We's the skills to hike the Catskills -t rip report

“Here is the trip report thread. This was a great trip! I think all who were on it would agree. It was cold but comfortable and it was very sunny and clear. The views were astounding. The landscape was covered in snow and was enchanting. Fortunately, it wasn't deep enough to require crampons.

The idea for this trip started a few months back when I said I wanted to do something in the Catskills and put up trip on the trips page. My knowledge of Catskill trails is nada, so I let it up to the group to decide what we did. We all decided to do the Wittenburg, Cornell and Slide loop. The trip didn't belong to me but belonged to the group. It was a total group trip and I really enjoyed that. I don't know the names of the trails and landmarks on the trail as well as others so I will let those who do write the report. Thanks to everyone who made it for a great time!

Trip attendees:
Pennsy
Phantom Soul
Mouse Spray
fels
LT hiker
Sacco
My brother Russ
and myself”

“no blow up dolls this time around.”

“What, no pics?”

“Sounds like you had a blast! Sorry I could'nt make it, went to the Smokeys instead. Going to have the first dog (Celo) in the SB6K Program. Damn, I was'nt supposed to tell that I had a dog on the trails of the Smokeys.!.!”

“pics coming soon to a webshots near you”

“Where in the Smokies did you go? I bet Celo enjoyed it! What sixers did you bag? Was it cold, any snow?”

“Great shots!!”

“Yeah. Great shots!! Thanks for the tour of the Catskills. Smooth. Maybe one day.

Who's that fellow in the Orange Bivy? That guy keeps a tight camp.”

“Is that an Integral Designs Bivy Pennsy has? I have a worn out Salathe and I'm thinking of buying a Unishelter - that sure looks like a Unishelter from the pictures.”

“nice pics ENS.

i had a great time. one of the nicest loops i've done and a great group of people.
i know the trail names and landmarks even less so i'll leave that to others also.

friday night LThiker and i stayed at the phoenicia motor village, right on 28 at the turnoff for the woodland valley road.
great place to stay in that kind of situation when you don't want to sleep in the car at the trailhead.
rooms are small but the beds were comfortable and not too expensive.
$70 for 2 beds.
they also take pets and don't mind a little partying, though we went next door to the Woodland Valley Inn for drinks and burgers - also a nice place with good prices.
the motels # is 845-688-7772

oh, and ENS - your brother is an animal for doing that whole loop on a gimp leg without even a whimper.
i would've been #&%!$in up a storm if it was me!
last edited: 11/15/04 9:47:43 AM”

“Hahaha Im not an animal! One of the great advantages of being the slowest hiker is that when you are far behind everyone else, no one can hear you curse :D

The stairs of death: for me was more like the stairs of tears; I cried with sadness when I saw them from the bottom. And I wept with joy when i reached the top.

I think this trip was outstanding and all the hikers are extremely cool. I'd sit out in the cold with any of ya :D”

“I'll take a stab at the report. :)

We all met at the trailhead around 7am. My brother and I got there at around 5 and we arrived in time to catch an amazing display of Northern Lights illuminating up the sky.

There wasn't much snow down in the valley, so we all decided that we'd most likely be ok with out crampons, so they were left behind.

We hit the Woodland Valley trail somewhere around 730 and started the steady climb to the jct with the Wittenberg Trail. The more the elevation gained the more snow we encountered, still nothing to worry about and we were fine with out crampons. It sure added to the scenery though.

We got to the Wittenberg Jct around 10am and then turned up towards Wittenberg Peak. It gets fairly steep here and there were some good scrambles as well. This was a great stretch of trail.

We arrived on Wittenberg around at 11 and soaked in the view. It was an amazing view. It was clear as can be and you could see well into Mass. Down below was the you could see the Ashokan Res.

There we took a break and enjoyed the surroundings.

From there we dropped down into the col between Wittenberg and Cornell and then up the steep side of Cornell which had some of the best scrambling on the entire trail. On the top of Cornell we stopped briefly to enjoy the view of Wittenberg and the ridge we had just traversed to get up to Cornell. From there we dropped down into the col between Cornell and Slide. Once we had reached the campsites in the col, we stopped for lunch and then we embarked on our climb up Slide Mountain which also includes several steep and tricky scrambles and a steep ladder section. At around 3pm we arrived at the summit of Slide.

There we had to make a decision because we still had 7 miles to hike and only two hours left of daylight. Originally we were planning on camping on Giant Ledge. We decided that with the limited amount of daylight and the fact that Giant Ledge would be much colder and windier that we would camp a mile below the Ledge and this would give us a tad shorter hike as well.

View coming off of Slide of the range that the famous/infamous Devils Path traverses.

We reached the road walk at dusk and the easement trail just before it got dark and pretty much night hiked the last 2 miles into camp with our headlamps on.

Sacco and Phantom Soul got there first and were able to get a camp fire going. We had a good time in camp, I was one of the first ones to crash because I got in my sleeping bag and after that, there was no getting out. It got pretty cold Saturday night, but I think everyone stayed fairly warm.

[url=http://community.webshots.com/photo/217101906/217101906DjRrqw]camp at the crack of dawn.

The following morning, we all started getting up around 7ish. But we slacked off and hung out around the campfire until 930.

All of our boots were frozen, so it was imprtant that they be thawed out.

At around 930 we hit the trail. It was only 3 miles to the parking lot to complete the loop. Only the Stairs of Death stood between us and victory! And when we got there we were sure we met our peril as a nasty troll was guarding its passage. As you can see from the previous picture, he let us pass after we all answered the "questions three" correctly.

We then made it back to our automobiles virtually unscathed at about 11:30 and enjoyed a great breakfast at the Phoenicia Diner where we all parted ways and so ends the story. Till next time! See ya on the trail.

Here is the entire photo album. Hope you enjoy. Great trip!”

“Looks like a great trip, I can't wait to get out to the Catskills sometime.”

“ens, great report!”

“When you get up there, do this exact trail. This was great, some of the best scrambles ever!”

“I think this trip was outstanding and all the hikers are extremely cool. I'd sit out in the cold with any of ya :D”
biner

whoah, my brother posted!!! Stop the press!
last edited: 11/15/04 5:59:12 PM”

“i love scrambles. My favorite part while hiking I think are scrambles, then the views. Don't ask why. lol. That's just how it is.


I really got to make it up there one of those days.”

“It's been just over 6 months since I've been back to the trail which I like to call home. I've done some of my earliest hiking in the Burroughs/Giant Ledge area, and often refer to the area as my home turf. Yet I spent a good deal of the year exploring new places that I have never been to, and as such, it was nice to be back on familiar ground.

We did have a few inches of snow, but nothing drastic. I even brought a pair of YakTraxx, but took them off soon, as they really weren't needed. I've never done this trail before with snow on the ground, so that added a nice twist.

We had some steep climbs, along with excellent views, as is typical of New York trails. The weather was just as great, thought a bit chilly for mid-November. But hey, I'll take sunshine over rain anyday.

As the sun went down on Saturday, I had to incubate my water in my fleece pockets to keep it from freezing (It's been a while since I've done some sub-freezing backpacking...). It was also interesting to roll over in the sleeping bag, with all my stuff inside it (yup, I had to incubate all my clothes, boots included, too). And even though it was only about 10 degrees outside, thanks to my warm sleeping bag and the huge fire Sacco built, you could hardly even tell.

We decided not to go up to Giant Ledge to camp, as it was already dark by the time we got to the junction. Couple that with the cold and wind that you usually get up there, and it didn't take much to ditch that idea (although, for some it was apparently harder to let go of than others...). Oh well, maybe next time.

On Sunday, we broke camp in ultimate slacker mode and finally busted out sometime after 10 AM (I think?). Because we got out so late, everyone was thinking breakfast in town, and as a result, we bailed on going to Giant Ledge and Panther Mtn. Didn't really bother me, as I've done both already before, and breakfast was sounding might fine.

We ended the trip with a brunch at the Phoenicia Diner, a well earned meal. Great company, and I enjoyed meeting the 3 new folks, as well as seeing some old friends again. Rock on dudes!

Pictures to follow soon; stay tuned.”

“Super pics ENS, and an excellent trip report as well. Thanks for doing a great job organizing this trip, especially since you've never been there.

This was a great trip for me and provided some much needed therapy. I never get tired of doing that loop, and the company was most excellent. Russ (aka Biner?) gets the Purple Heart for enduring the whole trip with a bad wheel and never complaining. Everytime someone would ask him about his leg, he'd say "it's ok" but it was obvious he was a hurting pup.

I was glad to finally meet Mouse Spray, whose trail hair can almost match Sir Pete, and it was good to meet a Joisey Boy, Fels. The other usual suspects were ok too. ;o)

The trail conditions were much better than I anticipated, considering the forecasts, but there was just enough snow to make the scrambles more difficult than normal. Otherwise, we could have made it to Giant Ledge that night. It was still a 12 mile hike Saturday, which was quite a grind.

I'll try to post my pics tonight, including some featuring Sacco's homemade 1 1/2 lb sleeping bag that kept him warm with temps near single digits.

Wingding - yes, that was an ID bivy, the Event Unishelter model. I really like it. The Event fabric is lighter and supposed to breath better than the regular Unishelter. I didn't use a vapor barrier liner, which I normally do with the bivy, but I was pleasantly surprised to wake up with minimal condensation.

Tek - my camp might have looked tight but I had a bunch of crap scattered all around the fire ring. No pics of that thankfully. :o)
last edited: 11/15/04 6:13:40 PM”

“ENS, nice pics. I must watch for a trip up that way next yr.”

“Great Trip!! As usual I had a blast on this trip, even though I got seperated from the group hiked an extra 2 miles and summited an extra peak. I guess that will teach me not to pay attention when the group is talking about changing campsites.

Twinkle, I hope your not still waiting at the train station.”

“LOL! How could I have forgotten to mention that? WRONG WAY LT HIKER!! ;o)

There's always a SAR mission when we do this hike. I'm just glad this one was very short. About 50 yards?
last edited: 11/15/04 7:14:29 PM”

“Oh yeah, I left that bit out. yeah, we were glad to see you head lamp coming down the trail. We figured you were bivvying somewhere along the trail.”

“why is the color in the Ashokan Res. looking yellow all of the sudden?





awesome pics. Don't let Mapes see that one of you up on Wittenberg purifying her water source.
last edited: 11/15/04 8:28:53 PM”

“Sounds like it was a great trip. Nice Pics.”

“...the ultimate spring for Pennsy to contaminate...”

“Great hike, great weather, and a great bunch of people. Couldn't have asked for anything more.

My final falling down count was only 5 times, with one disputed. Believe it or not, my last fall occurred well after the stairs of death, with the parking lot just coming into view. LTHiker was the sole witness to that one - I couldn't pretend I was laying down on purpose with all the leaves swirling everywhere.

I woke up this morning with a full fledged cold & slight temp. Kinda glad to know why I felt more wiped out there than I should've been.

Sacco's handmade gear is some pretty impressive stuff. Didja notice while he waited for us to arrive in camp he whittled a small Christmas villiage to decorate his site.

Compare his stuff to my gear! I think everyone of ya at one point asked what the hell I had in that big pack. Now I'll admit it was my TV and portable hot tub - that's why I disappeared so early Sat. night.

Anyway - thanks again ENS for digging me up to join...and thanks to ya'll for makin' it a blast!”

“Sorry to hear about the cold, MouseSpray. I was feeling kinda wiped myself, but you'd be surprised how far a hot shower and a short nap can go...

Anywhoo, I think I've made everyone wait for my pics long enough. That being said, I'm trying out a new format for pictures here -- on the house server. Check 'em out.”

“glad you made it. Keep TT on the radar, for more trips. It'd be great to hit the trail with you again.”

“awesome pics PS”

“When I was young, my favorate book was "My side of the Mountain" and I always imagined the Catskill Mountains as a really cool place and always thought about going there to hike. So it was finally nice to go and really enjoy the Catskills this past weekend.”

“love the pics and thanks for the report!”

“thanks Yam”

“Nice pics Pennsy and Phantom, looks like a great time. Oh...and Nice Fire!”

“Nice pictures and trip report. It does look cold out there with the snow on the ground.”

“nice report!!! Great pictures.”

“Thanks for the bivy info Pennsy. I never had condensation problems with the Salathe bivy, but it did loose it's waterproofness after lots of heavy use - I got enough use out of it that I don't have much to complain about. I think I'll go ahead and order the event unishelter.”

“Thanks for sharing all! I want to hike in the snow soooo bad! Arrrrgggg!

One day I will have to get up to the Catskills. Did yall see any wildlife?”

“we saw little moths flying around the snow on the way off of the mountain Sunday.”

“Thats it? Moths?”

“i saw a couple deer on friday night in woodland valley”

“hot pics! :-D”

“I saw a deer driving into the Catskills on Rt. 28 Friday night. I mean off of Rt 28, the deer was standing along the side of the road.”