Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Oh, what a day for a fall hike! It didn't hurt that it was my birthday either! 
After getting a few very nice presents from Laurie, we set off on a long drive to the Beaver Kill trailhead. It was chilly in the morning, with a hard frost on the car and the ground, but the sun was already shining brightly.
The Catskills are turning nice colors. We also saw a hawk or owl (?) on the way over. More colors. We also passed the Grant Mills Bridge on the way.
We saw 4 eagles on the drive over! One was bald, and the rest were brown. They were all doing some fishing! We also saw a deer right by the road, a pheasant, and a few other critters. The drive over Cross Mountain Road was slow and harrowing. We met an SUV coming down the one lane road, and had to back up at one point.
When we got to the trailhead, (that's Graham in the distance), we did not set off for Balsam Lake, but rather for Tunis Pond. (The Tunis Pond register is filled with entries stating that people are going to the BLM Fire Tower! It would be a VERY long walk to a fire tower on that trail!) The Pond is about 3 miles from the parking lot, over rolling terrain. It's a beautiful trail. I think we ended up +50 feet when we arrived. There are a few easy hills, mostly crossing over small valleys that are drained by the Black Brook, the Gulf of Mexico Brook, etc. We whacked a very short distance to the Vly Pond, which is beautiful right now. Eventually we were walking alongside the Beaverkill on a dirt road. I took the opportunity to levitate some rocks We came to a camp site and then we began the 0.1 mile whack to Tunis Pond. A few minutes later, we popped out at the pond. Wow, what a sight! The foliage is beautiful right now, and we could just barely see the BLM fire tower. This makes sense, as Tunis Pond is the only natural body of water that can be seen from the tower. The pond is quite full, but we did not at first see any beaver activity. After having a snack, we walked all the way around the pond, going slowly and carefully, trying to avoid falling in the mud. We started to see little paths coming down to the water (or leaving the water, take your pick), that were obviously made by something that went in and out of the water. Eventually we saw some freshly cut saplings. At the far end of the pond, there are 2 beaver dams. It only seems like a trickle of water is coming out of them, and there are fresh sticks and mud. Curiously, the outflow stream had a good bit of water. There are 2 sources above the road, so this might explain it. We found 2 beaver lodges, but saw no beavers.
The most prominent 'feature' around the pond is bear scat! I have a pretty big hand! There were piles everywhere! Those bears are well fed this year!
On the way back, we dropped down a short way on a small brook to another small pond. As we looked around, we saw a beaver swimming slowly across the pond! It swam all the way across the pond, and got out of the water and perched on a log. Then it turned around and swam over towards us. It stopped by another log and checked us out for a while. Eventually it swam away. Wow, what a sight!
On the drive back, we stopped briefly at Alder Lake, a beautiful place to just sit and admire the views, or camp, or hike.
Apparently, I had had enough at this point!
What a beautiful day!
Laurie chauffeured me around all day and took most of the pictures. Thanks baby!
After getting a few very nice presents from Laurie, we set off on a long drive to the Beaver Kill trailhead. It was chilly in the morning, with a hard frost on the car and the ground, but the sun was already shining brightly.The Catskills are turning nice colors. We also saw a hawk or owl (?) on the way over. More colors. We also passed the Grant Mills Bridge on the way.
We saw 4 eagles on the drive over! One was bald, and the rest were brown. They were all doing some fishing!
We also saw a deer right by the road, a pheasant, and a few other critters. The drive over Cross Mountain Road was slow and harrowing. We met an SUV coming down the one lane road, and had to back up at one point.When we got to the trailhead, (that's Graham in the distance), we did not set off for Balsam Lake, but rather for Tunis Pond. (The Tunis Pond register is filled with entries stating that people are going to the BLM Fire Tower!
It would be a VERY long walk to a fire tower on that trail!) The Pond is about 3 miles from the parking lot, over rolling terrain. It's a beautiful trail. I think we ended up +50 feet when we arrived. There are a few easy hills, mostly crossing over small valleys that are drained by the Black Brook, the Gulf of Mexico Brook, etc. We whacked a very short distance to the Vly Pond, which is beautiful right now. Eventually we were walking alongside the Beaverkill on a dirt road. I took the opportunity to levitate some rocks We came to a camp site and then we began the 0.1 mile whack to Tunis Pond. A few minutes later, we popped out at the pond. Wow, what a sight! The foliage is beautiful right now, and we could just barely see the BLM fire tower. This makes sense, as Tunis Pond is the only natural body of water that can be seen from the tower. The pond is quite full, but we did not at first see any beaver activity. After having a snack, we walked all the way around the pond, going slowly and carefully, trying to avoid falling in the mud. We started to see little paths coming down to the water (or leaving the water, take your pick), that were obviously made by something that went in and out of the water. Eventually we saw some freshly cut saplings. At the far end of the pond, there are 2 beaver dams. It only seems like a trickle of water is coming out of them, and there are fresh sticks and mud. Curiously, the outflow stream had a good bit of water. There are 2 sources above the road, so this might explain it. We found 2 beaver lodges, but saw no beavers.The most prominent 'feature' around the pond is bear scat!
I have a pretty big hand! There were piles everywhere! Those bears are well fed this year!On the way back, we dropped down a short way on a small brook to another small pond. As we looked around, we saw a beaver swimming slowly across the pond! It swam all the way across the pond, and got out of the water and perched on a log. Then it turned around and swam over towards us. It stopped by another log and checked us out for a while. Eventually it swam away. Wow, what a sight!
On the drive back, we stopped briefly at Alder Lake, a beautiful place to just sit and admire the views, or camp, or hike.
Apparently, I had had enough at this point!
What a beautiful day!
Laurie chauffeured me around all day and took most of the pictures. Thanks baby!
