beaverkill Vista - old Homestead

0.32 3.81 2,359' Spur Trail to Little Pond

0.37 4.18 2,137' Swamp

0.27 4.45 2,042' Little Pond Trailhead

0.47 4.92 2,029' Little Pond Nature Trail

Hiking the Little Pond Loop

This is the Little Pond Campground Parking Area on the Southeast side of the campground. It holds about 40 cars. To get to this parking area, just stay continue straight along the road after stopping at the Ranger Station at the entrance of the Little Pond Campground.

The Trailhead is behind the building, and to the right slightly. If you look carefully, you can see the Kiosk just right of the building. If you walk behind the building, the Trailhead is fairly obvious.

The is the Little Pond Campground Parking Area on the Northwest side of the campground. It holds about 5 cars. To get to this parking area, take a LEFT after stopping at the Ranger Station at the entrance of the Little Pond Campground.

To get to the Trailhead, walk past the barrier you see in the picture, towards where the picture was taken. Continue walking north around Little Pond about 750 feet. The Trailhead will be on the LEFT side of this path. This path around Little Pond is called the Little Pond Nature Trail.

This is the Trailhead behind the building on the SOUTHEAST side of Little Pond. Register for your hike, and then head up the trail just left of the Registration Box. It is important to register for your hike. (1) Money to maintain these trails depends upon the number of people hiking on the path; (2) If you go missing or someone is injured it helps NYS Rangers and Search-and-Rescue ("SAR") find and help you. Remember that there is limited cell phone reception on these trails.

This Trailhead is for the Little Pond Campground Trail. It has BLUE Trail Markers. In most cases, the trail is fairly easy to follow. Keep an eye out for the BLUE Trail Markers. They tell you that you are still on the trail, and where the trail continues.

The beginning of the Little Pond Campground Trail is fairly flat and east to follow.

In certain sections there will be an uphill incline as you approach the base of Touch-Me-Not Mountain.

There are some interesting sections to the trail to keep your interest. After this point you should start to approach the base of Touch-Me-Not Mountain.

Once you reach the base of Touch-Me-Not Mountain, the incline of the trail will become steeper. There will be about 500-600 feet of elevation to the top of Touch-Me-Not Mountain.

As you approach the summit region, you will climb up this nice rock cut. After this point, you will be approaching the summit of Touch-Me-Not Mountain. You will see the trail incline change to almost a level surface as you hike to the actually summit point.

This is the actual summit of the Touch-Me-Not Mountain. The actual summit of Touch-Me-Not Mountain is easy to miss. There are a number of places that are almost the same elevation. The actual summit is very close to the trail. The summit is a little less then 9/10 of a mile from Little Pond.

After you leave the summit of Touch-Me-Not Mountain, the Little Pond Campground Trail starts to descend in elevation. You will hike for another 3/10 of a mile to reach the Touch-Me-Not Trail.

This is the Trail Junction for the Touch-Me-Not Trail, and the end of the Little Pond Campground Trail. You want to take a LEFT to continue on the Loop. Right would take you down to Big Pond.

Look for RED Trail Markers as you continue west on the Touch-Me-Not Trail.

The trail will descend off the Touch-Me-Not Mountain into the col between Touch-Me-Not Mountain and Cabot Mountain.

This is the col between Touch-Me-Not Mountain and Cabot Mountain. It is fairly flat. You will also begin to notice some monster sized trees sprinkled throughout the Delaware Wild Forest. They are some of the gems of this forest.

After about a 1/2 mile from the Little Pond Campground Trail Junction, you will come to the Little Pond Trail Junction. For the purpose of this hike we will continue STRAIGHT to the summit of Cabot Mountain and Beaverkill Lookout. After visiting the Beaverkill Lookout and Cabot Mountain Summit, we will return back to this point. It is a little less then 9/10 of a mile (one-way), and 500 vertical feet of elevation climb, to Beaverkill Lookout and Cabot Mountain summit.

Left will take you back to the Little Pond Campgrounds via the Little Pond Trail. It is about 1-1/4 miles back to the northwest side of Little Pond.

The Touch-Me-Not Trail starts out with a small incline and fairly well developed trail

When you reach the base of Cabot Mountain, the incline will increase. The Touch-Me-Not Trail will zig-zag up the base of Cabot Mountain. So, you need to pay attention to the RED Trail Markers so that you do not hike off the trail.

Along the way you will hike through some of the fern glades that the Delaware Wild Forest is well known for.

Once you reach the Cabot Mountain summit region, the trail will flatten out. In the beginning you will follow the edge of this ledge towards Beaverkill Lookout. The trail is narrow and fairly easy to follow. If you have young children, keep them close to you.

This is the view from the Beaverkill Lookout. It is a little overgrown, but you still get a good view of Little Pond and the Beaverkill Valley.

After visiting the Beaverkill Lookout, the summit for Cabot Mountain is a short distance away, with very little elevation change.

This is the summit of Cabot Mountain. Where this unusual large tree grows is the highest spot on Cabot Mountain.

Once you get done here, turn around and return back down to the Trail Junction for the Little Pond Trail (About 8/10 of a mile).

After you pass the Beaverkill Lookout again, you will come to the edge of the Cabot Summit region. The trail will then start to descend the steep slope.

The Touch-Me-Not Trail descends down the eastern side of Cabot Mountain to the col at a steady decline.

After a little more then a 3/4 of a mile down from the summit of Cabot Mountain, you will come back to the Trail Junction for the Little Pond Trail. Take a RIGHT and start down the Little Pond Trail.

The beginning of the Little Pond Trail has a very mild decline.

More Fern Glades on the Little Pond Trail

After about a 1/4 mile from the trail junction with the Touch-Me-Not Trail, you will come to a field with a nice view. This view is called the Beaverkill Vista. This is the location where there was an old homestead. If you look on the right side of the trail, you can find the old foundation of the house. Close by is a muddy pond.

There are apple trees in the field. They are ripe in September. The deer get most of the apples close to the ground. The trees are quite old, so the apples do not taste as good as you would get in a grocery store.

This is the pond that provided water for the old homestead. It is located about 100 feet off the trail.

Once you leave the field, you will hike down the old Barnhart Road that provided access to the old homestead.

After about a 1/4 mile, the Little Pond Trail will turn left off the old Barnhart Road onto a spur trail to Little Pond.

NOTE: There is not a legal place to park on Barnhart Road.

The spur trail will run along a conifer forest for a ways.

About 4/10 of a mile after leaving the old Barnhart Road, you will encounter a swamp. The swamp is about a 1/4 mile north of Little Pond.

About a 1/4 mile below the swamp, the Little Pond Trail will come to the southerly Trailhead. The trail around Little Pond is called Little Pond Nature Trail Loop. It is marked with YELLOW Trail Markers. The Nature Trail is just shy of a mile long. From the Southern Trailhead of the Nature Trail is about a 1/2 mile from both directions to the Southeastern Parking Area.

If you parked in the large parking area that is located southeast of Little Pond, take a LEFT. The parking area is about 1/2 mile around Little Pond.

If you parked in the small parking area that is located northeast of Little Pond, take a RIGHT. The parking area is about 750 feet away.

This is the DEC sign at the Southern Trailhead of the Little Pond Trail.

This is the view of Little Pond from the northern end of the pond. Little Pond is 13 acres is size.

If you are parked in the southeastern parking area, you will cross over this wooden bridge, as well as another wooden bridge. As you hike around the Little Pond Nature Trail, you will have a view of the pond for most of the trip.

As you approach the southeastern parking area, you will encounter a couple small buildings. On the right you will see the beach for swimming. The Southeastern Parking Area is a short distance beyond these buildings. Hope you enjoyed this hike.

Links and References:

DEC Information on Little Pond Campgrounds

DEC Information on the Delaware Wild Forest

NY DEC map of the Delaware Wild Forest (free)

Little Pond Campgrounds

USGS Topo Map of the Arena Quad

USGS Topo Map of the Lewbeach Quad

S E C T I O N S

W E A T H E R

O T H E R