ecc said:
Are there any maps of the roads and logging trails on the mountain, other than the USGS?
To the best of my knowledge the DEC has never published any pamphlets on the Huntersfield, Ashland Pinnacle, or Mount Pisgah State Forests, which are the 3 DEC units on the ridge. I have never seen any depiction of the logging roads other than what is on the more recent USGS quads (shown in purple on topozone) and in the DeLorme
New York Atlas & Gazetteer. When I hike Huntersfield I typically park in a grassy area
here along a logging road shown in purple. The map in the DeLorme Atlas erroneously labels this logging road as Albert Slater Road. The real Albert Slater Rd is a paved north-south road on the west side of the above topozone map. The DeLorme maps shows this road as fairly level and it contours around to
Schrader Rd, just a short distance east of Slater Rd. The western half of the logging road passes through private land, although it would appear to be a public highway (although I am not sure of that). This road with Slater Rd, CR 11, and the Macumber Rd might make a reasonably level loop.
The other logging road that I have hiked starts at the
hairpin turn on Macumber Rd. It follows a level contour. The Long Path joins this logging road after it climbs up the stream from the Macumber Rd. Both contour together at about 2400' until the Long Path exits on the right
here and climbs through a pine reforested area up to the northwest ridge - which it then generally follows to the summit of Huntersfield. The logging road continues straight ahead and exits state land at about 2400' - where the private land is posted. The purple dashed line is the state land boundary. About midway on that logging road is a junction with another road - that descends off the main logging road. It would seem that it must be a rather short before reaching private land.
The old road on the southwest ridge that you followed to the summit is a hike described in
Catskill Trails, A Ranger's Guide, Book One, by Edward G. Henry. The Long Path from Macumber Road to the Huntersfield summit is described in
50 Hikes in the Lower Hudson Valley, by Stella Green and H. Neil Zimmerman. The entire Long Path is described in the
Long Path Guide, edited by Herb Chong, NY/NJ Trail Conference. Each of these books include maps, although the
Long Path Guide maps are not very detailed. The other two books have better maps.