Panther Mtn (catskills)

coldfeet · Nov 6, 2005

Thx to the Cat 3500 club and the Rip Van Winkle club for setting up the hike, my first hike since the Vermont gathering. I was getting psyched up during 3 1/2 hour drive, the colors were pretty along the thruway. App 10 of us started up the trail towards Giant Ledge, many of us wore gaitors (eventually took them off, it was hot) and left the crampons in the car, temps were app 65 the whole day. This was my first fall hike in the Catskills so I was enjoying the little color I saw and watched out for the slippery leaves. About 1 hour into the hike I pulled over to let a solo hiker pass me and it was a fellow VFTT'er, Rocky Summit. I met him on a previous hike on Westkill. Nice to see a familiar face. The group decided before we hiked that some of us would continue on the trail and desend down the north side. So I gave a "stranger" my keys and he would drive my car to the other end. Boy, the country air is melting away my city paranoia. We hiked down the north side and saw some patches of snow. Some spots were steep and it was an interesting hike, almost going over a knob and desending a long long way down, I think it went from 3200 to 1400 over 1 1/2 to 2 miles. My knees did not like it at all. The drive home was boring but I stopped at Rock and Snow (or ice) and checked out some gear. It was a beautiful day and great to be outdoors. ps, thx to the group for driving my car.

Artex · Nov 6, 2005

Nice report! That's a fun hike.

MattC · Nov 6, 2005

Glad you got to do that whole ridge, CF. While I've climbed it from both directions, I've yet to do an end-to-end like that. I was up there last Sunday and there was about 6 to 8 inches of rapidly melting sludge on the summit. I guess the warm weather took care of that.

Matt

TMax · Nov 6, 2005

Sounds like a nice day Coldfeet. I did Panther yesterday. There were TONS of people all over Giant Ledge but I never saw another person once I hiked beyond there! After playing around Panther's summit for awhile I hiked back down to an empty Giant Ledge and watched the sunset. It was an amazing day. Finished the hike in the dark with my headlamp. Ran into two backpackers on their way up without any light source

go figure...

prino · Nov 6, 2005

Glad to see you made it out again Coldfeet. Maybe you should rename yourself warmcalf!

coldfeet · Nov 6, 2005

Hi guys,

Artex - it was fun and the Rip Van Winkle club can hike and hike and hike....

Matt - hard to believe that I hiked something in the Catskills that you haven't.

TMax - I hiked yesterday also, we started app 9:15, I think we were at Giant Ledge app 11:30 (?) but I do remember leaving app 12:00 going North and made it back to the end around 3..must have been a cool sunset, I was probably getting soup at the pizza place on Rt 28, Matt took use there once.

Phil - Maybe my new name should be Mr. Advil

ROCKYSUMMIT · Nov 6, 2005

Hey Cold Feet, was happy to meet up with you again as well as meeting the rest of the group for the first time.Was a very enjoyable trip with some warm weather, some snowy slippery northern slopes, and finally some very unusually late fall colors ( even some green leaves ). Huge difference from last Saturday's Slide Mtn.Winter Trip!