Tom Rankin
Well-known member
We met a group of 9 at the Fleischmanns Post Office, and away we went, up to the 'end' of County Route 3. It 'ends' where the plow turns around and the blowdown starts to cover the road. More on that later.
We were accompanied by several notables, including Snickers, Coldfeet, and Wmschirmer.
The temps were in the upper 40's to low 50's on this hike. It was windy at times especially up at the summits, with a little fog here and there. The promised rain almost didn't materialize.
The walk up the road was slowed by weaving around numerous blowdowns. Some had already been sawn off, but had not been cleared. We got to the saddle and then headed up Vly. It was a little slippery and varied from no snow in places to 18" in others. Everyone made it up, some barebooted, some wore microspikes, stabilicers, and 1 even wore snow shoes.
After the sign-in ritual on Vly, we retraced our steps and made our way back to the col. After a brief discussion, everyone was ready to go to Bear Pen. Up the old road network we went, and eventually we jumped off the road, and started a whack to the top. We came out perfectly where the road from South Bear Pen starts looping around the top of Bear Pen, and hit the summit area a few minutes later. After going to the 'viewless' points, we jumped off the road in search of the true summit. There was a small herd path that lead nowhere, and after a few minutes of not finding anything higher, we gave up and declared victory.
The walk back down was eventful, except the old road had been 100% cleared of blowdowns while we were up on the mountains! It was amazing, even the drainage ditches had been dug out in places. Eventually, as I neared the cars, I could see people loading a backhoe onto a trailer and a truck pulling away. Whoever you are, thanks!
We capped off the day with a trip to Cave Mountain Brewery to celebrate Coldfeet's completion of NY State Views and Brews! He is officially finisher #5! Way to go David! I really enjoyed looking at all of your paperwork.
This was my first time using a GPS, a Garmin Nuvi 500 which was a present from my sweetie for Christmas! It is mostly a toy right now, but it did prove useful both in the field and for getting to the brewery!
We were accompanied by several notables, including Snickers, Coldfeet, and Wmschirmer.
The temps were in the upper 40's to low 50's on this hike. It was windy at times especially up at the summits, with a little fog here and there. The promised rain almost didn't materialize.
The walk up the road was slowed by weaving around numerous blowdowns. Some had already been sawn off, but had not been cleared. We got to the saddle and then headed up Vly. It was a little slippery and varied from no snow in places to 18" in others. Everyone made it up, some barebooted, some wore microspikes, stabilicers, and 1 even wore snow shoes.
After the sign-in ritual on Vly, we retraced our steps and made our way back to the col. After a brief discussion, everyone was ready to go to Bear Pen. Up the old road network we went, and eventually we jumped off the road, and started a whack to the top. We came out perfectly where the road from South Bear Pen starts looping around the top of Bear Pen, and hit the summit area a few minutes later. After going to the 'viewless' points, we jumped off the road in search of the true summit. There was a small herd path that lead nowhere, and after a few minutes of not finding anything higher, we gave up and declared victory.
The walk back down was eventful, except the old road had been 100% cleared of blowdowns while we were up on the mountains! It was amazing, even the drainage ditches had been dug out in places. Eventually, as I neared the cars, I could see people loading a backhoe onto a trailer and a truck pulling away. Whoever you are, thanks!
We capped off the day with a trip to Cave Mountain Brewery to celebrate Coldfeet's completion of NY State Views and Brews! He is officially finisher #5! Way to go David! I really enjoyed looking at all of your paperwork.
This was my first time using a GPS, a Garmin Nuvi 500 which was a present from my sweetie for Christmas! It is mostly a toy right now, but it did prove useful both in the field and for getting to the brewery!
