Lone; Rocky; Balsam Cap and Friday April 7-9th

[EarthNsky]

I am planning on hitting the infamous Catskill bushwack peaks of Lone, Rocky, Balsam Cap and Friday. I'm going to head up Friday night and probably camp on the Neversink and then Saturday hike up to the ridge and start with Friday and work my way down the ridge to Lone and then wack back down the mountain to the Neversink. If all goes as planned on Saturday and all four peaks are in the bag, I'll probably head home Saturday night after a celebration dinner. If not, I'll likely camp Saturday night and tag the remaining peaks Sunday and then head home.

If anyone is interested in coming, it'd be great to have you along!

 

[Jay H]

That's an interesting route... I'm not sure how easily travelled the fisherman's path is past Rocky. I know the slope up to Rocky on the neversink looks really steep such that you'd almost want to cross the stream (again!) to the other side if you were to continue past Rocky. I remember doing Lone/Rocky my first time from the path and I got to a point where I was either going to ascend Rocky or have to cross the stream or steeply sidehill for awhile. I decided to go up Rocky rather than have to cross the stream and then cross it back again later.

Jay

 

[EarthNsky]

This is what I am considering doing. Clockwise.

 

[MattC]

Jay is correct that there is potential for some uncomfortable side-hilling once you're back in there. Another thing to consider-the Neversink could be running pretty high by that time. There isn't as much snow in the Catskills as there would normally be this time of year, but that creek does drain a lot of peaks. The double log bridge is damaged, but was still usuable a couple weeks ago. One log is lower than the other, so you can crouch down and use the higher one sort of as a handrail. Or you could maybe even sit down on the higher log and shimmy across. Hopefully the logs aren't entirely washed away this spring. I think the floods last year happened about a week after the time you're planning this trip. Last year there was more snow, and it also rained torrentially for more than a day. Hopefully conditions won't be too bad when you're planning this. If there are heavy rains around that time, I might consider another route or other peaks.

Matt