Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Saturday, 6/11/5, Laurie and I headed up to Mink Hollow Road (the northern one) to lead a Catskill 3500 Club hike to Plateau and Sugarloaf. It was humid when we got there, but we were mostly in the shade all day. Only one other person showed up, so off we went. (We thought maybe some peopele had gone to the southern Mink Hollow road, which joins the northern one via the trail, but we never met anyone who was asking about the club hike). We got to the leanto very quickly and dropped some gear. We headed up to Plateau first. This is a tough climb of about 1250' in about 1.5 miles. There is a nice spring still flowing about 1/4 the way up from the col. We all made it up and took a break, while the flies started to find us.
We came back down and met several people along the way that were working on doing Indian Head, Twin, Sugarloaf and Plateau. They were glad to hear about the spring. We got back to the leanto, and the other person decided to skip Sugarloaf, due mostly to the weather conditions.
We took a quick break, and headed up Sugarloaf. This climb is even steeper, passing under cliffs, and having a small 'cave' right along the trail. We got to the top just as it was starting to rain. Eventually, it was pouring. We got soaked. I've decided to just get wet when it rains in the summer from now on. My rain coat does not really keep me dry on a hot, humid day. While descending the cliffs, we were nearly struck by lightning! Not fun!
We made it back down to the leanto and waited a while for the rain to abate. It was more or less done raining when we got back to the car, so we changed into dry clothes and headed off.
Sunday, we headed back to the Cats for a Kids hike. There were 4 kids (2 of my own teenagers), and 4 adults. We went to Dibble's Quarry (see http://vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=6965) and explored the area. There is a spring here as well, about 200 feet below the base of the rock pile. We hung out at the quarry for about 45 minutes. Just as we decided to leave, it started to rain. Not quite as hard as Saturday, but we still got pretty wet. But all in all, everyone had a good time, especially the kids, and the BIG kids!
We came back down and met several people along the way that were working on doing Indian Head, Twin, Sugarloaf and Plateau. They were glad to hear about the spring. We got back to the leanto, and the other person decided to skip Sugarloaf, due mostly to the weather conditions.
We took a quick break, and headed up Sugarloaf. This climb is even steeper, passing under cliffs, and having a small 'cave' right along the trail. We got to the top just as it was starting to rain. Eventually, it was pouring. We got soaked. I've decided to just get wet when it rains in the summer from now on. My rain coat does not really keep me dry on a hot, humid day. While descending the cliffs, we were nearly struck by lightning! Not fun!
We made it back down to the leanto and waited a while for the rain to abate. It was more or less done raining when we got back to the car, so we changed into dry clothes and headed off.
Sunday, we headed back to the Cats for a Kids hike. There were 4 kids (2 of my own teenagers), and 4 adults. We went to Dibble's Quarry (see http://vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=6965) and explored the area. There is a spring here as well, about 200 feet below the base of the rock pile. We hung out at the quarry for about 45 minutes. Just as we decided to leave, it started to rain. Not quite as hard as Saturday, but we still got pretty wet. But all in all, everyone had a good time, especially the kids, and the BIG kids!
