Soggy report from Gathering 7.0

[askus3]

I will chime in!

Another thanks to TJ for outstanding organizing of Gathering 7.0. Dinner, CG, tent, etc. Others for tarp row. Forcing me not to drive and letting me sleep more by making my auto anchor one of those waterproof covers at the back end of the mud lot.

Yes we all loved the mud, rain, beer, (who was supposed to save me a smutty nose - I didn't see it in my cooler when I went to go home!!!) outhouse, rain, campfire, rain, hikes, rain, Head (DID I SAY HEAD!!!), food (thanks Shawn for that big hamburger!!!), rain. (Did I say RAIN???)

Oh, BTW - Darren was not supposed to come - right??? Carmel was not going to let him drag her to a campground in the middle of a big monsoon that was going to turn into a pit for mud wrestling. How come there was no mud wrestling - anyway?

Dawn, thank you for the out of the world night view, without the wind from the Overlook Fire Tower. Jay for the Orange horns you forced me to wear. What a sight!!! Ten devils climbing a mountain with orange horns glowing.

Thank you Eric for being the only one who joined me on my Friday morning hike up Balsam to pick and nosh on juicy raspberries. Too bad we didn't see a bear. I know we were close.
Also, I caught up on my sleep this trip. Since I was back Friday from my hike by 1:30 PM, I had plenty of time to nap before the rest of the crowd returned from Wittenberg. Then since nobody was going anywhere Saturday morning, I slept in until 11 AM.
So considering how much I slept, I am quite pleased that I climbed three 3500 footers on four hikes in 3 days. And Sherpa - I do hike slow, but I like moving upstream!!!

Also, nobody mentioned - how was Sunday's hike up to Pecoy Notch. Did you see me over at Giants Ledge waving. I saw Jay & Funky Freddy on Wittenberg - what a difference 24 hours made.

Congratulations Jean & Nat. Wish I could attend the mini-gathering on Moosilauke with Michael J. or on Carrigain with Dawn or the evening with all at the Woodstock Inn on Saturday.

 

[audrey]

Thanks, everyone for awesome hiking and good company. Even though someone spiked the schnapps, I had a great time! And so did Pat and Marge.

 

[Jay H]

Awesome!

Aaron, you saw Fred, Nancy, and I on Wittenberg? You must of been on Giant ledge late in the day, I don't believe we got to the summit til around 4:30pm.

Anyway, for those of you who did Wittenberg in the fog and haze, this is what Fred, Nancy and I saw on Sunday afternoon...

Don't mind the double image of Fred and Nancy, I think they were moving so my stitiching software ghosted them in two locations. Either that or it is the view of Wittenberg when on LSD.

Wittenberg Panoramic

I've got about 49 other pictures which are being uploaded as I type...

Jay

 

[daxs]

What a great gathering in spite of the torrential rain. Thanks to Tee Jay for organizing, Harryk for the beer, my tent for not leaking, Dawn for the night hike up Overlook, Jay for my devil horns, my car trunk for holding a large quantity of fire wood, not finding a bale of hay to duct tape to my car roof, Askus for showing me the "back roads" fo the Catskills and all of those who hiked with me to start my Catskill 3500. Although there were no views on the SCW hike, the weather did cooperate on Sunday and Peakbgr, Bushwkr, Askus and myself were treated to extensive on the Giant Ledge and Panther hike.

So Warren when do you want to go offtrail rock scarmbling?

Darren - Happy Birthday!

 

[bogorchis]

Great panorama pic, Jay H!

Loved your pic from the summit of Wittenberg! I chose not to do the Friday hike, because I really want to see the views!

Giant Ledge and Panther hike on Saturday was a blast splashing down through the river trail!

Hope to get back down to the Cats before too long. Great hiking!

 

[ajtiv]

Mudfest 7.0

Well this was my first gathering and everyone that showed are nicer than they appear to be on the site.
What a great family considering the diversity of age, backgrounds, locals, etc.. I guess we all have one thing in common drinking...whops that slipt I mean hiking.

What a great bunch of people. Makes me want to drive an extra few hours to hike with you all.

TeeJay thanks for setting up a gathering close to home for me.

I had a great time meeting you all, I felt welcome from the start which is pretty nice considering
I met 30+ new friends a one shot.

Dawn thanks for allowing us to visit your fire tower, I think it is the best in the catskills. Can't wait to see pictures of the ten devils in the Overlook Hotel

I had a great time can't wait to see you all agian.

I would come to VT for the 7.5 winter gathering if Sherpa gives me directions he is so thorough.

Any thoughts on times? Is it always MLK weekend?

Happy birthday Darren

Thanks for all the fun

Al

 

[MichaelJ]

Pictures are up!

I finally posted a whole plethora of pictures. I haven't captioned them yet - it will take a while to label all 250 of them - but that shouldn't stop you from browsing!

Flags on the 48 - 2004 (Mt. Garfield)
Peak_Bgr's BBQ in the ADK's
VFTT Gathering 7.0 in the Catskills

The album's getting unwieldy; one of these days I'm going to transfer everything to Gallery. But not today.

 

[bogorchis]

Great pics, MichaelJ

The pics of the Gathering are neat! Love showing my hubby the wild streams! Thanks for posting them!

 

[Warren]

Great time, it was really good to see so many of the ADK BBQ folk so soon afterwards *and* my tent stayed dry...

Daxs, I can do some ledge scrambling in a week or two. Say, Peekamoose from the 42 side or an exploration of Sugarloaf and/or Twin. I could even do Plattekill clove, something I wanted to do at the Gathering. Did you have a location in mind?

 

[Tuco]

Michael, nice pictures.

But are you trying to pull one over on me? Where is the rain, and what's with the sun?

See what happens after I leave...

 

[spongebob]

I had a fun time meeting everyone! (except HarryK)

I think I got screwed out of that leather apron! Bubba had to come from Buffalo and take it away. The hike up Panther with Stan, Eric and Ginger was fun. The coolest part was the stream-slash-trail on the other side of Panther. The hike up Overlook at night seeing all of those Devil horns was quite a sight! Who knew devil horns required double A batteries?

And Blue the spilling of the beer on you was on purpose!

Here is a link to some pictures........

http://community.webshots.com/user/spongebobportland

Adrian

 

[MichaelJ]

Eric,
There were definite advantages to arriving midafternoon on Saturday, although the drive down the Mass Pike that morning was torrential misery...


Great pictures, SpongeBob!!!

(photo 19 is Daxs)

 

[Stan]

Erik and I had a great time that started with our ride through places with funny names ... Great Borington, Overkill, Coxsuckie and Esophagus Creek for starters ... then a hike to Hunter, accompanied by the song, "What Kind of Fool am I?" as light rain turned to heavy rain which turned to downpour which turned to deluge ... and that was only from the top down. It rained so hard that it rained upside down, too.

Later, like gorillas in the mist we found THE Catskill wild game farm; it called itself a Gathering. Fine crowd, too, even providing free mouthwash which some found to have a very acrid aftertaste.

So many people raved about the Wittenberg-Cornell-Slide hike, even in the rain, that it begs a return trip for those of us who passed it up.

Thanks, all, for the laughs, camaraderie and excuse to explore new hills and trails ... and Erik can now say, "I was at Woodstock!"

 

[Guinness]

Sounds like I missed a great time . I did manage to have uncensored fun in Chicago for two weeks. Every night we went out after the trade show and enjoyed some very fine restaurants, Martini Bars and other libation hangouts. But I would have rather been climbing……

 

[Blue]

my random pictures from the Gathering are here.

 

[daxs]

Well at least I am glad to see that the picture of me stuffing oatmeal down my throat did not make it into the photo show.

Its been tough at work today, too many recruits asking to use the HEAD!

 

[bogorchis]

Great stream picture, Sponge Bob!

You really got into stream hiking didn't you? Have you ever gone stream whacking? That is more fun. Try it sometime. Thanks for sharing your pictures. I just didn't get into taking any, so now I can at least have a couple for the record!

Cheers!

 

[TomEske]

" Stream whacking"??!
I think I owuld call that walk up Hunter on saturday Whitewater Hiking more than stream whacking.
Man I'm really bummed I missed the Overlook night hike. Glad everyone had such a good time.
A very eclectic group, but fine folks, one and all.
Tom

 

[ALGonquin Bob]

New Avatar

On Sunday, I hiked up Slide Mtn. and found a VERY unusual rock formation near Mr. Burroughs' sleeping nook, below the equally unusual summit rock covered with graffiti (some well over 100 years old). See avatar.

I've also attached a very special photo of our own Darren. I call it "DARREN AND THE VFTTettes". OK, that's not PC. How about "Darren's Angels"? -ALGonquin Bob

 

[funkyfreddy]

I had a great time at the gathering even though the drive up from NYC Friday night was harrowing. By the time I got out of the car I didn't care if it was raining and instantly felt at home among our crazy group of hikers and drinkers. Sat. was a great day spent exploring water falls and flooded places with Al (ajtiv) and Jay H, then the night hike up Overlook with a very fine and friendly group of devils! Sunday brought a stunningly clear blue sky and a bushwhack up the steep south face of Wittenberg with Nancy and Jay.

It was great to meet and see both old friends and new, too many to mention right now but nice to shake hands and put faces to so many of the people who post here! You have to love our little VFTT community, don't you? A great group of saints, rogues, and all around lovable characters!