Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Ok, maybe I'm slow, but I just realized Hike (up a mountain) and Hike (the football) would make a good pun.
The numbers are my 4th overall round of the Catskill 3500' peaks, there being by coincidence 35 of them, and my 2nd Winter round. Avid readers may remember my 'Big W' post a few years back when I finished my first W35, accompanied by my long suffering girlfriend (eventually, wife, Laurie), and even longer suffering children. This hike was almost the same, in that Laurie and 2 of my 3 offspring sprang at the chance to go with me. Fir was my very first hike of any consequence, so it was a fitting place to come full circle.
We bagged the plans to do the Eclipse hike due to cloudy weather, and instead opted for a more normal 9:30 AM start time, from Biscuit Brook P.A. There was a host of people already in the parking lot! 9 people had already started up the trail, so trail breaking and route finding were left to other folks. There was only a few inches of powder anyway, so microspikes and bare boots were the order of the day.
We followed the trail up and over the PUD that must be crossed due to PP restrictions. Down at the lean-to, we had a break and discovered that a herd of slobs had descended on the lean-to over the past few weeks. There were 2 tarps, 5 grills, several first aid kits, a 5-gallon plastic bag, and a variety of other trash. Trash, you say? Some of that stuff sounds useful. Well, maybe it used to be. The first aid kits had been bitten into, one of the tarps was shredded, the plastic bag had a hole in it, etc., etc. Let this be a lesson to those who are lazy or at best thinking the misguided thought that leaving stuff behind at a lean-to is a good idea. It's not! Pack it in, pack it out! And that we did, when we later returned from the summit.
My daughter and son do not hike much. (They stay fit playing Ultimate Frisbee and other pursuits. My proudest sports accomplishment is that I have 3 children who can throw a Frisbee side-arm in competition!
) Mostly my daughter was a little slow going up the mountain, complaining of a slight hip flexer problem. This is a common malady of new hikers. She took frequent breaks, but she was game and made it to the top with us in about 3 hours. My son seemed a little lighter on his feet. (They both fell asleep in the car on the way back! ). He is an avid birder and told all about the birds we saw today, including, I kid you not, a Great Blue Heron! We also saw a Barred Owl, some hawks, Kinglets, Chickadees, woodpeckers, etc.
The summit celebration was low key, but it was special to have my wife and kids in attendance. We did not stay a whole long time, and after food and drink, we were off, back down the now well beaten trail. The downhill trip was only 2 hours, including a stop to pack out the trash. A man happened by who had just left his glasses there, and when he saw all the crap we had, he asked if we were rangers. We said we were trail workers, who just could not stand to see the lean-to, and thereby the wilderness, be trashed. Maybe we sewed a seed...
The hike was over fairly early, since I did not want to push my kids over to Big Indian, so we drove home and had a few celebratory beverages, including Infinium, a delicious large bottle of Ale from Sam Adams, brought by our good friend Paula.
One more great day in the woods!
The numbers are my 4th overall round of the Catskill 3500' peaks, there being by coincidence 35 of them, and my 2nd Winter round. Avid readers may remember my 'Big W' post a few years back when I finished my first W35, accompanied by my long suffering girlfriend (eventually, wife, Laurie), and even longer suffering children. This hike was almost the same, in that Laurie and 2 of my 3 offspring sprang at the chance to go with me. Fir was my very first hike of any consequence, so it was a fitting place to come full circle.
We bagged the plans to do the Eclipse hike due to cloudy weather, and instead opted for a more normal 9:30 AM start time, from Biscuit Brook P.A. There was a host of people already in the parking lot! 9 people had already started up the trail, so trail breaking and route finding were left to other folks. There was only a few inches of powder anyway, so microspikes and bare boots were the order of the day.
We followed the trail up and over the PUD that must be crossed due to PP restrictions. Down at the lean-to, we had a break and discovered that a herd of slobs had descended on the lean-to over the past few weeks. There were 2 tarps, 5 grills, several first aid kits, a 5-gallon plastic bag, and a variety of other trash. Trash, you say? Some of that stuff sounds useful. Well, maybe it used to be. The first aid kits had been bitten into, one of the tarps was shredded, the plastic bag had a hole in it, etc., etc. Let this be a lesson to those who are lazy or at best thinking the misguided thought that leaving stuff behind at a lean-to is a good idea. It's not! Pack it in, pack it out! And that we did, when we later returned from the summit.
My daughter and son do not hike much. (They stay fit playing Ultimate Frisbee and other pursuits. My proudest sports accomplishment is that I have 3 children who can throw a Frisbee side-arm in competition!
) Mostly my daughter was a little slow going up the mountain, complaining of a slight hip flexer problem. This is a common malady of new hikers. She took frequent breaks, but she was game and made it to the top with us in about 3 hours. My son seemed a little lighter on his feet. (They both fell asleep in the car on the way back! ). He is an avid birder and told all about the birds we saw today, including, I kid you not, a Great Blue Heron! We also saw a Barred Owl, some hawks, Kinglets, Chickadees, woodpeckers, etc.The summit celebration was low key, but it was special to have my wife and kids in attendance. We did not stay a whole long time, and after food and drink, we were off, back down the now well beaten trail. The downhill trip was only 2 hours, including a stop to pack out the trash. A man happened by who had just left his glasses there, and when he saw all the crap we had, he asked if we were rangers. We said we were trail workers, who just could not stand to see the lean-to, and thereby the wilderness, be trashed. Maybe we sewed a seed...
The hike was over fairly early, since I did not want to push my kids over to Big Indian, so we drove home and had a few celebratory beverages, including Infinium, a delicious large bottle of Ale from Sam Adams, brought by our good friend Paula.
One more great day in the woods!
