Back again with Tony and Jax. Stony Peak is officially a USGS Summit so the mountain now has its own commemorative summit marker along with my homemade sign and some Tibetan wind horse prayer flags to bring luck to visitors. The trail registry had one entry from the day earlier (5/9/2023) along with a couple of entries from friends from this year. Glad folks are enjoying Stony Peak. Now hikers can enjoy a summit marker and sign when they hike up too!
Bit of a wet morning on the summit of Cedar Mountain with some light rain and even snow squalls. Posted the "Cedar Mountain Elev. 2543" sign (with Grand View behind) and then located the old summit marker which can be found enclosed in fencing directly under the security camera at the radio tower. Note that the sign is not located on the summit for obvious reasons.
Super buggy already with swarms of black flies - this Spring has just been too warm. Ticks are out in abundance too, so the bushwhack is truly a bushwhack this time of year. Less of a paradise right now, but the water is flowing nicely. Storm/flash flooding has caused large rock piles to form on the banks of Paint Run adjacent to the road right by the culvert, which is a neat display of how powerful the water flows can get around here. Also, a new sign labeled "Daves Waterfall Paradise" now sits near a scenic waterfall view near mile 0.2.
First wildflowers for the year - buttercups and dandelions. Hiked to the graffiti bridge, north and out to the road, then back. Peepers (frogs) are already out chirping away.
Hiked half of the loop starting from the service road trailhead and up to the vista along the steep Mt Tom Trail. Several blowdowns along the service road right now - a couple of which are annoying to pass. Snow had just fallen, about 3 inches or so, with some very small snowpack from earlier in the week underneath in higher elevations on the mountain. Jax and I were the 2nd (and likely last) people on Mt Tom for the day. Really nice difficult hike in the snow - ice spikes were handy for the steep trail back down. View of Ansonia and the valley were washed out by the clouds and snowfall, but the village made a slight appearance before we hiked back down.