Stewart State Forest

Some of the information below is from the New York DEC web site page for Stewart State Forest. If you would like to read more, visit the site at Stewart State Forest - NY DEC.

There are many, many trails in Stewart State Forest. Some of them are blazed and some of them are not. In planning this series, I searched the web and found a map on the DEC site that shows the blazed trails and roads. The trails are marked with a single circled letter, without any reference to the color of the blaze. You can get a copy of the map by following the link provided above.

If you read the DEC page for Stewart, you might notice further down the page that there is a list of the blazed trails along with a letter. Some of the letters correspond to the trail labels on the DEC map, and, unfortunately, some do not.

I also found a map on another site that provides both the trail name and the blaze color. I’m not providing a link to this map, as it appears to be tied to a book that is available for purchase. You should, however, not have any difficulty finding it on the web. I used this map and a map calibration application to trace the trails and generate the waypoints I used in planning my series and the waypoints supplied on this cache page.

Stewart State Forest is closed to non-hunters during Big Game season. The dates for this season are a little soft, but available information indicates that this is approximately mid-November to the second week of December. The area is open for hiking, biking and exploring during small game season.

The Buffer Hunter Caches

In placing the Buffer Hunter cache series, I stuck mainly to the dirt roads and trails, as I hiked the buffer. Where possible, I will give you the names of the blazed trails, roads and the one lane that I followed. For the trails, I will also supply the letter corresponding to the markings on the DEC map.

The Buffer Hunter series is a set of six caches. The first four caches are traditional hides. The fifth and sixth are mystery caches. In each of the first four caches, there is the name of a cache hunter and the name of a game animal on a label attached to the inside of the container lid. You will need to write down this information and use it to find the fifth cache. To find the sixth cache, you will need to get the information contained in fifth cache and use it to complete the coordinates. The sixth cache is an extra container I ended up with; when brian b generously gave an ammo can he won in a raffle.

If you follow the right trails and roads, you will have a nice loop hike or bike ride. I have ridden some of these trails before, but chose to hike them when hiding the caches. This was in part because I could not easily have ridden a bike with five ammo cans in my pack. The other reason was that I just wanted to walk. So, hike or bike, it is your choice. I know I really enjoyed hiking the trails…

Buffer Hunter Series: #4 - Dark Woods

From #3 - Horse Trail Hunting, continue along the Horse Trail (Red - listed as a minor trail) to the intersection with the Windsor Woods Trail (Blue - G). This section of the Windsor Woods Trail is also labeled as the Preem Hill Trail on another map. There is also another trail here that is shown, but not labeled on the DEC map. The other map shows it as the Senior Hill Trail. Turn right on the Windsor Woods Trail and follow it to the cache.

You are looking for an small lock & lock.

Remember to collect the codes. If you have the codes from this cache and the others, you should be all set to find the fifth in the series. I suggest you make your way to New Rd. I've provided two waypoints, but the choice of trails is yours. The one I followed will get you back to the Pittman-Robertson Trail (Yellow - E) near its trailhead on New Rd.