Greatest Hits

      I wanted to share some favorite pics and memories of hiking from the past few years as my excitement builds for our upcoming thru-hike of the Northville Placid trail. Around this time last year Jeanette and I were falling deeply in love......with hiking and backpacking. We shook hands and decided we would hike the trail  the next summer. I'm not sure if either of us really believed we would follow through with what, at the time, was still a bit out of our league. Jeanette bought the trail guide,we went on with our hiking, camping and falling in love.




     So here we are, mere days away from our wander through the adirondack wilderness. If it weren't for some of the incredible times we've had exploring that I'd like to share with you, this dream would not have ripened so sweetly. Be safe out there and keep love and appreciation for all of these wonders as your center. Kieran Murphy rule in full effect.


The Tetons from Grand Targhee. Can't wait to go west again
One of Jeanette's amazing shots from the summit of Gothics. Possibly one of my favorite hikes...ever.

Rattlesnakes on Alander Mountain. This Mountain also includes a summit cabin and fields of blubes (blueberries DUH).
Giant Mountain has a nubble and a washbowl...and a bad-ass waterfall

A beautiful night spent camping on the AT. A chance meeting with some thru-hikers= much needed inspiration just when we needed it the most.
Bear Mountain Bridge as seen from Anthony's Nose. Some amazing hikes around Peekskill


My First look at Algonquin and the Mac range. Some say this idol still wanders Phelps Brook Valley...

Eagle Cliff

      Jeanette, Randy, Diddy and I all came up fourth of July weekend to my folks cabin in Eagle Bay. We had a great first night by the campfire, followed by a lovely hike to Queer Lake Lean-too. Jeanette and I did this (3.8 mi I believe?) hike in the fall and immediately made a mental note to return. Great lean-too, right on the water, great views of a priiiistine lake and a magical peninsula location.
 

      The four of us had an awesome swim on a hot day then had a delicious Mediterranean style lunch with hummus, pita, veggies and bean salad. This was followed by a great cook out with my folks and another night by the campfire, singing songs, drinking beers and sharing rounds of Bulleit (One of my favorite fire-side beverages).

       The next day, I woke up when nature called (we tented out behind the cabin) around 6:15, looked up the hillside and noticed a nearly full-grown bear ambling down. He was likely interested in the chip and s'mores crumbs littered around the fire pit, remnants of our evening's revery. I woke up Jeanette to take a look (her first bear!) and after getting a bit too close to Randy and Diddy's tent, she asked me if that was ok. I decided it wasn't. "Dude".....no response......"DUDE".........not even a look in our direction. "DUDE!!!!!" I yelled while Jeanette clapped her hands. Said bear finally decided that his/her mellow was sufficiently harshed that it decided to amble (at its leisure) next door to the O'Connor's.

     My folks cabin is at the base of a little hill with big personality. It's called Eagle Cliff. Local lore has it that a mating pair of Bald Eagle's nested there in the 70's. When I was a kid, we would climb it at least a handful of times each summer. Many sandwiches were had on its lovely overlook. This rocky ledge has commanding views of the Fulton Chain of Lakes, Inlet and the surrounding Mountains.

    The best part of the view for our family was that of the Eagle Bay beach. We could see the docks and even the canoe/ kayak racks where my sister, mother and I spent so many sunny summer days. When I began Kayaking on the lake 2 summers ago, the distinctive white pines on its summit became a useful beacon for guiding me to shore.

       I came to realize that I knew few places as well as I knew the trail and summit of this humbly stunning little rise of land. While this realization gave me great sense of contentedness it led me down a path towards a second realization.... With all of my hundreds of hiking pictures in the high peaks, catskills, and countless other regions, ranges and rivers, I hadn't yet taken any from my home base. The center of my families universe, the warm spot in our hearts where we keep our joy.

Earlier in the summer I took an evening stroll up to the summit and had a little photo shoot. In this process, I got to know my center a bit better and tend it for future joy-core.

Mohonk Preserve and the Catskill escarpment trail bro hike June-july 2010

    After 2 great weekends in the high peaks we scaled it back a smidgen and did some exploring in different regions to the south. Family played prominently in these hikes both for the good and for the slightly annoying.

     Memorial day weekend Jeanette and I decided to head to the 'Gunks (her first time, my second) to explore Bonticou Crag and Table Rock. This is truly a beautiful area and we can't wait to take a trip down again and do some trail riding on their huge network. Lets quickly get through the bad and move on to the good. It was extremely crowded (busy holiday weekend) with big families taking their once yearly outing to the woods. Jeanette and I literally ran away from one such family when a tweener loudly squealed to her mother "Do you think Justin Bieber is going to be on Gleeeeeee?" Oh the horror!
       

       Bonticou Crag was a wicked fun scramble with some great views of the Catskills looming out of the haze to the north. Table Rock was fun to revisit with lots of great memories of my first rock climbing trip there with Crystal, Mike and Ryan a few years back when we crossed paths with a Black bear.

    

   Saw some vultures busting moves over table rock while eating lunch and also saw a fox bounding down the trail. Jeanette had seen one earlier while we were wandering separately and wasn't 100% certain it wasn't a dog. The second view confirmed it. Really neat to see on the trail. Beuatiful wildflowers everywhere in the fields on this lovely spring day.

        We stopped in town at Rock and Snow in order to pick up the NY/NJ Trail Conference map packet for the 'Gunks area. I highly recommend this companies' maps. Great detail and easy to read with cool history info in the margins. You can also rent climbing gear from Rock and Snow for reasonable prices (as I did the first time I went climbing there).

               The first weekend of June, was lucky enough to get to do a hike in the Catskills with my brother Brain (and of course with my lovely trail companion Jeanette too!) We decided to do the Escarpment Trail out of the North and South Lake area with Inspiration Point as our destination. You can do this hike without having to pay the day use fees by parking just outside the gates at the Shute road trailhead.

      We were really blown away by the views on this hike. It's no wonder this area was one of the centers from which the Hudson River School of artists drew inspiration. There was old graffiti carved into the stone at many of the overlooks, dating to the early 19th century. This is a cool area to hike as it is part of a large network with many opportunities to lengthen or shorten the duration of the hike based on the needs of the group.

     
  We elected to push on further and closed our loop with a stop at the former site of the Kaaterskill Hotel and then down along the lake for a total of around 7 or 8 miles. We were tired but not floored since there is only a 500 ft change in elevation over the course of the hike.

       Super fun hike and was amped to use my recently acquired Catskills map packet (once again, from the NY/ NJ trail conference) and scout out some future hikes. We thought it would actually be worth the use fees to spend a weekend here with friends. Some could just chill and grill, others could do longer hikes, shorter hikes and/ or rent a kayak and paddle around the lake. Might see if Randy and Diddy are interested after festival season winds down.

Dix via Round Pond 5/22/10-5/23/10

             Jeanette, Mike, Crystal and I got to the Dix/ Round Pond trail head  mid-morning Saturday. The group put on their boots, made final pack and snack adjustments, and began heading down the trail. Up and over a small ridge, we were immediately immersed in the Dix Mountain Wilderness and  paused to soak it up overlooking Round Pond.

      Along the lake it became apparent that spring was in full swing with birds, wildflowers and all other kinds of green growth engaging all of our senses. we saw painted trillium everywhere on this hike, in greater numbers than I've ever seen before. We attempted to find wild dill (Mike and I smelled it everywhere) but struck out once I again. I will find and eat this plant! We did gather some fiddle-heads but were not sure if it was too late in the season or what the brown fuzzy stuff on them was all about.


      The next phase involved a fairly grueling (with full pack) ascent through a notch to the shore of the Bouquet River. The hike was level from here to the lean-to, which we reached after passing the intersection with the trails to Round and Noonmark Mountains. The hike in was quite lovely and as we got closer, views of Dix Mountain began to emerge behind the river to the south.
 
      We decided to push on to Dix after setting up camp and eating lunch (empty lean-too!). The trail began to climb gradually along several Bouquet River tributaries. After maybe 1.5 miles we reached the base of the slide and began to appreciate how truly massive this mountain is. Immediately after this moment of awe and wonder the trail began to get serious. Ascending along the edge of the slide, the trail had a severely steep pitch with some mud, skeletal exposed tree roots and fist-sized loose gravel. We climbed up on all fours for the most part until reaching the col where it leveled out. Now on top of this 4300 ft and rising ridge, the winds starts buffeting us with reminders of how small and mortal we are. After making a left at the intersection, we entered the alpine zone and soon the trees were only chest high and stunning views of the Dix range to our south and the great range and beyond to our north were unavoidably stellar.



Summit: (JC-13, CS-15, MF-3, CM-3) some of my favorite views of the high peaks on a perfect spring day. I'm now pretty exited to hike down in Elk lake and do the rest of the Dix range. Exposed and rocky summit with 360 degree view.

        Inched our way down the steep inclines and made it back to the base of the slide before dark which was our goal and made our way using headlamps for the last half mile. The clear night and bright moon helped keep us on trail but this trail could use some of the newer type DEC trail blazes/ nails which seem to blaze out in the night when your headlamp hits em. Only real critique for my first experience in this particular section of the high peaks. We had a great clean lean-too, clean fire pit and a good supply of wood ready to go. Cooked dinner and poked some coals while enjoying some wild turkey. Slept hard and comfortably, greatly enjoying the recent addition of a ground pad to the sleep rig. Can't believe we ever didn't have them!

        Food musings: Solid breakfast of oatmeal (with craisins, awwwww yeaah!), turkey bacon and home fries. The home fries came together like this: I threw a whole clove of garlic, wrapped in tin foil with a little bit of olive oil into the coals before bed. Crystal cut up a bunch of fingerling (easy to transport) potatoes and garlic the night before which we didn't get around to eating after awesome Zatarain's , broccoli and Kielbasa. I had brought a small frying pan for the first time camping after an unfortunate boiled breakfast sausage incident. Cooked it all up with some olive oil in this funky, handle-less three section frying pan which was procured in Booneville. After fussing too much over it a while and sat back and chilled, getting the feel of the pan and cooked up some rockin' potatoes! Good call on Mike bringing an Italian spice blend grinder.

In summary:

Frying pan: win! Fingerlings: win! Coal-roasted garlic:win!spice grinder: win!jeanette's Chocolate choice (Hanaford brand belgian massive 7 ouncer: win!olive oil in small plastic containers: win!

Headed out of camp way early than we thought (met someone with a watch and our estimates were 2 hours off!) we reached the intersection with Noonmark and a decision was reached: if we climbed Noonmark, we'd have to eat lunch at the Noonmark Dinner. Jeanette stayed at the creekside intersection, to enjoy basking in the sun on her ground pad, reading Pygmy and lurking on french-Canadians. The noonmark ascent (1100 ft in a mile roughly) was fun and demanding with some really nice up close and personal looks at the southern faces of the great range. Bounded down and met up with Jeanette (and our packs) and gathered our strength for the trip out. While we did two yellow-bellied sapsuckers performed some serious stunts, flying right between us, trees and the creek, appearing to do figure 8's. From here on out, not too bad or too long and we were soon out in the parking lot, tired and joyful from our 15 mile weekend.

Phelps and Tabletop via Marcy Dam 5/15/10-5/1610

5/15/10


Hiked in from South meadow Parking/ camping area starting around 10:30. 2.4 miles in to Marcy dam. Rolling, mellow route in, dry conditions. Set up camp at 3rd tent site on the left. Attempted to use the Island camp site we used after algonquin hike but creek was too high (I fell in trying to cross back hehehe). Good little piece of high ground, would use again.



Ate lunch, set up camp and packed daypack. Headed up the blue-blazed, VH trail. 0.7 miles to Phelps Brook campsite and than another 0.3 to the intersection with the Phelps trail. 1 more steeper mile to Indian Falls, cloudy but stellar views of Algonquin and the rest of the McKintyre range. jeanette was pretty blown away by this perfectly framed view as I was my first time there.



Trail to tabletop was marked with a sign and cairn just before indian falls. Tight,Well cut (but not blazed trail) which got gradually steeper till the flat and muddy summit. Great views from the approach after climbing out of the slowly dripping pine forest and into the alpine.



Summit: (J 11, C 14) wooded at geogrpahic summit, with a view just past. Marcy dominate, my closest glimpse yet. Skylight, haystack and Basin all seemed so tremendous and stoic. Epic and unique monster view.



Tired but jolly ascent, a tough but beautiful experience, sang many songs and laughed alot. No idol sitings though we investigated familiar looking niches coming and going. odd thumpings heard from the camp site. Grouse? I don't think so but maybe. Jeanette thought it was drums. Pretty regular duration though intermitent.

5/16/10
Woke up slowly and made breakfast. Hiked back up VH trail and got water where they are putting the bridge in at Phelps Brook. Great, sunny weather and the first mile up to the Phelps intersection flew.


The next mile, to the summit of Phelps felt quite long and grueling despite the beautiful forest and sun. It took us almost 2 hours (our usual high peak mile is about an hour). Had a lovely photo shoot all the way up trail ended up snapping about 150 pics for the day.


Though the climb was tough-ass, the views we began encountering once we hit the alpine zone were well worth the strain. The Macs, Colden, Tabletop and Marcy all looked close enough to touch and framed with lovely blue sky and strategically placed cloud banks.


Summit: (J 12, C 14) Cliff edge summit with stunning views of all the aforementioned mountains with the great range just beyond. We met a woman in her 50's or 60's with a very well behaved german shepperd and were thoroughly inspired by both.

The descent went suprisingly fast, got one last bottle of cold mountain water for the drive home. Though tired and sore, the breakdown and pack out were quite pleasant with us chatting about what treats we would get at the Keene Stewarts.

14.4 mile total weekend, two new high peaks for Jeanette and my triumphant (despite the tumble into the creek) return to Phelps.

The wonderful world of blahg-core

Well here it goes....this blog's main focus will be to document and share my adventures hiking and backpacking throughout New York State and beyond. I thought I'd start by sharing some snowboarding pics from Jackson Hole and Gore taken this january. heading to the High Peaks this weekend so stay tuned for a full report on Monday(ish). Enjoy!