Allegany State Park - Part II - Fun Times on Mt. Tuscarora

After chasing bears early this morning, I returned to my vehicle and set my sights on the great Mt. Tuscarora.  Truth be told, there are many "mountains" in Allegany State Park - and of which - I've actually visited the peaks of a couple of them.  For example:

• Mt. Tuscarora (in 2007)
• Mt. Irvine (in 2008)
• "Bear" Mountain (in 2010)
• Mt. Cayuga (in 2007 and again in 2009) - which if you check out the cache page, there's a rock formation informally named after yours truly...haha.
• "Summit" Mountain (in 2006 and again in 2010)

I've also had the pleasure of hiking other trails in ASP which made their way up, around and about other glorious hills.  There are probably a dozen other hills that I haven't summited, but I'm sure at some point I'll get around to them.  I'm just pacing myself - those things are crazy high!  Haha.

The purpose of my visit to ASP today was to find the second installment of Mt. Tuscarora by HeadMJ.  I had been fortunate enough to find the original Mt. Tuscy during the epic hiking summer of 2007.  You see, at that time a strange cacher named Cayuga Crew decided to hike the length of the Conservation Trail which runs from Niagara Falls, NY all the way down through ASP and the Pennsylvania border.  This was a pretty ambitions endeavor, and at some point emails were traded, and Chicky and I went from delivering Timbits roadside to support this wayward hiker to inhaling his exhaust as we hiked alongside him.  Through this process I developed a friendship with him, to the point we became close (or as chummy as you get with a guy who baits you up hills with processed meat snacks and cheeses while lying to you by saying the rest of the hike is "all down hill").  Now that I think of it, Cayuga is one smarmy son-of-a-bitch. But that's not part of the story...well it is I guess.  You see, towards the end of this months long hike, the only thing standing in our way from crossing the PA border and completing this grand adventure was Mt. Tuscarora. 

Mt. Tuscy takes no prisoners, and while the hiking was amazing, this was one of the more difficult hikes to accomplish due to the terrain and the distance.  Of course because you can't say no to Cayuga (especially when he's your ride back to the car which is parked miles and miles and miles away), we made a mile round trip side hike to the top of old Mt. Tuscy to find the cache and enjoy the old abandoned fire tower that sits at it's peak.  That would be our last cache find before crossing over into PA!  It was also my first (and before today, last) visit here. 

Since then the original has been archived, and version 2.0 has taken it's place...which in turn was about to be archived itself!  So I had to make the hike back up the hill and subsequently be the last to find this cache, before making way for V.3.0.

There are several different ways to approach this cache.  Basically it runs the gamut from steep to stupid ridiculous steep.  Topo lines abound and to short cut may require scrambling on all fours in sections.  My preferred plan of approach in these scenarios is a long hike with a more gradual incline.  Of course, in this instance the hike would be about 5.75 miles (round trip) and an elevation change of over 550 feet.  That's a lot of topo lines to cross!  I figured if I was going to send off Mt. Tuscy, I was doing to do it in style - so at 9:30 am my feet hit the trailhead at the bottom of the mountain and up up up I went!

Here's my trailhead...and seeing as there are no bodies laying at the foot of this mountain, I was encouraged to continue on upwards to the top of the hill.  I was pretty excited to hike this trail, as 90% of it was going to be new to me until I hit the top of the ridge and pickedup the North Country Trail which I had hiked on my first visit here in 2007.

Luckily for me lunch was served...because everywhere along the trail were delicious leeks!  They have a sort of onion-esque taste and are great right out of the ground.  The first mile of trail was absolutely carpeted with them - so of course I had to nibble on a few...my mountain man survival skills rock!  LOL.

Who doesn't love spring right?  The wildflowers were everywhere, and you couldn't go two steps without a smattering of color lining the trailside.  These little pretties were located along the ridge on the way to the summit.  In need of a break, I plopped right down on the ground and started snapping photos. That's how you multitask on a trailbreak!

I thought getting to the ridge was the hard part...what I forgot is after the big hill...you get a nice level walk for a quarter mile, and then another half mile up hill to the tower!  I smiled when I saw the sign pointing "up"...bring it on baby!

Hellooooooooooooooooooooo big killer sweet abandoned fire tower in the middle of the woods!  As you crest the hill the remnants of the fire tower start to peek through the bare trees.  It's pretty neat to see this huge structure - still mostly intact after being "returned to the woods" around 1970.  I had to snoop around a little bit and take some pictures.  I eventually covered the remaining 250 feet to the cache and quickly I made the find.  Hoooooooray!  Of course that was only half of it - the real treat was the view of Quaker Lake way down in the valley.

I probably loitered a good 20 minutes or so, looking at the original logbook, smiling as I read about my last visit here where we touted that we "thru-hiked in from Niagara Falls to do this cache."  Ahh...fond memories.  Eventually I rehid the cache, and started the long hike back.  I made many stops on my return trip, just because I was exhausted and the sun was now pretty warm.  So being the every busy "hiker at rest," I took more pictures!

The ridge in the background of this one is actually where the North Country Trail is...and I was only a hundred feet or so where the Mt. Tuscy and NCT meet.  I had to pit stop on my decline to get a picture of these flowers as they basked in the afternoon sun.

This trail was pretty remote, and with the exception of one other person at the very very end, I had it completely to myself.  Even at the tower.  It was exceptional and I really couldn't imagine a better day for such an expedition.

Who doesn't love a trail lined with hardwoods that heads downhill?!?  What a great experience - I'm glad I pushed myself to complete this cache...and guess what...the next day, Mt. Tuscarora III went live.  I'll give the legs a little while to rest before climbing that big fella again!