Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Laurie and I led 2 hikes for the Hudson River Valley Ramble this past weekend. The Ramble is for people of all abilities, so we took these hikes pretty slowly. Everyone was pretty well prepared, but there was some cotton an denim being worn. 
The first hike was to Balsam Lake. 3 people showed up, 1 from CT, 1 from Hyde Park, and one from Middletown. The trees were wet, but it never really rained all day, in spite of the dire forecast. There was a little wind blown fog at the top of the mountain, but this didn't bother us much. We stopped in at the cabin and said hi to Scott, the volunteer in for the weekend. A large group of people showed up from Binghamton, and we met several other hikers along the way up and down.
Sunday we met a woman from Esopus and car pooled over to Hunter. The weather must have scared off the rest of the participants. It did rain a little bit on this hike, but we really lucked out. When we got to the top, it stopped raining and cleared up! We could see just about every high peak in the Catskills from the fire tower! On the way down we opted for the counterclockwise loop. When we got to the old fire tower sight, Laurie showed us a great view point, just a few hundred feet down a spur trail. It was the best view of Leavitt (SW Hunter) I had ever seen!
Turning to go down, I almost took the wrong trail, so much for the hike leader's navigational skills! Good thing Laurie was there, as I had never done the loop this way before, and there is no sign telling which way to go to Becker Hollow from the junction (although there are several other signs).
The spring pipe near the top of Hunter was running at just a trickle, although a small stream was running thru the same area.
We manged to get back to civilization the same way we started and headed off to dinner. Hunter is 4040' in elevation, and dinner was $40.40 !
The first hike was to Balsam Lake. 3 people showed up, 1 from CT, 1 from Hyde Park, and one from Middletown. The trees were wet, but it never really rained all day, in spite of the dire forecast. There was a little wind blown fog at the top of the mountain, but this didn't bother us much. We stopped in at the cabin and said hi to Scott, the volunteer in for the weekend. A large group of people showed up from Binghamton, and we met several other hikers along the way up and down.
Sunday we met a woman from Esopus and car pooled over to Hunter. The weather must have scared off the rest of the participants. It did rain a little bit on this hike, but we really lucked out. When we got to the top, it stopped raining and cleared up! We could see just about every high peak in the Catskills from the fire tower! On the way down we opted for the counterclockwise loop. When we got to the old fire tower sight, Laurie showed us a great view point, just a few hundred feet down a spur trail. It was the best view of Leavitt (SW Hunter) I had ever seen!
Turning to go down, I almost took the wrong trail, so much for the hike leader's navigational skills!
Good thing Laurie was there, as I had never done the loop this way before, and there is no sign telling which way to go to Becker Hollow from the junction (although there are several other signs). The spring pipe near the top of Hunter was running at just a trickle, although a small stream was running thru the same area.
We manged to get back to civilization the same way we started and headed off to dinner. Hunter is 4040' in elevation, and dinner was $40.40 !
