Tom Rankin
Well-known member
No, not the same day, but they are pretty close to each other. And taking Platte Clove Road gets us there in about 45 minutes, so first we started up for KHP Saturday around 10:00, after a late wake up, a huge breakfast, and the promise of clear skies. Well, the sun almost never came out, but it stayed pretty cool. We went up the trail to the cairn, and then whacked over to the Snowmobile trail, passing the lower plane wreck about 1 minute later. We continued on the sno-mo trail and found the huge cairn that marks the start of the ascent. The Nettle field was huge but passable. We got a couple of 'bites', but the trail is wide enough and gets enough traffic that we managed to hack our way thru with minimal pain and suffering. The ascent trail has far fewer nettles but ascends VERY steeply. We got to Hurricane Ledge and admired the views for a minute and then headed up to the summit, where for the first time, I found the 2 remaining USGS markers. There is a VERY broad herd path that leads down the mountain towards the East, (not the Twilight Trail), that I followed for a while, hoping it would lead me to the upper plane wreck, but i gave up after a few minutes. Ok, I'm willing to hear how to get to the upper wreck for next time, and is this the correct trail?
We went back the way we came, and stopped for another break at the Ledge, where I dismantled a fire ring.
Down we went, back thru the nettles and past the lower wreck. I stopped to look around a little this time, and removed a beer can that a slob had left behind. Come on man, this is where someone died, and you leave a beer can there?
We whacked back to the trail, a little off course, but no harm no foul. Let's just say there are a lot of ledges on that mountain!
On the way out, we met several people, including a group of 20-somethings that had very few supplies. One guy seemed to know what he was doing and asked me questions about the whack, while showing me the route on his GPS. If you are reading this, did you guys make it all the way up and back safely? We were done by 3:00 or so, a leisurely 5 hour round trip.
The trailhead has become a camp ground, a dumping ground and fire pit! The only good thing about it is there is a nice cold swimming hole less than 100' from the lot!
Sunday, we got up at 6:00 and were hiking by 7:30 to do Indian Head. We made great time, hitting the Notch at 8:45, and the summit just after 9:00. We were back down by 10:30. Once again, illegal camping was noted, right under a 'Camping Prohibited' sign!
The rain held off, and we were off to a family birthday party in plenty of time.
(I know a lot of in there, but the Catskills looks worse and worse every time we go. I lay of a lot of the blame on budget cuts that have hampered the Rangers from doing their jobs. All of the Rangers I've met are great, hard working people, but there simply are not enough of them to patrol this huge area)
We went back the way we came, and stopped for another break at the Ledge, where I dismantled a fire ring.
Down we went, back thru the nettles and past the lower wreck. I stopped to look around a little this time, and removed a beer can that a slob had left behind. Come on man, this is where someone died, and you leave a beer can there?
We whacked back to the trail, a little off course, but no harm no foul. Let's just say there are a lot of ledges on that mountain!
On the way out, we met several people, including a group of 20-somethings that had very few supplies. One guy seemed to know what he was doing and asked me questions about the whack, while showing me the route on his GPS. If you are reading this, did you guys make it all the way up and back safely? We were done by 3:00 or so, a leisurely 5 hour round trip.
The trailhead has become a camp ground, a dumping ground and fire pit!
The only good thing about it is there is a nice cold swimming hole less than 100' from the lot! Sunday, we got up at 6:00 and were hiking by 7:30 to do Indian Head. We made great time, hitting the Notch at 8:45, and the summit just after 9:00. We were back down by 10:30. Once again, illegal camping was noted, right under a 'Camping Prohibited' sign!
The rain held off, and we were off to a family birthday party in plenty of time.
(I know a lot of
in there, but the Catskills looks worse and worse every time we go. I lay of a lot of the blame on budget cuts that have hampered the Rangers from doing their jobs. All of the Rangers I've met are great, hard working people, but there simply are not enough of them to patrol this huge area)
