Dugan
New member
Participants (morning half): MichaelJ, SilentCal, una dogger & Orca; (all) Jade & Carmen, Lattinhill & Maya, Rocksnrolls, moi
After not one, not two, but THREE wrong turns on my way to Bash Bish, I succeeded in meeting MichaelJ, SilentCal, and una dogger & Orca - and only 15 minutes late. So much for planning on being there 15 minutes early. I greeted Orca, who is one of the nicest Australian Shepherds I've met, then SilentCal helped me to stow a surprise half-way treat in MichaelJ's car. We piled all of us into my car, then headed down to the southern end. SilentCal played navigator - I wasn't about to lead the way any more!
We arrived, with Lattinhill and everyone already there (sorry again). Orca's nose was out of joint a little with Carmen and Maya. Una dogger managed him well. Later, as the day progressed, his attitude improved... with a little help from the hiker-sistahs. It's tough being a newly neutered pup.
We began the hike with a nice climb that quickly warmed all of us except una dogger's hands. As we stopped to delayer, she layered her hands. The trail climbed by a beautiful waterfall. This area is well known to Lattinhill, who brings Maya here frequently. Lattinhill provided local information through out the day. We gained the ridge. The next knob south, which Lattinhill has 'whack plans for, has some nice knobs and ledges. As we hiked along, doing our usual comedy routine, we were glad that newcomers to the group, Una dogger and MichaelJ did not offend easily. Lattinhill and una dogger warned us that if we hike in this area in the summer, to watch for rattle snakes.
As we hiked along the ridge, pausing to admire the blue skies, the weather, and the views. We could see the Catskills. Luckily for us, una dogger was willing to play "name the peaks". We gained South Brace, then Brace. We took a food break at the HUGE cairn, which was equipped with a flag pole. SilentCal pointed out that it would be easy pickings for anyone wanting to raise a local flag in honor of Flags on the 48. We continued along, adjusting and readjusting our layers - it was toasty warm in the sun, but exposed to breezes. Somewhere along the way we detoured east to tag a tri-state marker - leading to a new nickname for Rocksnrolls (refresh my memory, una dogger?), then continued further east to tag the CT high point on the flank of Mt Frissel. Finally, a few of us were feeling intrepid (Jade & Carmen, Rocksnrolls, and I) tagged the summit of Frissel and signed into the register. On the canister is an engraving that reads "optime amublate" - translation anyone? We did not review far enough back to see TramperAl's sign in, which Lattinhill noticed from signing in recently.
We regained Lattinhill & the South Taconic, then reached a pleasant old forest road, easy walking. Lattinhill pointed out some interesting colored artifacts - blue, green, and black... er... stones that may be slag from a long-gone kiln - that he noticed while 'whacking a couple of weeks ago. I admit it, I did not practice "leave no trace" and brought a couple home for a window sill. We took yet another food break, then began the climb to Alander. During this break, Lattinhill contacted a friend who decided to meet us at Bash Bish.
SilentCal led the way, closely followed by Jade and I. Come to think of it, I'm sure Carmen actually led, as she usually does. We popped up out of the trees, then elected to continue to the summit cairn. We laid down on the soft turf to nap while waiting for the others to make their way up to us. How nice... we watched the vultures circling, waved to Rocksnrolls as he got above tree line, then returned to our naps. Although we were feeling quite rested, we decided to sit a while longer to let the others rest. Una dogger brought up the topic of dry grass and ticks, where upon we all felt our skin crawling, performed tick checks, and decided to move along.
As we went, we saw Lattinhill's friend headed our way. She assured us that the remainder of our hike to Bash Bish was down hill... but she lied! There was a small uphill portion - though true, she said that bit was downhill as she hiked in to meet us. Back at the cars, we found that Lattinhill's friend spread a blanket in the grass so we could enjoy a picnic. I retrieved the extra-special-yummy treat from MichaelJ's car and surprised everyone with a layer cake - 3 layers of almond sponge filled with lemon curd and topped with lemon/coconut frosting. Thank you to MichaelJ and una dogger for aiding and abetting. We filled up on cake, and refilled our water supply from the jugs that MichaelJ thoughtfully contributed.
From here, it was to be only Jade, Lattinhill, Rocksnrolls, the hiker-dog-sistahs, and I. MichaelJ - I hope you enjoyed your side trip to Bash Bish. Una dogger - Orca is a sweetie and truly one of the nicest Aussies I've ever met - good luck with him. We were immediately led astray up the Cedar Brook trail. We enjoyed it despite the numerous brook crossings, eroded sections, and blow downs. The sistahs LOVED the brook feature - all that lovely water to splash in. I think their rehydration was through osmosis. We regained the South Taconic and kept heading north.
The trails were very nice, some nice hills, some old roads, some views. Jade and I helped Lattinhill with his nuts a couple of times. We saw evidence of an old kiln, an old springhouse, and many old field stone walls. As Jade says, it is mind boggling to think that every rock in every stone wall has been touched by human hands. We were all fading on the last up of the day and took one last break on the sun warmed rocks. We got over to Catamount, then followed the South Taconic part way down as it followed a ski trail.
We picked up money along the way, then Lattinhill scavenged some buckles from broken, forgotten ski pole litter. We quickly got to the road where Jade had to give Carmen a stern talking-to. Rocksnrolls prepared for his 3 hour drive home, while Lattinhill and I piled into Jade's truck to get a ride back to our cars. Thankfully, both dogs ignored a foot-long section of vertebrae from some sort of mammal in the parking area. We found our almost-matching grey Subaru Foresters with all windows intact. We said our good byes, I gave the left over cake to Jade, then we followed Lattinhill back to route 22, then I followed Jade up to route 7. I saw a deer corpse on the side of the road, I'd seen another on my way in to Bash Bish in the morning. The section of spine we saw seemed about the right size to be deer also.
We all got home safely <yawn>, thanks to a McD's coffee stop for me, much too late to write a TR. It was a great day - fun company, beautiful weather, blue skies, views into the distance. We didn't get any alligator eggs this time, but the cake tasted better anyway! I'd love to hike out this way more often - if only it wasn't such a long drive from home.
After not one, not two, but THREE wrong turns on my way to Bash Bish, I succeeded in meeting MichaelJ, SilentCal, and una dogger & Orca - and only 15 minutes late. So much for planning on being there 15 minutes early. I greeted Orca, who is one of the nicest Australian Shepherds I've met, then SilentCal helped me to stow a surprise half-way treat in MichaelJ's car. We piled all of us into my car, then headed down to the southern end. SilentCal played navigator - I wasn't about to lead the way any more!
We arrived, with Lattinhill and everyone already there (sorry again). Orca's nose was out of joint a little with Carmen and Maya. Una dogger managed him well. Later, as the day progressed, his attitude improved... with a little help from the hiker-sistahs. It's tough being a newly neutered pup.
We began the hike with a nice climb that quickly warmed all of us except una dogger's hands. As we stopped to delayer, she layered her hands. The trail climbed by a beautiful waterfall. This area is well known to Lattinhill, who brings Maya here frequently. Lattinhill provided local information through out the day. We gained the ridge. The next knob south, which Lattinhill has 'whack plans for, has some nice knobs and ledges. As we hiked along, doing our usual comedy routine, we were glad that newcomers to the group, Una dogger and MichaelJ did not offend easily. Lattinhill and una dogger warned us that if we hike in this area in the summer, to watch for rattle snakes.
As we hiked along the ridge, pausing to admire the blue skies, the weather, and the views. We could see the Catskills. Luckily for us, una dogger was willing to play "name the peaks". We gained South Brace, then Brace. We took a food break at the HUGE cairn, which was equipped with a flag pole. SilentCal pointed out that it would be easy pickings for anyone wanting to raise a local flag in honor of Flags on the 48. We continued along, adjusting and readjusting our layers - it was toasty warm in the sun, but exposed to breezes. Somewhere along the way we detoured east to tag a tri-state marker - leading to a new nickname for Rocksnrolls (refresh my memory, una dogger?), then continued further east to tag the CT high point on the flank of Mt Frissel. Finally, a few of us were feeling intrepid (Jade & Carmen, Rocksnrolls, and I) tagged the summit of Frissel and signed into the register. On the canister is an engraving that reads "optime amublate" - translation anyone? We did not review far enough back to see TramperAl's sign in, which Lattinhill noticed from signing in recently.
We regained Lattinhill & the South Taconic, then reached a pleasant old forest road, easy walking. Lattinhill pointed out some interesting colored artifacts - blue, green, and black... er... stones that may be slag from a long-gone kiln - that he noticed while 'whacking a couple of weeks ago. I admit it, I did not practice "leave no trace" and brought a couple home for a window sill. We took yet another food break, then began the climb to Alander. During this break, Lattinhill contacted a friend who decided to meet us at Bash Bish.
SilentCal led the way, closely followed by Jade and I. Come to think of it, I'm sure Carmen actually led, as she usually does. We popped up out of the trees, then elected to continue to the summit cairn. We laid down on the soft turf to nap while waiting for the others to make their way up to us. How nice... we watched the vultures circling, waved to Rocksnrolls as he got above tree line, then returned to our naps. Although we were feeling quite rested, we decided to sit a while longer to let the others rest. Una dogger brought up the topic of dry grass and ticks, where upon we all felt our skin crawling, performed tick checks, and decided to move along.
As we went, we saw Lattinhill's friend headed our way. She assured us that the remainder of our hike to Bash Bish was down hill... but she lied! There was a small uphill portion - though true, she said that bit was downhill as she hiked in to meet us. Back at the cars, we found that Lattinhill's friend spread a blanket in the grass so we could enjoy a picnic. I retrieved the extra-special-yummy treat from MichaelJ's car and surprised everyone with a layer cake - 3 layers of almond sponge filled with lemon curd and topped with lemon/coconut frosting. Thank you to MichaelJ and una dogger for aiding and abetting. We filled up on cake, and refilled our water supply from the jugs that MichaelJ thoughtfully contributed.
From here, it was to be only Jade, Lattinhill, Rocksnrolls, the hiker-dog-sistahs, and I. MichaelJ - I hope you enjoyed your side trip to Bash Bish. Una dogger - Orca is a sweetie and truly one of the nicest Aussies I've ever met - good luck with him. We were immediately led astray up the Cedar Brook trail. We enjoyed it despite the numerous brook crossings, eroded sections, and blow downs. The sistahs LOVED the brook feature - all that lovely water to splash in. I think their rehydration was through osmosis. We regained the South Taconic and kept heading north.
The trails were very nice, some nice hills, some old roads, some views. Jade and I helped Lattinhill with his nuts a couple of times. We saw evidence of an old kiln, an old springhouse, and many old field stone walls. As Jade says, it is mind boggling to think that every rock in every stone wall has been touched by human hands. We were all fading on the last up of the day and took one last break on the sun warmed rocks. We got over to Catamount, then followed the South Taconic part way down as it followed a ski trail.
We picked up money along the way, then Lattinhill scavenged some buckles from broken, forgotten ski pole litter. We quickly got to the road where Jade had to give Carmen a stern talking-to. Rocksnrolls prepared for his 3 hour drive home, while Lattinhill and I piled into Jade's truck to get a ride back to our cars. Thankfully, both dogs ignored a foot-long section of vertebrae from some sort of mammal in the parking area. We found our almost-matching grey Subaru Foresters with all windows intact. We said our good byes, I gave the left over cake to Jade, then we followed Lattinhill back to route 22, then I followed Jade up to route 7. I saw a deer corpse on the side of the road, I'd seen another on my way in to Bash Bish in the morning. The section of spine we saw seemed about the right size to be deer also.
We all got home safely <yawn>, thanks to a McD's coffee stop for me, much too late to write a TR. It was a great day - fun company, beautiful weather, blue skies, views into the distance. We didn't get any alligator eggs this time, but the cake tasted better anyway! I'd love to hike out this way more often - if only it wasn't such a long drive from home.
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