Dick, Jo, Boo and I set out on the Mink Hollow trail with the intention of bushwhacking North Dome from along there as I'd done a number of times in the past.
On Sunday, we decided to forego the steep going on ND's east side by climbing the ridge further to the north. We had a number of cliff bands to negotiate, but one stood out. We were most of the way up a steep one and Boo and I went left and Dick and Joann went right. Boo and I could not find a vertical escape, as everything was either too icy, too mossy, too steep or too dangerous, so I went out on a 4' ledge above a 50' drop. Picking up Boo I put her on a shoulder-high slab with the thought that there was enough vegetation on it that her 4 wheel drive would get her up and I'd find a way to follow...WRONG !
For every action, there's an equal reaction - as she scrambled for traction, she pushed back, so Boo, a large dead tree and I fell/slid back and down, periously close to the large drop. After a quick break to drain the adrenaline, we traversed and then up behind Joann and Dick. The rest of the way to the ridge and up the ridge was classic Catskills: Aromatic balsams, nice stands of dwarf hardwoods, pretty little grottos here and there. One interesting thing was playing hopscotch with day old bear tracks that Bookah couldn't get enough of.
We walked straight to the cannister, looked at the book, during lunch and followed our bearing right to the North Dome-Sherrill col. We decided to skip Sherrill at this point - steep icy going, racing daylight, and one of our party feeling under the weather made this the correct but difficult call. So we headed down Bennett Brook and out to Spruceton Rd. After just a few 1/10's of a mile on the road, a local stopped to give us a ride back to the cars.
We're hoping someone can provide a little more info on the route 42 parking area and the route to Sherrill from there. We went to check out the lot but were wondering how far the woods road leads up Sherrill and can anyong give us an idea of where it peters out? We want to plot a route and the approximate end of the woods road would help.
On Sunday, we decided to forego the steep going on ND's east side by climbing the ridge further to the north. We had a number of cliff bands to negotiate, but one stood out. We were most of the way up a steep one and Boo and I went left and Dick and Joann went right. Boo and I could not find a vertical escape, as everything was either too icy, too mossy, too steep or too dangerous, so I went out on a 4' ledge above a 50' drop. Picking up Boo I put her on a shoulder-high slab with the thought that there was enough vegetation on it that her 4 wheel drive would get her up and I'd find a way to follow...WRONG !
For every action, there's an equal reaction - as she scrambled for traction, she pushed back, so Boo, a large dead tree and I fell/slid back and down, periously close to the large drop. After a quick break to drain the adrenaline, we traversed and then up behind Joann and Dick. The rest of the way to the ridge and up the ridge was classic Catskills: Aromatic balsams, nice stands of dwarf hardwoods, pretty little grottos here and there. One interesting thing was playing hopscotch with day old bear tracks that Bookah couldn't get enough of.
We walked straight to the cannister, looked at the book, during lunch and followed our bearing right to the North Dome-Sherrill col. We decided to skip Sherrill at this point - steep icy going, racing daylight, and one of our party feeling under the weather made this the correct but difficult call. So we headed down Bennett Brook and out to Spruceton Rd. After just a few 1/10's of a mile on the road, a local stopped to give us a ride back to the cars.
We're hoping someone can provide a little more info on the route 42 parking area and the route to Sherrill from there. We went to check out the lot but were wondering how far the woods road leads up Sherrill and can anyong give us an idea of where it peters out? We want to plot a route and the approximate end of the woods road would help.
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