New waterfall forms in Oneonta Creek
Posted: February 10th, 2017, 8:03 pm
I did a couple of hikes today and for the first time in nearly two months had really balmy weather - at least for a while.
The first hike was along the still closed Scenic Hwy from the Ainsworth Park area to about a half mile west of Oneonta Gorge. Horsetail Falls was roaring sending a drenching spray well into the parking area:
At Oneonta, I was surprised to see that the logjam had backed up the water over eight feet deep and created a lake. A nice waterfall now pours over and through the logjam:
The piles of ice are many and impressive along the old hwy:
Then on to Palmer Mill Road. I can report that this road, extending from Bridal Veil up its junction with Brower Road is free of snow and ice though it has a few new ruts. Numerous trees had fallen but everything has been sawn or pushed out of the way.
I parked at the Jersey barriers and hiked a loop though the Bridal Veil Plateau coming back out on the Palmer Mill Road at the site of the old logging town and then back to my car. The start of this route will need some serious cleaning up, though the worst of it is in the first mile or so of trail to the plateau.
The trail goes though this? Yep!
It cleared up once I'd left the area of alders. Those trees just don't do well in freezing rain.
I hit continuous snow at about the 1700' level but it was very compact and easy to travel through. Once back on Palmer Mill Road at the 2,000' level (this is the closed section) the real damage soon presented itself. Above the level the freezing rain reached, it was just a snow covered road but as I descended to about the 1750' level, things changed completely:
A nice day in the woods, nevertheless: 9.6 miles, 900' vertical.
Also, an update from my report yesterday: The fallen trees have been removed from the road between Larch Mt. Road and the Vista House so that can again be driven. The road is closed beyond that when I was there about 4. All the ice is gone though.
Don
The first hike was along the still closed Scenic Hwy from the Ainsworth Park area to about a half mile west of Oneonta Gorge. Horsetail Falls was roaring sending a drenching spray well into the parking area:
At Oneonta, I was surprised to see that the logjam had backed up the water over eight feet deep and created a lake. A nice waterfall now pours over and through the logjam:
The piles of ice are many and impressive along the old hwy:
Then on to Palmer Mill Road. I can report that this road, extending from Bridal Veil up its junction with Brower Road is free of snow and ice though it has a few new ruts. Numerous trees had fallen but everything has been sawn or pushed out of the way.
I parked at the Jersey barriers and hiked a loop though the Bridal Veil Plateau coming back out on the Palmer Mill Road at the site of the old logging town and then back to my car. The start of this route will need some serious cleaning up, though the worst of it is in the first mile or so of trail to the plateau.
The trail goes though this? Yep!
It cleared up once I'd left the area of alders. Those trees just don't do well in freezing rain.
I hit continuous snow at about the 1700' level but it was very compact and easy to travel through. Once back on Palmer Mill Road at the 2,000' level (this is the closed section) the real damage soon presented itself. Above the level the freezing rain reached, it was just a snow covered road but as I descended to about the 1750' level, things changed completely:
A nice day in the woods, nevertheless: 9.6 miles, 900' vertical.
Also, an update from my report yesterday: The fallen trees have been removed from the road between Larch Mt. Road and the Vista House so that can again be driven. The road is closed beyond that when I was there about 4. All the ice is gone though.
Don