Ashokan High Point - 7/4/5

[Tom Rankin]

Monday, Laurie and I went to Ashokan High Point in the Catskills. It's 3080', but starts out at about 1100', so you get some good climb. This trip was very interesting. There are springs along the old road that are cool and delicious. There are large piles of rocks out in the woods. There are several nice, flat camping spots. There are great views at the top, but not all at one time. You have to wander around the summit area to find them. Someone had recently cut down a bunch of trees to get a view of the Ashokan Reservoir. The Burroughs range is visible, as is Table and Peekamoose. Off to the East, you can see Mohonk Tower. Someone also created a few stone chairs at the summit, around a fire ring, in the middle of a large meadow filled with juicy Blueberries. Mmmmmmmm. The defoliation was terrible here. Large parts of the mountain have trees with no leaves. The lack of shade made the hike a little hotter than it would otherwise have been. There was some kind of swallows/swifts/martins at the summit, along with a toe-hee and a few ravens.

On the way down, I saw the back side of a bear! It ran across the trail as fast as a dog could run, and never stopped. It was about 100 feet ahead of us. It was my first bear sighting on a trail. I'd say it was about as large as a St. Bernard, but of course, heavier.

There were quite a few people on the trail, including a couple that had to have been in their 80's. They were slowly walking up the old road with 2 dogs. The man had a leather pouch strapped over his back, and the woman had a backpack on. The man also had pens and a pocket protector in his shirt pocket, a sight that I couldn't help but find amusing.

A very nice hike!