Fir 1/26/2008

[daLunartik]

I met Dick, Joanne and Ralph at the Biscuit Brook parking area at 9:30. After the initial exchange of greetings, we briefly discussed requisite footwear for the day and all but myself decided to go sans snowshoes, relying on Stabalicers and MicroSpikes for traction control.

After we got over the first ridgeline, I decided to pull my MSR Lightinings off my pack, as the 3" of snow was just slippery enough that I knew would be fatigued from the extra balancing required. We stopped at the lean-to for a breather, where Joanne got a good laugh at the outhouse, which lacks the house portion :D .

From there, it was a short ways along the trail (http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2195029610090556846jEUScl), until we jumped off into the woods. The hike up was relativly uneventful, not many views to speak of. We stuck together (http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2383045460090556846HNvOFg) during the initial climb, but as we got higher up and it got later towards and past lunch, both HauntedFox and Jo started to run out of fuel. They pushed on to the cannister, however we really should have stopped to eat before the summit, as we did have a late start and the last 1/2 mile took longer to weave through blowdown than we expected.

After refueling, we took a quick summit picture (http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2305755870090556846FpHeOv) before starting back, around 2:30pm. The hike out was much nicer than the hike in, namely because we were hiking into the setting sun (http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2572567150090556846TaWBgs) and flurries, plus the angle of the sun gave the woods a nice depth due to the shadows cast on the snow.

All together, about 7.5 miles and 1800' (http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2323838610090556846fJPhxI), putting me at 27/35 W, Dick and Jo at 36/39 and of course, this was Ralphs first Catskill 35er :drop:

[Edelweiss]

We're getting close - 35/39 (spoken like a true peakbagger.) Thanks for another great day in the woods everybody.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=tdpb2qu.at1574fu&Uy=9obken&Ux=0

[billandjudy]

That's a motley looking crew you have there:)

[Dick]

Thanks for posting, Moonray.

Moonray had the footware right. Our previous recent experience on Balsam, and no significant snowfall since then suggested that snowshoes wouldn't be necessary. It was borderline, but snowshoes would have been more comfortable (we didn't make that mistake the next day on Willowemoc and Sand Pond Mtns.).

Moonray was right on a second count: we should have eaten lunch earlier.

Air was calm, sun was in and out, even almost all blue skies for about an hour or so, not too cold.

One thing that Moonray forgot to mention was that this hike was an animal track paradise. We were fortunate to have a real expert (Haunted Fox) on hand to help with identifications, which included deer, vole, partridge, fox, squirrel, and others I'm forgetting at the moment. A great person to have along on a hike! I'm just sorry that Haunted Fox was in so much pain that day!

I was anxious to try out my new Microspikes. In the few places where they were needed, they were wonderful. I actually LOST one a few hundred feet below the summit. It must have gotten snagged on a root or branch under the snow and was pulled off (they were definitely securely on my feet). In retrospect, I don't blame the Microspikes, but rather I blame myself for wearing them in conditions they were probably not meant to be worn. Fortunately Joanne found it on the way down.

this was Ralphs first Catskill 35er :drop:
Yep, I think Ralph needs to get out more and catch up to the rest of us :D

Dick

[hermit]

I had a nice time hiking with everyone again.Thanks for posting the pics.I definitely have to get out more,especially for some hiking of the Catskill H.H..:)

[ajtiv]

Sounds like a nice day
I like that area a lot. I was back there a couple of Novembers ago and found some nice tributaries running down from Fir that were very pretty
Al

[AndrewS]

I had kind of hoped to join this motley crew, but I was driving to Binghamton that day to bring Jineen back to college. I did manage to wave at the Denning trail head (or at least in that direction) as I cruised past (twice) on route 17.

So instead I did Fir and Spruce today. I didn’t see anyone, but I may have found your tracks intermittently up Fir. The track was mostly drifted in, and then would disappear entirely. I ran across it several times, so I guess I mostly agreed with the route.

There were still tons of fresh wildlife tracks up there. I missed having HauntedFox to identify them.

31/35W, 39/102, 72/420, Hike!