1.8, 2.1 Miles|
Skaters find the width to their liking, and the length of the roads--each better than a mile, more if you continue beyond the marked trail network--a good test of endurance. Of course, the same test may apply to the classically inclined skier. But they are just as fine for carefree touring, and the forests they divide are full of interest, with bordering stone walls and crumbling foundations of farmhouse and root cellars abandoned long ago. Shaw Road is linked, from east to west, by Bumpus, Minor, and Judges Hill Trails. Bates Road is the terminus of Minor Trail and Judges Hill Trail. Hiking trails (one of them a continuation of Bumpus) lead north from Bates Road but they are not suitable for skiing. Only north of Bates Road do The Trustees permit hunting on Notchview. A new trail, constructed courtesy of the
Appalachian Mountain Club, parallels Bates Road and thus allows
skiers to avoid confrontations with snowmobiles. Bates Bypass
connects Minor with Judges Hill and lies just south of the roadway.
The bypass is generally ungroomed but you'll have more fun skiing
it than Bates Road. It is possible, by the way, to continue on Bates Road almost another mile past Judges Hill Trail to its end at Savoy Hollow Road. Once Savoy Hollow Road was unplowed and was good for another mile plus of skiing (mostly downhill) south to Shaw Road for a grand loop. No more. But just before Savoy Hollow Road an unmarked trail jumps off to the left. It's used largely by snowmobiles but that doesn't make it off limits. Try it and keep tending south when offshoots eventually appear. Guess right and you emerge on Shaw Road; guess wrong and it will take a little longer. |
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About the
unplowed roads Shaw and Bates there's
little unexpected. Both are back roads, Shaw passable to any
vehicle in other seasons, Bates boggy in places and calling for
high-clearance four-wheel drive outfits. Both are broad ways
with only gradual turnings. Both have in places inclines that
taken in a tuck produce a good head of steam. Both are beaten
down by snowmobiles.