"and miles to go before I sleep..."

[Chip]

"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."
-Robert Frost

The plan and the crew
Okay, if you're keeping score, put these 3 people on your list of "People I want to Hike With"; Puck, Kevin and likeitsteep.
I posted a trip to do as many miles as possible on the Ct A.T. and these were my cohorts.
We ended up doing 24 miles today.

Puck met me at 6:05 at out car spot for the end of the hike. He and his teenage son have completed most of the 48's and he's done alot of hiking on the Ct Blue Dot trails but little on the A.T.. He is very knowledgable about birds and is a pleasure to have on a hike.

We met Kevin and Likeitsteep at the 16 mile bail-out car spot.
Kevin loves everything associated with trails and hiking, including trail maintenance and the coincidental trail observances like the Civil War Vet gravemarker and colonial home stone foundation he spotted today. Kevin does not like to rush his hike, so he planned on falling behind and finishing at the 16 mile mark.

Likeitsteep is in the "music biz" in Manhattan which made for interesting conversation. He's into his growing family, biking, the Catskills and the Gunks. He's the one who probably could have kept on hiking today.

So we started at West Cornwall Rd and headed south. The weather was cool this morning, about 45 and probably peaked at 60. The sky was broken only by jet-trail.

Bueller... Bueller...?
I had several moments of trail blaze loss today which added a couple hundred feet to our hike. When you're supposed to be on a trail it's a little disconcerting not to be. The blazes in many spots just weren't there or the trail after a road or stream crossing had been washed out and wasn't apparent. No great loss. We made good time to the 16 mile point and here we were all feeling fine and that 16 miles would not have been enough. We had lunch at Mt Algo Lean-To, replenished our water supply and headed up into the Scaghticoke section. This is my favorite section of the Ct A.T., generally...this afternoon after our morning it seemed too long and too steep and too rocky...but we made it through.

All told a great day. 16 miles wasn't enough, 20 miles would have been fine and 24 was a bit long, but I feel pretty good right now. A bit of chafing, but that may be more info than you were looking for, so I'll end this trip report with a link to todays photos.
The last 2 photos are several of the Catskills High Peaks visible in the west.
Thanks for looking.

http://www.parazz.com/albums/chipdiane

 

[una_dogger]

Awesome!!!

Excellent mileage!!!

I too hiked the AT today (and yesterday ) in NY just a hop and a skip and a jump south of you.
GREAT weather for hiking!!

Enjoyed your report!

 

[Puck]

It was a great day. The weather could not have been better. It was a great conditioning hike....a kick start to the season. I was sucking wind towards the end. PUDS can do that. Hope to get to the point this season to do two hikes like that back to back.

It was great meeting you guys. I enjoyed the hike and the conversation. I told my son that we drove to the trailhead listening to ELP and that I met a friend of his violin teacher. He wants to hang with us next time.

 

[likeitsteep]

hey chip. thanks for the kind words and the great trip. kevin and i had a great time. the views were killer along the ridge following the housatonic. thanks again for pacing and keeping the tempo rolling. always nice to have a "rabbit" to chase. my left knee is a little stiff today, but feel well in general. needless to say, i slept like a baby last night. it was great to meet you and puck yesterday. let's hike again in the near future. i promise to keep the mosquitos away from you. ha ha.

 

[cbcbd]

Awesome stuff! Good to see you guys all made it through. I can't imagine going up Mt Algo after already having done 16 miles, that is one steep section. Thanks for the pics, Chip, now I am off winter mood and ready to get on to Summer

 

[Kevin]

Notes from the 'Sweeper'.... Or was he????

What a great way to start an amazing Spring hike, with a time change and little sleep... Although that I know others in the group had less even...

Likeitsteep (Rob) and I got to the Rte341 trailhead right at 6am, got ready and kicked back waiting for Chip and Puck... Which was dangerous as Rob pointed out how easy it would be to go back to sleep. The guys showed up right on time, we loaded up in Chip's truck and headed up North to the West Cornwall Rd trailhead. Most of the crew went the pasty white way and went to shorts which was a good thing as the it got warm by the end of the day, loaded packs and we took off. I did have to make the comment that at least the sun was finally rising, it would have been just wrong to have an alpine start in April on a trail in CT, but we all had some serious miles to pass and we all wanted to do our goals.

After about a half a mile, I watched as the other three took off like a paceline in the Tour de France, and I was more like the slow old guy with the baguette hanging off the back of the bike with some wine and a Gitane in the corner of my mouth... Although it was a salami on hardroll sandwich, some gatorade and no smoking...

At my leisurely pace I had a great time, I knew there was no way I would be able to keep up these guys, and never tried, I planned to hike as far as Rte341 and knew I would be more then happy (and sore...)

I was noticing by the wet footprints at the water crossings that I was only a few minutes after these guys, maybe only 15 minutes or so off, so I was happy with my pace. It was fairly cool and windy in some of the deeper notches, or areas that were shaded. So depending on what direction, up or down, I just zipped or unzipped the 'ol jacket... As for the trail conditions in this neck of the woods, they have done a great job, well marked, looked like some freshly painted blazes even, with little or no blowdowns from the winter.

I finally stopped for a few moments at Caesar Brook campsite, snacked a bit, stretched, and kept meandering south. I enjoyed a great rising sun at the Pine Knob lookout, the valley had just started to fill with sun and it was beautiful. I am a major fan of the sunrises from the Riga Shelter, but I have now found another area that would be great to enjoy one as well... It would be even better if there was water near by.

I crossed CT4, enjoyed the scenery at Guinea Brook, and headed up Silver Hill. This was the only section I found that there maybe some thought into re-routing/re-doing this section... Some wild switchbacks, you head up through some steep little notches... Just a little rethought into the section.

It was really windy gaining the top of Silver Hill, enjoying bright blue skies and great views. I did a quick look in at the Silver Hill campsite, looks great, but I have found out that water pump is not working there. This was according to the signs at the trailhead at the northern end of River Road. It was not posted at that CT4 trailhead.

I stopped for a few moments at the springs near the trailhead, treated some water; I had already slurped over a quart of my vino... er Gatorade.

I hit the Hoosy and enjoyed more amazing views and the bright sun. I finally met the first person of the day on the trail, the first of many, lots of people were out enjoying a beautiful day along this stretch of the trail. I ran into a group of guys that I stopped and chatted with a few minutes; It was a group of 'older' guys that were out for an early season training hike, one was an AT section hiker as well, Painted Turtle. In chatting with them I found out the other three in my party were only about a half an hour ahead of me... WOW... I figured that they were already to Rte 341 by the way they left skid marks...

I stopped about 11am at the Stewart Hollow lean to for an early lunch. It looks like it has weathered the winter very well and already for the next crew of thru hikers this season...

After about a half an hour I got up, 'Wow these legs are getting stiff'... I did a little stretching and started hiking again... But I noticed that the spring was not so much in the steps anymore... I passed along a few more hidden cellars and ruins of cellars. I wondered what the dates were on some of these old 'houses', they would have had amazing views of the river in their front yards. Many of the fields that are around them are still in use even... I found a few discarded corn cobs that the local four footed and feathered residents have enjoyed and tossed on the trail, so much for LNT...

By the time I hit the parking area at the end of River Road, I was getting tired, but still maintaining a decent pace. By the time I hit the parking area at the bottom of St Johns Ledges, I looked up... looked down at the feet... looked back up... looked back at the feet, at which point I thought I heard them say, 'you can go that way, were sticking to the river road'...

So needless to say, two of them, one of me, I believe in democracy, and hoofed it along the river. So my part of the AT hike was over and I started my stroll though the woods...

All along the way the only thing I could think of was to stop, take the boots off and find a nice rock to sit on and cool the feet off... Looking back I should have too. I had a great time just strolling, I knew I had a few hours before the rest of the gang would show up back at Rte341, so I took my time. The most interesting thing I found along the way of this hike, as Chip mentioned, was that of a gravestone for a Civil War soldier... I noticed an American Flag waving just off the road, thought a bit out of place, walked over to it and low an behold, there was this marker that is maintained. Not something you see every day as you hike, and defiantly something I would never had known had I walked this way. I have been coming to this area for a number of years too, and never even knew it was there.

I hit the road heading to Kent School, took a right onto Rte341, and with in a few minutes was back at the car.

I was very happy to take off the shoes, the 10 little guys all thanked me and introduced me to their new friend that is staying with me for a few days, Mr Ball of Foot Blister... OUCH! If did not bother me until I took my shoes off, and smack dab in the middle of the foot is nice sized deep blister.

After about 10 minutes I heard some voices, looked across the field and low and behold, the guys were strolling my way... It turns out that by me taking the detour I did, I was able to beat them, I figured that they were on they were well past Mt Algo and on their way to Bulls Bridge.

We chatted a few minutes, it was almost 2pm, they still had not stopped for lunch, but had planned to stop at the Mount Algo lean-to to do some eats and drinks. I was invited, but the last thing I wanted to do was put the boots back on for that steep uphill.

So I waited around Kent for the gang to return, grabbed some ice cream, mmmm... took about 3 naps to make up for lost time sleeping, and generally just kicked back and relaxed. Here is a little disappointing side note; I stopped by Backcountry Outfitters, it had been quite a while since I had been in there. I was quite disappointed by the place, wow, heavy on the clothes, very light on gear, footwear, books and such. I hope it was just a 'low' point in their stocking waiting to gear up for the summer.

They guys got back at about 6ish... apparently those last few PUDs got to them... We all said our good byes and all appreciated a great day and about on the trail... As we all said, what a beautiful day!

Kevin

 

[Chip]

After about a half a mile, I watched as the other three took off like a paceline in the Tour de France, and I was more like the slow old guy with the baguette hanging off the back of the bike with some wine and a Gitane in the corner of my mouth... Although it was a salami on hardroll sandwich, some gatorade and no smoking...
Kevin

That's hilarious, thanks for added info. The only thing you forgot was...
"German Engineerink in da HOUSE, ja !"

 

[Kevin]

OH SHNAP.... I forgot!

 

[Puck]

Kevin
It was nice meeting you, although briefly

 

[jjo]

Excellent report and GREAT photos....Nice job!!Thanks