the_swede
New member
For weeks I had been anticipating a trip up to the Catskills with my longtime friend Jason. This would be his first time in the Catskills and I hoped that it would be a fun, memorable trip for him.
We arrived at Woodland Valley just before 11 AM, hoping to arrive back at the car by 4 PM. The hike began pretty smooth, following the yellow blazed trail along the ridge contour before dropping back down and then rising back up over the shoulder of the mountain to the old road. Moving at a very relaxed pace, we arrived at the summit of Giant Ledge at 1:30. We snacked on some bagels, snapped some pictures and gazed at the hill-studded horizon, identifying as many mountains as we could.
We slowly made our way down Giant Ledge and up Panther, barebooting the whole way. It was icy and we had crampons on us but using them would have been overkill. At the summit, we relaxed on the ledge and once again snapped some pictures while admiring the balsam capped summit and its wonderful view. By this time, it was 3:00 and we realized that we might not make it out before dark. Probably the worst mistake I made was assuming that everyone moves a brisk 3 miles per hour regardless of terrain
; thus, I neglected to bring a headlamp. Thankfully, Jason brought his headlamp, which saved us from spending a night out in the woods.
By the time we got to the junction below Giant Ledge, the sun was nearly down so Jason cracked out the headlamp. My eyes adjusted pretty well to the dark but unfortunately, there was barely a moon that night. We carefully walked down the old road, making sure we spotted the blaze that marked the turnoff.
By this time, it was pitch black and the both of us were quite nervous over the prospect of being able to follow the trail off the old road. We both knew that the road continued down into Woodland Valley but we weren't sure how easy it would be to follow. So at the junction, we opted to follow the trail. This was when the going got really tough, walking blaze to blaze. The blowdown from the ice storm a few weeks back didn't make things easy and at one point, we gave up trying to follow the trail. We could hear a stream that we knew would take us back to Woodland Valley, so we bushwhacked to it and then followed it for about a half mile. After a tense 15 minutes, we spotted a cluster of homes. Whew! Once we made it out of the woods and onto the road, we knew we were safe.
All in all, a good day, even though we ended up hiking in the dark for 2 hours with a single headlamp.
Pics: http://flickr.com/photos/t3h_sw3d3/sets/72157612017602321/detail/
We arrived at Woodland Valley just before 11 AM, hoping to arrive back at the car by 4 PM. The hike began pretty smooth, following the yellow blazed trail along the ridge contour before dropping back down and then rising back up over the shoulder of the mountain to the old road. Moving at a very relaxed pace, we arrived at the summit of Giant Ledge at 1:30. We snacked on some bagels, snapped some pictures and gazed at the hill-studded horizon, identifying as many mountains as we could.
We slowly made our way down Giant Ledge and up Panther, barebooting the whole way. It was icy and we had crampons on us but using them would have been overkill. At the summit, we relaxed on the ledge and once again snapped some pictures while admiring the balsam capped summit and its wonderful view. By this time, it was 3:00 and we realized that we might not make it out before dark. Probably the worst mistake I made was assuming that everyone moves a brisk 3 miles per hour regardless of terrain
; thus, I neglected to bring a headlamp. Thankfully, Jason brought his headlamp, which saved us from spending a night out in the woods. By the time we got to the junction below Giant Ledge, the sun was nearly down so Jason cracked out the headlamp. My eyes adjusted pretty well to the dark but unfortunately, there was barely a moon that night. We carefully walked down the old road, making sure we spotted the blaze that marked the turnoff.
By this time, it was pitch black and the both of us were quite nervous over the prospect of being able to follow the trail off the old road. We both knew that the road continued down into Woodland Valley but we weren't sure how easy it would be to follow. So at the junction, we opted to follow the trail. This was when the going got really tough, walking blaze to blaze. The blowdown from the ice storm a few weeks back didn't make things easy and at one point, we gave up trying to follow the trail. We could hear a stream that we knew would take us back to Woodland Valley, so we bushwhacked to it and then followed it for about a half mile. After a tense 15 minutes, we spotted a cluster of homes. Whew! Once we made it out of the woods and onto the road, we knew we were safe.
All in all, a good day, even though we ended up hiking in the dark for 2 hours with a single headlamp.
Pics: http://flickr.com/photos/t3h_sw3d3/sets/72157612017602321/detail/
