I headed out to Surry Mountain Preserve today. Really pretty day, but it was very windy. Luckily, I was never exposed and the wind didn't affect me too much. What it had affected was the debris. I parked at the trailhead on Old Gilsum Road. This was a lollipop hike again. Lots of those lately! First surprise of the day was a boot brush right at the trailhead with a sign to brush off your muddy boots! Never seen that before. The trails were creatively called Red Trail and Yellow Trail. Red Trail started at the trailhead and is also used by mountain bikes, although I thought it was very technical for bikes (but not being a rider, I can't truly say). Red Trail was more of an old road, wide and relatively easy going. Just over a mile in, the Yellow Trail splits off giving the option for a loop. I decided to take Yellow Trail first, returning the entire way on Red. The trails don't hit any actual peaks or anything scenic, rather head over a small ridge. They are well marked, but Yellow was a bit harder to follow in places, particularly with all the debris. Lots of small to medium sized debris, and a couple larger blowdowns as well. Nothing impassable, but I did find myself wandering off trail quite a few times. I never got far before realizing and was able to backtrack and reset easily enough. Along the trail at one point there were some rock cairns and structures that the guide says the source and origin is unknown, which was interesting. It was here that I had my only real problem, which once I figured it out, it was obvious, but I saw a blaze (the blazes are arrows) and headed in the direction of the arrow only to realize it wasn't the trail. It took me a solid 5 minutes before I realized the blaze I was looking at was for people coming in the opposite direction. Once I made that correction, it was was obvious and I was able to continue. The destination of both the Red and Yellow trails is Lily Pond. Just before reaching the pond on Yellow Trail, per the AMC Guide there was an unmarked path that led 0.2 miles to Rocky Gorge. I was a bit nervous about finding and following this path after the adventures on Yellow Trail with debris, but it ended up being very obvious and rather easy to follow. I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for, but once I reached it, I knew I had arrived. A small brook with an impressive eroded rock formation. I backtracked to Yellow Trail and continued around to meet back up with Red Trail and took the short spur down to the pond. There was a little lean to shelter with a firepit where I stopped for a brief rest. I then just followed Red Trail back to the car.
