Broome County High Point Trip Report

Date: September 17, 2000
Author: David Galvin

The reader can check driving directions to Hunt Road in my Chenango County high points report. Both the Broome and Chenango high points can be completed easily in a single afternoon, as they are all clustered in the same area south of Bainbridge, NY.

To reach the Slawson benchmark from Hunt Road, go west on Hunt from East Afton about five miles. You will cross the paved Melody Hill Road on the way. Take the next left turn after Melody Hill Road, Miller Road. This road is marked by a handwritten sign and is encountered just after you pass Oxbow Road on your right. Take Miller Road a mile south to Perry Road, make a right and then a quick left onto Walker Road. Take this about a mile to its intersection with O'Brien Road on your right. The high point will be less than a half mile up a rough woods road running east from this intersection.

The woods road goes through a low point between two ponds and then skirts another pond on your left before climbing to the high point. The road fades out in some logging slash and blowdown at about 2000'. I was unable to find the benchmark on the flat expanse of the summit. It is probably buried under dead leaves or blowdown. I did find some blue paint blazes, surveyor's ribbons and posted signs, but they only marked a property border. I could find no occupants in the couple of shacks I saw on Walker Road, either, but this is obviously private property.

To reach the second Broome County high point, retrace your route back to East Afton Road and make a right. Take East Afton Road south to Delaware County Route 20 (China Road) and bear right. Turn right into the second (southern) entrance to Oquaga Creek State Park. The high point will be very obvious on your left.

I drove past the service garage by the entrance to an overgrown parking lot by a picnic area and a swing set and parked the car. Taking a compass bearing on the visible top of the hill, basically south, I walked west on a service road to a small brush burning area and headed uphill. In a short time I crossed a trail blazed with white plastic markers running east and west. Continuing past this trail I shortly picked up a line of (mostly) blue paint blazes running uphill, obviously the county line. The high point is bordered by some low ledges past an almost level area, about a half mile from the service road. The eastern, Delaware County, side of the line is obviously higher, and the line drops somewhat steeply to the south past the high point. All of this land is part of the Oquaga State Park and accessible to the public.