mudhook
06-13-2010, 08:01 PM
Plans were to ambush the little pirate and dad on SW this afternoon, but they were no where to be found so I decided on Rusk to break in the new dog I seem to have inherited. Rusk was fine; nettles briars blowdown rain fog a few bugs, one of those surreal catskill days. Across to East Rusk thru the fern glades and hobblebush, again nice, the fog and mist highlighting the spruce. We watched a mother woods chicken pretend injury to lead us away from her brood who were peeping away,I explained to dog we don't harass the wild life and she understood. At the horsy col I informed dog that since we were almost to Hunter we had to go on, a rule of mine that once above a certain height(usally about 3000 +or- a few hundred feet) you must summit the next peak. No problem, but she as terrified of the large group of Koreans we passed. Misty, a drizzle and onward a beautiful lonesome day to be out,just hiking for the sheer joy of hiking. A short ways in on the old railbed this joy was gone; Someone had taken it upon themselves to cut out the rail bed, both dead and live trees.
Being the " can man", I take the trailess peaks quite seriously. I don't mind the cutting out of views on the regular trails or cleaning up or switch backing trails or stuff like that, I even accepted that horrible bridge in the Neversink, but cutting and cairn building and flagging on the trailess 35 is something like treaspassing on the CHH, its going to ruin it for every one. What makes the 35 trailess unique from the 46 trailess is that many of the trailess cats are really trailess, unlike the 46. A beginner really needs to know map and compass, although the cats are much more forgiving if you do get lost. Today it took me just 18 minutes to get to the can on SW along this cleared path; my first trip not many years back took a few hours of crawling, searching, and compass work, an experience I will never forget.
The canisters are still in the cats , unlike in the ADK's, by some act of god or something, they are maintained, tallied, a report submitted to the state and even painted gray in region 3 to keep them less visible. I enjoy reading the logs, and seeing how proud most people are to have found their first "can" or to have found them all and become 35ers. I believe the cans are a goal and ideal for people, a learning experience, something to protect and respect. It would be a shame to lose them. The magic of the cats would be diminished.
I hope who ever did this didn't realize what they were doing, the trees will grow back, blowdowns will occur, and hopefully the trail will be less visible.
The log book was wet and tattered, many more people are walking out to see where this trail goes, which compounds with every boot step, and many really don't care this peak is a pristine and wild place.
Any way, I don't belive in arrest or punishment or beating the hell out of someone for this, whats done is done, and hopefully it won't happen again and we all learn something about these special spots.
Sorry to rant.
Being the " can man", I take the trailess peaks quite seriously. I don't mind the cutting out of views on the regular trails or cleaning up or switch backing trails or stuff like that, I even accepted that horrible bridge in the Neversink, but cutting and cairn building and flagging on the trailess 35 is something like treaspassing on the CHH, its going to ruin it for every one. What makes the 35 trailess unique from the 46 trailess is that many of the trailess cats are really trailess, unlike the 46. A beginner really needs to know map and compass, although the cats are much more forgiving if you do get lost. Today it took me just 18 minutes to get to the can on SW along this cleared path; my first trip not many years back took a few hours of crawling, searching, and compass work, an experience I will never forget.
The canisters are still in the cats , unlike in the ADK's, by some act of god or something, they are maintained, tallied, a report submitted to the state and even painted gray in region 3 to keep them less visible. I enjoy reading the logs, and seeing how proud most people are to have found their first "can" or to have found them all and become 35ers. I believe the cans are a goal and ideal for people, a learning experience, something to protect and respect. It would be a shame to lose them. The magic of the cats would be diminished.
I hope who ever did this didn't realize what they were doing, the trees will grow back, blowdowns will occur, and hopefully the trail will be less visible.
The log book was wet and tattered, many more people are walking out to see where this trail goes, which compounds with every boot step, and many really don't care this peak is a pristine and wild place.
Any way, I don't belive in arrest or punishment or beating the hell out of someone for this, whats done is done, and hopefully it won't happen again and we all learn something about these special spots.
Sorry to rant.