Long Path Sect 33: East Berne to Thatcher Park

On Sunday the 19th, Kathy and I planned to hike section 33 of the Long Path. We managed to talk Randy and Gail into coming with us. We parked my car at the Indian Ladder picnic area parking lot in Thatcher Park, and we positioned her car at Stage Rd where Kathy and I had left off our last Long Path hike. Hiking north was a road walk, and having conflicting information on whether the Roemer's Point area was still open to the public, we hiked the .9 miles of Elm Drive to the southern edge of the Roemer property. It turns out, the trail is closed so we had to hike back to the Elm Drive and Long Road intersection.

It was a nice day so we didn't mind too much. It took us a minute or two but finally deciphered the blazing, leading north on Elm (vs South on Elm to the Roemer property.).

This took us to Beaver Dam Rd, which we followed for about a mile before reaching the trail at John Boyd Thatcher State Park. We missed the whole section from 2.35 mile point to 6.35 mile point but we spoke with a Ranger when we entered the park. It turns out that there is a way from Beaver Dam Rd up toward Roemer's Point but the property has been permanently closed to the public due to hiker misuse. It's no longer part of the Long Path.

Anyway, finally in the woods, we took a lunch break at a small stream just before the Upper Knoweles Flat Picnic Area. There was a picnic table beside the stream and out of the wind and in a sunny spot. With the water gently gurgling in the background, a very nice place to lunch. After lunch, we hiked on to the parking area Escarpment overlook. This is incredibly impressive. From this Helderberg Escarpment a person can see north to the Adirondacks and east to the Green Mountains of Vermont. The trail follows the escarpment across the parking area and then down a park path to the Indian Ladder trail. This leads down the face of the escarpment to a couple of water falls the hiker walks under and then back up the escarpment face.
Down and up both on metal stairways installed for the purpose of getting down to the undercut face of the escarpment. Many people were out on the beautiful Sunday with lots of kids having a blast!

Shortly thereafter we were back at the parking area where we left our car. We finally figured we hiked about 8.8 miles on a beautiful fall day and saw incredible views of the Hudson River Valley to boot. A good day out.