Agile Trekker: Old Minnewaska / Laurel Ledge / Overcliff / Shongum Trail loop, Mohonk Preserve

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

Map: NYNJTC Shawangunk Trails, Map 105
Parking: Clove Road, Coxing parking area. $15 per person hiking fee.
Directions: Cross the street from the parking area and take trail behind the gate. Cross over a bridge. Continue straight on the Old Minnewaska Trail. At the intersection of the Undivided Lot Trail and the Old Minnewaska Trail, turn left onto the Undivided Loop Trail. Walk to an old stone chimney. Turn around and return to the intersection of the Undivided Lot Trail and Old Minnewaska Trail. Turn left onto the Old Minnewaska Trail. Turn left onto Laurel Ledge Road (a carriage road). Turn right at the first intersection (no sign for what it is, but here map 106 shows more detail than map 105 - its just a tiny little trail which connects Laurel Ledge and Overcliff Road). Very soon after, turn right again, onto Overcliff Road. Continue for a long ways. Turn right onto a yellow trail just before reaching a road (don't cross road). Turn right onto red blazed Shongum Path. Take this back to the intersection with the Old Minnewaska Trail. Turn left onto Old Minnewaska Trail. Cross road and return to parking area.

We headed out to the Gunks again, and came out dressed in blaze orange, prepared for any hunters we might see. We ended up seeing none. It was sunny but much colder today than yesterday. Temps were in the 30's, but it was windy when we weren't in the woods. I practiced my map and compass skills yet again, to verify which way we should start from the parking area. I could tell just by looking at my map, but its good to practice anyways. At the start of the trail we saw many, many signs about dogs not being allowed downstream. We've seen these signs before. It wasn't a problem. This only prevented us from doing a short yellow trail (don't know the name) just past the bridge crossing. We had been hoping to do this trail on the way back. In the end we skipped it. We could have done it one at a time while the other waited with Trek, but it was getting really nippy, and standing around waiting would have just been miserable.

The Old Minnewaska Trail is a trail, not a carriage road, but the majority of it is really easy. It's level and the footing is reasonable. We saw no one on the trail, which is great for the Gunks. We mostly had obstructed views of the Catskill Mountains from the trail. It was a pleasant trail though, one which I'm pretty sure we've been on before. We reached the Undivided Lot Trail in no time, and took a sharp left (it looks like you are going over the ledge). The trail here becomes less easy. It's not hard, but it would be a trail I wouldn't want to take in the winter when rocks are icy. The views in this section are great, so its worth the diversion when the weather is good. We walked along this trail and eventually turned sharply right, into the woods. I oriented my map to verify we had made the turn. Yes, it was pretty obvious we had, but I need to practice! We headed up a short steep section to get on top of a cliff. Trek's navigation skills are astounding. He never fails to amaze me. He knows exactly where to go, and he points out all side trails to us. He led us up to the top of the cliff, where we took a sharp left onto level trail. We passed by a couple deep crevasse's - I'm not sure how else to describe them - but basically holes in the cliff rock that you don't want to fall into. The trail skirts around them. We arrived at the stone chimney where we had ended up yesterday.

We turned around and headed back to the intersection of the Old Minnewaska Trail. We turned left onto the Old Minnewaska Trail, and took it to the end. We turned right onto the Laurel Ledge Trail, which is a carriage road. We took our first right (unmarked) and then another right onto the Overcliff Road Trail. We had a long stretch on the Overcliff Road Trail, where we did see a handful of people. This is a super easy carriage road. My hip started hurting here. I find it amazing how many different places my hip can hurt. Thursday it was my groin. Today it was in another spot. We did see some conglomerate cliff views from the Overcliff Road Trail.

We reached a yellow trail at Clove Road. We weren't sure what it was - we were looking for the red blazed Shongum Trail. We turned right on the yellow trail, and soon hit the Shongum trail on our right. The Shongum Trail isn't terribly exciting, but is well maintained. There are no views. It's basically a trail between parking areas.

We got back to our parking area, and considered doing a little bit more because we had time. It was getting really cold with the wind though, so we were both ready to stop hiking and called it quits.