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Hiking the Touch-Me-Not trail |
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On the left is Cross Mountain Road, which turns into Alder Road after this point. On the right is the entrance to DEC Access Road that leads to Alder Lake. You can park on the right side of the entrance to Alder Lake. Make sure your car is off Cross Mountain Road.
Once you park your car, you should walk 100' feet down the Cross Mountain Road until you come to the 90 degree turn in the road. Then look for the "Alder Creek Road" street sign. The trailhead is about 5 feet to the left of the sign.
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The trailhead for the Touch-Me-Not Trail starts on the left side of the Alder Creek Road sign. If you look carefully, you can see a red trail marker on the small tree on the left of the sign.
Please NOTE: There is no DEC registration box or kiosk at the trailhead of the Forget-Me-Not Trail from Alder Lake.
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After you walk past left side of the "Alder Creek Road" street sign, you will see the creek down in a small ravine. This is your only water source for the next 3+ miles until you reach Big Pond. Then get across the creek to continue down the trail.
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After you cross the creek, the trail will have a mild uphill climb. During this time you will encounter some nice fern glades that are so common in the Delaware Wild Forest.
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For the most part, this section of the Touch-Me-Not Trail is fairly flat. But, you do have to pay attention to the red trail markers.
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Part way across the flat section, you will see an opening in the forest. This is a marsh. Not much to see around the marsh.
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After hiking along this long flat section (about 2 miles into the hike), the trail will suddenly take a right hand turn. If you are not paying attention, you could miss the turn. The trail also goes up in elevation slightly, and the trail can be windy in certain sections.
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There are very few conifer forest sections on this hike. This is one as you start to approach Big Pond. The trail will then descend slightly.
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After you hike up this small little hill, you will be entering the Big Pond region.
You will come to a trail junction. You want to go RIGHT. Left will take you to campsite #1 on Big Pond.
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At first the trail will be a little muddy. You then start to see little side trails that go to other campsites. Just keep hiking forward.
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Finally, you will come to the largest Parking Area at Big Pond. Make sure you register for your hike here.
Then head over towards the green Port-a-Potty. You will see two trails there. They go to campsites #1 to #10. You want to go left down the DEC Access Road to Barkaboom Road.
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This is the largest parking area at Big Pond.
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Once you reach Barkaboom Road, you will see this DEC sign
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You want to take a RIGHT onto Barkaboom Road and walk down the road.
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In about 250 feet down Barkaboom Road you will cross over the outflow of Big Pond, and then encounter another parking area for Big Pond.
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This is the DEC parking area for Big Pond that is directly on Barkaboom Road. It is also where cars unload their boats and put them in the water. Big Pond is about 50 acres in size.
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Most hikers stop to enjoy the view of Big Pond. It is a very nice lake. The campsites on Big Pond are Primitive campsites. You can camp here free of charge, and sites are first-come-first-serve.
Not far from here is Little Pond, which is a full service campground, which charges per night for camping. It has potable water, bathrooms, and showers.
About 100' past this view spot on the left side of Barkaboom Road is the continuation of the Touch-Me-Not Trail.
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This is the continuation of the Touch-Me-Not Trail. It is 100 feet past the view spot for Big Pond on the left side of the road.
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Again, register for the continuation of the hike to Beech Hill Road or Little Pond.
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For the next 1.2 miles, the trail will continue to climb until it comes to the next trail junction on Touch-Me-Not Mountain.
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You will come to a trail junction for the Campground Trail in 1.2 miles from Barkaboom Road. You want to go RIGHT.
Left will take you to the Little Pond State Campgrounds.
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There are two signs attached to the trees. Both are fairly inaccurate. It is almost a 1/2 mile until you reach the Trail Junction for Little Pond Trail, and 1.3 miles until you reach Cabot Mtn Summit.
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As soon as you leave the trail junction for the Campground Trail, the Touch-Me-Not Trail will descend in elevation to the col between Touch-Me-Not Mountain and Cabot Mountain.
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Once in the col, the trail is relatively flat. The Delaware Wild Forest has a number of very large trees along the way. This one large tree in the picture is over 4 feet in diameter.
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After hiking another 1/2 mile from the Campground Trail, you will come to the Trail Junction for the Little Pond Trail. You want to continue STRAIGHT.
Left will take you down the Little Pond Trail to the Little Pond Campground in 1.2 miles
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After you leave the Trail Junction to the Little Pond Trail, the incline of the trail will slowly start to increase. Once you come up to the base of Cabot Mountain, some of the ledges you need to hike up are moderately steep. After each ledge, it will level out again. Then you will encounter the next ledge.
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Here is one of the leveled out section through a Fern Glade on the Touch-Me-Not Trail.
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Once you have reached the summit region, the trail will turn left and follow a ledge to the Little Pond Lookout.
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This is the Little Pond Lookout. The camera lens was zoomed in to enlarge the view. The actual view is fairly overgrown. Hopefully in the future, the lookout will be trimmed back. Some hikers call this lookout the Beaverkill Lookout.
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After visiting the Little Pond Lookout, the trail then ascend very slightly to the Cabot Mountain Summit. It ascends 25 feet over 750 feet of trail.
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This large Tree leaning over the Touch-Me-Not Trail is the actual summit of Cabot Mountain.
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Shortly after leaving the Cabot Mountain Summit, the trail will descend slightly to a ridge line.
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There are some nice fern glades along this fairly short ridge line west of Cabot Mountain.
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After leaving the summit of Cabot Mountain on the Touch-Me-Not Trail there are some unique trees along the way. |
More beautiful fern glades along the Touch-Me-Not Trail. |
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The Touch-Me-Not trail will then turn slightly left and start descending down Cabot Mountain to Beech Hill Road
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Once the trail stops descending, you will hike across a flat section. Shortly thereafter you will encounter the Kiosk for the Touch-Me-Not Trail. This is the Trailhead for the other side of Touch-Me-Not Trail on Beech Hill Road. Your hike is finished.
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Make sure you register again and checkout that you have finished your hike. Hope you enjoyed this hike in the Delaware Wild Forest.
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S E C T I O N S
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W E A T H E R
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O T H E R
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Touch-Me-Not trail