Catskill Experts post here: My plan for 9 peak day-hike

[J&A]

Hi all,

As per Jay H's advice, we won't be attempting this 9 peak day-hike as a traverse, rather we'll do it as a loop starting at rt 47 TH for the Curtis-Ornsbee trail. We would be doing this on January 17th. It's approximately 18 miles and 6000 ft IF we follow all our compass bearings and only sway minimally from our intended direction. Does this seem feasible? Have people attempted this in winter before? We plan to leave from Rt 47 at 6 am and hike until ~7pm. We plan to get most of the climbing down in the morning by going counter-clockwise (Table, then the bushwhacks). Barring any major snow events between now and January 17th, is it possible that the herd path will be broken out to the trailless peaks?

A tentative plan. Of course this is not the map we'll be using on the trail.

 

[Tom Rankin]

Hi all,

As per Jay H's advice, we won't be attempting this 9 peak day-hike as a traverse, rather we'll do it as a loop starting at rt 47 TH for the Curtis-Ornsbee trail. We would be doing this on January 17th.

I know a very strong hiker who might want to go with you, (and may have experience with this type of hike). He does the W35 every Winter. PM me if interested.

 

[Jay H]

Barring any major snow events between now and January 17th, is it possible that the herd path will be broken out to the trailless peaks?

Possible, but seems like the snow is now falling pretty well in the catskills. Your trailhead parking is actually more for the Phoenicia-East Branch (yellow blazed) trail and not the Curtis Ormsbee which branchs off the PE trail and meets with the Burrough's Range trail west of the summit of Slide.

Anyway, the PE trail is almost always broken out to Slide summit, In either case, it can be wet between the BR trail and the C-O trail, but hopefully in winter, this wont be a problem for you.

The places I see where you may be slowed down are the bushwack range, especially between BC and Rocky. And perhaps the trail between Cornell and Slide. I know when I did a burrough's range traverse in mid-february of last year, I was surprised to see fresh snow between Cornell and Slide, thinking that somebody must have explored this beautiful area... You'll love that section, BTW, it's nice.

If there is no snow between now and the 17th, you have two weekends... Chances are, you'll have a good snow event between the two!

Don't forget that the bushwack range too is thick so it's not just fresh snow that will slow you down.

Jay

 

[Tom Rankin]

Jay's post reminds me of some advice:

Have a backup plan. Determine in advance when you will either need to turn around or bail out, or shorten the hike if the conditions warrant.

How many people are going ? Make sure you have a 'leader' that everyone will trust to make decisions.

 

[Jay H]

For Car spots, you can spot a car at Moon Haw Road, if you are familiar with it. It is a common spot to do Balsam Cap and Friday from so it's a good spot if you feel you don't want to continue over to the burroughs range. BTW, the area between Friday and Wittenberg/Cornell is also notoriously thick...

Another option though not so good is to spot a car at Woodland Valley.. Would mean your bail out spot would req a long slog from Wittenberg down to Woodland Valley...

Jay

 

[cushetunk]

If you are undertaking a long bushwhack hike like this in winter, you ideally already know your hiking pace and comfort level. Thus, honestly assessing your abilities will tell you more about the feasibilty of this hike than anyone on this board can.

That said, I think one of your biggest concerns is becoming benighted while bushwhacking. I am quite comfortable in the woods at night, but I would not want to have to travel through any of that terrain after dark. Depending on your anticipated pace, you might start earlier, giving you the full nine hours of January daylight to bushwhack. Or, I suppose you could go clockwise, and try to finish most of the Burroughs Range before sunrise.

It sounds like it will be quite an adventure! Let us know how it goes.

 

[J&A]

Okay, thanks all! I think I will take the suggestion to make it a travesrse S->N rather than as a loop. We'd start at CR-42 and hike to Peekamoose, Table, then bushwhack up to Cornell/Slide col, consider a side-trip to Slide, and then go to Wittenberg, finishing up at Woodland Valley (an option I would have completely overlooked, thanks Jay!).

This shortens the hike to ~16 miles if we make the trip to Slide, 13 otherwise. Very manageable. We would not spot at Moon Haw since we're not familiar with that area and the private property restrictions there.

With this alternate route, it would be 4 miles on trails before we begin bushwhacking. If we left at 6 am, that would mean we'd start bushwhacking around 7:30 (unless we had to break trail). That would leave us almost 7 hours to finish the 5 mile bushwhack and do Cornell to Woodland Valley in the dark, if necessary.

 

[Jay H]

Great to be of help. That is a nice trip, thought about it some more, you probably could make a full traverse from Peekamoose Road (Rt 42) to Woodland Valley. It sounds like you are a strong hiker, at least anybody who would consider the loop is probably fast. It has been done before in the summer starting at peekamoose->table->Lone->Rocky->BC->friday->Wittenberg to woodland valley. The trek down from Wittenberg is deceivingly long but not a hard hike at night. I've done that in headlamps before.

I think if you look at the topography, going from Friday to Cornell/Slide may be thick and not that popular as I think it dips down quite a bit to the neversink valley before going up to Cornell/Slide. I've only heard of folks who have done Friday to wittenberg/Cornell. I know Ralph Ryndak (hermit) has done it. It's been on my radar for a bit but never got around to it.


What I'd like to do is

Woodhull->Van Wyck->Table.... then the bushwacks to Woodland Valley... With a night out on Van Wyck cause it's a beautiful view.

Jay

Jay

 

[Rik]

Great to be of help. That is a nice trip, thought about it some more, you probably could make a full traverse from Peekamoose Road (Rt 42) to Woodland Valley. It sounds like you are a strong hiker, at least anybody who would consider the loop is probably fast. It has been done before in the summer starting at peekamoose->table->Lone->Rocky->BC->friday->Wittenberg to woodland valley. The trek down from Wittenberg is deceivingly long but not a hard hike at night. I've done that in headlamps before.

I think if you look at the topography, going from Friday to Cornell/Slide may be thick and not that popular as I think it dips down quite a bit to the neversink valley before going up to Cornell/Slide. I've only heard of folks who have done Friday to wittenberg/Cornell. I know Ralph Ryndak (hermit) has done it. It's been on my radar for a bit but never got around to it.


What I'd like to do is

Woodhull->Van Wyck->Table.... then the bushwacks to Woodland Valley... With a night out on Van Wyck cause it's a beautiful view.

Jay

Jay

I've gone from Friday to the Slide/Cornell col before in summer and remember it being thick but not awful. Of course, as the scratches heal I tend to remember only the good things about a hike.