Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Yes, that's what happens when your wife is obsessed with hiking the Catskill 35 x 12 Grid! 
It's also the 35W together quest, and my 2nd 35W round, so I should talk!
Anyway, we met Doodles, and Paula, an intrepid Geocacher at 8:00 and drove up to Fleischmanns. There was 4-6 inches of new powdery snow on the ground, and we all decided to skip the snowshoes, knowing that there wasn't much left from a hike 4 days ago. Doodles barebooted the whole thing, how, I am not quite sure, as it was very icy in spots. The rest of us used stabilicers.
It was very windy most of the day and the thermometers read around 10F.
We hit the col and took a vote, and decided to go to Vly first. The snow depth varied from 0 to 2 feet, but mostly it was the 6 inches of new powder. There are definitely icy patches, but crampons would be overkill. There are still some flat spots where the water is not frozen, so be careful with that. Paula lead the charge to the summit, finding her first Catskill canister, but certainly not her first 'cache'! The summit was the summit, treed in with minimal views, but I'm told by a reliable source that there are views not far away.
Heading back down to the col, I spotted a hiker coming up. I thought maybe it was MudHook, as he said he might join us, but it turned out to be Tim Kase, his wife Laurie, and Denise, a trio of Winter 46ers, working on their W35. Tim leads hikes for the ADK. They were all wearing snow shoes and had come up from the Northern approach, a good plan for people from Albany, aside from getting stuck in a snow drift! Sorry, that just slipped out!
We chatted a while, and learned that they would be heading over to Bear Pen as well. After a quick snack at the shack, we headed up the network of roads to Bear Pen. There is still a lot of water running down the roads, so watch your step! I tried walking along the shoulder of the road for a while, but this is arduous.
Heading off the roads for a while, George lead the way thru to the last good road. From here, we put Paula in the lead again. We topped out at the ski slopes, and wandered around looking for the high point and views. The views were awesome from here! We could see forever in all directions, although not all at once. A couple of 4-wheelers disturbed our 'wilderness experience' (Isn't that illegal up there?! ), for a while, but they never 'summited'. The wind was howling out at the point looking over to Round Top, so we didn't stay very long.
We met Tim and crew just as we left the summit area, and they eventually caught up to us and passed us heading back to the Cabin. Here, we all gathered for some hot tea and snacks. We said our good byes and headed off our respective sides of the mountains.
Pics:
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/DSC07518A.JPG - Yup, it was cold!
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/DSC07521A.jpg - Huntersfield from Bearpen (I think?!)
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/DSC07522A.jpg - Looking towards Platekill Ski area
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/DSC07525A.jpg - Paula at the view point
It's also the 35W together quest, and my 2nd 35W round, so I should talk!
Anyway, we met Doodles, and Paula, an intrepid Geocacher at 8:00 and drove up to Fleischmanns. There was 4-6 inches of new powdery snow on the ground, and we all decided to skip the snowshoes, knowing that there wasn't much left from a hike 4 days ago. Doodles barebooted the whole thing, how, I am not quite sure, as it was very icy in spots. The rest of us used stabilicers.
It was very windy most of the day and the thermometers read around 10F.
We hit the col and took a vote, and decided to go to Vly first. The snow depth varied from 0 to 2 feet, but mostly it was the 6 inches of new powder. There are definitely icy patches, but crampons would be overkill. There are still some flat spots where the water is not frozen, so be careful with that. Paula lead the charge to the summit, finding her first Catskill canister, but certainly not her first 'cache'!
The summit was the summit, treed in with minimal views, but I'm told by a reliable source that there are views not far away. Heading back down to the col, I spotted a hiker coming up. I thought maybe it was MudHook, as he said he might join us, but it turned out to be Tim Kase, his wife Laurie, and Denise, a trio of Winter 46ers, working on their W35. Tim leads hikes for the ADK. They were all wearing snow shoes and had come up from the Northern approach, a good plan for people from Albany, aside from getting stuck in a snow drift!
Sorry, that just slipped out! We chatted a while, and learned that they would be heading over to Bear Pen as well. After a quick snack at the shack, we headed up the network of roads to Bear Pen. There is still a lot of water running down the roads, so watch your step! I tried walking along the shoulder of the road for a while, but this is arduous.
Heading off the roads for a while, George lead the way thru to the last good road. From here, we put Paula in the lead again. We topped out at the ski slopes, and wandered around looking for the high point and views. The views were awesome from here! We could see forever in all directions, although not all at once. A couple of 4-wheelers disturbed our 'wilderness experience' (Isn't that illegal up there?!
), for a while, but they never 'summited'. The wind was howling out at the point looking over to Round Top, so we didn't stay very long. We met Tim and crew just as we left the summit area, and they eventually caught up to us and passed us heading back to the Cabin. Here, we all gathered for some hot tea and snacks. We said our good byes and headed off our respective sides of the mountains.
Pics:
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/DSC07518A.JPG - Yup, it was cold!
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/DSC07521A.jpg - Huntersfield from Bearpen (I think?!)
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/DSC07522A.jpg - Looking towards Platekill Ski area
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/DSC07525A.jpg - Paula at the view point
