Devil's Path; Platte Clove to Mink Hollow 4/3-6.

[TomEske]

I'm gonna do this in 2 parts, the trail conditions, then the report of how it went for us:

Conditions: This is a tough trail and my first time on these sections. There is quite a bit of ice left in the most inopportune places at 3,000 feet and above. Particularly in the boreal sections on the tops. Depending on your skill and strength level, you may want to have crampons. I wish everyone is our party did. With no cramps, I would consider poles very necessary. Don't let all the running water fool you at the lower elevations, there is still plenty of ice on top. Snow depths above 3,000' ranged from 5 to 16 inches or more, but hard packed. If you are out in the late afternoon, much of the running water is re-freezing and is doggone slick on the rocks. Water collecting opportunities are fairly abundant up to Twin, then they thin out considerably, you'll have to go down hill a bit to find it.
The section dropping down off of Sugarloaf into Mink Hollow is particularly difficult, particularly without aids (crampons), and tricky to navigate with a full pack. Some folks are still using ice axes in this section,

Now the report:
Let me preface this by saying that I have thought long and hard for 3 days about posting this at all, but I am doing this to show others how a simple trip can wind up right on the edge. You need to understand that I am experienced and have been backpacking for 30 years. I have been in some tight spots and had to make hard decisions regarding safety or medical issues in the past. I have never been so close to being in very deep trouble as this trip. Our group was 6 people, ranging in age from 12 to 55 years old. Not all of us were strong hikers, but of average condition. We had planned 4 miles per day, which should have been a cake-walk in any event or weather. It wasn't.
We started at Platte Clove Rd. at 8:30am on 4/3. Another group started at the same time headed along the same trail, but shooting for Mink Hollow in one day, about 8 miles. I learned later that they busted their butts, but arrived exhausted at the shelter by 5:30pm that day. We walked slower, much slower. Our youngest hiker appeared to be the slowest, so we all made adjustments. His legs being shorter, he was really having a hard time with the obstacles. Several times we had to haul a few of the packs up through the steep spots and assist some of our guys up. This consumed a lot of time. In addition, the general slow walking pace made it a long day. We arrived in Jimmy Dolan notch at 5:30pm and set up about 250 yards north of the trail. (A great spot with a terrific view.) The next morning we had a meeting and decided that half the group would end early and call for a pickup at the bottom of the Notch Trail. That left 3 of us to continue on over Twin and Sugarloaf to the shelter and meet 2 more of our people at the shelter that were coming up.
Again, we should have been able to knock off the 4 miles in easy time and enjoy a leisurely afternoon hanging at the leanto. What I didn't know was that the other adult with me was having knee problems. He thought he was feeling better and able to do the hike without any problem. I hadn't noticed the day before because I was focused on the youngest guy who was having the most problems. The climb up twin went pretty good, and although I felt we could be making better time, we were still in good shape after cresting the second summit on Twin. The long descent into Pecoy notch took a lot longer than I thought, and the climb up Sugarloaf seemed like a killer. At this point, I'm thinking I'll be happy to make the shelter by 5:30 (I think it's about 3pm). Still we don't have many options, because the guys waiting for us have no stove or pots, and only part of the food. I am also concerned that they will be worried about us, and call for help at some point if we don't show up. We pushed on. The hike along Sugarloaf is fairly long and somewhat disorienting. I had thought we were approaching the western side momentarily. When we stopped and checked our exact position with the GPS I found that we had not yet summited and were still at the eastern end.
Now I am truly getting concerned. I am hoping we can make the shelter by dark. I am looking at my buddy and can see he is in pain. His pace, although non-stop, is painfully slow. In addition, I can feel myself getting tired now. The third member was my 14 year old son. A strong hiker in good shape, no problem there. But he lacked experience. None of us really said anything out loud, but I'm certain my buddy knows things aren't getting better. I'm sizing things up and it don't look too good. I'm trying to think of something encouraging to say, and the only thing I can think of is to remind everyone that once we get to the western end, we can probably make radio contact with the other two and let them know we are ok. Then we can relax, and pick our way down.
So now, what I think is the final push, is on. The last few lifts up onto Sugarloaf really take it out of me, we've been walking over 7hours now and I'm just plain tired from having that 50 pounds on my back for so long. I'm an ok hiker and get out a lot, but I lack the endurance to go for many hours. Little did I know the day was young yet. My buddy couldn't walk at a normal pace, and it was killing me to walk at his pace. In addition, I was getting out of breath and needed more frequent rest steps no matter what pace I walked at. Our hydration systems were freezing up, and I had not realized that I had cut my water intake to almost nil. It was around 28 degrees and snowing. We hit on a method that kept us moving. I would walk about 50 paces at a comfortable pace, then rest and wait for my buddy to catch up. My son kind of hung between the middle of us to keep us both in sight, If I hit an obstacle, I would wait there until they had both passed it. It was with this method that we walked and watched it get dark. We finally made radio contact before dropping over the edge. Once the others knew we were ok, we could relax and focus on the 1200 foot descent. The wind was in our face at about 40 mph with horizontal snow, and a temp around 20 degrees. We dared not stop to add a layer, because we couldn't find a wind block. I thought about holing up, but discounted it for the same reason. This hill is steep, and in the dark, very treacherous. We had a hard time figuring out which was water and which was ice. Discerning rock from snow from old ice was also a challenge. We had more than a few falls, and in several places we just let our packs slide down, and then slid down after them. With all the rocks there were no safe landings and many times I arrested my fall by jamming my knee against a rock. I knew that only one bad fall or mis-step would spell diaster. My son led all the way down. He was finding the markers, picking the safest route, and assisting each of us as we came down behind him. We now kept my buddy in the middle where we could both help him as much as we could. I could see at this point that he was in pain and thoroughly exhausted. I found myself continuosly running through all of our options in my head, hoping to find something better. Still, it amazed me that none of us uttered a word of complaint through the whole thing. We just kept pushing, 6 inches at a time. Every once in a while, I would call the guys at the leanto and ask if they could mark out headlamps. Each time they would tell us that they could see we were making progress, and soon we could see their lights also as well as the fire they had started for us.
We walked into the leanto at 10:30pm and quickly set about getting my buddy warmed, I got the stove going and made dinner, then everyone crawled into bed. 13 hours of walking time.
The next day we took the easy 3 mile route down Mink Hollow. I had done this trail back in February breaking trail through 3 foot drifts and at that time it took me one and a half hours to come down. On this day, with mostly dry trail, it took us 3 hours due to our soreness, and my buddies knees. The water crossing at the bottom of Mink Hollow is somewhat challenging (unless you like to wade). Be very carefull here with small children.

I can't really find a good way to sum this up. Everyone came out ok. My friends kness are coming back to life. My right knee looks like someone wnet at it with a ball peen hammer. Evryone who looks at it turns away. (It's actually kind of cool to get some benefit from all the pain. People come into my office that I don't want to talk to and they ask how my trip went, I just show them my knee and they remember they have a meeting they are late for. ) The trip turned out to be more than I expected, for sure. We had done a lot of pre-planning on this trip, and used a lot of those alternates to our advantage. Having those radios was a big help. I am posting this in case anyone else can learn something from our experience. Please don't spend a lot of time second guessing us. I have already spent 3 days doing that and I'm not quite through. I have explored all the what-if's and should-haves knowing all my options. Yes, there was one opportunity to avoid our problems, but at the time, I did not have the necessary information to make that a reality. I can tell you this: the Devil's Path is a challenging trail. I can also tell you that when you are a group leader, you have to keep your eye on ALL your people and their conditions.

Tom

 

[mink319]

Hey Tom, it sounds like you had quite an adventure back in those mountains. Even though it was challenging I bet it was still fun. Atleast everybody is ok, and nobody got hurt or hypothermia. The Catskills may not have the reputation that the Whites have, but they can be just as challenging and dangerous, and every bit as nice.

 

[SherpaKroto]

Tom, thanks for sharing. You'll find that as time goes by you will appreciate that adventure more. Like you said - everyone came out ok.

 

[TomEske]

Mink:
I honestly don't remeber a lot of "fun" happening for rme. But I think in smal places it might have showed in some of the others. Thats good enough for me. Mostly I remember being very concerned about our situation on the 2nd day and feeling very responsible for evreyone's safety.
Sherpa:
Yes, I suppose I might. I have had trips like this in the past and when I think back on those now, I still think about what could have gone wrong, what I could have done better, or how it could have been prevented. Maybe it's just me, I dunno.
I have noticed that all of the trip reports on this site are usually glowing stories of good times had by all and I never have seen anything of trips that went wrong. Unless, of course you count the threads about SAR results. That's one of the reasons I thought about not posting this. On the other hand, I thought someone should at least make mention of how tough it can be when your plan doesn't hold up exactly as you laid it out, and more importantly, WHY you bring the proper gear, and plan alternatives.
I chalk it up to another lesson in my book of life. Everyone moved, and nobody got hurt.
Tom


__________________________________________________
"He's an old hippy and he don't know what to do, should he hang on to the old, should he grab on to the new?....."

 

[JimB]

Tom, I hiked those sections over the last winter so I know exactly what you went through. There is some pretty tough scrambling ,both up and down, especially with the big packs. I'm sure your son will bounce right back. Hopefully your friend's knee will get stronger and he can get out in some better conditions to enjoy that area. Maybe he got in a little over his head for a trip like that. Your leadership got them through.

 

[TomEske]

Thanks Jim,
I guess I didn't mention it, but my son had no ill effects. When we got home, he went out and 'hung' with his friends like it was just another day. I am extremely proud of the way he handled himself and made all the right moves. He acted like he had done it a hundred times before. He seemed to know what I was thinking and there was never a need to discuss who would do what, or why. He did have a good time, I think. Although he could have done without the darkness.
For me, the experience I shared with my son coming down that mountian in the dark is something I will never forget. You don't get that playing gameboy with your kid. Thank you for reminding me.
Tom

 

[JimB]

Tom, I came off Redfield in the pitch dark, in the winter, during a blinding snowstorm with my son(who was 23 at the time). We searched for awhile for the leanto with our gear in it. I had hypothermia and he warmed me and got the stove going so I could recover. I know what you mean about the gameboy

 

[funkyfreddy]

Wow, Tom, quite a trip report! Glad to hear everything ended up OK in the end. It sounds like your friend was lucky to have you and your son along to help him out of there. Take care of your knee!

 

[Michael M]

WoW!!!

Tom

I like this route and will wait for next winter

Michael CM

 

[CatskillsYeti]

Quite a report, Tom. I agree with JimB that your leadership, along with your son's contribution, got everyone through.

About second-guessing, though - I won't engage in it here - but it can be useful, if done properly, to help you and others avoid similar situations. If you look at the string on the bad outcomes (pardon the euphemism) in the Whites this past winter, you'll see that there's a lot of second-guessing. A reasoned, unemotional and constructive analysis of decisions that were made and their results can be very helpful in guiding others. Bad outcomes are usually the result of one or two small errors or problems that go unnoticed or uncorrected, then they begin to snowball into major problems.

So maybe when some more time has gone by you can reflect on the trip and let us in on the analysis.

Unlike Michael M, I'm going to wimp out and try the DP this spring, THEN make a decision about doing it in the winter. I've done pieces of it before - Plateau and Hunter - in spring and late fall, but never the whole stretch. I've got 58-year-old knees (original equipment), so I want to do a shake-out hike first.

Pete

 

[TomEske]

You make a good point Pete. I choose my words poorly when I wrote "second guessing". I now realize that it could have been a little insulting to the readers, and that was not my intent.
What I meant was that I did not include enough of the details for anyone to know what my alternatives were, guess at mistakes I might have made, or see which decisions were good ones.
Now that its been about 3 weeks, I am pretty much at peace with what happened, and how it turned out. I am satisfied with how I handled things. This is not to say that I did everything right, and in that vien, I have identified a couple of things I could possibly have done differently. I can not say for sure if they would have produced a better outcome.
My big mistake was not specificly stating to my buddy how tough the trail would be and asking him directly if he was sure he would be ok with it. My second biggest mistake was not offering to let him go with the group that ended early. There was no need for him to continue and I should have told him that. I think he continued on out of loyalty to my son and I, and he did not want to 'bail out' on us. Beyond that, there was nothing I could have done to AVOID the situation we were placed in.
Now on the subject of what to do when I suspected we were getting into trouble: I did have a ham radio with me, and I could have tried to make contact with home. Had I been able to do that, I might have been able to arrange a ride for him out from the second col we passed. Now it is not too likely that this would have worked, but I never tried it, so I will never know. A cell phone might have worked too, but keep in mind that any change we made in plans would delay us in some way, and we had to meet two others on the west side of Plateau. I knew that if we did not arrive by daylight, they would definately raise an alarm. SO I admit, I was very relutant to do anything that would delay us.
As I think back, I believe I knew from about 1pm on that we would not arrive until after dark, but I just didn't want to admit it to myself. This disturbs me, because I know that I was ignoring a fact that should have influenced my decisions.
On the other hand, the best course of action always appeared to be 'press on', and as it turned out, that worked for us.
One other thing I learned, specific to leading a group, is to never use my capabilites as a gauge. I like enough to be in fair shape for my age, and I ASSUMED that an average 12-14 year old would be able to walk circles around me. This is not always true. Some kids don't get the excercise we might like them too. From now on, I will double the times unless I know the exact capabilities of the hikers involved.

I go through this as an exercise to improve my decisions the next time something like this happens. If someone else picks up a useful tid-bit, more the better.Over the years, I believe I am getting better at it. Many years ago I had a situation with one person in my party suffering from a stomach virus and he was becoming dehydrated because he couldn't even keep water down. I admit that I was a bit paralized when it came to making a decision. I finally decided (at 9pm) that he wouldn't be able to move under his own power by morning, so we packed up, took a compass bearing, and bee-lined down the mountain to a road in the snow and in the dark. It turned out to be the absolute correct decision (he was hospitalized), but I still kick myself because I took about 3 hours to make that decision.
You live and learn,
Tom
BTW Pete, You should have no problem doing this trail in either season, but you'd better have Crampons in the cold season, and in the winter, I would include an ice ax, and perhaps 25 feet of rope. The scrambling parts are challenging for us 'mature' guys, but very do-able.

 

[CatskillsYeti]

Thanks, Tom. Giving others insight into your decision-making and the results of the decisions is very helpful. The idea here is not to engage in blame or even self-criticism, but simply to go over the choices. Would others have made different choices? Maybe, but that's immaterial, because anyone making the same trip, even the next day, would have encountered a totally different set of circumstances. It's my hope that we can accumulate a store of reports like yours as a database for trip leaders and others to learn from.

BTW - I am heading up Indian Head and Twin, and then back down Jimmy Dolan Notch trail this Wednesday. I'm going solo and will post a trail conditions report.