rhihn
New member
The weather seemed cooperative for a hike today: cool but not too much so, not too breezy, partly cloudy, slight chance of snow showers. Six of us met at the TH for Roundtop (3440 ft.) outside of Prattsville: Tom, Laurie, Alan, Dick, Joanne, and our 4-legged companion, Bookah. This was largely an uneventful but enjoyable walk up a logging road. The road was bare with icy patches at first, then snow. We stopped at a cabin (owned by the state) a couple of hundred feet below the summit for snacking and pics, and then walked a smaller path to the summit. Summit was treed, with barely any views, but the snow and ice on the trees, and several inches on the ground, was beauty enough! Rather than retracing our steps, we decided to bushwhack down and hook up with the road a short way down. At the car we said our good-byes to Laurie and Tom, who had other plans for the day, and we went in search of permission to hike another mountain.
Over an hour later, at the top of a very muddy and steep road we happened upon several DEP signs, near private property. Noting that it was only a mile and a half from there to the summit of Plattekill Mt., and that we all had our DEP permits with us, we decided we’d give this one a try instead. We side-hilled at first, in order to skirt private land, and then climbed up to the first ‘bump.’ At this point, I was feeling like I was running on fumes, not having hiked for a few weeks, and my body had relaxed too much during the drive between the two hikes. But given the short distance and relatively small and gradual ascent (600+ feet or so) I decided to go for it, still keeping the abort option open. The hike between the ‘bump’ and the summit was indeed quite gradual, with only a few short steep pitches. There were a few prickers to contend with (glad it wasn’t summer!), and a snow shower or two. Before we knew it we reached the summit, and a beautiful fairyland it was! No vistas, but nature had provided the beauty in the form of ice and snow-laden trees everywhere, which glistened in the sun. It was hard to tell exactly where the summit was, but it appeared to be relatively flat, and we walked around looking for something higher. Not finding anything, we called it a summit, donned our Stabilicers, and retraced our steps back to the car, noting signs of dear following our tracks, and porcupine-stripped trees. The only deviation from the route was toward the end, when we became tired of side-hilling and decided to ‘whack down to the road, and walk up the 200 yards or so back to the car.
Pics to follow.
Over an hour later, at the top of a very muddy and steep road we happened upon several DEP signs, near private property. Noting that it was only a mile and a half from there to the summit of Plattekill Mt., and that we all had our DEP permits with us, we decided we’d give this one a try instead. We side-hilled at first, in order to skirt private land, and then climbed up to the first ‘bump.’ At this point, I was feeling like I was running on fumes, not having hiked for a few weeks, and my body had relaxed too much during the drive between the two hikes. But given the short distance and relatively small and gradual ascent (600+ feet or so) I decided to go for it, still keeping the abort option open. The hike between the ‘bump’ and the summit was indeed quite gradual, with only a few short steep pitches. There were a few prickers to contend with (glad it wasn’t summer!), and a snow shower or two. Before we knew it we reached the summit, and a beautiful fairyland it was! No vistas, but nature had provided the beauty in the form of ice and snow-laden trees everywhere, which glistened in the sun. It was hard to tell exactly where the summit was, but it appeared to be relatively flat, and we walked around looking for something higher. Not finding anything, we called it a summit, donned our Stabilicers, and retraced our steps back to the car, noting signs of dear following our tracks, and porcupine-stripped trees. The only deviation from the route was toward the end, when we became tired of side-hilling and decided to ‘whack down to the road, and walk up the 200 yards or so back to the car.
Pics to follow.
