The Soda Range (Nun-Da-Ga-O Loop) 10-8-2018

Big Crow Mountain's summit.

I had a few ideas lined up for the holiday weekend. Big Crow & the Nun-Da-Ga-O loop in the Soda Range was actually Plan D. To say the least, the weekend had been stressful for Kailee. As a parent, letting her catch up on sleep & going on a moderate hike seemed like the best option for her.

So, we rolled with Plan D.

A cool outcrop. Lost Pond (center).

This hike begins at the Crow's Clearing trailhead in Keene. We were already familiar with Big Crow Mountain. It's a 15-20 minute hike over 7/10th of a mile to the summit. It was overcast, so views were limited.

After tagging Big Crow, we backtracked a little to the Nun-Da-Ga-O loop trail split.
The Nun-Da-Ga-O trail is a pretty old ridge trail. The people who cut it thought it needed an "exotic" sounding name. So, they corrupted the word "Onondaga" by moving the first "O" to the end and changed the second "O" to a "U."

Looking at it from a modern perspective, their naming strategy may be questionable... But, the route that they cut is a thing of beauty. The 6.8 mile trail doesn't tag every summit along the ridge, but it hits numerous ledges. It was overcast, so our views from these ledges was limited. The "fun factor" of this trail made up for it.

Nice ridge trail!

The trail traverses from Big Crow to the summit of 3106' (an unnamed peak), over the shoulder of Coal Dirt Hill onto the summit of Weston Mountain before descending to Lost Pond.

We had some limited views by the time we hit Weston Mountain...

Arriving at Lost Pond, we joked and yelled "Hey, Lost Pond! You're not lost anymore!"
Near the pond, we passed a lean-to in impeccable shape and a campsite.

Lost Pond

From Lost Pond back to Crow's Clearing, the trail kinda dragged along.

We arrived back at the trailhead just as the Sun was setting. This is a really cool hike & we both agreed to try it again on a much clearer day.

Note: There are a lot of options for hiking at Crow's Clearing. You can keep your hike short... Or, for the extra ambitious - you can create a much bigger hike-traverse-loop with the options for Hurricane Mountain & Little Crow Mountain.