My wife's a 35er!

[Rik]

Took another walk in the Catskills today. This one turned out to be pretty special. Went up from Moon Haw road and of course screwed up the parking. I left the note like I'm suppose to but didn't drive far enough up the road to park. Basically I didn't go past the private property sign and parked in what appears to be a small lot on the right. Buzz left me a nice note informing me of my error for future reference. We followed his green markers through his property and up to state land. A little while later Charlene put snow shoes on mostly because she was tired of carrying them. I stayed in boots for another 500 feet before putting mine on for traction. The trail had been broken by both snowshoes and bareboots. When we came to the cliffs on Friday the tracks split. We chose poorly and took a roundabout way to the cannister. We used the other tracks to descend which was much nicer. Up until now it was mild out. I was in just a base layer and without gloves. It was cloudy but you could see views through the trees on the way up. That resevoir is the most vivid memory I have of my first Catskill hike twelve years ago on Slide. Feeling good we followed the tracks toward Balsam Cap. This route was good (thanks Jay and Harry...) and we made good time to the cannister. The views were gone by the time we got to the viewpoint and it had started to snow. We made the decision to go for Rocky as well since it would be Charlene's 35th Catskill peak. We followed the tracks which were less pronounced since the barebooters had only done Friday/BC. I had to check the compass as we were leaving the summit because I had one of those "this doesn't feel right" moments. The compass told me I was wrong and the tracks were heading in the right direction. It was much thicker leaving the summit than I remembered from my previous visit to this peak and we started to question whether we should keep going. Just as it got annoying we broke out into open woods between the peaks. The climb up Rocky was a little thicker but not as bad as BC. We had some lunch and I took a couple of pictures of Charlene posed with Catskill 35 patch. It was raining steady by now and we decided we should keep moving since we need to reclimb BC. Once that was over it would be downhill back to the car. Well it rained hard for the entire walk down and we ended up soaked. The snow became very slippery as it got wet and the road down low became a small stream. Very glad to see the car complete with dry clothing and beers. A toast to celebrate and we drove home. Thanks to Buzz F. for his kindness in letting hikers cross his land and for being so nice about my inadvertent transgression with parking. Yeah Charlene! Only 7 more peaks to put a W next to her accomplishment!

[Dick]

Originally Posted by Rik

Took another walk in the Catskills today. This one turned out to be pretty special. Went up from Moon Haw road and of course screwed up the parking. I left the note like I'm suppose to but didn't drive far enough up the road to park. Basically I didn't go past the private property sign and parked in what appears to be a small lot on the right. Buzz left me a nice note informing me of my error for future reference. We followed his green markers through his property and up to state land. A little while later Charlene put snow shoes on mostly because she was tired of carrying them. I stayed in boots for another 500 feet before putting mine on for traction. The trail had been broken by both snowshoes and bareboots. When we came to the cliffs on Friday the tracks split. We chose poorly and took a roundabout way to the cannister. We used the other tracks to descend which was much nicer. Up until now it was mild out. I was in just a base layer and without gloves. It was cloudy but you could see views through the trees on the way up. That resevoir is the most vivid memory I have of my first Catskill hike twelve years ago on Slide. Feeling good we followed the tracks toward Balsam Cap. This route was good (thanks Jay and Harry...) and we made good time to the cannister. The views were gone by the time we got to the viewpoint and it had started to snow. We made the decision to go for Rocky as well since it would be Charlene's 35th Catskill peak. We followed the tracks which were less pronounced since the barebooters had only done Friday/BC. I had to check the compass as we were leaving the summit because I had one of those "this doesn't feel right" moments. The compass told me I was wrong and the tracks were heading in the right direction. It was much thicker leaving the summit than I remembered from my previous visit to this peak and we started to question whether we should keep going. Just as it got annoying we broke out into open woods between the peaks. The climb up Rocky was a little thicker but not as bad as BC. We had some lunch and I took a couple of pictures of Charlene posed with Catskill 35 patch. It was raining steady by now and we decided we should keep moving since we need to reclimb BC. Once that was over it would be downhill back to the car. Well it rained hard for the entire walk down and we ended up soaked. The snow became very slippery as it got wet and the road down low became a small stream. Very glad to see the car complete with dry clothing and beers. A toast to celebrate and we drove home. Thanks to Buzz F. for his kindness in letting hikers cross his land and for being so nice about my inadvertent transgression with parking. Yeah Charlene! Only 7 more peaks to put a W next to her accomplishment!

Congratulations, Charlene! Rik, hope to hike with you guys again!

Dick

[MattC]

Big congrats to Char! What a way to finish. I think Rocky would be more aptly named Woodsy. Did Dali make it? Is she a 35er as well?
Hope to see you all again soon.

Matt

[Rik]

Originally Posted by MattC

Big congrats to Char! What a way to finish. I think Rocky would be more aptly named Woodsy. Did Dali make it? Is she a 35er as well?
Hope to see you all again soon.

Matt

Hi Matt,
Dali made it but she hasn't done all of them yet. Not quite sure how many she has done. I'd guess about 20.
By the way, what day do you plan to finish your W? Will there be a celebration?

[Neil]

To Charlene,
Congtratulations on being such a great hiker and positive energy spreader-arounder. When's the next tail-gate party?

To Rik,
Congratulations on having Charlene.

To Dali,
Woof!

(To those wondering about the tail-gate party: After a hike Rik, Charlene and I were enjoying a beer and those killer salt and pepper chips in the Ausable Club parking area. We watched all the weekend warriors limp down the road and as they walked by Charlene engaged them in conversation. Before you knew it there was a gang of happ(ier) people clustered around their car. One gentleman was offering some sort of brew to passers-by and a mood of merriment hung over the impromptu gathering of kindred spirits. That's Charlene.)

[TFR]

Way to go Charlene!

[Jay H]

Congrats Charlene!


Hey Rik, you probably saw Harry and I's tracks as we skirted up the cliff once we saw an option as I didn't want to overshoot the canister. Obviously, on the way down, we took the usual "herdpath" a bit til we came across our old tracks so if you followed our "out" tracks it'll be more direct!!

I think we passed the canister somehow on our bearing going north and had to backtrack to the canister!

Jay

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Jay H

Congrats Charlene!


Hey Rik, you probably saw Harry and I's tracks as we skirted up the cliff once we saw an option as I didn't want to overshoot the canister. Obviously, on the way down, we took the usual "herdpath" a bit til we came across our old tracks so if you followed our "out" tracks it'll be more direct!!

I think we passed the canister somehow on our bearing going north and had to backtrack to the canister!

Jay

Jay,
I think we basically followed your route up and down but in hindsight it would have been easier to follow the down tracks up. Charlene wanted me to make sure to thank you and Harry for the tracks. I don't think breaking a trail would have been difficult but we didn't need to spend time navigating in the rain which was helpful.

[Jay H]

You're welcome! Did you follow our snowshoe tracks to rocky too? Heh,heh, I just took a beeline to the summit so we went through some pretty thick stuff!

Harry and I barebooted for a bit that day. Did you enjoy the viewpoint on Balsam Cap, you can see all the way to the gunks!

Jay

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Jay H

You're welcome! Did you follow our snowshoe tracks to rocky too? Heh,heh, I just took a beeline to the summit so we went through some pretty thick stuff!

Harry and I barebooted for a bit that day. Did you enjoy the viewpoint on Balsam Cap, you can see all the way to the gunks!

Jay

We did follow your tracks to Rocky. Leaving BC was the thickest part of the day for sure. I actually had to check my compass because it didn't feel like I remembered it. There was no view by the time we got to the viewpoint. It was starting to snow at that point.