Rob S
Active member
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2003
- Messages
- 685
- Reaction score
- 30
On Saturday, I had the privilege to hike with Hermit. It had been several years since I had seen Ralph, and it was a pleasure to walk through the woods with someone as knowledgeable as he.
We climbed Little Rocky 1 and Little Rocky 2 as Ralph calls them, both bumps of this hundred highest peak. We then visited Mombaccus for sheets and giggles. From there, shortly after beginning our descent to the col with Ashokan High Point, Ralph soon found a faint herd-path that we used most of the way to the trail. Once on the trail, it was a hop, skip, and a jump to the summit of AHP.
After a quick lunch while taking in the views, we made our way over to the “Knob”, the little bump just east of AHP. This is an awesome little side-trip and well worth the effort. The summit is mostly open and covered in blueberry bushes, and there are very good views in many directions.
We then re-climbed Ashokan High Point, and then began our descent down the trail. Ralph showed me the Cessna plane wreck from the 60’s, and then we took the “Hermit Short-cut”. This short bushwhack to the south-west cuts off about a mile as the trail meanders to the south-east. A nice, hemlock forest complete with small waterfalls made this even more enjoyable.
Soon enough, we were back on the trail, and the rest of the descent back to the parking area went fairly quickly.
Ralph’s knowledge of the area is amazing, and he schooled me on the businesses and trades in the area as far back as the 1800’s. We found several old woods roads throughout the day, some were used for traditional logging, others for bark scraping, and others for harvesting young saplings used to make wooden barrels back in the day.
We were fortunate enough to see a bear cub in a tree, for which we gave a wide berth since we had no idea where the mama bear was! We saw tons of wildflowers including plenty of trillium, lots of deer, bear, and coyote scat, and at least a dozen fire rings, some of them very old, some newer. Some of them no where near a trail or even a herd-path.
The total elevation gain for the day was about 3700 feet, over about 10.5 miles. Thanks again Ralph, for a fun hike and a great day!
- PHOTOS -
We climbed Little Rocky 1 and Little Rocky 2 as Ralph calls them, both bumps of this hundred highest peak. We then visited Mombaccus for sheets and giggles. From there, shortly after beginning our descent to the col with Ashokan High Point, Ralph soon found a faint herd-path that we used most of the way to the trail. Once on the trail, it was a hop, skip, and a jump to the summit of AHP.
After a quick lunch while taking in the views, we made our way over to the “Knob”, the little bump just east of AHP. This is an awesome little side-trip and well worth the effort. The summit is mostly open and covered in blueberry bushes, and there are very good views in many directions.
We then re-climbed Ashokan High Point, and then began our descent down the trail. Ralph showed me the Cessna plane wreck from the 60’s, and then we took the “Hermit Short-cut”. This short bushwhack to the south-west cuts off about a mile as the trail meanders to the south-east. A nice, hemlock forest complete with small waterfalls made this even more enjoyable.
Soon enough, we were back on the trail, and the rest of the descent back to the parking area went fairly quickly.
Ralph’s knowledge of the area is amazing, and he schooled me on the businesses and trades in the area as far back as the 1800’s. We found several old woods roads throughout the day, some were used for traditional logging, others for bark scraping, and others for harvesting young saplings used to make wooden barrels back in the day.
We were fortunate enough to see a bear cub in a tree, for which we gave a wide berth since we had no idea where the mama bear was! We saw tons of wildflowers including plenty of trillium, lots of deer, bear, and coyote scat, and at least a dozen fire rings, some of them very old, some newer. Some of them no where near a trail or even a herd-path.
The total elevation gain for the day was about 3700 feet, over about 10.5 miles. Thanks again Ralph, for a fun hike and a great day!
- PHOTOS -
