Tom Rankin
Well-known member
It's usually called Peekamoose, but there haven't been any moose on that mountain for quite some time. However, there certainly have been a whole lot of bears on it lately! 
We first were 'warned' by comments in the Peek trail register: "We saw a HUGE BEAR near Reconnoiter Rock!" (at about 2900'). Even before that, we saw large bear prints crossing the trail. As we went higher, we saw them more and more frequently. We also noticed that we probably had Daddy bear, Momma bear, and Little Bear, judging from the paw prints. During the day the path was criss-crossed with tracks from bears, deer, bobcats, canines, snowshoe hares, foxes, turkeys, and some kind of bird that perched at one of the lookouts. Speaking of which, the views were fantastic! Crystal clear day, with almost no wind, and temps in the upper teens.
Note the road from Rt. 28A is still legally closed. We went anyway, and found out why it is listed as closed. There are several places where the road is still less than a full lane wide. Large construction projects are still ongoing. I would expect to be turned back during the week. All the waterfalls along County Rt. 42 were flowing nicely. Some had been flowing a little too furiously during Irene, and had swept away bridges. A large bridge replacement project is underway at Kanape Brook, where the trail heads up to Ashokan High Point.
And oh yeah, snow. There was a dusting from the parking lot, increasing to a few inches at 3000' or so, where we put on micro-spikes. Once in a while there was a larger drift, the largest being about a foot high. The North side of Peek had the most snow, about 6 inches or so.
Nice to run into 'sendhelp' at the summit of Peek!
We first were 'warned' by comments in the Peek trail register: "We saw a HUGE BEAR near Reconnoiter Rock!" (at about 2900'). Even before that, we saw large bear prints crossing the trail. As we went higher, we saw them more and more frequently. We also noticed that we probably had Daddy bear, Momma bear, and Little Bear, judging from the paw prints. During the day the path was criss-crossed with tracks from bears, deer, bobcats, canines, snowshoe hares, foxes, turkeys, and some kind of bird that perched at one of the lookouts. Speaking of which, the views were fantastic! Crystal clear day, with almost no wind, and temps in the upper teens.
Note the road from Rt. 28A is still legally closed. We went anyway, and found out why it is listed as closed. There are several places where the road is still less than a full lane wide. Large construction projects are still ongoing. I would expect to be turned back during the week. All the waterfalls along County Rt. 42 were flowing nicely. Some had been flowing a little too furiously during Irene, and had swept away bridges. A large bridge replacement project is underway at Kanape Brook, where the trail heads up to Ashokan High Point.
And oh yeah, snow. There was a dusting from the parking lot, increasing to a few inches at 3000' or so, where we put on micro-spikes. Once in a while there was a larger drift, the largest being about a foot high. The North side of Peek had the most snow, about 6 inches or so.
Nice to run into 'sendhelp' at the summit of Peek!
