Plan a Labor Day Adventure from NYC?

“I've been to Harriman and Bear Mountain already, for two and three day trips, teaching myself the backwoods ropes and leave-no-trace mechanics as I journeyed on my own.

Now I'm ready for a three-night stint a bit further away from Penn Station - and I'd like to shere the experience with other people.

Is anyone interested in designing a backpacking journey that begins on Thursday night or Friday morning and continues through the Labor Day weekend?

Let's plan a trip to celebrate Summer's Departure and the Passage of Time.”

“The Daks will be crawling with people over Labor Day. There will be more people there that weekend than in some towns.”

“Is there a better place to go, then? Like everybody else whose day job gets in the way, I'm resigned to those painfully popular times if I'm going to take a long weekend. Any ideas?”

“I wish I could help you but my days of living only for the weekends are now gone :(

well until Dec that is.
you will find people to go with. I promise!!”

“If I wasn't suspicious, I say sure - let's go.

The Catskills are a great location. I believe you can get to them via public transportation.”

“I'm new to this site - well, new to the message board, anyway.

I found out, in the past couple of years, that nature is what is most healing and that wandering through the woods just might be what I had been looking for all along, only in the wrong places.

(So, eventually, while dodging those day job responsibilities and googling backpacking factoids, I wandered all the way to this message board...)

I've noticed that some people post trip info to find others who will join them. How do I do that more effectively? Please educate me!”

“First you have to suffer through endless verbal abuse, accusations of being a troll, questions of an intimate nature, all scientifically designed to test for a sense of humor, rapier wit, and a fondness for sarcasm.”

“We did a trip there last Labor Day weekend. VERY crowded. However, a bunch of us were just up there this past week. I was talking with the ranger, and he said the High Peaks region has been very uncharacteristicly crowded during holiday weekends this past year. He said each time they'd prepare for the worst, but compared to the past, crowds were dramatically reduced for whatever reason.

Having said that, I'd still prepare for the worst crowd wise and get to the trailhead as early as possible. And if you camp out at Lake Colden or Marcy Dam, you WILL have bear encounters. But that can be an adventure in itself. :-)”

“All right, so far I've found out that I arouse suspicion, that I can take a bus, and that every place southeast of the brooks Range will be as crowded as the Q train at eight-forty in the morning.

Now tell me kindly, please, if I find no hiking buddies, shall I go out on my own again? And where to? Back to Harriman? But I want to explore something new! (Like having company.) And this bear business at Lake Colden, does it require anything more complicated than a deft toss of the food-bag over a protruding sturdy tree branch at least twelve feet above ground?”

“Best bet in the Daks is to head west of the High Peaks. Get a map for that area and find routes that look good.

Artex can clarify bear proceedures at Colden and Marcy Dam, unless you plan to invest in a bear-proof food container.”

“Bear bags at near Colden Dam

You absolutely cannot simply throw a rope over a branch. The bears will yank on th erope until the bag is on the ground.”

“Check out the trip page for local group hikes. There are quite a few of us in the city and there are always ways to catch rides with people. You can also post your trip ideas there too.

It is hard at first because you are new to the site. No one as of yet knows you and we have had some wackos post here, henceforth the suspicion.

So, be patient - keep your eyes open for group trips - get to know some people - and soon you'll have too many trips to go on!!

are you male or female? where in the city do you live?

PS - keep your eyes on the trip page for an upcoming trip to the Whites (September) - you migt just get the trip op. you are looking for.”

“welocme to TT.
I am also in Ny. I do take the Q train but at 7:30am. LOL

where in NY are you?”

“Thanks, Mapleleaf. I live close enough to Prospect Park (Hooray for the best park in the Five Boroughs!!!!!!) to run there every morning (that's actually a lie; today and many other mornings, that's more accurate) - and I work a stone's throw from St. Patrick's Cathedral. That, I suppose, is another lie - because I'm sure as hell not working right this minute...”

“umm ok your creeping me out. :D
im on sterling and 7th”

“I disagree.

The best park in the city is Fort Tryon Park. :p

Where did you move here from?”

“Mapleleaf: President and Eighth. Still scared? ;)

Twinkle Toes: Before NYC I lived in Syracuse, Colorado Springs, Chicago, Berlin, Warsaw, Greenwich, Charlottsville, and Santa Monica.”

“ever see some crazy lady drive around with a yellow kayak on top of her car?”

“not yet... but i'll keep my eyes open. lol

any other park slope food coop lovers out there?”

“The "daks" are big enough for everybody. Stay out of the high peak areas. Very nice mountains elsewhere. Climb a trailess mountain & have it to yourself. No poisonous snakes away from the hudson valley to champlain valley (Lake George has a bunch)”

“Nice places!

And through all that you are just now discovering the outdoors?

Doesn't matter - NY has tons to offer.

Okay - enjoy the Brooklyn group - I'm way up on the upper, upper west

actually - know anyone who is looking to sublet or for a roomie? I think I need to relocate to Brooklyn for school....(long story)”

“ever see cub scouts hanging out near key food asking for donations?

thats our troop”

“Most of the time they hold me hostage at the agency, so I miss out on the cub scout sightings. Then again, I haven't kept my eyes peeled (oh, and I just looked up the phrase, out of curiosity, because it's, well, so strange, and it was first recorded in 1833, as "keep your eyes skinned," as in, lids open).
On weekends, however, I ought to have no excuse: if there are cub scouts, I should have seen them, on my many strolls and walks and blades between the COOP and the Tea Lounge on 10th Street.
Cub scouts and yellow kayaks... must be cool to be you.

Yes, Twinkle Toes, the big irony is, I spent four years living fifteen minutes from the Garden of the Gods and I stayed cooped up and stoned, dreaming of the Big City. Now I'm in the Big City and I dream of the trees and the rocks...”

“just being nosey...natalio, are you a dude or a chic?
:-)”

“is the co-op back to nature or something like that?

we are planning a kayak/canoe/camping trip to PA in Oct. if you are interested or need a ride Im in the area and can give you a ride.”

“yeah - are you a chick or a dude?

and why won't you answer the question yo?

LOL!!”

“im gussing its a girl and her name is natalie or somin likin thata”

“And she enjoyed these last four posts IMMENSELY!”

“SHE SHOTS AND SHE SCORES....I am good.

so what about th trip?”

“Mapleleaf: Thank You! I've never kayaked or canoed (except for something on the boundary waters when I was six or seven, I've been told). That sounds fantastic. Where in PA? And when in October? In the corporate world they're awfully stingy with vacations... and I'm not used to that because I spent my whole life, just up until last winter, successfully avoiding corporate structures. That, and I hail from a place where the law demands a minimum of twenty seven days vacation, no matter what your job. (And every time I recall this fact, I sulk, what is it that I'm doing here, stateside?!)”

“Hi natalio, welcome to the nutty world of TT.
Before you get too involved with MS PottyMouth (aka mapleleaf), check out the kinds of things she posts on threads, like this thread.

Run away! Run away! ;)”

“real nice stove. she lives near me. now if she sees me she will only think im nuts.


gee, as if you are so inoccent Mr. stove”

“please pay not attention to the little man behind the curtain!


ok the trip is to the Delaware Water Gap the weekend of Oct 3rd.
I am leaving after work. campout Friday night on the Pa side. Then paddle Sat and Sat night find a camp on the water and then paddle out Sun.
start at Dingmans Ferry
finish Smithfield.
no need to take time off from work.

still interested?”

“so where are you originally from, Natalio?”

“lol
aughing

so my stomach

hurts

can't talk

good one, m.”

“Yes. Yes, yes, yes, very interested, the word paddle makes me very happy! (I've been reading all about it in National Geographic Adventure and Outside and the Outward Bound catalog, but never have I actually paddled.)

Lyra: I announce a contest: Guess where I'm from and win a cool prize. (Damn. Now I have to plan a cool prize. Good thing I'm a planner.)”

“great - another conflicted whinner from the city!!! ;)


blah blah blah blah - get used to the corporate world - you moved to nyc for crying out loud!!

jusk kidding - can totally relate”

“Sweden!”

“No she likes paddling, she must be from England...lol...”

“Beware the evil that is mapleleaf!
She will suck you into her zany world! You will spend most of your working hours on the timesink called TT!
Beware! Flee while you can! ;)”

“But do check the trips page occaisionally.”

“Netherlands! is that a country?”

“Yes, the same as Holland.”

“i've BEEN sucked in. the productivity at an all-time low. good thing i work for the most disorganized, ill-run company, like, EVER!

nope, it's not sweden! (no mention of stockholm, ANYWHERE)

although, i have a fondness for fjords, and that's in norway, which is right next to sweden, and no, i'm not from norway, either.

not at all, i'm short with hair that's almost black. i couldn't pass for swedish if i put on clogs and started yodeling. oh wait, is yodeling swedish or is it dutch?”

“not from england! (but my aunt lives there, having fled my father's disfunctional family at a young age.)

not from holland!”

“and has anyone told you about the requirement to post a picture on Phil's Photo Page? The link is over on the right.
A photo will let us know you are a real person and not a troll yanking our chain. One of you in a small swimsuit would be best.”

“Germany?

my father was from Holland. so im 1/2- dutch

oh and please beat the crap out of stovie when you meet him!!!”

“Russia? is that a country? LOL!!”

“Loompaland?

or wait - you have dark hair....

Poland?”

“That photo thing, I think it's a trick. I'm not posting anything yet! You could all be crazy! (Except for Mapleleaf with the Kayak and the cubscouts and the cool photography collection, of course...)

Germans are tall and blond. I'm not.

Russia is a country, a biiiiiiig one - but it's not the one I'm from.”