South side trail- John Brooks

Does anyone know the condition of this trail.

Officially, this trail is still closed by the DEC. Hikers are still allowed to attempt to hike it, but they should do so knowing that there is no guarantee that the trail is passable.

I say attempt, because a friend of mine tried to hike this trail this fall, and said that the trail "simply doesn't exist anymore." Apparently, large sections of this trail were washed away by the hurricane. About halfway back to the garden, they gave up, crossed Johns Brook where they were, bushwhacked up to the main trail on the north side, and took that back to the trail head.

I'm sure that this trail will be repaired at some point- it was actually an ATV trail that was used by the ADK, as well as camp owners to access their private in-holdings in the Johns Brook Valley.

Yes, the trail is still officially closed, and yes the section where one always had to hop rocks in the brook bed is now virtually impassable. This "impassable" section can be bypassed by taking the ATV road that goes up and around the Rock Cut. This bypass goes left at 1.6 mi. from the Garden. That said, crossing Johns Brook on rocks when all the rocks are ice-covered and the brook may not be fully frozen makes this a poor choice of routes.

Thanks for the update, Tony.

Alan