Return to Hell Mountain

 August 1, 2026
Hill & Dale Preserve 
6.87 miles
2h57m

At the beginning of August, Hannah and I returned to Hell Mountain for another trail ride. This time we didn't encounter anything paranormal, though there was a conspicuous lack of horses on the farm in question when I drove by. 

It was a hot day and we had no goal except to put some miles on Max. One thing we noticed on this ride was that there were wild cherries growing all over the place! 

We parked on Parsonage Lot Road again. This time, we started the loop in the opposite direction of our previous visit. This led to some pretty dead ends as we wound our way through the woods. This is another trail system I should carve out time to explore. I have some hunter pace routes saved and should really do something with that information.

Merlin drinks out of a little spring-fed stream.

We made our way to Dinner Pot road, where Max slowed down a bit due to the gravel. I have since figured out boots for his hind feet, but on this day he was barefoot behind. 

There was a house with chainsaw sculptures in the wooded front yard and we paused to take them in.

Fancy front gate.

Butterfly rock.

Possibly a likeness of our creepy friend from the previous trip. 

We spotted a freshly cleared side trail that looked promising, got us off the gravel, and looked like it might lead in the direction we ultimately wanted to go. We couldn't resist a detour. 

While lovely, this detour proved to go nowhere and we wound up making a little dogleg back to the gravel road. Max got to do his first real rocky stretch of trail. Sorry, bud. 

Dinner Pot Road eventually took us to Fieldview Lane, which I am familiar with. We rode up the front of the property that led to our adventure last time. Now we were determined to figure out how to connect our new route to our old route.

This involved riding through a development of literal mansions. Also a dead end, by the way.

After staring at the satellite map on our phones for a long time, we thought we saw a promising clearing to our right. Away we went! 

It's possible there used to be a trail here once upon a time, but it has since overgrown. Nonetheless, we were bound and determined to end up in the field at the bottom of this hill. I did dismount because it was steep and I couldn't see the footing through the brush. 

It turns out Max was a surefooted pro and a master of bushwhacking. I probably could have ridden him down. This saintly creature doth not protest too much, methinks. 

Good boy, Maxwell.

Victory awaited us at the bottom of the hill and we emerged into the aforementioned field. Unfortunately, we were accompanied by masses of sticktights. This seems to be a theme for me this year. I was able to get them off of Max's legs and tail pretty easily, but my pants were essentially destroyed and I had a rash by the end of the ride. 

Horse riding is so glamorous. 

While Max carried calmly on, Merlin was quite displeased with the itchy, pokey, terrible things. He did not approve of our shortcut. 

You can see the steepness of the hill and the sticktights all over my legs.

Having connected to our previous route, Hannah and I decided to retrace our steps down the driveway, then follow the trail markers left up the road to see where the trail went.

The answer was a series of picturesque crop fields on the far side of Hill and Dale Road. We skipped the Cold Brook Preserve that day because I wasn't trying to kill Max with mileage, but it would be interesting to combine this route with the preserve for a longer trail option next time. 

When we reached the pavement again, we agreed we weren't quite ready to take the shortest way back. Instead, we followed Hill and Dale out to Rockaway Road. 

Along the way, we saw a very good dog who didn't even move from its spot on the front stoop when we went by. We also saw some less good e-scooter riders who came whizzing by without slowing down at all. They also wouldn't say hello back when we tried to encourage them to speak for the horses' sakes. Fortunately, both horses are solid citizens and didn't spook at this development.

Developing better self carriage already.

Lots of riding on quiet country roads.

We almost didn't see the dog!

Naughty scooter folks in the distance.

At the end of the road, we paused in the creek to let the horses drink and cool their feet. It was very peaceful.

We headed back onto the singletrack trail across the street and climbed a series of steep switchbacks (Max's first with me). By this point, I think his little booty was getting tired and he sort of ran out of steam on the last turn. He paused for a moment, then gave a little grunt and pushed off behind to continue climbing. Hills are hard, man.

Hannah took this from around the bend. You can see it's quite a climb in a short stretch.

So lush and green!

From the Hill & Dale Preserve, we caught a glimpse of the view in the direction from which we came. We could see the little red barn that's at the top of the long driveway we keep riding down. The perspective was really cool!

Overlooking the valley we rode through. Round Mountain visible on the left. Red barn on the right.

From there, it was a short mosey back to the trailer. It turns out we had perfect timing and Mike came rolling up the road on his motorcycle to say hello mere moments after we dismounted. Max is already starting to recognize the sound of Mike's bikes and perked up when he saw the Cookie Man cometh. 

Hannah had things to do and wrapped up pretty quickly while I sponged Max in the parking lot and let him nibble some grass. Then Mike accompanied me back to the barn and helped me feed. 

It was a glorious way to spend a Saturday. Max earned a day off so Mike and I spent Sunday relaxing at Round Valley with Bonnie. But don't worry! More adventure awaited Max the following week.