Chapel / Undivided Lot Trails, Shawangunks

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
11/26/2017

Map: NYNJTC Shawangunk Trails (Map 105), plus optionally Map 106
Parking: Upper 27 Knolls Road, Spring Farm Entrance. $15 hiking fee per person (not per car).
Directions: From parking area, head back towards the parking attendant kiosk and back onto the road. Look for the trailhead sign in a field on the right side of the road. Follow the blue blazed Chapel Trail. Cross Route 6. Pass a cemetery on your left. Reach another road and turn right on the road. Pass Clove Chapel and turn left onto the blue blazed Undivided Lot Trail. Pass the Stokes trail on the left. Pass the Clove Path trail on the left. Reach a chimney in the woods. Turnaround and retrace steps.

We decided to head out to the Gunks to avoid hunters in the Catskills. I know there is hunting allowed in some portions of the Gunks, but didn't look up ahead of time where. I was thinking it was around Sam's Point Preserve. We arrived at the parking area and had no problems with parking. The lot was close to full, but we got a spot. We brought ALL of our Shawangunk maps just in case - we've had multiple times out here where we've had to come up with alternate hikes because parking lots have been completely full. There are a number of trails that start from this parking area. Looking at Map 106 (which is a blowup of a portion of Map 105) is useful here. Another chance to practice my map & compass skills to determine which way our trailhead was. Way too often I rely on Glen to do this for me, but I realize I need to be able to be more responsible for my own navigation skills. Practice, practice, practice. If I don't constantly practice, I forget.

I wore my blaze orange beanie and an orange bandana on my pack. Trek had his non-blaze orange pack on. Glen had nothing orange. As soon as we reach the woods, out comes a hunter with a rifle. UGH. Back to the car for Glen to grab some yellow/orange stuff to wear. Somehow we chose a hunting section of the Gunks. None of the people in the parking area were wearing blaze orange. We did see a sign at the booth later that makes it look like the park will lone out blaze orange vests to hikers. We headed out on the Chapel Trail. The trail was not so exciting. I always think of the Gunks as having phenomenal views and well maintained trails. This trail had blowdowns and was slippery with thick leaf cover on downhill sections. It had no views. I have high standards for the Gunks, and this trail wasn't cutting it. We reached a road crossing - this is another point where Map 106 is helpful to figure out where the trail goes. We crossed the road and picked up the trail on the other side. There is hunter only parking in this area - and we saw more hunter vehicles (the NRA sticker on the side of one truck was a big clue). We passed by a small family cemetery on the left. And then had another road crossing. We turned right on the second road. There was a building called the Clove Chapel. There were parking spots here as well - I'm not sure if its okay to park here for hiking, but there were around 8 parking spots.

We re-entered the woods just past the Chapel. Now we were following the blue blazed Undivided Lot trail. This trail was a lot nicer than the Chapel trail. It's level and easy hiking for a big part of the way. On the right are views of the Catskill Mountains. I took out my map & compass once, but it wasn't useful - because the Catskill Mountains are too far away - and thus aren't on my map. Glen used the Peakfinder app to identify some of the mountains. We passed by a loose dog 3 times. The first time I figured it was with a group of hikers. The second time it seemed to have been behind the group of hikers. I caught him, but ended up letting him go - there were others approaching so we assumed the dog belonged to them (it didn't). The third time we saw him, I decided I'd better catch him and try to contact the owners. I didn't have a second leash on me, and I did have Trek on leash for this entire hike. I couldn't catch him the third time, but some people who passed us told us that he belonged to a group that was ahead of them, and that they lived at the trailhead - that it was fine. Yikes. I can't imagine letting my dog roam so freely. Luckily he was a sweet dog, and Trek didn't have any issues with it.

We passed the Stokes trail and then the Clove Path. The terrain got a little more rocky right before Clove Path. We continued down the Undivided Lot trail, hoping to make it to the end of the trail - to make a small loop before heading back. We reached a stone chimney, and decided at that point we needed to turn around, so no loop for us. We headed back and made good time on our return trip. When hiking back on the Chapel Hill trail, we did see 2 hunters hanging out behind some rocks. So, it seems like the Chapel trail area is popular for hunters. We met a woman heading out who thought we were hunters because we were wearing orange - ha!

This was a pretty easy hike, especially if you skip the Chapel trail, which I didn't find very interesting anyways. My hip felt reasonably good today.

Turnaround spot