Balsam & Eagle Mountain hike – May 6, 2010

[Jim Kennard]

The weather forecast for Thursday was an 80% chance of rain in the morning and then clearing by later in the afternoon. I decide that I would take a chance on hiking up Balsam and Eagle Mountains. By the time that I was driving through Phoenicia it was raining. However, the sky to the west was not covered with dark clouds and looked somewhat promising, so I continued on to Oliverea. Arriving at the McKenley Hollow PA, the sun was just starting to peak though the clouds. I had made the right decision to go for this hike!

Today, I had a time constraint, as I needed to be in Kingston at a get together for a few brews at 6 PM. Now, I am not a fast hiker, wanting to enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of each Catskill mountain that I climb and like stopping along the way to take a few pictures to photo document each hiking trip. I had hiked up Balsam in February but had no idea as what to expect going over on the longer trip to Haynes and Eagle Mountains. I would need to step up the pace this time to make my 6 PM meeting.

The first mile of the trail is a very gentle grade and I moved along fairly quickly. The temperature at the PA had been 70 degrees. I was over dressed again and after 15 minutes I was very hot and thinking that I sure could use a tall jar of Hurricane Kitty (local brew) right now!!! After about one mile the grade gets very steep, and I stopped for just one minute to catch my breath before continuing up the long slope. About mid way up the incline, I noticed a cairn located in the protective opening of a tree. This must have been build by the Hobbits of the mountain! I reached the col and trail junctions between Balsam and Haynes/ Eagle in just one hour, which is pretty good for me. Becky, my Halcott mountain hiking companion, had previously suggested to me that for long hikes, like this one, that I should take along three bottles of water. I did this time and quickly drank one half bottle of water for my first break of the day.

After a few minutes, I headed off to Balsam. So far, the trail conditions had been very good as there were no blow downs to negotiate around. I reached the Balsam trail summit (no marker) in short order. (NOTE: The actual highest point is located just off the trail about 50 to 75 feet to the east on top of a small flat rock) Just beyond the trail summit there is a man made over look with a view off to the east. I actually recall a better view in February than this time. It’s OK, but not great.

Returning to the col I then headed south to Haynes and Eagle Mountains. This is a nice gentle hike though the woods that goes on for over two miles. One of the advantages of hiking this time of year is that the foliage is just beginning but is not totally blocking the views of distant mountains. Just after the col between Haynes and Eagle, I came upon a recent blow down that is now obscuring the trail. It is the upper branches that are actually across the trail and probably can be removed with a good size bow saw. The sun was shinning by now and a nice breeze was blowing that kept me cooler. I reached the trail summit (no marker) but it looked like there was slightly higher ground to the south. Following a defined people herd path for several hundred feet I came upon a small cairn in a grove of pines at the true summit of Eagle. This was a very nice spot to rest and have a bite to eat. Unfortunately, there were no unobstructed views that I could find on either Eagle or Haynes mountains. I headed back to the junctions of the Pine Hill-West (Blue) and Oliverea – Mapledale (Red) trails and down the mountain and back to the PA. I had done the hike in just over 6 hours with stops for lunch, pictures, and a bit of off trail exploring. I still had more than several hours of time to get back for my meeting that evening and a few “Kittys”. Cheers, Jim

Hike pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/kennardjim/BalsamEagle

[Jay H]

Hey Jim, weird to now see that parking area devoid of snow.. Nice pictures!

jay

[sparty]

Nice report and pictures. I've always enjoyed the walk from Haynes over to Eagle. Glad you had a nice day for it. - Doug

[DSettahr]

I still need to do Haynes... I did Eagle in conjunction with Big Indian as part of an overnight, staying at the Shandaken Lean-to (one of the most unique lean-tos I've ever seen, as it has 3.5 walls instead of usual 3). When I first did Big Indian, I didn't realize it was trailess with a canister, and just turned around at the high point on the trail... had to go back and re-do it when I did Fir and Doubletop.

Thanks for the trip report.