Sunday, April 13, 2014

Guernsey State Park - Roundtop Mountain


Our most recent park adventure took us on a hike up Roundtop Mountain, the mountain behind the Museum, you know, the one with the kind of round top. 
Roundtop
The Civilian Conservation Corps built the Roundtop Mountain Trail as part of their east side trail system. The trail has long since been forgotten. Jan and I have hiked in the park since 1983, and the trail, to our knowledge, has never been marked during that time. That means it has been lost, at least, three decades. Likely the 1970s since the trail was marked or used, but probably longer than that.

The CCC maps show a circle around the mountain and a pigtail trail up to the top from the main circle. We spent several hours trying to find the old trail and did discover parts of it. 
CCC trail steps northeast of museum


On the south side of the mountain a rock slide appears to have covered a section of 100 feet or more. My guess is the trail was let go at this point of the slide and unmarked and unused since that time. 
The trail ( above the leaning cedar) southwest side of mountain


The road near the top
But two senior adventures like my wife and myself wouldn’t be deterred by a little landslide. Well, yes we were, but we still made it to the top. The old road that starts on the northeast side of the mountain makes a fine trail. It took only about twenty minutes to reach the top using the old road and the hike was invigorating.

Give it a try, this one is fun, not too difficult and the view is spectacular.

The view from the top - worth the hike
One warning – The first one hundred yards are deeply rutted, so step carefully, once you reach the south side of the mountain the trail is fine.

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