6 Catskill 3500 peaks in 2 days trip rep ort

“Phew what a weekend adventure.
I met Pennsy at the Seager trail head around 1 on Friday where he was napping after bagging Rusk mtn in the morning. We loaded into my truck and drove over to the Mill Brook trail p.a. and started off around 2. Shortly up the trail I remembered that I had forgotten my cell phone(wife is at home pregnant) in my car. Pennsy being the Uber hiker that he is agreed to run back down without his pack and get it for me. So I being the pack mule that I am loaded Pennsy's pack on my pack and continued up to the fire tower. Well I didn't tell Pennsy that I was going to carry his pack but I felt bad that he was going back down, so on his way back up he thought he had passed his pack. Luckily two guys passed me heading down and I told them that if they see a guy with no pack on heading up to tell him that I had it. I almost made it to the fire tower before Pennsy caught me. Man did I feel light with just my pack on.

It was a great blue sky view from the fire tower on Balsam Lake Mtn. we could see Saturday's destinations of Graham and Doubletop. After hanging out on top for awhile and using the highest privy that I have ever seen in the Catskills we headed down to the leanto.
After lighting a fire Pennsy and I sat around chatting until an incredibly strong body odor came wafting thru camp. I nonchalontly smelled my pits, it wasn't me. I thought man if Pennsy smells this bad on Friday what is he going to smell like by Sunday? I didn't realize that he was thinking the same thing about me. After laughing about it we realized that it was some of the wood that we were burning. Smelled just like month old thru hiker stink.
That night we sat around the fire chatting and wondering if Mouse spray was going to come walking out of the woods.
We awoke early and packed up then sat around waiting for Mouse Spray and Sacco, they finally started returning our hollars about 8:30. After saying hello's and meeting Austin Powers the wonder dog we started back up Balsam Lake Mtn. The Fire tower wasn't as nice since it had gotten cloudy during the night but we could still see our mtns.
From the top of BL mtn we headed down to a jeep path that leads to the Summit Graham making for a very easy "bushwack". We hung out at the old radio tower for a few minutes checking out the ruins. This was the end of the easy bushwack, we took a bearing for Doubletop mtn. and headed off. Going down Graham was a series of "step" ledges with lots of caves and crevices. The area was covered in Bear Poo, I kept expecting to see a Momma bear with cubs behind every rock. Sort of spooky but we never saw one. Coming up to Doubletop was a text book bushwack we walked right into the Cannister.
After lunch Pennsy and I split with Mouse Spray , Austin and Sacco on the summit they had to head back to there cars. I hope they both made it home safely.

More later.....”

“From Doubletop Pennsy and I bushwacked along the Catskill Forest border, marked on the trees in red paint following a very faint "herd path". This led us to the Pine Hill West Branch trail which we followed to the Biscuit Brook Lean to. It was a very early night after a long day of bushwacking.

Sunday we awoke at 6am and left the lean to by 7am to bushwack up to Fir Mtn, 1.7 miles and alot of elevation took 3 hours to find the summit. The GPS came in really handy since it was cloudy and raining of and on. This was a great bushwack up a stream with many cascades and small waterfalls until about 800' below the summit. From Fir it was supposed to be a really easy bushwack over to the summit of Big Indian but we lost too much elevation and ended up missing the saddle andhaving to cross a talus slope, really hard on the feet and legs. On a clear day we should have been able to see Big Indian the whole way but again the GPS was great. We found the cannister about 11am.
A short herd path led us to the Pine Hill West Branch trail, from here we hiked to the intersection with the Seager trail. We stashed our packs under a fir tree and hiked to the summit of our sixth peak, Eagle which was a very uneventful summit with no veiws and not a definate summit.
Back to Seager Trail and down a wonderful valley and to Pennsy's car.

Great trip with great people as usual!!!”

“and don't forget the "best pizza in the Catskills" after the hike. :o)

This was Lt's 3rd attempt in making this trip happen. It happened, it rocked, and we bagged bonus peaks which weren't part of the original plan. This trip was also a temporary send-off for Lt because his household will include one new backpacker in the next few weeks.

Everything went our way this weekend. The weather was supposed to be terrible all weekend and all we got were a few showers on Sunday. The bushwhacking was adventurous but not as difficult as I expected. I still can't believe we managed to find all the canisters as easily as we did. Although the views were few and far inbetween, the view from the fire tower on Balsam Lake Mt was fantastic. Also, Dry Brook and Biscuit Brook are very beautiful with lots of cascades and some cool chasms. It was also nice finishing the trip with a flatish 2 mile down the very pretty Seager Trail.

Sorry, neither Lt nor I had a camera, but Sacco took a few pics on Saturday. Speaking of Sacco, how did you guys make out coming off of Doubletop?

Hey Lt - my family is growing too. My trekking poles multiplied from 2 to 4. You don't want em back, do ya? ;o)

Dang, I forgot to toot. This trip gave me 7 more Catskill 3500 footers. 30 down, only 5 more to go. Woohoo!
last edited: 5/16/05 1:49:57 PM”

“Oops hmm the trekking poles would be handy. I was so worried about getting your filter back to you I forgot them.
Well with the new arrival coming soon I won't be needing them for awhile. Sometime when you are heading north to NH or Maine we can get together.”

“great to hear you guys made out well after we split.

mouse, austin, and i did alright heading back to the cars.

whoever wrote the trip report on VFTT calling that col "open woods" is a jerk.

it wasn't the thickest stuff in the world, but in no way would i call it "open woods."
after spliting from you guys it took us 3 hours to make it down the yellow trail. we also passed a beautiful beaver dam along the way, too. heard a splash but never did see one.

once on the yellow trail we made pretty good tracks - about 4 miles in an hour. had to split right away from the parking lot with rushed goodbyes - had to, you know, do my horses.

i'll post the couple pics i have tonight.”

“LOL! I am convinced that there is no such thing as a herd path in the Catskills. That's not a complaint, mind you, because bushwhacking in the 'Skills is TRUE bushwhacking. If a Catskills regular were to hike on a ADK herd path, he'd probably consider it a paved 4 lane highway.

I'm glad you 2 made it out ok though. It's kind of weird parting company in the absolute middle of nowhere. I'm looking forward to the seeing the pics you took on Saturday. I really wish I had mine for Bisquit Brook and Dry Brook. There were some gorgeous pools, falls, and cascades.

Lt - I can probably find a tube and mail you the poles if you want.
Btw - here is your reminder to send me the 2 web links I asked you about. One was for the satellite photo thing and the other the lightweight poles.”

“Great reports! Now how about some damn pics?

Best of luck with the incoming weird little wonder, LtHiker.”

“yeah...i want pics!”

“sorry guys. i was the only one with a camera and i only took a couple.

as a consolation, here is a link of an actual phone message from the adirondack hostel:

http://www.percious.com/Hostel%20Takeover.mp3”

“Hey - time I checked in - been stuck workin'.

That was a great day hike! Wish I coulda stayed the weekend for the rest of it.

Sacco and I thought we'd be at the car by 4pm - we definitely underestimated the time & effort of zigzagging on the bushwhack. The bushwack up DoubleIop, except for the last 400 ft, that was open woods. But we were walking through branches much of the way - not thick, but just enough to keep whipping you in the face, arms & legs.

Still - it was alotta fun - the challenge and the untouched scenery were awesome.

Me & Austin split a turkey dinner, and a bacon cheeseburger - and he's been sleeping since!”

“great to hear you and austin made it home ok mouse”

“Great trip report. How much blood did you end up donating with all that bushwhacking?”

“lumberzac: I was the fool who wore shorts the whole way - my legs look like I was attacked by wolves.”

“Pennsy
www.globeexplorer.com[url]

www.fibraplex.com/tentpoles.asp[url]

Here are those websites that we talked about.

Pennsy I can e-mail you my Fedex account number for the shipping. But no rush .”

“LT - those website links didn't work - is it me or the links?

That Hostile Hostel message is funny - exactly where is that one located?”

“'tis the highpeaks hostel in lake placid.

here's Lt's links cleaned up:

http://www.globeexplorer.com

www.fibraplex.com/tentpoles.asp”

“Thanks Sacco!”

“de nada rob”

“Tanks for the links!
Hey - just email me your address and I'll get the poles out. The Fed-Ex in this area is a pain to get to so I'll just use the good ole Post Office.”