Burroughs Range revisted

Back on July 12th, I posted with great enthusiasm about a recent re-hike of the Burroughs Range in the Catskills. This was awesome, but a killer for me. I'm pretty out of shape. Nevertheless, I packed light and planned to make the same 15 mile day-hike I had done years ago, into a two-day hike. I thought it'd be fun to take my time and enjoy it over a couple days at a leisurely pace. However, it was super hot, humid and muggy. I ended up putting in a good 10 miles on the first day because I couldn't decide on a good camping spot, and for a while had to hike until a legal site was available (There's no camping over 3,500'). And I got tired. Really tired. At times I thought someone would probably find my body (my sweaty, out of shape body) collapsed over a rock cairn; two empty Nalgene bottles at my side. Someone would say: "Geez, this guy was in rough shape! ...See if he's got any change in his pockets." Nevertheless, I traversed Wittenberg, Cornell and Slide Mountains and made it out with only the loss of one Teva. I am sure someone scratched their head upon finding only one Teva sandal on the trail. 

The mountains are calling

I have not blogged in a coon's age, but I'll tell you what; I have been one busy man. A week off of work doing the things I most like, has gotten me really excited about backpacking again. Last week I hiked a nice 15 miles in the Catskills along the Burrough's range and Panther Ledge. I also spent part of the week with my girlfriend, Sara, in my childhood playground; the Adirondacks.  Just being up there in the mountains has really gotten me pumped about hiking the High Peaks of the 'Dax'.  Tonight, as I read trip reports and blogs of others who have hiked a lot of the exciting alpine routes of the park, I plan my own adventure along the the Lower Great Range Traverse in Keene Valley. In my delusional quest to conquer all 46 of the High Peaks, this traverse, albeit challenging, would bang out a few of the peaks in one shot (Upper & Lower Wolfjaw, Armstrong, Sawteeth & Saddleback). Stay tuned!

Stoked

In a couple of weeks I'll be backpacking in PA with two of Debbie's brothers.  We'll be hiking parts of the Black Forest Trail in the Tiadaghton State Park.  I'm pretty stoked!  I haven't gone backpacking in over three years.  Wow, I hate to even think about that sad fact... typing it makes me feel even worse.  But that's life; it gets busy.  While, perhaps, I haven't been doing one particular thing that I really enjoy, I sure as hell have been doing others.  But anyway, it's going to be great to be out in the woods again, trekking along, choosing my own adventure via map & compass and wearily falling asleep, in a swaying hammock with a million stars above me.  As pumped as I am to be back out there, I'm equally pumped to be connecting with Debbie's brothers a little more.  This trip is an all-around fantastic idea.

Another year older

I’m 36 years old now. My birthday was last Friday and was celebrated over a long weekend in my very favorite of all places; the Adirondacks. Debbie and I spent a few days at a cabin in Woodgate, just south of Old Forge. We spent the days hiking, swimming and relaxing (when we werent’ getting drilled by black flies). I was really excited to have received a couple of awesome gifts from Debbie. Each deserving of their own blog entry; so more on them later. I will say that she got me the latest Gopro camera, the Hero 3, Black Edition, and it is AWESOME. I cannot wait to use it more. Below is some sample footage I took from the summit of Blue Mountain.

 

We rounded the trip off with a stop at my folks place for a nice visit. We were able to spend the day with them. My father and I spent a couple of hours at the rifle range. My shoulder is still sore from his 45-70.

1961 Boy Scout Handbook

I am an Eagle Scout. But, there was a time when I hated being in the Boy Scouts and just wanted out. I had a hard time getting along with some of the kids in the troop that acted insane and didn’t seem to want to learn anything (Not that I behaved like a saint myself, but I sure didn’t act out the way others did). Looking back, I realize that kids are just kids and they act out according to whatever situation they’re going through. Some of the kids in my troop didn’t have the most ideal home life; who knows. At any rate, I wanted to quit many times. This desire to abandon the troop grew stronger and stronger as I went through high school and became more interested in driving and girls than anything else. But, my father made me stick to it, and follow through. I earned my Eagle Scout rank the summer of my seventeenth birthday and have been glad I did ever since. To this day it is listed in the education section of my resume.

As an Eagle Scout, and as someone who enjoys all things “old timey”, I picked up an old Boy Scout Handbook, at a garage sale, several years ago. This Sixth Edition was printed in 1961. One of the things I like about it is the old ads in the back. I’ve scanned a few of the pages and posted them here in all their low-resolution glory for you to see. As usual, click on them to view them full size.

Last hunting trip of the season - Frederick Watershed

Last Saturday, marked the closing day of the small game hunting season here in MD. I took advantage and was out and about with my .17 caliber in hopes of taking a few more squirrels.  Although, it was very cold and windy and the little guys were holed-up, warm in their nests.  Still, the morning made for a pretty hike through the snowy woods of the Frederick Watershed.  Here are a few photos from the walk.

I used to do a lot of freeriding at the watershed; shuttle runs on long-travel bikes, hucking drops and riding ladder bridges & skinnies.  This was back in 2002-2004.  In all that time, I never came across this little swimming hole.  I'm going to have to keep it in mind for this summer.

I stumbled upon this makeshift shelter as well. It reminded me of when I earned my Wilderness Survival merit badge in scouts. We had to make a shelter without any man-made items, and spend two nights in it. It was one of the more fun merit badges to earn. I still remember the older scout teaching me that ferns are natural bug reppellent and I was sure to line the floor of my shelter with plenty of them. Still I don't think I slept much those two nights. Like the rest of the kids in my troop I spent most of the night making fart noises on the back of my hand and fighting off all the thoughts of the creepy-crawlies in my shelter. Scouting was fun. It looks like this old shelter was used more by the squirrels, as a safe haven for meals, than anything else.

Before I left, I took a quick photo of my Marlin XT-17. I am really loving this rifle. It shoots incredibly flat out to 100 yards with no problems. It seems I'm never able to leave the woods without shooting at least a beer bottle at a decent range with this gun. I'm looking forward to spending some time at the range this summer and maybe taking a friend out there to try their hand with this fun piece. I'm really glad I spent the extra money on the scope.

Hiking in Japan

Last night I went to a business dinner at a really nice Japanese-style German restaurant. I enjoyed some sushi, beef, schnitzel, and a ridiculous amount of Saki! Dinner was just so much fun! This was the first time I’ve had Saki and I enjoyed it. I’m constantly learning customs on this trip. When it comes to Saki, you never pour your own cup (cups are shot glass size) and when your carafe is finished, you lay it on its side. By the end of the night, there were carafes on their sides all over our table and many red-faced laughing people. Everyone had a great time!

Afterwards a few of us went out on the town and I didn’t make it back to my hotel until 4:00am! I woke up at 11:00am with a pounding headache and a smile on my face. I had a really great time last night. I enjoyed trying to communicate with people everywhere we went. I bought one fellow a beer and he then showed us to a few great bars. We laughed all night and well into the early morning hours.

Not wanting to waste the day sleeping in, I took a hot shower and hit the streets with my camera. There are some beautiful mountains to the north of Kobe. They stand out against the cityscape and have been calling to me since I arrived here. I bought a hot café au lait from a vending machine (you can buy hot cans of tea and coffee as well as cold cans of beer at vending machines on the street!) and then headed for the hills!

About a mile from downtown Kobe, I found a trail head and was soon in the woods. The trail was steep and well groomed. Steps lead the way to the summit where an observation tower stood. You’re not supposed to climb the tower and there’s a fence to keep you from doing so. I contemplated climbing it anyway, but then decided that it would be disrespectful to do so. The view from the mountain top was nothing short of amazing. Wispy snow fluttered down through the trees and I took some time to meditate in comfortable solitude. I only saw two other hikers while I was in the woods and we exchanged konichiwa’s and smiles as we passed.

After hiking down the mountain, I was pretty tired and very thirsty so I popped into a convenience store and bought a bottle of orange juice. I did a little shopping on the way back to my hotel and had lunch at a crepe stand owned and operated by a friendly married couple. After looking at the menu I picked what I thought was a pastrami and lettuce crepe. I was a bit surprised when the man handed me what I ordered. The bread had the texture of a waffle ice cream cone. The top layer was melted mozzarella with wasabi mayonnaise. The next was pastrami and iceberg lettuce, then came the shocker: noodles and spaghetti sauce! It was a little difficult to eat. It was almost as if they packed an entire days set of meals into one crepe. But it was good and only cost 450 Yen. I asked if I could take their picture and they were very happy to let me.

Backpacking at Harriman

I spent Friday through Sunday morning backpacking in Harriman State Park in New Jersey. Friday night I took a 6:00 bus from downtown, across the Hudson River and into NJ where I met my friend Jay who drove us to Harriman. Our hike in to the Dutch Doctor Shelter was dark and the cool air was really comfortable for hiking. We hiked 2.5 miles by the light of our head lamps over gentle grades of boulder strewn trails. We arrived at Dutch Doctor Shelter around 9:00 where we met up with Mike, who would join us for the weekend. I made a lazy dinner of pepper jack cheese and pepperoni and we all sat around talking and listening to Thievery Corporation. The temperature was down around the mid 50's and made for extremely comfortable sleeping.

Saturday morning I woke up around 7:00, well rested, and brewed a cup of joe. I sipped my coffee while sitting on the edge of the shelter watching the sun rise slowly above the horizon. Rays of sunlight warmed my legs and pelted the eastern sides of trees in the woods before me. It was a beautiful morning. We packed up and set off west along the Tuxedo Mountain Ivy Trail to Claudius Smith Den. This trail took us over Tuxedo Mountain (1040') to the den which is actually a pretty large cave. I crawled up and through the cave stopping inside to enjoy the cool darkness and sound echoing around inside. I down-climbed a simple route on the the backside of the cave and was pretty stoked about the whole thing. I think caves are really neat.

Pushing on past Claudius Smith Den, we turned south down the Blue Disk Trail. This trail was pretty awesome as well because it splits and gives you two options: the "elbow brusher" or the "easy route". We all took the elbow brusher and enjoyed squeezing through narrow crevices and along harry ledges. This trail was mostly down hill. At one point we stopped for a break and I noticed a big hornets nest hanging high in the branches above. It was the size of a basketball. Sitting on some rocks we all snacked, drank water and talked about the beautiful weather and excellent trail conditions. We all enjoyed the sight of a giant tree growing from a ledge on the side of an equally large boulder.

A mile or so later we were hiking along the Kakiat Trail which routed us across Spring Brook. Hurricane Irene had caused so much flooding that the bridge across Spring Brook was destroyed. Remnants of the bridge were interesting... concrete pillars with re-bar and broken strands of cable sprouting up out of them. Across the brook, a log the size of a telephone pole held anchored to the pillar. The other end of the log was swept downstream by the current. We followed the brook until we found a spot to rock hop across about a quarter mile downstream.

After another mile and a half or so, we came across Stony Brook which is a boulder strewn river with several small waterfalls (10') and deep refreshing pools. We all filtered water from this brook and I climbed around taking pictures. The roar of the water filled the air and a canopy of very tall trees let light filter down through gaps in the leave cover high above. It was beautiful.

We hiked a couple more miles to the top of Diamond Mountain where we set up camp. The tents went up quickly and we all went about collecting firewood for the evening. It was about 4:00 at this time and cloud cover had me wondering if it was going to rain or not. The weather forecast had called for good weather but I had a feeling I was going to get wet. As luck would have it, the clouds blew by and the stars came out. Dinner was a freeze dried meal of spaghetti (Again, I have to say Mountain House meals are great). We all made meals around the fire and talked while Bob Dylan played from an iPhone. The three of us shared food and stories and kept the fire blazing for a few hours before calling it a day.

Sunday morning I woke up around 6:45. The sun was just creeping over the rocks in front of my tent highlighting the green moss on the ground just outside of my tent. I stared through the screen at my boots and water bottle I left outside overnight. Moments later I was outside stretching, rubbing my eyes and picking up sticks for the fire. The coals from last night's fire were still hot and the fire came back to life with a few hand fulls of kindling. I wasn't too hungry but I ate a breakfast bar with my coffee and then cooked up some bacon for the three of us. We broke camp by 9:00 and hiked the last 4 miles out to the cars. Great trip!