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Okay. I’m on number 13, lucky 13. I (overly optimistically) thought that I could tackle Twin back in June when I climbed Indian Head but that was dumb. When I got to the trailhead of Twin after descending Indian Head, my legs were butter. Maybe next time.

Okay. It’s next time. This weekend I added Twin to my list. I left Manhattan later than planned and arrived at the Prediger Road DEC parking lot around 1:00PM, much later than I wanted. I had pulled into Tannersville to gas up and realized that I had a flat tire. I located some Fix-a-Flat and that seemed to solve the problem though I knew that I would need to replace the tire as soon as I returned home.

The initial hike on the blue blazed Jimmy Dolan Notch trail was nice and calm, ie flat. After a mile or so, that changed and the ascent became quite challenging. The funny thing, I descended this way last weekend from Indian Head and it didn’t seem so vertical. Did I mention that it was yet another humid weekend up in the Catskills? Not as bad as the previous few weekends but still extremely sweaty. Bugs, however, were much less abundant this go-around though I did get a few Zika bites.

Topping out gave way to a small clearing and gave a bit of a reprieve in terms of climbing. The Devil’s Path intersected here. Though the Jimmy Dolan Notch trail technically ended, you could continue north off trail for a 100 feet or so and get a nice view from the actual Notch.

I went right on the red blazed Devil’s Path to ascend Twin (going left would take you to Indian Head). The climb became immediately quite steep again. It was grueling all the way to the first of Twin’s two summits. This first one is the lower one, so don’t get fooled into thinking that you’ve peaked. It’s easy to think this because the view is spectacular, right up there with Giant Ledge.

Heading over to the second, and official, summit consisted of a bit of a drop and then back up but it was short and not too difficult. Again, spectacular views. At this point, I took off my pack, sat down, rested my feet, and soaked in the scenery for a good 1/2 hour. Beautiful!

Heading back down, I made a rookie mistake and headed on to Sugarloaf. It took me approximately 20 minutes for me to realize my mistake. I was having to descend down some serious verticals and trying to remember if they had been so difficult going up. I pulled out my compass (which I should have done much sooner) and saw that I was heading west when I should be going east. Oops. I had to turn around and climb up all of the rock cliffs that I had just climbed down. To add to the misery, it started sprinkling and now I’d have slippery rocks to contend with but luckily it never rained past a slight sprinkling.

Now that I was heading in the correct direction, I hoofed it all the way back down to the level portion of the Jimmy Dolan Notch trail and set up camp for the night. I pitched the tent, hung the bear bag, and promptly fell soundly asleep. I woke up once around 2:00AM and it was eerily quiet, so much so that I could hear a dead twig hitting the forest floor several hundred feet away.

The next morning, I packed up and hiked the remaining mile or so back to the DEC parking lot. The front tire of the motorcycle was holding up nicely thanks to the Fix-a-Flat. Unfortunately, riding out on the dirt road stressed the tire and it began to go flat again. I didn’t have my plug kit and nothing was open on Sunday mornings, so I made the calculated risk to ride home, checking the tire every so often. I went slow and made it home. The rim looks good. The bike is going into the shop for a new set of tires and a rim inspection. I’ll let you know how that goes.

This past weekend I decided to knock off two bushwhacks from my Catskill 3500 list. The plan was to backpack up to the summit of Big Indian, cross over east to Fir, and then back down.

I was excited to get away from the humidity of NYC but unfortunately, it was incredibly humid up in the Catskills. I never felt it cool down the whole ride up. Not a good sign.

Upon arriving at the Biscuit Brook DEC parking lot, I de-suited, switched into my hiking clothes, saddled up the backpack, and headed up the road to the Pine Hill West Branch trailhead. Yep, it was super humid. Within 15 minutes, I was drenched in sweat and it was like this the entire trip. Lots of black flies, gnats, and mosquitos also.

My first destination was the summit of Big Indian Mountain. Technically, it is a bushwhack but coming from Biscuit Brook, 99% of the approach is along the blue blazed trail. A herd path branches off about 4.5 miles past the trailhead and goes off for, at most, 1/4 mile before reaching the summit. I can’t imagine an easier bushwhack.

From there, I continued my journey east towards Fir Mountain. Now began the true bushwhack. The herd path quickly disappeared and I had to rely on my compass to ensure that I was moving in the correct direction. The plan was to make it to the low point where Big Indian and Fir met, and set up camp for the night. Unfortunately, thunder quickly rolled in as I started down Big Indian. A major thunderstorm appeared to be looming. I didn’t want to get caught in it and since I was planning on setting camp soon, I decided to stop and drop. I was on some level ground and wasn’t sure that I’d have better options until the valley which would require me backpacking through the storm.

Space was very tight and the stakes wouldn’t bite due to the ground being all leaves, but I got the ZPacks Duplex pitched. I hung the bear bag and my sweat drenched clothes and retired for the night just as the rain picked up.

Bright and early the next morning, I packed up and headed over to Fir Mountain. Using my compass, I tried to still upon the Catskill Divide ridge as best as possible as it links the two summits. This was a true bushwhack. Every great once in a while, I would come upon a herd path but it never lasted long. The majority of the trip involved pushing through deep brush, thick tree layers, and jockeying over rock ledges. At one point, I fell down into a gully trying to jump across a ravine and had to administer some minor first aid.

It was slow going but I made it to the Fir Mountain gray canister around 12:30pm. It was tricky to find but you have to just keep going up. One thing to note is that there were no water sources. The day before was abundant but not today.

After a short rest and requisite photography, I began the descent back to the parking lot. The plan was to go south west until intersecting the Pine Hill West Branch trail near the shelter and then take the blazed trail back to the bike. I followed the herd path leading from the summit for perhaps a half hour but then it disappeared. I was now back to bushwhacking and a noticeable decline in pace.

The descent was steep and long. After a few hours, I came upon a brook and filled up with fresh water. I moved further down and waded across Biscuit Brook and on to the Pine Hill trail. From there, it was two miles back to the bike.

Sunday was a tough day. It took me approximately 11 hours to bushwhack from Big Indian to Fir to the parking lot. Very slow going but exhilarating, nonetheless. I switched out of my drenched clothes and into my bike gear, and headed home excited about the shower soon to be had.

I finally broke into double digits this weekend, bagging West Kill Mountain, #10 on my Catskill 3500 list.

There was call for a lot of rain this weekend but I managed to have luck on my side. It was pouring in Manhattan early Saturday morning when I woke up. I packed up and then waited. I didn’t want to ride up in the rain and then have to pack away my riding gear wet. Around 9:00am the storm passed, I packed up the bike, and headed north, arriving at the Spruceton DEC parking lot around 12:00 noon. This trip took a bit longer because I had to travel down backroads quite a bit to get to the lot.

I arrived to an empty lot, switched clothes, and saddled up the backpack, which by the way, was a brand new ZPacks Arc Blast. I love my Osprey Exos but I’ve been reading about the Arc Blast (and the cutting edge ultralight products of Joe Valesko) for over a year now and have been wanting to try it out for myself. I was not disappointed and will post a side by side review of the Exos vs Arc Blast when I’ve spent a few more trips with it.

This trip was also the maiden voyage for a Zpacks Duplex tent which blew me away far more than the backpack. I’ve been backpacking with a Hilleberg Unna tent for over a year now but its strength isn’t as a lightweight, hot weather tent. These two new ZPacks additions have taken my base weight down almost five pounds. More to come on these two products in later posts.

The weather was gorgeous the entire day in West Kill. The hike started off on the fairly flat blue blazed Diamond Notch trail that runs along West Kill (kill being a dutch word that means creek), then veered onto the red blazed Devil’s Path which was a consistent steep climb up until a bit past the 3,500 ft marker, and then eased off for most of the rest of the way to the summit (though there were a few steep portions) with a mandatory rest stop at Buck Ridge Lookout for spectacular vistas.

Heading back down, I found some perfect forest floor at 2,400 ft to pitch tent for the night (however, the bear bagging experience was fraught with inordinate amounts of bad luck). The timing was perfect as it began to rain approximately an hour later and rained all through the night and early morning – a great test for the ZPacks Duplex tent which performed swimmingly (and I don’t mean this literally, I stayed completely dry). The rain finally stopped around 7:00am. I packed up and hiked out dry, back to the bike.

Anyway, enjoy the following photos. See you on #11.

A couple years ago, I “stumbled” upon an amazing overlook in Harriman, perfect for pitching camp and waking up to a great view. It’s provided a great, easy getaway from NYC. Here are a couple photos…

I wanted to go backpacking up in the Catskills this weekend but rain was forecasted quite a bit. I didn’t want to ride up there in the rain, change in the rain, pack up my motorcycle gear wet, and then start backpacking wet knowing that my gear would be wet the entire time. So I compromised. I had to run an errand Saturday morning and figured that I would stay in town and do a pseudo-hike by trekking on the Henry Hudson bike path from 59th street to 200th. As the crow flies, this would probably be a minimum of seven miles. With all the meandering, it was probably close to eight miles albeit with little elevation gain.

I ran my errand and then started the trek home. The rain was coming down hard. Because I was trekking urban, I took my homemade frameless Ray Jardin backpack with an umbrella tucked in the side pocket.

The second mountain this year of my Catskill 3500 journey.

It’s been a while. My last hike was back in November 2016. Then a series of motorcycles issues along with a crazy work schedule kept me away until now. Boy, have I missed it. Making it to the top of Windham High Peak this weekend made me realize, “Don’t forget about this!” This wasn’t a difficult hike by any means but it was exhilarating, nonetheless—away from urban life and basking in the fresh air of nature.

[Note: I’m writing this post six months later, so I’m a bit sketchy about the details.]

It was a chilly October. I went to work on Friday all packed up, and headed to the Catskills directly after work. I had reserved a spot at the Phoenicia Black Bear Campground and got there after dark. With my headlamp on, I quickly set up the Hilleberg Unna tent amongst the partying and county/western music sounds from neighboring campsites.

It was a chilly night and got down to around freezing but I was comfortable in the Unna and a Sea to Summit Trek !! 18° bag.

The next morning, I awoke to see that I was right next to Esopus Creek. I had no idea. It was quite a nice sight.

I packed up and headed to the Spruceton DEC parking lot for Hunter Mountain.

September 25, 2016
Wow, okay. This weekend was a doozy of a hike. My goal was to “bag” both the Wittenberg and Cornell summits. Little did I know how strenuous it would be.

The Wittenberg-Cornell-Slide Trail trailhead is located at the Woodland Valley campground, so I decided to set up base camp at the campground. That way I could do a dayhike on Saturday and return to an already set up tent.

I did my usual leave-after-work-on-Friday trip and arrived at the campground well into pitch black (the sun is going down sooner and sooner these days). I set up by the light of my headlamp and tucked in for what was to be a chilly night. 7:30 am the next morning, I was up and on the trail. Just the initial hike to the Register Box winded me. It couldn’t get harder than this, right? Well, upon reaching the first boulder I had to vertically climb up, I knew that I was in for some serious hiking. This was a tough hike with lots of bouldering required and even a rock “crack” to shimmy up. I came upon three separate hikers who had harnesses hooked up to their dogs in order to raise and lower them.

All in all, this was a very tough hike. I’m glad that I only had a five pound daypack and not a 25 pound backpack. The hike began at 1,400 feet and ascended to 3,800 feet, an elevation gain of 2,400 feet to get to the top of Wittenberg Mountain. Hard work but let me tell you, the view was breathtaking. The exhaustion I felt immediately washed away.

Hopping over to the summit of Cornell Mountain required some more exertion but went by fairly quickly. Cornell had some nice views also but not as panoramic as Wittenberg. I did, however, make a couple new friends. I met Dan and Jen, fellow Catskill 3500ers, and tagged along with them on the loooong, rocky descent back to the campground.

Yeah, #3 and #4 of my Catskill 3500 peaks. Enjoy the photos.

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September 24, 2016