Tom Rankin
Well-known member
With apologies to The Wizard of Oz... 
It was a great weather day for a hike, nice temperature, a gentle breeze, mostly sunny. Perfect conditions right? Wrong-O!
Balsam is not a really rough hike, so we started out from the trailhead at 10. FlipsBliss met Laurie, me and my friend Tarun, and off we went. Right away, we saw some nettles, but they were easy to get by. This became more and more problematic as we went up. We were all wearing shorts. Ouch, Ouch, Ouch! Fortunately the sting goes away after about 10 minutes.
The nettles finally gave way near the junction at the top of the saddle. But, now the blackberry bushes took over the trail! They were everywhere, up over our heads at times! And there were no berries yet! We picked our way thru as best as we could (with some help from our hiking-poles-turned-machetes) and made it to the summit, where we had some respite. We ate lunch more or less bug free and then headed down the other portion of the loop trail thinking it couldn't be any worse!
It wasn't any worse, but it certainly wasn't any better! This trail needs a *LOT* of brushing out! Flipsbliss and I donned long pants and led the way, trying to clear the path slightly for Tarun and Laurie. We got back to the car at 2:50, a leisurely pace, (Tarun doesn't hike much, and with the nettles, and blackberries, and blisters and cramps, we went pretty slow - poor guy - and he said he enjoyed himself! ).
When we got back to the trailhead, I cooled off in the stream. It was nice and cold! We also had a few 'cold' ones from the cooler!
Another fun day in the Catskills!
It was a great weather day for a hike, nice temperature, a gentle breeze, mostly sunny. Perfect conditions right? Wrong-O!
Balsam is not a really rough hike, so we started out from the trailhead at 10. FlipsBliss met Laurie, me and my friend Tarun, and off we went. Right away, we saw some nettles, but they were easy to get by. This became more and more problematic as we went up. We were all wearing shorts. Ouch, Ouch, Ouch! Fortunately the sting goes away after about 10 minutes.
The nettles finally gave way near the junction at the top of the saddle. But, now the blackberry bushes took over the trail!
They were everywhere, up over our heads at times! And there were no berries yet! We picked our way thru as best as we could (with some help from our hiking-poles-turned-machetes) and made it to the summit, where we had some respite. We ate lunch more or less bug free and then headed down the other portion of the loop trail thinking it couldn't be any worse! It wasn't any worse, but it certainly wasn't any better! This trail needs a *LOT* of brushing out! Flipsbliss and I donned long pants and led the way, trying to clear the path slightly for Tarun and Laurie. We got back to the car at 2:50, a leisurely pace, (Tarun doesn't hike much, and with the nettles, and blackberries, and blisters and cramps, we went pretty slow - poor guy - and he said he enjoyed himself!
).When we got back to the trailhead, I cooled off in the stream. It was nice and cold!
We also had a few 'cold' ones from the cooler! Another fun day in the Catskills!
