Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Yeah, I know, yet another BLM trip report, but it's always different. 
The day started off around 6:30 AM seeing 3 bucks (2 8's and a 6) just standing beside the road having breakfast. Then we saw a kingfisher. Once on the trail, I noticed quite a few toads, frogs, and efts. We saw lots of spider webs and the profusion of mushrooms continues this summer!
A short time after we got there, Sharon and her entourage arrived. She's a friend who is tying to do the '35' with her 11 year old son. They are off to a good start. They spent 2 hours at the top, talking with us, catching snakes ( ), enjoying the views, and even going off trail to explore a bog. It seems half the people who come up to BLM lately ask us "Where's the Bog?". There are actually 2, and I can usually point them out to people unless it's completely overcast, but I ask them if they have a compass (usual answer - no), or do they mind fighting their way thru the Balsam fir trees (usual answer - yes!), but this time, a group of people actually whacked over to the closest of the 2 bogs. A little googling showed me why the question is so often asked: http://www.catskillcenter.org/towers/balsamlake.html
We saw quite a few hawks soaring over the summit, seeming to dance with each other, or maybe fighting!
As a beautiful Red sunset started, the Full Moon rose over Doubletop. We eventually picked up Jupiter and at least 2 of its moons with the binoculars. We were treated to not 1 but 2 fireworks displays off in the distance to the West. One was quite lengthy. And as we were using the binocs, Laurie noticed that High Point Monument in NJ was actually lit up. We had never noticed this before. As a kid I could see it every day from only 15 miles away, and it was not illuminated then. Does anyone know when they started doing this?
Being a FIRE Tower, we talk about fire safety, detection and preservation, past and present, (and we have an awesome collection of Smokey The Bear posters! ), but we do not actually sit around looking for fires. As it turned out we could have called in 2 fires Saturday, but they were quite far away, and we could not actually see the source of either one.
As the day went on, to young women showed up who we referred to as our 'disciples'. They were trying to visit as many towers as they could, and they were elated to be able to come up in the tower, not finding most of them open and restored as BLM is. They were also thrilled to take a tour of the cabin. It's people like this that make our whole weekend!
This weekend was also a record # of snakes! Don't worry, they're just garter snakes.
And the highlight of the weekend - finding Summit Marker #2 - Woohoo! We had long wondered where the No. 2 Marker was up at BLM. We had searched every rock that was not covered with duff, and we figured it was under ground cover, or removed. Eventually I realized that the markers are described online, and I looked up BLM, and sure enough there was a description of where the markers were. Well, this one was not described as accurately as some, the phrase being '6 paces N of the NW corner of the tower'. What's a pace? After forgetting the instructions the previous trip, we started pacing off 6 paces. Nothing seemed to work. We then noticed that the directions also mentioned 25 feet from the tower. Wow, that's a big pace. With this information, we located a 3'x5'x1' rock described in the instructions, and it had a 14"x10"x5" rock sitting on top of it. Hmmmmm! After a short dig, behold! Marker #2 was revealed about 2" down in the duff! Yippee! It turns out that 6 paces is really 28.5', that's a BIG pace! Does anyone know how long it would take for 2" of duff to form? I'm guessing a lot of years, but I really have no clue. There were trees growing on this rock that are at least 10 feet tall, and roots criss-crossed the marker from at least 2 trees.
We got 3 rain storms Saturday, but they were all quickies. During one, we were inside and we heard bells ringing! A few seconds later, a man goes almost running down the trail with bells on! He never stopped. I guess he was afraid of bears!
The temperature at the top was delightful this weekend. We had a small fire in the wood stove and it kept the cabin toasty all night long.
A great time was had by all!
Pics:
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/b1.jpg - The big buck.
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/b2.jpg - #2 - Ain't she a beauty!
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/b3.jpg - Moon rise over Doubletop and Slide
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/b4.jpg - Moon thru the binocs!
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/b5.jpg - Sunset
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/b6.jpg - Sunset
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/b7.jpg - 'Shrooms
The day started off around 6:30 AM seeing 3 bucks (2 8's and a 6) just standing beside the road having breakfast. Then we saw a kingfisher. Once on the trail, I noticed quite a few toads, frogs, and efts. We saw lots of spider webs and the profusion of mushrooms continues this summer!
A short time after we got there, Sharon and her entourage arrived. She's a friend who is tying to do the '35' with her 11 year old son. They are off to a good start. They spent 2 hours at the top, talking with us, catching snakes (
), enjoying the views, and even going off trail to explore a bog. It seems half the people who come up to BLM lately ask us "Where's the Bog?". There are actually 2, and I can usually point them out to people unless it's completely overcast, but I ask them if they have a compass (usual answer - no), or do they mind fighting their way thru the Balsam fir trees (usual answer - yes!), but this time, a group of people actually whacked over to the closest of the 2 bogs. A little googling showed me why the question is so often asked: http://www.catskillcenter.org/towers/balsamlake.htmlWe saw quite a few hawks soaring over the summit, seeming to dance with each other, or maybe fighting!
As a beautiful Red sunset started, the Full Moon rose over Doubletop. We eventually picked up Jupiter and at least 2 of its moons with the binoculars. We were treated to not 1 but 2 fireworks displays off in the distance to the West. One was quite lengthy. And as we were using the binocs, Laurie noticed that High Point Monument in NJ was actually lit up. We had never noticed this before. As a kid I could see it every day from only 15 miles away, and it was not illuminated then. Does anyone know when they started doing this?
Being a FIRE Tower, we talk about fire safety, detection and preservation, past and present, (and we have an awesome collection of Smokey The Bear posters!
), but we do not actually sit around looking for fires. As it turned out we could have called in 2 fires Saturday, but they were quite far away, and we could not actually see the source of either one.As the day went on, to young women showed up who we referred to as our 'disciples'. They were trying to visit as many towers as they could, and they were elated to be able to come up in the tower, not finding most of them open and restored as BLM is. They were also thrilled to take a tour of the cabin. It's people like this that make our whole weekend!
This weekend was also a record # of snakes!
Don't worry, they're just garter snakes.And the highlight of the weekend - finding Summit Marker #2 - Woohoo! We had long wondered where the No. 2 Marker was up at BLM. We had searched every rock that was not covered with duff, and we figured it was under ground cover, or removed. Eventually I realized that the markers are described online, and I looked up BLM, and sure enough there was a description of where the markers were. Well, this one was not described as accurately as some, the phrase being '6 paces N of the NW corner of the tower'. What's a pace? After forgetting the instructions the previous trip, we started pacing off 6 paces. Nothing seemed to work. We then noticed that the directions also mentioned 25 feet from the tower. Wow, that's a big pace. With this information, we located a 3'x5'x1' rock described in the instructions, and it had a 14"x10"x5" rock sitting on top of it. Hmmmmm!
After a short dig, behold! Marker #2 was revealed about 2" down in the duff! Yippee! It turns out that 6 paces is really 28.5', that's a BIG pace! Does anyone know how long it would take for 2" of duff to form? I'm guessing a lot of years, but I really have no clue. There were trees growing on this rock that are at least 10 feet tall, and roots criss-crossed the marker from at least 2 trees.We got 3 rain storms Saturday, but they were all quickies. During one, we were inside and we heard bells ringing! A few seconds later, a man goes almost running down the trail with bells on! He never stopped. I guess he was afraid of bears!
The temperature at the top was delightful this weekend. We had a small fire in the wood stove and it kept the cabin toasty all night long.
A great time was had by all!
Pics:
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/b1.jpg - The big buck.
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/b2.jpg - #2 - Ain't she a beauty!
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/b3.jpg - Moon rise over Doubletop and Slide
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/b4.jpg - Moon thru the binocs!
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/b5.jpg - Sunset
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/b6.jpg - Sunset
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/b7.jpg - 'Shrooms
