Raymond
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Sorry I'm so late getting back with a report.
We climbed Hunter Mountain in the fog on Sunday, September 25. It was Susan's first Catskill peak, and a nice one for me to bag again, as it had been my third-ever 4000-footer, 22 years and two months earlier, and the only Northeast 4000-footer I hadn't climbed or re-climbed since October 4, 1997. I had a bit of an unrest cure on the way down, wondering if we'd in fact reached the summit. We had followed the yellow trail near the top both up and down, the sign for which states that the fire tower is .35 miles away. The sign for the blue trail states that "Hunter Mountain" is .32 miles, the fire tower .62 miles, distant. Obviously it's not three-tenths of a mile from the fire tower to the rock with "ELV. 4040 FT." painted on it, so what's the "Hunter Mountain" that is three-tenths of a mile from the fire tower?
Monday it poured most of the day, so we spent it shopping at the Hudson Valley Mall and other stores along Route 9W in Kingston. (We had birthday celebrants to shop for, so we took care of that.) A big thanks to Mark Schaefer for the directions. We stayed a couple nights at the Superlodge on Route 28, so we had to drive only four or five miles each way.
Anyway, the Barnes and Noble did not have the new ADK Catskill guide. It did have the 2002 AMC guide. Waldenbooks, at the mall, didn't seem to have any hiking guide books at all. As we were leaving the mall, I saw the store called Gander Mountain, so we stopped in. Right near the cash registers were some magazines and voilà, several copies of the 2005 ADK Catskill guide. Also, conveniently, one package of the NY/NJTC five-map set. Foolishly, I didn't buy the maps at that time, because I thought they might be too old (2003 printing). We went to Kenco and, while they had several packages of maps (Taconics, etc.), none were the Catskill set. Then, back at the motel, I looked at the book and read that the book was supposed to be paired with the 2003 printing of maps. D'oh. We went back to Gander Mountain and bought the maps, then ate at Boston Market in the same parking lot, so technically I didn't go all the way back just for the maps.
Tuesday we climbed Balsam Lake Mountain. A very easy six miles. We wanted to hit Graham Mountain, too, but the book said it is on private land and one needs permission to hike it. Inconveniently, the book doesn't reveal the landowner's name, or how to contact him (it). The signs at the actual site say "Furlow Properties/Arkville, New York," but have no street address or telephone number, so I don't know how they expect people to garner permission. I wonder how many people actually get the permission, but I figured I'd better ask here first. I don't want to trespass, but neither do I want to be the only one bothering to ask. Does the Catskill 3500 club ask applicants to turn in all their permission slips before granting membership? If they were serious about "respecting private property rights" they would. So we'll have to go back someday for Graham.
Wednesday, starting now from the Slide Mountain Forest House, we climbed the Oliverea-Mapledale Trail out of McKenley Hollow to the ridge, then took the West Branch-whatever (I'm drawing a blank) Trail to Balsam Mountain. Found four possible high points there. Would it kill them to put up a sign or something? Went south over Haynes*, found herd paths to Eagle and Big Indian. Is the Eagle summit the two little cairns, or is it somewhere beyond? The path continued, but didn't seem to lead anywhere in particular, or anything particularly higher. And the Big Indian herd path doesn't really go very far, certainly not all the way to the summit, but we pressed on through the brush until we found another path which led us to the canister. Tried to follow the same herd path back out, but lost it again and had to wander around until we found the path we'd come in on. We wanted to descend from the ridge via the "old" trail the book mentions opposite the Seager Trail, the one that would lead us down into Burnham Hollow,** but the map indicated that that land is "KO" (Keep Out), so we followed the trail all the way back to the Oliverea-Mapledale Trail. Easiest 15 miles we've ever done, anyway; nine hours. We may have flushed a bear near the Haynes summit on the way back. Susan heard a loud crashing through the woods off to our left.
Thursday's forecast called for possible showers in the morning, thunderstorms in the afternoon, so we climbed Slide Mountain in the morning. It poured on us most of the way. Took us 1:24 to go up and a little less than that to go down, plus a minute on top. Susan's 98th Northeast 4K. The sky cleared ten minutes after we'd returned to my car, and the rest of the day was nice, save for one brief shower while we were driving back up to Haines Falls. We went to the top of Kaaterskill Falls late in the afternoon, following trails at the end of Laurel House Road, but couldn't find the carving in the rock to the dead dog. I suspect it was down on a particular ledge, but it was a little bit too far a drop for me to feel comfortable making. Not so much going down as trying to get back up again. So sorry, Mark, I still haven't tracked it down. We got a room at Brookside bed and breakfast.
Friday we climbed Plateau and Sugarloaf Mountains, but we saved four miles of walking by taking the old trail from the end of Mink Hollow Road. It was only 21 minutes to the col, and the end of the road was on state land so it was all perfectly legal. This was a tough six mile hike, however; it took us seven hours, as it was 1240 feet up Plateau in 1.1 miles, then back down to the col and another 1200 feet up Sugarloaf in a mile (and back down again, natch). A far cry from the West Branch-etcetera Ridge Wednesday.
This reminds me that the ADK book, although just published, is already two years out of date. (The letter from the authors at the beginning is dated June 30, 2003!) They say a bridge on Elka Park Road, which leads to the trailhead for the new Mink Hollow Trail, is neither drivable nor walkable. This is incorrect. We drove across it on our way out after the hike. There were two vehicles parked at the trailhead, but we didn't see a soul on the trails. In fact, after our climb of Hunter on Sunday, we met only one person hiking all week, a man climbing north toward Balsam when we were heading for Haynes. (We met him again as we were descending Big Indian.) We met five people descending Hunter, none of whom had any "knowing" reaction to my query, "Any views from the top?" Maybe I should have asked about alligator eggs. There were also two people heading up, and three others in their party we didn't see, only heard.
Hey, another question I just thought of: What's the deal with four of the peaks having to be climbed in winter to qualify for the Catskill 3500 club? Is it 35 ascents plus those particular four peaks climbed again in winter (39 ascents in all), or do they need to be climbed only in winter? (So if you climb them at any other time of the year they don't count.) In other words, I've climbed eight of the 3500-foot peaks in the Catskills, but have I climbed only five of the Catskill 3500 Club's peaks?
Do winter 3500 Club members have to climb those four peaks in summer?
* How come Haynes isn't on the Catskill 3000-footer list? Okay, the rise isn't 250 feet, but it's more than a half mile from higher mountains Eagle and Balsam, so it should qualify for the list.
** The trail didn't seem to exist anyway, but the fellow at our inn told us that it's quite obvious after the first hundred yards or so. He suggested that if we'd been caught in the private land we could have just used the old "we got lost" ploy.
We climbed Hunter Mountain in the fog on Sunday, September 25. It was Susan's first Catskill peak, and a nice one for me to bag again, as it had been my third-ever 4000-footer, 22 years and two months earlier, and the only Northeast 4000-footer I hadn't climbed or re-climbed since October 4, 1997. I had a bit of an unrest cure on the way down, wondering if we'd in fact reached the summit. We had followed the yellow trail near the top both up and down, the sign for which states that the fire tower is .35 miles away. The sign for the blue trail states that "Hunter Mountain" is .32 miles, the fire tower .62 miles, distant. Obviously it's not three-tenths of a mile from the fire tower to the rock with "ELV. 4040 FT." painted on it, so what's the "Hunter Mountain" that is three-tenths of a mile from the fire tower?
Monday it poured most of the day, so we spent it shopping at the Hudson Valley Mall and other stores along Route 9W in Kingston. (We had birthday celebrants to shop for, so we took care of that.) A big thanks to Mark Schaefer for the directions. We stayed a couple nights at the Superlodge on Route 28, so we had to drive only four or five miles each way.
Anyway, the Barnes and Noble did not have the new ADK Catskill guide. It did have the 2002 AMC guide. Waldenbooks, at the mall, didn't seem to have any hiking guide books at all. As we were leaving the mall, I saw the store called Gander Mountain, so we stopped in. Right near the cash registers were some magazines and voilà, several copies of the 2005 ADK Catskill guide. Also, conveniently, one package of the NY/NJTC five-map set. Foolishly, I didn't buy the maps at that time, because I thought they might be too old (2003 printing). We went to Kenco and, while they had several packages of maps (Taconics, etc.), none were the Catskill set. Then, back at the motel, I looked at the book and read that the book was supposed to be paired with the 2003 printing of maps. D'oh. We went back to Gander Mountain and bought the maps, then ate at Boston Market in the same parking lot, so technically I didn't go all the way back just for the maps.
Tuesday we climbed Balsam Lake Mountain. A very easy six miles. We wanted to hit Graham Mountain, too, but the book said it is on private land and one needs permission to hike it. Inconveniently, the book doesn't reveal the landowner's name, or how to contact him (it). The signs at the actual site say "Furlow Properties/Arkville, New York," but have no street address or telephone number, so I don't know how they expect people to garner permission. I wonder how many people actually get the permission, but I figured I'd better ask here first. I don't want to trespass, but neither do I want to be the only one bothering to ask. Does the Catskill 3500 club ask applicants to turn in all their permission slips before granting membership? If they were serious about "respecting private property rights" they would. So we'll have to go back someday for Graham.
Wednesday, starting now from the Slide Mountain Forest House, we climbed the Oliverea-Mapledale Trail out of McKenley Hollow to the ridge, then took the West Branch-whatever (I'm drawing a blank) Trail to Balsam Mountain. Found four possible high points there. Would it kill them to put up a sign or something? Went south over Haynes*, found herd paths to Eagle and Big Indian. Is the Eagle summit the two little cairns, or is it somewhere beyond? The path continued, but didn't seem to lead anywhere in particular, or anything particularly higher. And the Big Indian herd path doesn't really go very far, certainly not all the way to the summit, but we pressed on through the brush until we found another path which led us to the canister. Tried to follow the same herd path back out, but lost it again and had to wander around until we found the path we'd come in on. We wanted to descend from the ridge via the "old" trail the book mentions opposite the Seager Trail, the one that would lead us down into Burnham Hollow,** but the map indicated that that land is "KO" (Keep Out), so we followed the trail all the way back to the Oliverea-Mapledale Trail. Easiest 15 miles we've ever done, anyway; nine hours. We may have flushed a bear near the Haynes summit on the way back. Susan heard a loud crashing through the woods off to our left.
Thursday's forecast called for possible showers in the morning, thunderstorms in the afternoon, so we climbed Slide Mountain in the morning. It poured on us most of the way. Took us 1:24 to go up and a little less than that to go down, plus a minute on top. Susan's 98th Northeast 4K. The sky cleared ten minutes after we'd returned to my car, and the rest of the day was nice, save for one brief shower while we were driving back up to Haines Falls. We went to the top of Kaaterskill Falls late in the afternoon, following trails at the end of Laurel House Road, but couldn't find the carving in the rock to the dead dog. I suspect it was down on a particular ledge, but it was a little bit too far a drop for me to feel comfortable making. Not so much going down as trying to get back up again. So sorry, Mark, I still haven't tracked it down. We got a room at Brookside bed and breakfast.
Friday we climbed Plateau and Sugarloaf Mountains, but we saved four miles of walking by taking the old trail from the end of Mink Hollow Road. It was only 21 minutes to the col, and the end of the road was on state land so it was all perfectly legal. This was a tough six mile hike, however; it took us seven hours, as it was 1240 feet up Plateau in 1.1 miles, then back down to the col and another 1200 feet up Sugarloaf in a mile (and back down again, natch). A far cry from the West Branch-etcetera Ridge Wednesday.
This reminds me that the ADK book, although just published, is already two years out of date. (The letter from the authors at the beginning is dated June 30, 2003!) They say a bridge on Elka Park Road, which leads to the trailhead for the new Mink Hollow Trail, is neither drivable nor walkable. This is incorrect. We drove across it on our way out after the hike. There were two vehicles parked at the trailhead, but we didn't see a soul on the trails. In fact, after our climb of Hunter on Sunday, we met only one person hiking all week, a man climbing north toward Balsam when we were heading for Haynes. (We met him again as we were descending Big Indian.) We met five people descending Hunter, none of whom had any "knowing" reaction to my query, "Any views from the top?" Maybe I should have asked about alligator eggs. There were also two people heading up, and three others in their party we didn't see, only heard.
Hey, another question I just thought of: What's the deal with four of the peaks having to be climbed in winter to qualify for the Catskill 3500 club? Is it 35 ascents plus those particular four peaks climbed again in winter (39 ascents in all), or do they need to be climbed only in winter? (So if you climb them at any other time of the year they don't count.) In other words, I've climbed eight of the 3500-foot peaks in the Catskills, but have I climbed only five of the Catskill 3500 Club's peaks?
Do winter 3500 Club members have to climb those four peaks in summer?
* How come Haynes isn't on the Catskill 3000-footer list? Okay, the rise isn't 250 feet, but it's more than a half mile from higher mountains Eagle and Balsam, so it should qualify for the list.
** The trail didn't seem to exist anyway, but the fellow at our inn told us that it's quite obvious after the first hundred yards or so. He suggested that if we'd been caught in the private land we could have just used the old "we got lost" ploy.
