Vly and Bearpen Mountains 5/31/10 (Catskills)

[DSettahr]

Pictures Here

Unfortunately, no overnights this weekend, but I did get a chance to climb two more Catskill High Peaks.

My friend Anna and I were looking for an easier day of hiking to round out the Memorial Day weekend, and so we decided to climb Vly and Bearpen on Memorial Day itself. We arrived at the snowplow turnaround at the end of Route 3 on the south side of the mountain in the morning to find that it was conspicuously marked with large red "no parking" signs. We did our best to park as far off to the side as we could, leaving both the tractor path and the plow turn around itself as open as possible.

The hike up the old road (which is open to the public) to the col went much more quickly than I was expecting it to take. Well before I thought we were close, the road started to level off, and soon we could see "tar paper shack" through the trees. The entire climb up the road, I kept saying to myself, "I bet I could've driven up this. It's not too bad... only a couple of sketchy spots and if I went slow, I'd be fine!" And sure enough, just to punctuate my thoughts, we arrived at the col to find a Honda Civic parked next to a pickup truck there. There's very little room for parking in the col, however, so it's probably a good thing that not everyone drives that far up the road. There was also an SUV parked next to the hunting cabin, and what looked like a family packing up to return home after spending the weekend there.

We decided to do Vly first, since that seems to be the way most people go based on previous trip reports. The herd path was easy to spot from the road, as the property line was well marked with bright blue paint blazes. The herd path initially climbs up steep incline before leveling off for a bit. Along the way, it weaves in and out of the property line, sometimes on the state side, sometimes on the private side, but never very far from it. Based on old paint blazes we saw on some trees, the property line had been once incorrectly surveyed (probably due to the lack of gps units at the time), but had been corrected with recent surveys. The herd path was usually pretty easy to follow, although at times it did split into several smaller paths that braided around each other. By looking for the bright blue property line blazes, however, it was easy to continue heading in the correct direction. After crossing the level section, the herd path ascends one final steep and somewhat lengthy section before bringing you straight to the summit. The canister and summit clearing was straightforward and easy to find. One other group had signed into the register earlier in the day.

After signing the register and eating a quick snack, we returned to the col, arriving there to find that the cabin occupants, as well as the civic and the pickup truck, were gone. It was a bit disconcerting to walk right past the cabin on our way to Bearpen, our next destination, but I had read that the state owns a right of way to the old road that leaves the clearing from behind the cabin. As we walked past it, we got a good look at the cabin- tar paper walls, solid black exterior, and no windows. I bet it must get hot inside there in the summer.

The majority of the popular route up Bearpen follows an old logging road/atv trail/snowmobile trail that leaves the clearing behind the cabin. We did see a "No ATV" sign not too far down the road, but it was pretty obvious that this sign is largely ignored. We did find running water a little ways down the road as well, which was a welcome sight as we weren't expecting to find any at all during the day. Not sure if this small stream run reliably all season long, but it did look like there was an old wooden cistern next to the road where the stream came out of the woods. We also saw some old refrigerators and stoves tossed in the woods on the downhill side of the road.

Before long, the trail split, and we took the left branch. The trail here started to head uphill (it had been pretty flat so far since it left the col), and the ruts were a little bit washed out but not too bad. Before long, you reach a switchback where the road makes a sharp left. It looks like there might be a faint herd path that heads straight into the woods (and I've seem some GPS logs online that show that hikers have headed into the woods here) but we knew to continue along the road a little bit further. Right where the road crosses the height of land/ridge line, there is a "no standing any time" sign nailed to a tree on the left (east) side of the ride. Directly across from this sign on the right (west) side was the beginning of the herd path. I wouldn't call the herd path "obvious," but you can't miss it if you're looking for it. (If you choose to follow the road, it too will eventually take you to the top if you take a right at each junction, but it's a longer, more strenuous route- more on that later in the trip report).

The herd path was pretty easy to follow. There was some flagging along it, but not a lot. All of the uphill is in the first section of the herd path, after that, it flattens out and continues a long and very gradual uphill ascent. Before long, we were out of the woods and back on the road, crossing the final distance to the summit.

The first viewpoint we came to was private, and was copiously marked with "private property" signs. Nearby was a sign that stated "Ed West Run," which we couldn't figure out the purpose of... we eventually realized that this was one of the old signs marking the start of a ski trail for the former Bearpen Mountain Ski Area.

We followed the road past the private overlook, and out onto the second overlook, which is generally considered to be the summit of Bearpen. I'm sure the true summit is back in the woods somewhere, but the whole area was so flat it'd be next to impossible to tell for sure without some sophisticated surveying equipment. From this overlook, we had some nice views to the north towards Huntersfield Mountain and northeast to Windham High Peak. We also got some glimpses to the east of the Blackhead Range, as well as Kaaterskill High Peak.

The third viewpoint was only a little ways beyond the summit, and wasn't much different from the summit views. The fourth viewpoint, which was a little bit farther along the road from the third, was definitely worth the trip. It provided nice views of the western Catskills, and of the false Bearpen summit that is marked on the USGS map as the true summit. Just below the lookout, in the col between the true and false summits of Bearpen, I could see a clearing that looked like it was a junction where several woods roads met.

After lunch on the summit of Bearpen, we headed back to the col. Rather than taking the herd path, which cuts off a large loop if you follow the road, we decided to take the road instead to see what it was like. All I have to say is, there is definitely a good reason for the herd path's existence. The road was incredibly washed out in some places, and heads back west for a considerable distance before looping around back to the east. The washed out sections were filled with cobbles, which threatened to twist our ankles with every step. Furthermore, the road lost some elevation, not a significant amount but enough to notice, which it then had to regain before we met back up with the downhill terminus of the herd path. I would definitely say that taking the road offers no redeemable value; it's best to just take the herd path up and down, cutting off the long loop in both directions (your ankles with thank you!).

The hike back down to the car at the snowplow turnaround was uneventful, but we did notice a nice little man made pond on the south side of the road that we hadn't noticed on the way up. When we returned to the car, there was about 6 or 7 turkey vultures hanging out in the trees overhead, some of which took flight when we showed up.

Overall, it was an interesting hike. Especially interesting was the difference in the level of impact. Bearpen and Vly are not on forest preserve land, but rather in a state forest outside of the Catskill Park. Past logging was evident in some places, and some of the views had obviously been "improved" on the summit. The level of impact due to logging, atv, and snowmobile use made the experience one that is in contrast with the rest of the Catskill High Peaks.

 

[Tom Rankin]

Nice report as always.

I hereby give you permission to remove any flagging you find in the Cats!

 

[Jay H]

Theres a whole bunch of flagging by the Blackheads, though obviously from winter as they are a good 10-15' up in the trees and most likely related to the SAR efforts this past winter.

Nice report, I did Bearpen first then Vly when I was an aspirant!

Jay

 

[DSettahr]

I hereby give you permission to remove any flagging you find in the Cats!

While I dislike seeing flagging left behind by others, I'm always a little bit cautious about removing it myself, for several reasons.

First off, I know a some people will flag their path when bushwhacking, so they can easily return by the same route. Unfortunately, many of these people don't remove the flagging as they follow their return path (but some of them do). I personally believe that if you need flagging to find your way back out of the woods, you have no business bushwhacking. However, I wouldn't want to be that person who pulled the flagging while the person was still in the woods, and expecting to use it to find their way back out.

Secondly, I know that trail crews will often send a scout to a work area a week or so in advance, and will use flagging to mark project areas. I.e, where water bars should go, how the trail should be re-routed, etc. This allows the trail crew to spend all their time actually working instead of planning when they show up later. All of your hard work planning can be for nothing when some "do-gooder" shows up and pulls the flagging because they think it's "littering." (Side note: This has actually happened to me... I was leading a group of campers to do some volunteer trail work, side cutting and blowdown removal, on a trail in the Adirondacks. I went up the day before to mark certain areas they should focus their time and efforts on... when we showed up to work the next day, not even 24 hours later, someone had already pulled most of the flagging.

Finally, I believe that flagging of routes does have some use in resource management, particularly when herd paths are starting to develop on "trail-less peaks." Rather than having multiple herd paths develop that spread out and braid their way through the woods, resulting in a wide swath of trampled vegetation, flagging can help to keep those paths consolidated in a single route, reducing the impact. The decision to use flagging should be made carefully however, and used only on peaks already receiving a significant amount of traffic that are not likely to see an increase in traffic as a result of a better marked route. Furthermore, flagging should also be used as a temporary measure in conjunction with brushing in of multiple paths, and hardening of the main route.

Additionally, some of the flagging we saw on Bearpen was obviously not related to the herd path/route up the mountain. I wouldn't be surprised if some of it had something to do with the forestry and timber harvesting operations that occur there (certainly a unique situation you'd be unlikely to encounter in the rest of the Catskills as most of the land is forest preserve! )

So, while I usually dislike seeing flagging as much as the next guy, I tend to only pull it when I'm really really sure about doing so.

 

[timmus]

When we returned to the car, there was about 6 or 7 turkey vultures hanging out in the trees overhead, some of which took flight when we showed up.

When I did those two peaks last month, a dog welcomed me right after I parked my car there, barking, and then peeing on the front wheel... I like the turkeys MUCH better.

 

[Tom Rankin]

While I dislike seeing flagging left behind by others, I'm always a little bit cautious about removing it myself, for several reasons.

I figured you might respond this way!

I would not remove flagging unless I was heading back down hill for the reason you mentioned.

There could be work crews in the Catskills, but I would probably know about it if there were. There was flagging on the Long Path reroute for a few years, which I helped on, but it was not visible from either connecting trail. There is flagging on another Long Path reroute in the Phoenicia area, so if you find it, leave it there. I think it's labeled. Usually, if flagging is left for a work project, it's labeled. The aforementioned un-qualified bushwhacker rarely leaves labeled flagging behind!