Ashokan High Point 5-7-12

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nietzschescat

New member
Joined
Apr 5, 2004
Messages
103
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Location
across the river from the catskills
I can't wait to go back and hike this again in June once the laurel are flowering and then I guess again in July when the blueberries are ripe.......what a pretty place and we didn't even have great views since it was a hazy day.
The trail up is on an old road along the Kanape Brook most of the way and you barely notice that you're climbing. We saw some wooly adelgids in some of the small hemlocks along the trail. There is a nice large designated camp site just past where the trail up the mountain breaks off from the road......large and grassy.
You climb up some ledges and we stopped for some shade under a overhanging rock ledge......the trees are all small near the summit and the leaves aren't out at the higher elevations yet. That makes it a great time of year to see birds and we were excited to see several Eastern Towhees . One hopped across the trail in front of us and several were singing in the trees. We also saw an American Redstart. I could hear the Ovenbirds, but still haven't seen one. The books say that their call is "teacher teacher teacher", but it sounds more like "judy judy judy" to me.
We relaxed on the summit rock in the sun and then took the loop trail back.........nice views of the reservoir and of the taller mountains all blue in the distance. We saw some frogs and egg masses in one of the little dug ponds.
There was a nice section of forest with white birches that I haven't seen on many of the mountains that were very pretty and also some really big pine trees (I know people call all the evergreens pine, but these were really pines).
One section coming down is really rocky and eroded, but it didn't last forever. We found a porcupine skin on the trail......just the skin.....didn't seem to be any bones.
It was another nice day in the woods and we didn't see a soul all day. I thought I would put up a report in case anyone is interested in birds. I don't always know what I'm looking at or hearing, but these guys were pretty distinctive. Glenda
 
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