Sarcasm the elf and I are tentatively thinking of trying a weekend bushwhack in the Catskills in a couple of weeks. We'll most likely spend two nights, although I might decide to hike a couple of miles in and tent on Friday night rather than drive early on Saturday. I can sleep in or read a book and wait for Saturday morning arrivals.
We'd be trying to bag some set of Lone Mountain, Rocky Mountain, Balsam Cap and Friday Mountain. All four of these summits are trail-less - in fact, I don't expect to be on a marked trail for very much of the trip, unless we get really ambitious and try to hit surrounding peaks with trails on the way in or out. All four have Catskill 3500 Club canisters to sign in.
This is a very tough route. I anticipate the possibility of fording (the Neversink River may or may not get in the way, depending on our luck with route finding), beaver activity, circling ledges to find rockslides that can be scrambled, pushing through dense brush, and similar obstacles. On the other hand, my pace is very leisurely. The real hard-core hikers do these four peaks (and five summits with trails that surround them) in a day. On a hard-core route, I plan wimpy mileage.
Anyway, Elf and I are opening the door to bringing other crazies along. If you feel like a challenge, and want to take on one of the toughest whacks in the Catskills, this is the trip for you. This is as remote as the Catskills get. It's probably a good opportunity to pick up some bushwhacking skills. I'll certainly be willing to explain my thinking along the way.
Bring some sort of eye protection, safety glasses for example. Spruce can be pretty brutal. And don't forget the bug spray. I haven't seen much problem with ticks, but the deerflies are swarming this year.
For what it's worth, I'm planning an unusual route (map at kbk.is-a-geek.net/catskills/te…=41.9803&lo=-74.3903&z=13)
There's a trailhead (the P icon) to the west, at the dead end of Denning Road. Hike in a couple of miles on the Phoenicia-East Branch and Peekamoose-Table trails, up to the second bridge over the river. (Ignore the 'trailer camp' icon - that was an error in data I got from NYSDEC. It's a primitive campsite with two tent sites and maybe a privy.) There's supposed to be an unofficial, unblazed, unmaintained fishermen's path that parallels the river a couple of miles. The idea is that we can bag the peaks from a base camp near the river's headwall.
What most people do for Balsam Cap and Friday is to do the two of them in a day trip by parking at the dead end of Moon Haw Road, toward the Ashokan Reservoir to the east. They walk up the spur of Friday to about the 3200 foot contour, and then work their way around to the col between Friday and Balsam Cap. This is a long slog with about 2200 feet of elevation gain, four bands of ledges to negotiate, a nearby property line with a hiker-hostile neighbour, and lots of brush. I'm thinking that "sneaking up from behind" is likely the smart way to tackle these - simply ascend to the col from the three forks in the river, less than half the climbing on a gentler grade.
For Lone and Rocky, it's common to come over the ridge from Table, and I may approach Lone that way or else climb its northeast spur from Donovan Brook. A friend whose advice I trust recommends NOT taking the common route directly over the ridge from there to Rocky, which has difficult scrambles on the cliff on the SE side of Lone, but rather go back to the saddle between Lone and Table, and walk the shelf below the cliff, which gradually descends to the col.
Spending a long weekend at this, rather than trying to get everything done in a day, should allow exploring some of these options. The guys that do the Nine Peak Loop are all pretty beaten up when they get to Slide, but my read is that part of that is that by the time they're trying to get from Friday to Cornell, they're getting tired and stupid. I'm going to see if there's a smarter way for a lazy man.
In the unlikely event that we have extra time, we can continue up the Neversink all the way to the ridge between Slide and Cornell, and bag one or both of those peaks. (Faster hikers than me might want to tag Wittenberg. That'll be too much for me.) The Curtiss-Ormsbee trail will go back to the cars from there.
Since this is the 21st Century, I've been reading other people's trip reports and scrutinizing satellite photos. I think I can go in armed with knowledge of some spots to avoid.
So, who's up for an adventure?
Oh, one further note: this trip may need to get postponed by a couple of weeks on short notice. Issues in the Elf's personal life. But I figure I have to give others the chance to plan.
We'd be trying to bag some set of Lone Mountain, Rocky Mountain, Balsam Cap and Friday Mountain. All four of these summits are trail-less - in fact, I don't expect to be on a marked trail for very much of the trip, unless we get really ambitious and try to hit surrounding peaks with trails on the way in or out. All four have Catskill 3500 Club canisters to sign in.
This is a very tough route. I anticipate the possibility of fording (the Neversink River may or may not get in the way, depending on our luck with route finding), beaver activity, circling ledges to find rockslides that can be scrambled, pushing through dense brush, and similar obstacles. On the other hand, my pace is very leisurely. The real hard-core hikers do these four peaks (and five summits with trails that surround them) in a day. On a hard-core route, I plan wimpy mileage.
Anyway, Elf and I are opening the door to bringing other crazies along. If you feel like a challenge, and want to take on one of the toughest whacks in the Catskills, this is the trip for you. This is as remote as the Catskills get. It's probably a good opportunity to pick up some bushwhacking skills. I'll certainly be willing to explain my thinking along the way.
Bring some sort of eye protection, safety glasses for example. Spruce can be pretty brutal. And don't forget the bug spray. I haven't seen much problem with ticks, but the deerflies are swarming this year.
For what it's worth, I'm planning an unusual route (map at kbk.is-a-geek.net/catskills/te…=41.9803&lo=-74.3903&z=13)
There's a trailhead (the P icon) to the west, at the dead end of Denning Road. Hike in a couple of miles on the Phoenicia-East Branch and Peekamoose-Table trails, up to the second bridge over the river. (Ignore the 'trailer camp' icon - that was an error in data I got from NYSDEC. It's a primitive campsite with two tent sites and maybe a privy.) There's supposed to be an unofficial, unblazed, unmaintained fishermen's path that parallels the river a couple of miles. The idea is that we can bag the peaks from a base camp near the river's headwall.
What most people do for Balsam Cap and Friday is to do the two of them in a day trip by parking at the dead end of Moon Haw Road, toward the Ashokan Reservoir to the east. They walk up the spur of Friday to about the 3200 foot contour, and then work their way around to the col between Friday and Balsam Cap. This is a long slog with about 2200 feet of elevation gain, four bands of ledges to negotiate, a nearby property line with a hiker-hostile neighbour, and lots of brush. I'm thinking that "sneaking up from behind" is likely the smart way to tackle these - simply ascend to the col from the three forks in the river, less than half the climbing on a gentler grade.
For Lone and Rocky, it's common to come over the ridge from Table, and I may approach Lone that way or else climb its northeast spur from Donovan Brook. A friend whose advice I trust recommends NOT taking the common route directly over the ridge from there to Rocky, which has difficult scrambles on the cliff on the SE side of Lone, but rather go back to the saddle between Lone and Table, and walk the shelf below the cliff, which gradually descends to the col.
Spending a long weekend at this, rather than trying to get everything done in a day, should allow exploring some of these options. The guys that do the Nine Peak Loop are all pretty beaten up when they get to Slide, but my read is that part of that is that by the time they're trying to get from Friday to Cornell, they're getting tired and stupid. I'm going to see if there's a smarter way for a lazy man.
In the unlikely event that we have extra time, we can continue up the Neversink all the way to the ridge between Slide and Cornell, and bag one or both of those peaks. (Faster hikers than me might want to tag Wittenberg. That'll be too much for me.) The Curtiss-Ormsbee trail will go back to the cars from there.
Since this is the 21st Century, I've been reading other people's trip reports and scrutinizing satellite photos. I think I can go in armed with knowledge of some spots to avoid.
So, who's up for an adventure?
Oh, one further note: this trip may need to get postponed by a couple of weeks on short notice. Issues in the Elf's personal life. But I figure I have to give others the chance to plan.
I'm not lost. I know where I am. I'm right here.
