Jay H
New member
Damm the lists, I've wanted to do Mt Tremper for awhile now and I thought going to the catskills on the 27th for 2 days was a good time, I was going to stay at my friend Josef's place near Olive so mt Tremper isn't too far away.
I realize that it's on some kind of firetower list but hey, I've wanted to actually see if there was a firetower on that peak because I've never seen it before, from either any other peak or from driving down Rt 28...
Anyway, FunkyFreddy was along for the ride so we did a car spot at Notch Lake, if we had time, we would hike up Plateau from Notch Inn Road or just hike down to 214 and walk up to the Notch Lake.
So we parked at Route 40 just east of downtown Phoenicia on the morning of the 27th, nobody else was there and we never saw anybody that day. The hike up to the tower is fun, passing by what looks like tailings from a mine somewhere close to the Baldwin Leanto. (Nice view!).
As I got closer to the firetower, the second leanto appears and I stopped to check out the journal. Fred and I climbed the tower which I got pictures of and I now believe that the tower on Mt Tremper is actually real. In fact, you can see the tower on Overlook to the east.
Hiking north from there, the trail suddenly turns blue... This is one of the probably bunch of trail marking oddities, as the trail pretty much goes north south, yet the trail south of the tower is red while the trail north of the tower is blue, even though I think with the usual rules, the entire trail from Route 40 should be blue. Oh well...
As per Mark's post awhile ago, the bridge over Warnar creek is out, but Fred and I found a log bridge about a 1/4 mile upstream on Warnar Creek we used as a handrail to walk on the rocks below. The last 20ft, we just butt shimmied over to the other side. It's a slippery log without any bark!
Basically, the whole trail between the trail to Jessup and Notch Inn Road is a horrible mess. Lots of pickers and trees down, Warnar Creek to cross, and the blazes near Warnar Creek are a mess. Tons of blazes, no obvious trail, it was really a lot of bushwacking except for a marked trail. We missed a left turn and wound up crossing a creek draining into Warnar Creek and then had to spend 15 minutes searching for another blaze. After checking my altimeter and a map, I figured the trail made a left turn and followed the drainage down to Warnar creek at about 1500ft. We were at 1800 ft and facing a drainage stream that is NOT on the map. The trail actually either switchbacked or turned left but it is not blazed as such and the trail is not obvious at all. No peakbagger has any reason to hike it except that it is part of the LP. The place of difficulty is just north of Carl Mtn before you have to cross the Warnar Creek.
At Warnar creek, there is a very pretty area with remains of some mining and also a possibly homestead or building. Kind of a neat area and very pretty. Nice place to camp.
Anyway, the climb back up to Silver Hollow Peak is a long one, about 1500ft up and then down to Notch Inn Road.
Fred and I simply walked out to 214 and up to Notch Lake, given a ride by a nice person in a P/U truck who works at the DEC ranger station in Grahamsville. We didn't have time to go up to Plateau so we called it a day there...
Full Pictures:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/556693879LUIxYI
The next day, Fred and I hiked to Samuel's Point over Little Mountain and Little Samuel... Very Very Very nice bushwack for no reason other than it's a nice hike. Trip report to come!
Jay
I realize that it's on some kind of firetower list but hey, I've wanted to actually see if there was a firetower on that peak because I've never seen it before, from either any other peak or from driving down Rt 28...
Anyway, FunkyFreddy was along for the ride so we did a car spot at Notch Lake, if we had time, we would hike up Plateau from Notch Inn Road or just hike down to 214 and walk up to the Notch Lake.
So we parked at Route 40 just east of downtown Phoenicia on the morning of the 27th, nobody else was there and we never saw anybody that day. The hike up to the tower is fun, passing by what looks like tailings from a mine somewhere close to the Baldwin Leanto. (Nice view!).
As I got closer to the firetower, the second leanto appears and I stopped to check out the journal. Fred and I climbed the tower which I got pictures of and I now believe that the tower on Mt Tremper is actually real. In fact, you can see the tower on Overlook to the east.
Hiking north from there, the trail suddenly turns blue... This is one of the probably bunch of trail marking oddities, as the trail pretty much goes north south, yet the trail south of the tower is red while the trail north of the tower is blue, even though I think with the usual rules, the entire trail from Route 40 should be blue. Oh well...
As per Mark's post awhile ago, the bridge over Warnar creek is out, but Fred and I found a log bridge about a 1/4 mile upstream on Warnar Creek we used as a handrail to walk on the rocks below. The last 20ft, we just butt shimmied over to the other side. It's a slippery log without any bark!
Basically, the whole trail between the trail to Jessup and Notch Inn Road is a horrible mess. Lots of pickers and trees down, Warnar Creek to cross, and the blazes near Warnar Creek are a mess. Tons of blazes, no obvious trail, it was really a lot of bushwacking except for a marked trail. We missed a left turn and wound up crossing a creek draining into Warnar Creek and then had to spend 15 minutes searching for another blaze. After checking my altimeter and a map, I figured the trail made a left turn and followed the drainage down to Warnar creek at about 1500ft. We were at 1800 ft and facing a drainage stream that is NOT on the map. The trail actually either switchbacked or turned left but it is not blazed as such and the trail is not obvious at all. No peakbagger has any reason to hike it except that it is part of the LP. The place of difficulty is just north of Carl Mtn before you have to cross the Warnar Creek.
At Warnar creek, there is a very pretty area with remains of some mining and also a possibly homestead or building. Kind of a neat area and very pretty. Nice place to camp.
Anyway, the climb back up to Silver Hollow Peak is a long one, about 1500ft up and then down to Notch Inn Road.
Fred and I simply walked out to 214 and up to Notch Lake, given a ride by a nice person in a P/U truck who works at the DEC ranger station in Grahamsville. We didn't have time to go up to Plateau so we called it a day there...
Full Pictures:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/556693879LUIxYI
The next day, Fred and I hiked to Samuel's Point over Little Mountain and Little Samuel... Very Very Very nice bushwack for no reason other than it's a nice hike. Trip report to come!
Jay
