Tips for Your First Visit

Most important tip: Plan ahead and pack well before you arrive. Remember that a modest trail fee is collected at the Visitor Center to support Hawk Mountain conservation programs. Members are free, and may proceed directly to trail entrance to show membership card.
 
Shoes
Pick shoes with sturdy soles and as much ankle support as possible. Leather is best. Wearing sandals, spiked heels, or sneakers, will result in sores and sprained ankles, and are strongly discouraged.
 
Clothes
Layering is essential, and allows you to adjust clothing depending on the weather and how much you sweat while hiking. There are many excellent, though expensive, clothes made from artificial fabric, with wool the fabric of choice among natural fibers. Remember that it can rain in the fall. A light rain suit, poncho or small plastic tarp is recommended for this particular time of year.
  
Sustenance
No fires are permitted, so leave the trail stove at home. And few people believe it's worth the effort to carry a thermos bottle up the trail. That leaves any cold food or drink of your choice. (Remember that you'll be carrying home any food wrappers, soda cans or bottles. There are no garbage cans at the lookouts.)

Most people opt for a plastic bottle of juice or water; they're easier to carry home when empty.

Sandwiches, cookies, "gorp," trail snacks, or whatever rings your chimes is the food du jour. How much to bring depends on your appetite and how long you expect to stay.

A tip: Hoagies may seem like a convenient idea when you're at home, but they can be really messy in the woods.

Even if you don't expect to get hungry sitting on a rock, watching raptors float by, remember that it will be at least a 15-minute drive after you leave the mountain before you encounter a restaurant or convenient store.
  
Something Soft to Sit On
Hawk Mountain's first curator Maurice Broun sat on "your" rock in 1934 and found it quite uncomfortable. Follow his example and bring something soft to protect you from that unyielding piece of the mountain. Foam pads, folded blankets, your extra garments -- they all work.
 
Binoculars
We mentioned binoculars earlier. It's disappointing to climb the mountain and discover that the birds are soaring by so high or so far north or south of you that people are shouting "Eagle," and all you can see is a dark speck.  If you don't have a pair of binoculars, try to borrow one. (Good luck with that!). As a last resort, you might rent a pair for the day, at the Visitor Center. Bring ID and $10 for deposit.

You may see determined folks trekking up the trail with tripods or large telescopes. That's all right for them; they know what they're doing, and they want to be the first to spot a Peregrine Falcon while it's still in the next county.

But the optic of choice for most people is a pair of binoculars, with magnification of anywhere from seven- to ten-power. If you're ready to buy a pair, start with seven if you can. It will be a long time before you "outgrow" them.

If you're lucky enough to have a pair of 15- or 20-power binoculars around the house, you're almost forced to join those folks with the telescopes, and bring along a tripod to hold your glasses steady.
 
Carrying Stuff
You have several options for bringing your food, drink, optics, a seat pad and some extra clothing up the trail with you. Some of them, unfortunately, could hurt you. Carry a mini-cooler in one hand and a handbag of some sort in the other, and you're bound to become an unbalanced source of merriment for other folks, because you need those hands to maintain your balance on the trail, which is sometimes smooth, but never absolutely flat and level.

The rocky nature of some of the trail will keep you busy watching your step, and you'll want your hands free to keep your balance and occasionally lean against a comforting tree trunk. So please, don't carry anything in your hand, unless perhaps it's a walking staff or a cane.

The safe alternatives for carrying your gear are a fanny pack, a backpack, or a coat with lots of big pockets. A bag of any sort that is slung over one shoulder is going to affect your balance and may easily lead to a sore shoulder or backbone, if it's heavy enough.

Our happiest visitors over the years are the ones who bring their gear in a backpack, pack basket (not a picnic basket, but the kind that you wear on your back, with two shoulder straps), or a simple daypack.

Electronic Devices
Radios, CD players, mini TV sets and cell phones are nice adjuncts to life back home, but we ask you to leave them at home, or, at least in the car, while you visit Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. Most of the people who come here are more interested in hearing the rustle of the wind through the branches, or, hopefully, the call of a bird. Cellphone rings at North Lookout are considered very poor etiquette among visitors, so definitely leave it turned off and use only in case of a true emergency. 

If you have to wear a pager, please set it to vibrate rather than beep, to get your attention.
 
Pets
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary is off limits to dogs, cats, ferrets, gerbils, and any sort of pet you may imagine. If your dog is big, someone is bound to be frightened upon meeting it on the trail. If your dog (or any other kind of pet) is small, it's likely to be frightened by something in the "new" environment. Believe us, you don't want to extend your stay by spending a night in the woods, hunting for a pet that ran after being spooked.

Over the years, it's been our experience that the last thing someone usually hears, before suffering a painful dog bite, is the owner saying, "Oh, my dog won't hurt you." The new surroundings and the large number of strangers can strain the self-control of the most docile pet. 

Finally:
You don't need to knock yourself out getting everything right on your first trip. Talk to people you meet on the mountain, especially the staff and interns who are wearing tan vests. See what other people are doing and using.

If the very idea of climbing a mile to North Lookout makes you tired, just skip it. You can watch for hawks from one of the closer lookouts. The first lookout is wheelchair accessible.

If you are a novice to bird watching don't worry; you'll have plenty of help. Everyone else on the mountain is an expert -- or thinks he or she is. They'll tell you what you're seeing, and give you tips on identifying it the next time.

If you want to familiarize yourself with raptors before you come, there are many good bird-identification books. In particular, we recommend Roger Tory Peterson's "A Field Guide to the Birds" (preferably the version that covers the eastern United States).

Also, you can pick up a handy leaflet at our headquarters that will help you name any hawk, vulture, or eagle that you might see.