Hello all, Sorry about the quick report and that it took so long to get back to people, I don't have internet at home and was in a rush last night.
I accessed the trail at the Big Hollow Rd trailhead, also called County Road 56. A search for Big Hollow Rd trailhead should give you good directions to it. The road out to the trailhead is dirt the last 1/4 mile or so, but it was passable in a sedan as of yesterday. Park at the trailhead and follow the sign for Black Dome/ Thomas Cole Mt. Basically, you follow the red trail the entire way. Very little snow on the mountain, just a few patches here and there, but there was some ice on the trail is spots, but nothing major, just something to be careful about. We didn't have micro spikes or anything like that, but we each slipped and fell at least once! The trail rises about 1800' to the top of Black Dome Mt, and much of the trail is covered in loose rocks, so it's certainly a strenuous hike. I'd plan for it to take at least 2 or 3 hours to get to where the bird was seen and another 2 hours to get back down. It's 1.7 miles to the saddle between Black Head and Black Dome, then about .6 miles to the peak of Black Dome. The peak of Black Dome isn't obvious (I never saw a marker) but the finch was seen between the two viewpoints on Black Dome. As you ascend the mountain from the saddle between blackhead and black dome, you'll get to a very obvious viewpoint that faces east (towards Black Head) where several trees have been cut down to enhance the view. The times on my photos show that after about 10-15 minutes of hiking, you should reach the point I saw the Rosy Finch. There was a dead Balsam Fir still standing, it's branches over the path, and the finch was in this tree, and a birch next to it where it sat eating seeds. Unfortunately, the whole summit about about 3500' looks the same... If you get to a second lookout, one that faces south, then you're just past where I saw the bird by about a few hundred yards at most. Feel free to email me directly if you have any more questions. I hope that helps, and good luck to anyone who tries for the bird! David Rankin Accord, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
