Payne Mountain: A haven for solitude

Twin Valley Preserve trail offers some of the best views in the Champlain Valley

By Tim Rowland

In a public discussion about the future of the High Peaks, the word “solitude” came up a few times, as in, should that be something hikers in the greatest wilderness in the East have a right to expect?

Is it too much to ask that we be allowed to sit alone on a mountaintop thinking Great Thoughts without some bologna-sandwich-eating family from Arkansas asking us to take their picture  pretending to push each other off Dix? Or must we sigh wantonly for things that can no longer be, and accept that, like internet privacy, the Adirondack ship of solitude has sailed?

Like most things, I feel very strongly both ways, but one thing I know for sure is that people who can’t find solitude in a 6 million acre expanse aren’t trying very hard. This is one of the Great Thoughts I myself had as my brother and I stood on a gorgeous, sun-splashed Payne Mountain summit on a Friday afternoon with no one around and not another soul on the rather easy, 4 mile (round trip) trail.

Admittedly, the trail is pretty new, a recent addition to Champlain Area Trails’ ever-expanding portfolio, so it hasn’t received a lot of attention as yet. Payne is on Twin Valley preserve property managed by SUNY Plattsburgh Auxiliary Services, and you can get there by accessing the trail network from the educational camp at the end of Twin Valley Lane north of Wadhams.

But on this day we chose the West Valley trailhead because the Silver Flash was having a bit of a tire issue, and I figured I had about a three hour window plus drive time back to E-town before I’d be riding on the rim. The trail from the Twin Valley camp is actually shorter, but there’s a gate that is closed during the week, and its Friday-afternoon status was unknown. It proved the perfect hike for a slow leak.

To find the West Valley trailhead, take Wadhams-Lewis Road, turn north onto Hurley Road and from there the ample parking area is a half-mile on the right. The trail starts out through old farmland that the forest is reclaiming, with battered vehicles/equipment here and there about the only remaining clue that this soil ever grew anything other than pine. 

At a quarter mile there is a junction with West Valley Trail to the right and Bones Crossing to the left, and since it’s part of a loop, either route will get you where you want to go; left is shorter, if you happen to have a tire that’s on borrowed time. Another trail you will see signage for, the Broadway ski trail, will get you to the right spot as well, so in other words don’t worry about it, just walk and you’ll be fine.

We continued on Bones Crossing to the point, at three quarters of a mile, where it rejoins West Valley. For variety, you could take Bones Crossing on the way up and West Valley on the way back. (Yes, a loop has to get up pretty early in the morning to fool a seasoned trail guide like me.)

All this while, you are hiking through an attractive mixed forest and across a pretty stream with little in the way of elevation gain, and the route continues to be easy as it joins an old road that will morph into the red-badged trail that rings the preserve.

There is another option that presents itself at just over a mile, and that’s a right-hand turn leading up to the overlook on Hornbeam Hill. If you have time, hiking up to the overlook and back will add a mile to your hike with a modest 250 feet elevation gain. The reward is a nice view of the Champlain Valley looking south from a grassy summit studded with hardwoods and wildflowers.

Continuing on the Red Trail, you will enter a scraggly, recently logged area. Some logging sites are carefully done and tidied up afterwards; this isn’t one of those. The best you can do is bite your lip and soldier on, understanding that it’s only a small part of the whole.

At 1.5 miles, the spur to Payne appears on the left and heads up a ravine. For you hotshots who, unlike myself, tend to forgo established trails and whack straight for the summit, that will do you no good here, because the overlook is on a westerly shoulder of the summit proper.

As you ascend the ravine, be alert for a hard switchback to the left, which will signal the final climb to the overlook. It’s steeper here, but even so, the whole, two-mile adventure only gains 600 feet. The trail is a little rocky toward the top, but pretty easily navigated.

The payoff is a broad panorama with some of the High Peaks to the south and a closer view of the more northern Hurricane and Jay wildernesses. To the east is the forested summit of Payne itself, as well as other humps and hills of the Twin Valley Preserve.

CATS asks that you take care to step on the bare rock as much as possible and not on the ample patches of reindeer lichen.

According to CATS, there are about 14 miles of trails in the preserve, and a quick glance of the map shows multiple options to reach any of the five viewpoints (noted with stars on the map).

These trails are attractive, well-maintained, include nice views and, if we’re talking about solitude, on maybe a half-dozen outings there, I have yet to meet another soul.