Shingletree Pond Trail

Shingletree Pond.

Shingletree Pond trail is a two mile out and back trail that begins at Courtney Pond on Route 9 in North Hudson.

Kailee & I first tried this fun little hike last year and had another go at it on August 15. It's about a thousand feet away from Sharp Bridge Campground.

Courtney Pond itself is a lovely little body of water & it's worth checking it out a little before you do the trail. If you are into water snakes, then walk along the grass between Route 9

Courtney Pond.

Water Snake!

and the pond and there's a good chance you'll see one. I've seen a water snake there that's over three feet long on numerous occasions & during our most recent visit I saw three of them.

Anyhow, the Shingletree trailhead is just to the right of the Courtney Pond parking lot. You cross a few foot bridges over some swampy terrain. Then you come to the trail register. It's a low key trail... Our registry from last year was on the previous page to this year's entry.


You then work your way around half of Courtney Pond through the woods. The trail is next to the

Rock blown away when they built the Northway.

 Northway and the noise of traffic can be heard. Also, you'll see rocks with holes through them as a result of being blown up and falling to their current resting spot as a result of the Northway's construction.

Soon, you come to a runoff stream and a private well. Follow the runoff to the fence and climb up the trail to... The Northway underpass!!!

The underpass is cool in more ways than one! It's an egg shaped tunnel about a hundred feet below the highway and on a hot Summer day it's 10-20 degrees cooler than the outside air.

Underpass!

You may want to bring a flashlight to proceed. But, we've done fine without one in our two Shingletree treks.

Once you pop out, you're at the secluded Shingletree Pond in the Dix wilderness. This trail can be used as an access point to bushwhacking the mountains in the area. Obviously, we weren't there to do that, so we relaxed & took some pictures before heading back.

Shingletree Pond.

As a note: the Shingletree pond trail borders private land. Pay close attention to the trail on the way back... Last year Kailee & I ended up lost for about 20 minutes in a ravine before working our way back to the trail.

Shingletree Pond trail is pretty fun. It has some nice scenery and the underpass is really fun!
Give it a shot if you're ever in the area!