Stone piles at Snell

Leaving the high stone wall and walking further uphill, I encountered one more low stone wall before reaching the summit. This one starts (or maybe this is the end) on top of an outcrop. You might have to click on the image to see the start of the row between the two large ash trees, center and left:Here is what it looks like from the top, overlooking the boulder/outcrop. This is a two shot panorama. The horizon has a dip in it, similar to the standing stone in the last post:Just to clarify, I am very familiar with this area and where this dip in the horizon is located. So, although the photos may not show it well, I have personal knowledge of the location and appearance.

After that low stone row, I went up to the summit. I was surprised to find a smeared out rock pile right at the summit.Then, descending further to the north, but going back down the western side of the mountain, there is this rock pile just a bit below the summit (summit is visible in the background). Half meter stick is near the pile for scale:Further down, below another ridge of outcrop, was this pile with a "hollow":
So that is all I have for this post. There is one more structure in this area and I'll post about it another time. It's a stone U that is further down the mountain, closer to some agrarian looking stone walls that end mysteriously and don't enclose anything. But, for now, I'll leave you with a nice shot overlooking one of the stone rows that follows the outcrop ridge, looking down to the next level:

The big wall at Snell

In the same area, there is a large stone wall near the summit. This picture is taken looking over one of the turns (stones in the foreground) in the zig-zag wall. I was playing with the aperture setting on the camera to try and get depth of field, but it turns out the picture is a little blurry with the aperture (F-Stop) set at 8.0:This is a close up of what I was trying to capture in the background of the prior picture. Still a little blurry due to the poor aperture setting:Then looking down, over the zig-zag row, to the view in the distance. The F-Stop is at 3.4 in this picture, so it looks much better:This is looking in the opposite direction from the picture above. The stone wall ends where the outcrop begins:Here is a two shot panorama of where the wall meets the outcrop:Going back along the wall, this standing stone gets honorable mention, due to the combination of shapes:The opposite side of that stone, I will stick my neck out a little bit and say that this stone mimics the horizon (I have a better horizon shot in this direction coming up in another post). I am not implying that this is deliberate. I just find it curious.Looking from the side, with the wall close by in the background:One final shot along this same row, which started up again a bit further to the north. This is the same outcrop (same altitude), but now the wall goes over the outcrop instead of joining to it:Instead of following this wall, I proceeded further uphill, to another stone row along an outcrop, before the final summit. That will be the next post.

More from Snell

Here is another structure near the short stone row from the last post. Both this structure and the one in the prior post are close together (although not attached) and visible, one from the other:This is a very low-to-the-ground, zig-zag stone row. This type of structure is very rare around here. To add to the mystery, the row starts and stops without really enclosing anything. Here is the same picture with a red line painted to outline the size of the zig-zag row:Here is a shot at a different angle, looking over the row to the view. This is located very high up near the summit. To get to it, you must ascend past a rocky outcrop from both the east and west sides. The view is stunning.There are more stone walls, which I will post about later. I found only a couple of stone piles, but one appeared to have a hollow. I will post about those later, too.

Snell preview

There is a mountaintop labeled "Snell" on the USGS topo map and I finally got to hike up there. Here is a preview of one little structure at one of the plateaus just below the summit:

Full Camo

I haven't been doing much hiking lately, but I did get to ride down one of the back roads recently. I spotted this guy (or gal) first, in the road. He didn't go too far, and I got these two shots:

This one is a little closer.
If you couldn't see him in the last two shots, here is the second shot trimmed:

Beaver Pond

I went out to a new area, a bit further west than I usually explore. After parking along a dirt road, I hiked over the creek that flows into a beaver pond, straight up the mountain.

This is a rocky area, but there is not much to see going straight up to the top. At the top, I took pictures of a couple of standing stones, but I'm not certain if they are natural or placed.

Here is the first stone I stumbled on. It impressed me enough to take a side view picture, too:

This second is among other rocks, in a place where it's possible to sit or stand in a spot below the stone and see the horizon along the top of the stone. This shot is taken facing east.Hiking back and forth across the peak of the mountain, I finally spotted something promising. This first picture is from the outside looking in. What essentially makes up the back wall is bedrock, or an outcropping.
There is a huge rock in the entranceway and I can't help but think it is a slab that fell off the top, possibly when the trees grew up. It would not make sense at all to build a utilitarian structure with a huge slab in the opening.

Then, this is from the inside, looking out. The opening faces east, very similar to the last standing stone:There is no garbage or farm debris here, and I did not find any cellar holes or clearly "colonial" remnants. The location and elevation also don't make sense from a farmstead standpoint.

Here is one more shot, from the side. I was highly impressed with the wall opening to the right because it is not squared off like the left side is, or like you would find with a cellar hole basement entrance. It is rounded outward.
Toward the back of the structure, I found this stone, although it is just loosely lying there, not necessarily placed, it may have fallen off the stacked drywall construction. It is, nevertheless, intriguing:

Finally, looking around the area some more, I found two rock piles nearby (to the south). This is the nicest looking one of the two:

And one more standing stone.


So, this begs the question of whether or not there are rock piles on the mountain to the east, in the direction of the opening of the structure, which I am surmising is a dilapidated chamber. I am planning to hike to that summit as soon as time permits.

Ludlow Creek State Forest

A small rock pile site in a high spot surrounded by swamp and a creek. This is in Chenango County, NY. I visited this site in the fall and didn't get around to finishing up the post right away, so I'll just go ahead and post without much comment.


That's a piece of bark at the top of the rock pile (although it looks like a stone, it's not):This next picture is trying to capture a long, low to the ground pile that was at the end of a row of piles, near the edge by the swamp: