Benson Hills

Went for a hike in the Southern Adirondacks today. Checked out a future section of the Northville Placid trail. Parked at a new trailhead on Gifford Valley road. The trail begins with a moderate climb through open woods with many switchbacks. There is periodic flagging, but it is otherwise unmarked. The treadway seems well defined for a relatively new trail. After about 2 miles, I reached Mud Pond. The trail turns left onto an old woods road. It climbs for a short bit before dropping again. At this point, I left the trail and headed up the hill to the north (un-named, but I will call it Mud Pond Hill). There were several rocky areas with views to the south. I continued down the west side of the hill into the notch. There was a small creek to cross. Then, I climbed the next hill to the west (un-named, but I will call it West Stony Creek mountain). As I got further up, there were more open areas with raspberries and other scratchy plants. Good to be wearing long pants. Got to a viewpoint looking east back toward Mud Pond hill. Kept climbing and soon reached the top which didn't have any views. I dropped down the west side to some open rock areas with nices views to the West. I went down the south side of the mountain until I reached the trail again. Then, I followed the trail back to the car. Nice day out with few bugs.

Summit Elevation: Mud Pond Hill 1852 ft, West Stony Creek mountain 1993
Round-trip Distance: 7.5 mi
Elevation Change: 1900 ft

Benson Hills