Klipnocky State Forest

Discover

At Klipnocky State Forest, the most interesting travel story may be under your feet. This Allegany County forest extends across Almond, Birdsall, and Burns, and DEC describes a rocky landscape with former quarries, old agricultural traces, conifer plantings, and native woodland. The Finger Lakes Trail, sharing its route here with the North Country National Scenic Trail, provides a way to connect those subjects without treating them as unrelated roadside curiosities.

Begin with the quarry history. DEC identifies several old quarry sites and explains that the most recent operation supplied stone for the Almond Dam during the 1940s. Some quarry spaces were later converted into wildlife ponds. That sequence makes a useful framework for the walk: extraction changed the land, and subsequent management gave some of those altered spaces another role. It does not mean every quarry will appear as a large exposed cliff or that every pond is visible from any chosen access point. Use the current trail map to connect the places you actually intend to see.

The trail also crosses the divide between the St. Lawrence and Susquehanna drainage systems. A watershed boundary can be less visually obvious than a gorge, yet it gives a ridge walk a larger geographic context. Water leaving opposite sides of the divide belongs to different river systems. Consider that relationship while looking at the folds of the terrain, rather than searching for a dramatic physical marker. A forest can carry an important geographic boundary without displaying it as a monumental attraction.

Another layer is the former farmland. According to DEC, nearly half the forest was once cleared, and stone walls and larger rocks remain among its historical traces. Let those features stay where they are. From an established route, a wall can be photographed as a line that interrupts or echoes the tree trunks; it does not need to become a climbing surface or a collection of souvenirs. The surrounding vegetation adds another contrast, with native hardwoods and hemlock alongside planted conifers associated with reforestation.

For route planning, the named long-distance trail is a better organizing tool than a collection of old quarry pins. Select an out-and-back or another clearly mapped arrangement suited to your experience, and check the current Finger Lakes Trail information as well as DEC's property map. An older account of a longer journey may include private-land passages, stream crossings, or access arrangements that do not describe the outing available today. Do not turn a historical itinerary into current directions without checking each segment.

The forest's unusual name comes with folklore, including stories DEC recounts about the Hairy Women of Klipnocky. Treat that material as local storytelling, not a wildlife claim or a reason to leave the trail searching for evidence. The verified landscape already supplies plenty of subjects: worked stone, water occupying former industrial spaces, planted and native trees, and a drainage divide. Choose one of those themes for the day and let the others enrich it. Klipnocky works particularly well for travelers who enjoy connecting a trail to the human and geographic processes that shaped the woods around it.

Fun facts

1. Some former quarries became wildlife ponds.
2. The trail crosses the St. Lawrence–Susquehanna drainage divide.
3. DEC presents the Hairy Women of Klipnocky as folklore.

Read the official sources →

Capture

1. Use a visible wall or rock edge as a line through a woodland composition.
2. Photograph a pond from an established route without approaching sensitive habitat.

Social

1/8 Klipnocky layers quarry history into a forest walk.

2/8 Its landscape spans Almond, Birdsall, and Burns.

3/8 Stone from a later quarry operation served the Almond Dam project.

4/8 Some former quarries became wildlife ponds.

5/8 The Finger Lakes Trail shares its route here with the North Country Trail.

6/8 A drainage divide links this local walk to two major river systems.

7/8 Local folklore adds a story, not a wildlife guarantee.

8/8 Bring a current map and a curiosity about landscapes that change. #Cre8Travel

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Sources & visitor information

• Visitor information — dec.ny.gov
• Source — fingerlakestrail.org
• OpenStreetMap — destination identity