Section 28, Long Path Doney Hollow to West Fulton

Late November is always a tricky time of year to hike. The weather can be unpredictable and the temps can drop rapidly. However, Kathy and I had been following the weather for a few days and decided to try and walk off some of our Thanksgiving turkey on Saturday the 29th of November.

We agreed to meet at 7am at our usual spot, a Dunkin Donuts just north of Schoharie NY. The weather report the previous day called for partially clear skys for Saturday. When I opened the garage door at 6am, there was a 1/4 inch of snow on the ground and more falling. My stomach sank but I went ahead because the weather can be totally different even just 10 miles south of here.

Sure enough, as I drove south on Rt 30, the snow became sleet, the sleet became rain and as I crossed the Mohawk River into Fultonville, the rain stopped altogether. By 6:45am, I could see the clouds breaking to the east and a pink and orange sunrise coming up. I met Kathy and we proceeded to the West Fulton end of the trail to leave my car. We had hoped to add a couple extra miles to today's hike but couldn't find where the trail crossed Patria Rd. Oh Well. I left my car at the West Fulton end of Patria Rd and we headed off for the Doney Hollow trail head.

We found where we had left off our hike the last time and parked Kathy's car. We each had brought extra winter gear, just in case but there was no need for snowshoes, there was no snow at Doney Hollow. I did however take my shelter, backpacking stove and fuel, rain gear and snow pants and jacket, and extra socks. Better safe than sorry but it sure makes the pack heavier. I had long johns on under my hiking pants but the temps were in the 30's, probably high 30's so I didn't feel the need to wear my snow pants but I did have them in my pack too.

We started up the hill at 0810 and followed a pretty stream. All along the trail, and all day in fact, we followed mile after mile of old stone walls. Constructed from the local slate, they are a marvel of work, still standing after all this time. At elevation 1800 we had snow on the ground but even at 2000ft, we never really had more than a couple of inches of snow. The only problem was the moderatly warm temps, above freezing, caused the snow to pack up on my gaiter straps and I had to keep knocking the balled up snow off of the bottom of my feet every hundred feet or so.

Fortunately, the guide book, at least for this section, was pretty close to the mark and we had no trouble following the trail. We had lunch at noon at the Rossman Hill lean to. It was in good shape and pretty clean. Kathy signed us into the shelter log, in this case located on the outside of the leanto in a little box built for it.

On our way again at 1230, we passed an area that must have had several farms because the trail runs between two stone walls. The space is about 8 feet apart and I thought it was dueling farmers till we came to a cross roads where a similar lane crossed the one we were on. I thought the lanes a little narrow for carts or wagons but Kathy called them carriage lanes. All wooded now, I wonder what those farmer's would think now to have all their hard work abandoned.


Coming down off of Rossman's Hill is extremely steep and in the day's conditions, very slippery. The ground was frozen solid and the snow had melted in and left everything icy. However, the trail runs beside a series of cascades, partially frozen and very pretty. Well worth the hike. We never did see the ruins at the bottom and before we knew it we were out on Sawyer Hollow Rd, going into West Fulton.

We found the Peter Smith church, formerly of Ripley's Believe It or Not fame, just before we reached the center of the village. We lucked out, the current owner has made the building into a private residence and the owner's son and daughter-in-law were working on the front entry porch when we went by. They invited us up and we had a very nice chat with them for about 15 minutes, learning about the church and the changes it's gone thru.

All in all, we had a great hike.