Catskill Bushwack Day 2 Friday and Balsam Cap

[daxs]

After a successfull day on Lone and Rocky, I was more than ready for Friday and Balsam Cap. Hermit could not join us but Tmax could and she met JayH and I at the trailhead. We started this hike from the Friedal property. This nice gentleman has a small parking area on his property for hikers. He also has a trail marked with green blazes. The trail goes all the way to the property border and state land. The day was gorgeous as we started the hike; clear blue skies, warm sun and a slight breeze. The begnning of the trail is an old logging road that climbs steadily to property border. Its an easy hike. Luckily, Jay had his turbo chargers turned off and it was easy for Terri and I to keep pace. Soon enough, we were off the trail and into the woods. Once again, you need a compass bearing as you cannot depend on a herdpath. You continue to climb steadily in the woods. The forest here is much more open that what had been experienced the day before on Lone and Rocky. The fun begins, however, once you reach the infamous rocky cliffs on Friday. You need to choose wisely, some of them are more gnarly to climb than other. We had no problems, however, in the route we had chosen. Tmax related prior experiences climbing Friday; some of which were successful and others not. Sometimes your dog just can't make it up the cliffs! We had good views of the Burroughs range from many of the cliffs. About 2 1/2 hours after leaving the trailhead, we arrived at the summit of Friday. I did my celebratory WOOHOO, celebrating another successful canister climb. At this point, Friday is my favorite Catskill hike . I think its just my favorite hike. I cannot remember when I had soooo much fun hiking. I think I made some inane statement like "I never want to hike on a trail again. Its just buskwack hiking for me". We were joined on the summit by a couple of other hikers. Friday was peak #38 for them and they were on their way to BC to complete their Catskill 3500. After a lunch break, we headed over to BC. The herpath to BC is fairly well defined and there were only a few places were we lost track. The growth is quite a bit thicker than the hike to Friday. Before the summit, there is a small look out with nice views of the Devils Path and the Ashokan resevoir. Soon enough, we were on the top on BC. We gave congratulations to 2 hikers who had just finished their Catskill 3500. On the hike down, we decided to try and find the plane crash site that Hermit had told us about. We had a vague idea of the site location. Unfortunately, we were unable to locate the site and also had to bushwack through some pretty nasty growth in our attempts to find the site. Also, Jay's turbochargers kicked in the way down and he was often out of sight. He now has a new nickname "Marco Polo" as Terri and I reverted to this childhood game to voice track him in the woods. We lost all site of the herdpath in out attempts to find the crash site. I can't say we were "lost" in the woods but we were a bit off track on the hike down. We kept to the compass bearing, however. We only needed a small side track back up into the woods at the end of the hike to keep out of sight of the property owners house. Overall, it was a fantastic day. Even as i nurse my bumps, bruises and scratches, I am thinking about my next bushwack.....

 

[Jay H]

Instead of finding the middle stream, we found the lower one, which means we didn't follow our bearing long enough.

If you look at the Southern Catskills map, we wound up following the stream with the woods road marked on the map (dotted Line), we should of been following the stream that was further north of the one we followed. Doesn't matter ultimately, since I knew both streams will hit Friedel's property, but of course, the lower stream goes by his house so we bushwacked off of it to respect his privacy. I started to wonder about that as we got closer to the property and when I hit that very used woods roads, I had a major inkling we were on the dotted line.

Either way, I enjoyed the scrambling and it was very good we found the herdpath to Balsam Cap! My arms thanks that.

Jay

 

[spongebob]

I need to find out there are other ways to hike some of these Catskill mountains. I came over from the Neversink, because of private land. Sorry you had to hike with Jay two days in a row Dax. For some reason that lookout before Balsam Cap summit is one of my favorites. And no making fun of my stickers! Mr. Krabs doesn't know anything about smells except the smell of money.

 

[frytz]

Instead of finding the middle stream, we found the lower one, which means we didn't follow our bearing long enough.
Either way, I enjoyed the scrambling and it was very good we found the herdpath to Balsam Cap! My arms thanks that.

Jay

Isn't the idea of a non-boring hike getting lost in the woods!!??

Fred

 

[MattC]

Carol, I'm glad you got to tag those four Catskill classics this weekend. Sorry I missed out on the whackfest. I'll be after Friday and BC sometime this winter. There's something about whacking in the Catskills that really gets under one's skin. Oh yeah... spruce branches

Matt

 

[Jay H]

We erased your name Spongebob, so you will have to do those again. And I'm telling Nancy, you called her a geek!

Fred, getting lost is half the fun, finding your way out is the other.

Jay

 

[daxs]

I am anxiously awaiting a winter ascent of these peaks. By then I think all the spruce needles will be gone from under my skin.

 

[TMax]

Great day ...great company! I came home and told my dog where I was and WOW was he a grateful pup that I left him home! He's had his fill of trying to get up those ledges! DAX, how's the shin?

Just an FYI to anyone who wants to hike these peaks from the Friedal property. He most generously allows parking on his property (the area is well marked as to where he wants you to park) and then marks the way up to State Land with green blazes to keep hikers from travelling too close to his house. The only thing he asks is that you leave a note on your car stating where you were headed, what time you went in and when you plan on getting out. A hiker was killed up there a couple years ago and this is the landowner's way of monitoring people's well-being a little more. Please respect his request.

MARCO!