big indian/eagle/balsan

[Adk_dib]

I want to double up on a couple of trips. has anyone done eagle and big indian from seager/big indian trail? would be interested in any gps information such as total height and mileage. Also want to double up balsan and belleayre from mapledale trail from the west. again, any gps info would help. eagle and big indian are considered bushwacks. are there any markings leading to summit? any trip reports on these. looking to do balsan this weekend and big indian in a few weeks.

 

[TMax]

No GPS info to share, but Eagle and Big Indian are BARELY bushwacks. The tiny spur trail to Eagle is marked by a cairn. Big Indian is fairly easy to locate, just keep heading up! On the Seager trail it's about a 9 mile hike and 2200' of elevation gain on easy trails. Not a bad day at all.

 

[Mark Schaefer]

The Seager and Rider Hollow approaches are both very attractive with climbs through some beautiful forests. Both have rock hop stream crossings that can be difficult in high water. I suspect both will have receded sufficiently by this weekend to be manageable.

From recent trail reports here and on http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/forums/ you will probably encounter some blowdowns, especially on Big Indian Mt. But it does not sound too bad. The trails in this area do not get as much use as other Catskill trails - so even the marked trails have a bit of a bushwhack feel.

A loop of Balsam plus the out and back to Belleayre from Rider Hollow (Mapledale) is about 12 miles roundtrip with about 2500' total elevation gain. You are probably already aware of this - there are three summits on Belleayre. The eastern 3375' summit is at the junction of the blue and red trails at the former fire tower site. The red Belleayre Ridge Trail is a wide, grassy, and gently rolling ski trail that goes over another intermediate 3360' summit before arriving at the Sunset Ski Lodge at the top of the first of three ski lifts. This is one mile from the blue trail - and the true is just just a half mile ahead. The red trail markers end here, but just keep going ahead on a service road to the second ski lift. Here you choose either to stay on the service road which offers better views down the intersecting steep ski trails, or take the parallel left fork on a wide ski trail. The ski trail heads directly up to the 3420' western and highest Belleayre summit at the top of the third ski lift. Since your return is back to the blue Pine Hill - West Branch Trail, you can make a loop between the second and third ski lifts to take in the better views along the service road.

Usually the middle ski lift is operating on summer weekends so you will likely share the Belleayre ridge with some tourists. The tourists don't wander very far, and I have always had the Belleayre summit to myself.

 

[Jay H]

From Seeger, the major stream crossing is the Dry Brook which can be impossible at times though as Mark says, probably not now. The crossing is right before the leanto there. Also, the trail between the Flat Iron Brook and the LT can be wet because there is private access by homeowners and hunters back there who drive up the trail, creating $%#% tire ruts which fill up with water and puddle.

You can also do Doubletop and Graham there as a loop, FYI.

I've done the Belleayre/Balsam Loop, you can even do a loop down to Rider Hollow and then up to Balsam though it's a nice elevation drop. I saw a bear once between Balsam/Belleyare and the trail between the two is sometimes overgrown.

As Mark alludes too, the summit of Belleayre is not where the trail from Lost Clove and the Maplecrest trail intersect, but at the furthest most ski lift, which is on Belleayre Ski property. You'll pass the nice Hirschmann's leanto on the way which has good views and no water...

As far as GPS points.. Like Tmax mentioned, Eagle is silly as it's a jump off the trail...

http://www.chayden.net/Catskills/Catskills.html

There are GPS coordinates as measured by some folks from the 3500 club and here.. You'll find Big Indian's there at least.

Jay

 

[mudhook51]

Eagle N42 03.698
w074 30.494
BI N42 02.116
W074 29.784
I sometimes bush wack up the main stream to the col between BI and Doubletop, up to BI, follow the trail to Eagle and then Bush wack straight down to the Flat Iron Bridge N4202.956 W07431.697 and back out the Seager trail. About 9 miles, full of nettles this time of year. I must warn you I have wandered about aimlessly for hours with my GPS coordinates, but have rarely been so lost I didn't find my way home .

 

[Raymond]

I don’t think you need a GPS receiver to climb these three mountains. The guide book and a map should do.

My ladyfriend, Susan, and I climbed all three from the trailhead near Route 47 in Oliverea. Took us exactly nine hours.

The top of Balsam was not apparent to us. Eagle had a path which led to a cairn which apparently marked its summit, but I wouldn’t swear that it was actually the precise tiptop-most point.

Big Indian had a canister at its summit. The bushwhack wasn’t as easy as it is usually made out to be. There were some herd paths, but we lost them somewhere in the middle. As TMax said, just keep heading up and eventually you should stumble onto a herd path which leads you to the canister (which was around the back side of its tree).

It may be possible to bushwhack down to Burnham Hollow Road (or whatever it’s called) off Route 47, but the land around it is marked as private on the map, so we simple retraced our steps back along the trails.

 

[hermit]

I was up on Fir,Big Indian,and Doubletop last Friday,and there was a cairn on the blue trail for the beginning of the herd path to Big Indian. Just a few blowdowns to go around on that herd path.The cairn was at about 3500'.