Tom Rankin
Well-known member
We played hooky and went hiking today. We drove past the Rondout Reservoir and saw a TON of deer! We hit the trail from Ct. Rt. 42 at 9:30 AM. It was a bluebird day, no wind, no clouds, almost too warm. What am I saying - it WAS too warm! We started stripping off clothes after about 5 minutes. I hiked in 1 shirt, no hat, liner gloves, and I was still too hot! 
The trail was initially hard packed, but we were wearing snow shoes all day. After about an hour, it looked like the previous hikers (bare booters) just turned around, but I knew better. What had happened was that there had been a little snow and a LOT of wind after Sunday. The trail from this point up was almost completely blown over. The amount of snow varied from a few inches to a couple feet! It would be hard to average it out, because it was always changing. We would come across drifts, and then be on hard pack again 5 seconds later. Most of the snow was 'sugar' snow from this point on, not hard packed, but not fluffy either. A few times, we had to go around blowdowns. I think this trail is well maintained, but I kept dodging branches in the trail, maybe we were just that high off the ground!
Our moderate pace became a slog. It took 3.5 hours to go 3.4 miles! That included a stop at Reconnoiter Rock, and the ledges just above 3500', that had great views looking Southwest towards BLM and Van Wyck. At the summit, we climbed the Boulder and could see Slide, Table, and the reservoir. Too bad we couldn't get just a few feet higher, the views there would be spectacular. No one had been over from Table, so that dashed any hopes of going over there. We had some grub and tea, and then headed back.
Going back was a lot easier but we were still making new holes in the drifts. We got back at 3:20 and headed home, happy to be out in the woods on a day when everyone else was working!
The trail was initially hard packed, but we were wearing snow shoes all day. After about an hour, it looked like the previous hikers (bare booters) just turned around, but I knew better. What had happened was that there had been a little snow and a LOT of wind after Sunday. The trail from this point up was almost completely blown over. The amount of snow varied from a few inches to a couple feet! It would be hard to average it out, because it was always changing. We would come across drifts, and then be on hard pack again 5 seconds later. Most of the snow was 'sugar' snow from this point on, not hard packed, but not fluffy either. A few times, we had to go around blowdowns. I think this trail is well maintained, but I kept dodging branches in the trail, maybe we were just that high off the ground!
Our moderate pace became a slog. It took 3.5 hours to go 3.4 miles! That included a stop at Reconnoiter Rock, and the ledges just above 3500', that had great views looking Southwest towards BLM and Van Wyck. At the summit, we climbed the Boulder and could see Slide, Table, and the reservoir. Too bad we couldn't get just a few feet higher, the views there would be spectacular. No one had been over from Table, so that dashed any hopes of going over there. We had some grub and tea, and then headed back.
Going back was a lot easier but we were still making new holes in the drifts. We got back at 3:20 and headed home, happy to be out in the woods on a day when everyone else was working!
