Eric
01-11-2007, 07:17 PM
Well I have very little experience in the Catskills so I decided to branch out a bit this year. Most of my hiking is at home in the ADK's, or in VT,NH. The first time I hiked the Catskills was in september when I hiked Slide with Rik.
The only guide I had to work with this morning was the Fire Tower guide. It worked out ok, I did make it to the Becker Hollow Trail. Although you would never know it was the Becker Hollow trail. There was no sign stating what trail I was on, later on When I stopped to talk to a fellow on the way out he stated that there weren't any signs down here telling you what trail you are on, he said I would just have to get a Catskills Guide.:)
The conditions from the street to the Stone Pillars, about 2-3 inches. I signed in and headed on my way, with a little confusion as I was unsure at first if I was on the BH Trail. What gave it away was the bridge then the stone dam. This was in the Fire Tower Guide. From the new wooden bridge it appeared that the trail was going to get a bit deeper and deeper so I made the decision to put on snow shoes, it was a personal preference, I would have used my crampons but snow shoes were closer. In many areas the snow would go from maybe 4-6 inches to maybe 2-4 inches so wearing the snow shoes did prove to be cumbersome for some time, at least until I reached the 3500 marker, from there on the trail seemed to be coated more with snow, it could be to that at this point I had reached a point where I would be underneath pine compared to the open forest I had walked for the first 1.75. I reached the junction for Hunter Mnt and Hunter Mt Fire Tower, I continued up following the blue trail markers till I reached the former spot where the original fire tower must have once stood. At the junction just in front of me I followed the nice and flat trail to the Fire Tower. I climbed the Tower for some views, I reached maybe the second to last floor before I couldn't take the swaying any longer, took some great photos and headed back down. I will have to get a Catskills map so I could look at my pics and try and figure out what peaks I was looking at. On the way down I was able to look around more and explore my surroundings, one thing that stuck in my mind was how open the forest was and how deep into the forest you could see. It was interesting. At a turn before the dam I stopped and talked with the only two people I had seen this morning, unfortunatly I can not remember their names, something Reeves-Egglston, something like that I don't know, the fellow had a patch for everything and anything you could think of, I'll look up his number later. w-46 something from a long time ago. I asked the fellow if he was ok if I posted his name on the forum or number when I posted trip report, he said it was fine since he didn't know anything about hiking forums. He said he would try and look up the adkhp in the future.
I also didn't take any side trail that was an option, such as the yellow marker trail that also leads to the top, I just stayed right on the blue marked trail, maybe next time.
Also quite the COLOR FUL town before Hunter.
The conditions were cold, some snow, not too much maybe 4-6 inches of fresh snow, it is packed down for now, until this weekend maybe. Snoe shoes certainly a personal preference, crampons would be much better I think to use.
The only guide I had to work with this morning was the Fire Tower guide. It worked out ok, I did make it to the Becker Hollow Trail. Although you would never know it was the Becker Hollow trail. There was no sign stating what trail I was on, later on When I stopped to talk to a fellow on the way out he stated that there weren't any signs down here telling you what trail you are on, he said I would just have to get a Catskills Guide.:)
The conditions from the street to the Stone Pillars, about 2-3 inches. I signed in and headed on my way, with a little confusion as I was unsure at first if I was on the BH Trail. What gave it away was the bridge then the stone dam. This was in the Fire Tower Guide. From the new wooden bridge it appeared that the trail was going to get a bit deeper and deeper so I made the decision to put on snow shoes, it was a personal preference, I would have used my crampons but snow shoes were closer. In many areas the snow would go from maybe 4-6 inches to maybe 2-4 inches so wearing the snow shoes did prove to be cumbersome for some time, at least until I reached the 3500 marker, from there on the trail seemed to be coated more with snow, it could be to that at this point I had reached a point where I would be underneath pine compared to the open forest I had walked for the first 1.75. I reached the junction for Hunter Mnt and Hunter Mt Fire Tower, I continued up following the blue trail markers till I reached the former spot where the original fire tower must have once stood. At the junction just in front of me I followed the nice and flat trail to the Fire Tower. I climbed the Tower for some views, I reached maybe the second to last floor before I couldn't take the swaying any longer, took some great photos and headed back down. I will have to get a Catskills map so I could look at my pics and try and figure out what peaks I was looking at. On the way down I was able to look around more and explore my surroundings, one thing that stuck in my mind was how open the forest was and how deep into the forest you could see. It was interesting. At a turn before the dam I stopped and talked with the only two people I had seen this morning, unfortunatly I can not remember their names, something Reeves-Egglston, something like that I don't know, the fellow had a patch for everything and anything you could think of, I'll look up his number later. w-46 something from a long time ago. I asked the fellow if he was ok if I posted his name on the forum or number when I posted trip report, he said it was fine since he didn't know anything about hiking forums. He said he would try and look up the adkhp in the future.
I also didn't take any side trail that was an option, such as the yellow marker trail that also leads to the top, I just stayed right on the blue marked trail, maybe next time.
Also quite the COLOR FUL town before Hunter.
The conditions were cold, some snow, not too much maybe 4-6 inches of fresh snow, it is packed down for now, until this weekend maybe. Snoe shoes certainly a personal preference, crampons would be much better I think to use.