Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Laurie and I started up BLM Friday evening at 6:15. It was a little nippy and the Sun had almost set. We hoofed it up to the summit by 7:30, glad the last light of twilight was visible straight up the path when we got to the cabin. It was almost totally dark under the Fir trees at this point. But at least we had the keys! 
We started a fire, made dinner, and got the place warmed up a little. We fell asleep early, and I woke up several times to a cold room and dead fire. The little stove works fine when you're awake, but you have to keep feeding it! I stepped out at around 3AM and the stars were just incredible! Orion was rising in the East, a really cool sight!
In the morning, my toes were numb! It was 27 degrees outside but thankfully, little wind. The views from the tower were awesome. As you can tell, we never get tired of this place!
Saturday, the destination was Woodpecker Ridge. It's not far from BLM, and we set out down the trail towards Alder Lake with a clear blue sky. We reached the summit about 1:15 minutes later. The bushwhack part of the hike was very easy, as it is very open deciduous trees. The top of this little peak is very flat, so we wandered around for a while, and declared victory at no particular place. The Blackberries all along the trail were still great!
The hike back to the tower was more up than down. Even though it was getting overcast, and eventually rained, 21 people (and 3 dogs) made the trip up to the tower during the rest of the day. The first group up was fellow VFTTer DeanMacG, and his wife, who also live in Poughkeepsie. Nice talking with you!
We saw one of our friendly neighboorhood snow-shoe hare lates in the afternoon, not 5 feet from the cabin. There is a pair up on the summit, one brown, the other black, except for their white feet. They'll start turning all white soon.
Saturday night it rained and was windy, but thankfully, it was a little warmer outside, and inside!
Sunday, we packed up and headed out early as it appeared to still be raining. But it cleared up we walked down. We cleared out the water bars as we went down and built some stone steps over some of the muddiest parts of the road, but we were out in plenty of time to get back to my house for my family's yearly 4-person birthday party!
We started a fire, made dinner, and got the place warmed up a little. We fell asleep early, and I woke up several times to a cold room and dead fire. The little stove works fine when you're awake, but you have to keep feeding it! I stepped out at around 3AM and the stars were just incredible! Orion was rising in the East, a really cool sight!
In the morning, my toes were numb!
It was 27 degrees outside but thankfully, little wind. The views from the tower were awesome. As you can tell, we never get tired of this place! Saturday, the destination was Woodpecker Ridge. It's not far from BLM, and we set out down the trail towards Alder Lake with a clear blue sky. We reached the summit about 1:15 minutes later. The bushwhack part of the hike was very easy, as it is very open deciduous trees. The top of this little peak is very flat, so we wandered around for a while, and declared victory at no particular place. The Blackberries all along the trail were still great!
The hike back to the tower was more up than down. Even though it was getting overcast, and eventually rained, 21 people (and 3 dogs) made the trip up to the tower during the rest of the day. The first group up was fellow VFTTer DeanMacG, and his wife, who also live in Poughkeepsie. Nice talking with you!
We saw one of our friendly neighboorhood snow-shoe hare lates in the afternoon, not 5 feet from the cabin. There is a pair up on the summit, one brown, the other black, except for their white feet. They'll start turning all white soon.
Saturday night it rained and was windy, but thankfully, it was a little warmer outside, and inside!
Sunday, we packed up and headed out early as it appeared to still be raining. But it cleared up we walked down. We cleared out the water bars as we went down and built some stone steps over some of the muddiest parts of the road, but we were out in plenty of time to get back to my house for my family's yearly 4-person birthday party!
