Over 250 people came to the Grand Hike to the Essex Inn last Saturday where they hiked on three new CATS trails on their way to the Block Party in Essex. The next big CATS hike is June 4 when you can join the “Over the Mountain to Lake Champlain Hike” and celebrate National Trails Day at Camp Dudley.

“Everyone I spoke with really enjoyed the hike,” said Essex Inn Owner Rick Dalton. “It generates a lot of excitement, attracts people from outside our region to hike CATS’ beautiful trails and creates a niche for inn-to-inn hiking year round.”

Click here for photos of the hike and party and check back often as we add more!

Over the Mountain to Lake Champlain Hike

What’s next? On Saturday, June 4 meet at Camp Dudley in Westport and take a shuttle to Mineville for the Over the Mountain to Lake Champlain Hike back to Camp Dudley in time for this year’s Celebrate Champlain Area Trails Event. This year, I will speak about my recent 207-mile hamlet-to-hamlet walk in France and will share experiences and lessons-learned to help us promote that type of hiking here in the Champlain Valley.

Meet at 11:00 am at Camp Dudley and take the shuttle to Mineville where the hike begins. You will hike mostly on Mountain Springs Road, a seasonal road that goes over the mountain to a trail following Stacey Brook to roads leading to Camp Dudley. You can do the hike AND event or just attend the event which starts at 4:00 pm and features local food and drink. The cost of the hike and event is $30 and pre-registration price for just the event is $25. Click here for more details and to register.

Trail of the Week

Located on the east side of Rt. 22/9N about 4.5 miles south of Westport, or 5.5 miles north of Port Henry is the trailhead for the Hidden Quarry Trail. This easy 0.8 mile loop features an old rock quarry with a cliff above a small pond. (Click here to view some photos and hear a short narrative from NCPR’s Brian Mann as he walked this trail.)

Chris Maron
CATS Executive Director