Tag Archives: Sam’s Point

Sam’s Point Hike: Fabulous Day!

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Today was a relatively cool, beautiful day, so I took Lyska and spent the day hiking at Sam’s Point Area of Minnewaska State Park Preserve. What a great day! Lyska is turning out to be a wonderful trail dog– she loves hiking, is friendly to other hikers without losing focus on me, walks nicely on leash, is willing to try new experiences even when they are a bit disconcerting, and naps quietly while I sketch. And she was interested but not reactive when we were watching a bear and her cub!

We hiked the Ice Caves Trail, which included very narrow passageways I could just fit through with my backpack, dark passages (I had to use my flashlight for one stretch), and a couple of ladders. I was so proud of Lyska, who hesitated about the ladders, but then went right up each of them.

At one point I was picking and eating blueberries when a young woman came along and told me where to find a great abundance of blueberries and blackberries. I thanked her and told her I like to pick berries around the time of my birthday. She smiled, reached into her pack, and, saying “Happy Birthday!” she gave me a jar filled with blueberries! What a wonderful, spur-of-the-moment kind gift! Tomorrow I’ll be making wild blueberry pancakes for breakfast!

To cap off a wonderful day, I saw a bear with cubs towards the end of my hike, and then a beautiful garter snake. What a day!

Lyska after scrambling up her first ladder

Second ladder, at the end of the Ice Caves Trail

Mama bear with cub. Another cub was in the shrubs.

 

Sam’s Point: Ice caves and a sky lake

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Stephen by Lake Maratanza
Sketching in the wind on Sam’s Point- it almost blew my journal away!

I didn’t expect to be wearing a jacket on the 4th of July weekend (and wishing I had taken a warmer jacket), but that’s what hiking the Ice Caves Trail at Sam’s Point will do. We had a stunningly beautiful day for hiking– clear skies; bright sunshine; vivid colors in all shades of green, plus pinks, blues, and yellows; a brisk breeze (actually a strong wind); and incredible vistas. Sam’s Point, which is now a part of Minnewaska State Park Preserve, has a rare, dwarf pitch pine barrens ecosystem, one of the few such places remaining in the world. As we hiked, the fragrance of the pines in the sun rose around us, making the air delicious to breathe. Other sections of the trail are lined with sweet fern, also filling the air with fragrance, while mountain laurel blossoms filled the areas of deciduous woods with a pink and white  blanket of blossoms.

View from Sam’s Point- high rock bluffs and distant Catskill Mountains
Mountain laurels and ferns blanketing the woods

The ice caves are a real treat on a hot day, as refrigerated air wells up from ice deep in crevasses. These ice caves are formed by an open fault– the Ellenville Fault Line, which is the largest open fault in the United States– and rock debris from the Shawangunk Ridge, which formed deep caves that stay cool enough for ice to remain well into summer, providing air conditioning for the hiker and unique growing conditions for plants not normally native to our area.

Entrance to an ice cave at Sam’s Point

 

Lake Maratanza, a “sky lake” is the highest lake in the Shawangunk Ridge at 2,245 feet above sea level. With today’s wind, the lake’s surface was whipped into waves that made a wonderful lapping sound as we walked along the road beside the shore. On the west side of the lake we sat in a sheltered cove, where the water was still and a Common Yellowthroat serenaded us as I sketched.

Lake Maratanza at Sam’s Point Preserve