Hike The Big Ice Cave, Ellenville NY

The Big Ice Cave, Ellenville NY

This adventurous hike will take place in Sam’s Point Preserve, a branch location of Minnewaska State Park. I am on the preserve’s calendar as a “private hike,” which means that within a couple of rules, we can go where we please in this rough, steep-sloped, multiply-crevassed bedrock landscape.

We’ll start on a carriage road, then move on to herd paths with clawing bushes and endless, cubist rocks, with at least one gigantic fissure. For a short while, we’ll be in a dark room with a little ice.

I am guiding as a docent, keeping us where we want to be on my mental map; advising the sensitive ecologies and our designated paths through them. Expect abundant mountain laurel blooms, white and pink.

Hikers should be ready to walk by 9:00 a.m. and will return to cars at 5 p.m. Possible group dinner in one of the several hiker affordable restaurants in the area.

Distance: 4.5 miles; NYNJTC trail map 104

Trip limited to 11 hikers; meeting place specifics provided to registrants.

Please register with leader Bill Hladky: 914.874.4640,  wehladky@yahoo.com