An embarrassing camping moment…
With all due respect to Stanley Kubrick, this is a tale about what happened when I failed to follow plan C (for Compass).
I was backpacking with my son’s Boy Scout troop in Harriman State Park and it was a beautiful moonlit night in mid-November. Most of the boys were camped in the lean-to and a few were in tents right next to it. As is our practice the adults were camped separately, on this occasion about 200 feet away.
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We led a mixed group of Catskill 3500 Club aspirants and ADK members to these two “bushwhack” summits. The day started out quite warm in the morning but got progressively cooler and windier, especially at the summits where temperatures were in the 40’s when we got there.
We participated in a day doing trail maintenance work on the Brothers Trail on Big Slide Mountain. The Long Island Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club adopted this trail decades ago and has been organizing annual work trips ever since. The results of their efforts are obvious when you hike this well maintained trail with spectacular views of the Great Range from “The Brothers”.
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*** This trip is now full ***
Explore Franconia Notch
4 Days/3 nights of day hiking the summits and exploring in and around Franconia Notch, one of the premier destination areas of the White Mountains. We will spend one night in the AMC Lonesome Lake Hut after hiking North and South Kinsman Mountain, then two nights in a very nice hostel. This trip is for advanced hikers. The itinerary also includes the classic Franconia Ridge Loop.
MountainSister3, Nimblefoot and I bushwhacked Olderbark Mountain and Plateau from the southern end of the Mink Hollow Trail. When we arrived at the trailhead parking there were a couple of other vehicles present, perhaps belonging to hunters.
We followed the trail for just a short distance from the parking area. A little past the “dollhouse” (the guest house on the private parcel on Mink Hollow) and before the significant creek crossing we turned left off of the trail. We had discussed heading for the col between Olderbark and the first sub-summit on the ridge south of Plateau, but elected a bearing more or less directly towards the Olderbark summit, perhaps missing a little to the north. Continue reading
We led a small group to the Hunter Mountain fire tower on the last day of calendar winter. For M, this counted towards his winter 3500 list. It was a beautiful day for a hike, sunny at times, cloudy at others, but always clear enough for great views from the rime encrusted tower.
We hiked Rocky via the slightly less traditional route of an out and back from Moon Haw Road. Passing over Balsam Cap in both directions was a nice addition, but Rocky was the prime objective for this hike because it was G’s 35th for her winter round. Continue reading
Our group of 6 bushwhacked North Dome and Sherrill mountains on a late winter day that featured a mix of sunshine and occasional flurries. The deep snow allowed for plenty of horseplay glissading down the snowshoe track that we repacked.
We hiked Windham High Peak on a sub-zero day. Fortunately it was very sunny with a nice snowshoe track and beautiful views. For D, it was his first winter high peak. Continue reading
A day after leading a hike for the Catskill 3500 club, we relaxed by hiking Leavitt (aka Southwest Hunter) and Hunter Mountain. Finding the can on Leavitt was a piece of cake with a nice track already worn along the main herd path on an old rail bed. It wasn’t really fair to call it a bush whack on this day.
