by David Flint
Some 26 hikers spent a fine spring morning last Saturday exploring a new trail in the Capital District Wildlife Management Area. The trail is called the Escarpment Trail because running off of Schaeffer Road it generally follows for about
This is one of several new trails recently developed and posted with yellow trail markers by Senior Wildlife Biologist Nancy Heaslip of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. The hike was organized by Doree Cox of the Taconic Hiking Club and led by Fran Egbert of the Rensselaer Land Trust. Botanist David Hunt, ably assisted by RLT Board members Nick Conrad and Bob Ingalls came along to provide expertise on identifying interesting plant life in the area such as dwarf ginseng, red and painted trillium, dog and yellow violets and Indian cucumber root. Hikers were also interested in examining deposits of moose scat found here and there along the trail.
Egbert said the Friends of Cherry Plain State Park are working on developing a map of all of these new trails along with some old ones in the area and it should be available soon.
