Hodge Pond 3: The Nazgûl Loop

Begin at the DEC lot on Beech Mountain Road in Willowemoc Wild Forest at the Frick Pond Trailhead. (The general location is the far southwest Catskills, a few miles east of the towns of Livingston Manor and Roscoe, and just west of Mongaup Pond Campground.)

The parking area is up on a slight rise. To begin the hike, enter the woods on the northwest side of the lot and descend onto the trail which heads east for a short while before turning north.

The route, at first, follows an old woods road that can be waterlogged and muddy in spots.

There are lots of trails in this area, providing a lot of options to hike in and out. Ignore the first junction, known as Gravestone Junction, which leads to a spur trail. Shoot for the second junction which leads to a second spur trail.

You’ll pass over this footbridge…

Both spur trails are blazed yellow and they both lead to the same spot, a third junction called Times Square. But the Big Rock trail on the west side of Frick Pond has the amazing boardwalks you see below. They’re so so great and such a joy to walk.

Hang on, first you’ll pass a very large, very old pine tree…

A real glory. Okay, then you hit the…

Frick Pond Boardwalks

So much boardwalk. The boardwalks on the north side of Colgate Lake are great. But these boardwalks are next level boardwalks!

Times Square

Times Square is a massive open grassy crossroads. From the junction, keep following the Big Rock Trail which heads northeast toward Beech Mountain.

There are more junctions to navigate but the hiking is very easy.

Beech Mountain Bushwhack

Make your way to the southern ridge of Beech Mountain and begin your bushwhack. I got a little off track and ended up having to scramble up a steep incline. You’ll be better off sticking to the center of the ridge as you make your way up to the summit.

On the other hand, if you follow the smart route, you won’t get to visit the first of the three lighting trees. The one on Beech mountain is at 41.978138 N, 74.702100 W.

Beech Mountain has no obvious summit. You’ll have to mosey around until you’re satisfied you’ve found the highest hump.

At this point, I took a break and paused my GPS recording — and then forgot to turn it back on for 30 or 40 minutes; so you’ll notice a short lacuna in my track above.

I remember that making my way to the unmaintained woods road that runs around the north edge of the summit was not easy. The terrain is not as flat as suggested by the contours.

However, the old woods road is hard to miss, and makes a good handrail for coming and going to Mongaup.

Beech / Mongaup Col

The col between Beech and Mongaup mountains is one of the most strange and special locations in all the Catskills. I will redo this hike some day just to revisit it. Let me tell you why.