Dennis C.
Active member
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2003
- Messages
- 460
- Reaction score
- 28
Friday (11/29) Burnt Knob and Acra Point : SonnyM and I arrived about noon at the trail head parking lot. With just about (5) hours of daylight left, we chose these trailed peaks to start off the weekend. While they both have a few open viewpoints, this is a great time to be here when all the leaf foliage is gone. After short bushwhacks to the summit high points, we headed back for a very cold night of car camping. We came prepared for the wintry blast!
Saturday (11/30) East Jewett Range and Onteora Mtn : These two peaks are almost completely on private property. First thing we did arriving mid Friday morning was to request permission to park and climb in this area. We certainly didn't want to go knocking on doors at 7:00-8:00 AM Saturday. They were very friendly and happy that we had asked first. I'd like to relay the bushwhack routes we used, but won't to protect the landowners from too many requests. The 1 to 2 inches of fresh snow made retracing our steps really easy.
Sunday (12/01) West Stoppel and Stoppel Point : Sonny and I started out from the Colgate Pond parking area and whacked up in all open forest to the West Stoppel summit (3110'). No "Stoppel-ing" here: The decision was made to follow the connecting ridge over to Stoppel Point. We basically followed the Hunter / Jewett town border, (dashed line on map), to the summit of Stoppel Point. I originally did these two peaks separately in the mid 1990s, so this ridge was a new adventure. It's a delightful mix of deciduous and conifers, just picking your way around the groups of spruce trees. We hit the blue marked trail near the Stoppel summit. Nearby is an old plane wreck that's been there since 1983, according to "The Catskill 67". We used the blue and yellow trails most of the way back to the car, arriving just before dark. A great weekend!
Saturday (11/30) East Jewett Range and Onteora Mtn : These two peaks are almost completely on private property. First thing we did arriving mid Friday morning was to request permission to park and climb in this area. We certainly didn't want to go knocking on doors at 7:00-8:00 AM Saturday. They were very friendly and happy that we had asked first. I'd like to relay the bushwhack routes we used, but won't to protect the landowners from too many requests. The 1 to 2 inches of fresh snow made retracing our steps really easy.
Sunday (12/01) West Stoppel and Stoppel Point : Sonny and I started out from the Colgate Pond parking area and whacked up in all open forest to the West Stoppel summit (3110'). No "Stoppel-ing" here: The decision was made to follow the connecting ridge over to Stoppel Point. We basically followed the Hunter / Jewett town border, (dashed line on map), to the summit of Stoppel Point. I originally did these two peaks separately in the mid 1990s, so this ridge was a new adventure. It's a delightful mix of deciduous and conifers, just picking your way around the groups of spruce trees. We hit the blue marked trail near the Stoppel summit. Nearby is an old plane wreck that's been there since 1983, according to "The Catskill 67". We used the blue and yellow trails most of the way back to the car, arriving just before dark. A great weekend!
