Tom Rankin
Well-known member
This hike involved tasteless Native American references and a 'nice pair'! 
Ok, it was Indian Head and Twin, in the Catskills.
Paula, Laurie and I arrived at around 9:00 AM at the end of "Pete's Road", and not being able to get to the trailhead because of a large pile of freshly plowed snow, we parked just down the street from his house. (When we returned, the lot was clean! )
The first 1.5 miles or so was a breeze. The sun was shining and the temps were around 20. It was dead calm down low. We strode quickly up the trail, easily chugging thru the 4" of new powder. Yesterday's bare boot tracks were evident from time to time.
However, as we gained elevation, the wind picked up and the snow depth increased. By the time we reached the col between the 2 aforementioned peaks, the snow was about 1 foot deep with much larger drifts from time to time, and the wind was making itself known in a big way! The bare boot tracks were nowhere to be seen. The trees did look pretty cool though.
We decided to head for 'the pair' first. The trail was completely blown in and at times hard to find. I lead the way most of the time, slowly plodding up to the top. When we reached the false summit, Laurie snapped a few pics of the good views.
On we went, down and back up to the true summit. The views were about the same here.
We turned around and rejoiced at having a broken trail. When we got back to the col, Paula gamely agreed to continue on with us to the Native American. Again, we struggled thru drifts of up to 4 feet, but knowing the elevation and distance were shorter, we were confident of getting to the head, I mean the top!
Just as we topped out, 3 young men came up from the other side, none wearing snowshoes (they left them at the lean-to! ) and only one carrying a pack. They were in very good spirits, and they announced that they intended to continue on to Twin and then return to the Devil's Kitchen lean-to. I told them that they had 3 more miles of hiking just to get back to where they were standing (and it was about 2:00). They went a little ways down until they could see the Twin(s) and then promptly turned around! Actually, I commended them on making a good choice.
We reversed direction ourselves at this point, and headed back to the car.
Stats: About 2300' of gain, over about 7 miles, in about 7 hours. This makes 61 miles for me since the Christmas break started!
After a quick stop at Brio's, we were on our way home. Now, back to work!
Ok, it was Indian Head and Twin, in the Catskills.
Paula, Laurie and I arrived at around 9:00 AM at the end of "Pete's Road", and not being able to get to the trailhead because of a large pile of freshly plowed snow, we parked just down the street from his house. (When we returned, the lot was clean!
)The first 1.5 miles or so was a breeze. The sun was shining and the temps were around 20. It was dead calm down low. We strode quickly up the trail, easily chugging thru the 4" of new powder. Yesterday's bare boot tracks were evident from time to time.
However, as we gained elevation, the wind picked up and the snow depth increased. By the time we reached the col between the 2 aforementioned peaks, the snow was about 1 foot deep with much larger drifts from time to time, and the wind was making itself known in a big way! The bare boot tracks were nowhere to be seen. The trees did look pretty cool though.
We decided to head for 'the pair' first. The trail was completely blown in and at times hard to find. I lead the way most of the time, slowly plodding up to the top. When we reached the false summit, Laurie snapped a few pics of the good views.
On we went, down and back up to the true summit. The views were about the same here.
We turned around and rejoiced at having a broken trail. When we got back to the col, Paula gamely agreed to continue on with us to the Native American. Again, we struggled thru drifts of up to 4 feet, but knowing the elevation and distance were shorter, we were confident of getting to the head, I mean the top!
Just as we topped out, 3 young men came up from the other side, none wearing snowshoes (they left them at the lean-to!
) and only one carrying a pack. They were in very good spirits, and they announced that they intended to continue on to Twin and then return to the Devil's Kitchen lean-to. I told them that they had 3 more miles of hiking just to get back to where they were standing (and it was about 2:00). They went a little ways down until they could see the Twin(s) and then promptly turned around! Actually, I commended them on making a good choice.We reversed direction ourselves at this point, and headed back to the car.
Stats: About 2300' of gain, over about 7 miles, in about 7 hours. This makes 61 miles for me since the Christmas break started!
After a quick stop at Brio's, we were on our way home. Now, back to work!
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