PARKING: You want the somewhat hidden MAIN LOT (there are two parking lots with signs), located west of house #332 Leavenworth Road. The hidden drive entrance is between a telephone pole and the beginning of a long guardrail. If you are driving on Leavenworth Road (Rt 110) west towards Monroe, you will pass Beardsley Orchards then go down the long hill and at the bottom pass the first Nicholdale auxiliary parking area on the left, followed immediately by the pale yellow house at #332. You want the hidden drive on the left just after this house. The drive entrance is located between the telephone pole and the beginning of the guardrail. The drive drops down to the parking area below the elevation of the road and is hard to see. If you get to Nicholdale Road on the right, you've gone too far. Click HERE to see on Google Maps.
BLAZE COLOR: Blue for most of the way.
TRAIL MAP:
HIKE DESCRIPTION: We are doing this loop clockwise. Be sure you understand the blaze indication for turns: If there are two offset blazes, the higher blaze tells you to look in that direction for a turn. You will need to pay close attention to the blue blazes since there are many paths through this property. The mowed meadow paths only have blazes where there is something to blaze. Otherwise, you may walk a bit without seeing a blaze.
Go to the back left corner of the main parking lot, down the steps, around the gate, and pass the sign kiosk (if this makes no sense, you are at the wrong parking lot). There will be fresh blue blazes. Follow the old mowed farm road with the highway to your back, and look for the blue blazes to go off to the left under the tall evergreen trees.
You will shortly come to a granite bench next to a wooden bridge over the stream. Cross the bridge and then go left to follow the stream a short ways.
You will come to a junction with an orange-blazed trail at a long, narrow clearing, blocked at one end with a cable. Go left into the clearing and quickly right and you are now heading south along the property perimeter for the next quarter mile (about five or ten minutes). The boundary will be on your left and is often marked with a stone wall or some barbed wire. During this time, you will pass a "Y" with orange blazes (stay left), a wet area with rocks and boards for crossing, another junction with the orange trail, another "Y" (stay left again), and cross a bridge. Come to a corner where two walls meet and pass through one, continuing with the long wall to your left.
The long wall finally ends and the trail curves right to begin heading west along the southern property line. See the giant red oak next to the boulder? As before, you will have a stone wall for much of this section to your left and follow the blue blazes. Continue down the hill, staying left at the "Y", and then the trail curves again to the right, towards the north. Just before arriving at a grassy area, you may see yellow square blazes going off to the left (these lead to Pearmain Road). Continue on the main trail into the Youth Camp area.
Pass through the middle of the camp, heading north, pass the outhouse and cross the stream and immediately after the stone wall turn left to follow the southern edge of a big meadow along a mowed path. At the corner of the meadow, the path bends right to continue along the perimeter of the meadow, now heading north. Continue to the northwest corner of the field, and then find a path going into the woods. Cross the rocky occasionally wet area and pass through a stone wall into another field and go straight across the field between the lines of cedars. At the end of the field, curve to the left into the trees, then quickly right to cross a stone wall and you are now on a grassy farm road in the trees. Go left to follow the road.
Pass the first wood bridge on the right and continue to a small circular meadow, where there will be a second wood bridge and you will be turning to the right (north). Cross the bridge and go right to follow the stream on your right until you come to a vehicle bridge over the stream. At that point turn left to the parking lot and your car.
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