I'd not normally post a non-AT day trip report here, but this one is special to me. It represents a pilgrimage of sorts, and a personal bugbear laid to rest.
There is now a notation in the summit log book on North Dome in the Catskills (trail-less, 3,610'):
IN MEMORIAM
F. WESLEY MESEROLE
BORN 1911
LAST SEEN ON THIS MOUNTAIN
NOV. 26, 1940
LEAVING BEHIND
HIS WIFE GEORGINA
AND TWO YOUNG CHILDREN
ROY AND ETTA
THIS NOTE LEFT
NOV. 2, 2014
ALL SOULS DAY
BY HIS STEP-GRANDSON
KEVIN KENNY
For obvious reasons having to do with the family folklore, this mountain seriously scared me. I don't think anyone from the family has been up there between then and now. But now it's done, and I've returned to tell the tale.
It was kind of a tough bushwhack, but I've done worse. It's best done in cold weather, when the nettles and prickers have died back (the local hikers call the approach, the Field of Screams). It's pretty cliffy. There was a lot of circling back and forth to find spots to scramble the ledges. Conditions at the summit were about 20 °F, 50 mph wind gusts, boot-deep wet snow. Typical shoulder-season weather in the Catskill high peaks.
More later, when I have pictures sorted out (most of the photography was done by my hiking partners, and I don't have their files yet).
There is now a notation in the summit log book on North Dome in the Catskills (trail-less, 3,610'):
IN MEMORIAM
F. WESLEY MESEROLE
BORN 1911
LAST SEEN ON THIS MOUNTAIN
NOV. 26, 1940
LEAVING BEHIND
HIS WIFE GEORGINA
AND TWO YOUNG CHILDREN
ROY AND ETTA
THIS NOTE LEFT
NOV. 2, 2014
ALL SOULS DAY
BY HIS STEP-GRANDSON
KEVIN KENNY
For obvious reasons having to do with the family folklore, this mountain seriously scared me. I don't think anyone from the family has been up there between then and now. But now it's done, and I've returned to tell the tale.
It was kind of a tough bushwhack, but I've done worse. It's best done in cold weather, when the nettles and prickers have died back (the local hikers call the approach, the Field of Screams). It's pretty cliffy. There was a lot of circling back and forth to find spots to scramble the ledges. Conditions at the summit were about 20 °F, 50 mph wind gusts, boot-deep wet snow. Typical shoulder-season weather in the Catskill high peaks.
More later, when I have pictures sorted out (most of the photography was done by my hiking partners, and I don't have their files yet).
I'm not lost. I know where I am. I'm right here.