by Bill Ingersoll
Published: November 2009
While there are many miles of trail in New York, it is also important to forego all trails every once and a while and simply plot your own course through the woods. The southern Adirondacks provide abundant opportunities for the wilderness explorer to penetrate into nooks and crannies where few people ever go. Winter is an especially good time for this kind of travel, when snow blankets the underbrush and ice solidifies the running streams.
Here is a trailless route that offers several highlights: a secluded stream valley, a waterfall, an open wetland, and a small mountain with an open view as a destination. While there are easier ways to get the Southerland Mountain, this route from the north makes for a more substantial day in the woods.
Getting There
From NY Route 30 in Wells, turn west onto Algonquin Drive beside the dam on Lake Algonquin. Then turn left onto West River Road at 0.7-mile, and continue southwest to Blackbridge at 2.4 miles. Turn left to cross the bridge over the West Branch Sacandaga River, and immediately bear left again on Hernandez Road. Follow this road to its end, which is a wide turn-around area.
The Trail
From the end of plowing on Hernandez Road, two unplowed forks continue into state land. This was a property that the state purchased in 1964, and the two forks form a short loop. Begin on the right fork, and follow it for 0.15-mile to a small sand pit. Look for a narrow footpath branching off to the right, leading into deep woods. You may be able to follow it for a short distance to a crossing of Vly Creek.
This route will take you up Vly Creek to its headwaters, and the best walking conditions are found on the east bank. Cross the creek on the available logs, or else find some other way across, and then parallel the stream as you head south. You may find a path benched into the hillside set back from the stream, and the walking is certainly easiest here.
Twenty minutes from the start, you reach Vly Creek Falls. It is located within a narrow gorge, but its orientation is unusual in that rather than flowing over a headwall, the stream sneaks around to spill into the gorge from the side. It is not a completely vertical cascade, but the total drop is some 30 or 40 feet, and with care it is possible to descend the bank for a close view.
The valley opens up considerably above the falls, and it is forested with rich hemlock stands. Continue to follow the creek’s east bank, ultimately reaching the large vly, or open wetland, that gives the creek its name. Here, the weathered remains of dozens of white pines stand guard around the meadow, permitting views of the surrounding mountains and ridges. From this vantage, Southerland appears as a series of steep-sided, spruce-covered peaks to the southeast.
The best views on Southerland Mountain are found on the southernmost of its three summits, and the best approach is to circle around the east side of the vly and pass below the foot of the northern slopes, following the uppermost reaches of Vly Creek. The valley quickly comes to a “V,” with the bulk of Southerland Mountain to your left and a long ridge rising straight ahead. At this point a small stream drains the notch between the middle and southern summits of Southerland, and this is the route I always use to climb the mountain. Hemlock crowns the southern summit, which will be on your right; look for the wide-open ledges along the southern face.
The Groff Creek valley is clearly defined before you, and with the aid of a map you can easily identify Groff Mountain, Cathead with its fire tower, Wallace, and Three Ponds Mountain at the head of Devorse Creek, and King Vly Mountain. A corner of Great Sacandaga Lake is also visible. A smaller ledge to the northwest extends the view back toward Vly Creek and Finch Mountain.
There may well be other views elsewhere on the middle summit, and if you have allowed yourself plenty of time you will be able to vary your return route by following the ridgeline north before descending toward Vly Creek. Another nearby landmark worth checking out is pond-like King Vly, located to the west of Southerland.
Bill Ingersoll of Barneveld is publisher of the Discover the Adirondacks guidebook series (hiketheadirondacks.com) and author of Snowshoe Routes: Adirondacks & Catskills. For more on this region, consult Discover the Southern Adirondacks by Barbara McMartin and Bill Ingersoll.
