I was with someone who'd been there before and we still spent 20 minutes driving back and forth along the highway. It's a very small trail and the cairn is likewise very small. The book is no help. I remember once we found it we made a note of how to find it in the future. Sadly, we made this note mentally and it's already gone from my brain. I hear the new book will do better on getting you to the start of the route.

Re: Hurricane,

My two cents are that when driving from Keene to Elizabethtown, you will see Hurricane Crag on your left... soon thereafter, there is a pull off with big boulders on your left. This might be private property, but I have parked here twice without any trouble.

If you park here, you can either just head up, trending towards the cliff from the pull off... (welcome to the adirondacks).

The other option is that you can walk back towards Keene for 5 minutes or so, and hope that you see then cairn up the hill from the road. Then just simply follow the trail.

What it comes down to is not to really care if you don't find the trail, as any amount of common sense will get you to the base.

Or go on a weekend - there is usually a car or two there. Last time I drove by there were two big vans plus two SUVs (from Wisconsin! they were top roping down at the lower wall)

To quote DILLBAG.

Chirp.

Any word on when the new guide will be available? Not that I expect the descriptions to be much more explicit, but will include more areas.

The new guide is going to be fantastic. Check out the guidebook web page for some samples. Poko now has just about 200 climbs from 5.9 to 5.13, and there will be up-to-date coverage of the backcountry crags and the newer Southern Adirondack crags. The web page has a new route submission form in case you've been mis-spending your youth up there.

Presumably, the web page will provide distant early warning of the actual publication date, which at one point was rumored to be this fall.

rg -- thanks for the plug.

chip -- you CAN expect descriptions to be better. Here are the directions to Hurricane (copied from the new guide):

"The parking for Hurricane Crag is located on the north side of Route 9N, 5.2 miles west of the intersection with route 9 in Elizabetown, and 4.8 miles east of the intersection with Route 73 near Keene (and 1.3 miles east of the Hurricane Mountain trailhead). The herd path begins on the north side of the road between power poles #107 and #108. There is a large gravel shoulder and room for many cars."

Now you know how to find the trailhead.

Thanks Jim. Looking forward to it. I'm heading up in mid-Sept. Need anyone to check out a couple areas' descriptions? You know, just to make sure that even a maroon like myself can follow it?

Nice Jim, are you going to replace a few 'Lefts' with 'rights' and maybe a '45 minute approach' with some '15 minute approach'...you know...just to maintain the flavor of the Burgundy Bible?

The new guidebook is going to be insanely good. I mean really really useful. Like you'll be able to find the parking lot, and the approach and even the cliff. And the topos are good enough that you won't get lost, even on Wallface.

I can hardly wait to buy my copy.