Table, Peekamoose, Lone, and Rocky (Catskills) 5/26-5/27/11

[DSettahr]

Pictures here: https://picasaweb.google.com/116537596394442741068/SlideMountainWilderness#

Did a 2 day/1 night trip down to the Catskills to climb 3 new peaks, 1 old one, and stay in 1 new lean-to.

I started in from the Denning trailhead late in the afternoon on Thursday. I quickly made it in to the Neversink River crossing on the old road. I stopped briefly to check out the two designated sites here. Both are nice sites, but are heavily impacted. Both are on the south side of the river- one is in the floodplain of the river, and the other is up on a bluff that overlooks the river.

From there, I started up the Long Path towards Table Mountain. The first mile or so of ascent up to the ridgeline proved to be the toughest climb of the entire trip, especially with a full pack. I found myself drinking lots of water and taking it slow to avoid overheating. I persevered, though, and was soon on the ridge at the first lookout shown on the map... only it was pretty overgrown, and really had no views.

The going on the ridge itself was much easier. There was more of a breeze, and I began to make good time. I noticed that the black flies, which had been around but not bothersome down near the river, seemed to be getting worse the higher I went... foreshadowing, I now realize, of what was the come later on.

I soon reached the Bouton Memorial Lean-to, a short distance below the summit of Table, which was my destination for the evening. The side trail to both the lean-to, as well as the spring (several hundred feet below the lean-to) were both well marked on the main trail, and I had no trouble finding either. The lean-to was also in excellent shape, although there was some garbage in the fire pit. I unpacked, walked back down to the spring to refill on water, and returned to the lean-to to enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

Only it turned out to be not very enjoyable at first. The blackflies at the lean-to were horrendous. I hadn't planned on having a fire, but soon it became clear that I had no other option if I didn't want to spend the entire rest of the day hanging out in my bug bivy in the lean-to. I got a decent fire going in the fire pit, and once I had a nice set of coals I started piling all the wet leaves and rotten wood on the fire that I could find. Soon I had clouds of smoke billowing out the pit... I like to think that I probably sent every bug within a square mile packing.

The rest of the afternoon proceeded uneventfully (except for the deer that walked up to the lean-to while I was reading). With nightfall came an absence of flies (best thing about black flies- they go away at night!), and so I settled in for sleep early, intending to get up with the sun the next day.

The entire afternoon had been hot and muggy, and I'd heard the occasional thunder in the distance, but as the sun disappeared the atmosphere seemed to settle down for a bit, and I wasn't expecting any large storms. It turned out that I was mistaken. At about 10:30, I was awoken by a large BOOM, and found myself in the middle of what had to have been the most impressive thunderstorm I have ever witnessed. The rain was soon traveling sideways into the lean-to, and I had to move all my gear against the back wall. The lighting was so ubiquitous that the flashes and booms seemed to outnumber the raindrops. All in all, it was an awe-inspiring example of the power of nature.

Morning began early with some grits, and I was soon out on the trail. The Bouton Memorial Lean-to proved to be an excellent camp to start out from for the four mountains I had planned for that day. In short order, I was standing on the summit of Table, having barely even exerted myself.

The walk out to Peekamoose and back was like a walk in the park. There were a couple of steep spots, but overall, the elevation change was barely noticeable. I decided to leave my pack on Table, since I needed to return to that peak before heading north to Lone. On Peekamoose, I did check out the new viewpoint east of the summit. It's not on older maps, and it was obvious that it was recently cut... I doubt that the state sanctioned it, but it does provide some nice views of the ridgeline north as well as Ashokan Reservoir and High Point.

I quickly returned to Table, grabbed my pack, and started north towards Lone. I left the trail near an obvious herd path that headed north on Table, thinking at first that this was where most people started the bushwhack to Lone. It turned out that this trail was a red herring- it was too far west, and I found myself sidehilling to the east to get back to the ridge. The woods weren't the densest I've ever hiked through, but they weren't the most open either- a typically Catskill bushwhack. At first, I was hampered by quite a few witchhobble bushes, but these soon cleared up as I continued north.

By this point, the day was warming up, and the bugs were coming out again... and they were bad. No word exists in the english language to describe how bad they were. Everywhere I turned, there were clouds of black flies in the woods, and a much bigger cloud was following behind me. The only way to keep them off me was to keep moving!

The route was pretty straightforward, and I never even once checked the bearing I'd taken on my compass on the summit of Table. I found plenty of evidence of people who'd gone before me- faint herd paths here and there that you could follow for a few hundred feet before they faded out. I also found remnants of a couple of campsites, and in one clearing I did find a painted blaze on a rock, a double-headed arrow with each end pointing along the ridgeline to the next peak.

I also found the lookout on Lone south of the summit pretty easily as I approached the summit of that peak. It had some nice views to the east. Shortly beyond, I found the summit clearing and canister without too much difficulty, as well as an old campsite nearby. The bugs here were as bad as ever, and so I didn't stick around long before continuing north.

On the north side of Lone I did encounter some ledges, but these were easily negotiated. Soon, I was climbing back uphill again through a dense conifer forest. Thick in spots, but not impossible to get through. Again, I continued to find bits and pieces of herd paths here and there- often not much more than exposed tree roots, or a rotten tree that had been trampled in one section, but enough to let me know that I was going in the right direction.

Again, the navigation proved easy, and I only needed to check my bearing once to make sure I was on the right path. The ascent of Rocky was, as I'd expected from reading the map, gradual and easy. I found the summit clearing of Rocky without much difficulty. It looked like someone had camped out there recently- the ground was freshly disturbed and there was obvious remnants of a fire. After signing the register, I spent a few minutes wandering around, looking for the two overlooks shown on the map. I found the north overlook easily enough, but the south overlook was a bit tougher, and it was only after I'd scrambled down a ledge or two that I found it. Both overlooks had ok views, primarily to the north, so the views were dominated by Balsam Cap, the next mountain on the ridge.

I briefly considered adding Balsam Cap to my hike, but it was already noon, and I wanted to also climb Red Hill before driving back to Albany. So I decided to continue north, but drop down into the Neversink River valley to begin heading back to the trailhead. Just north of the summit of Rocky, I encountered some sizeable ledges, but I was able to get around these by tracking to the west. Soon, I was headed due north on a bearing that took me down steep slopes into the valley, and it wasn't long before I found first a spring, and then a sizeable stream that I was able to follow downhill.

The evidence of camping didn't end now that I was no longer on the ridgeline. Even before I'd found the main branch of the Neversink River, I encountered the remnants of a campsite on the tributary I was following. When I did finally reach the Neversink itself, I found two more campsites.

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Continued...

 

[DSettahr]

The Fisherman's Path was easy enough to find. True to the Venture Out map, the Fisherman's Path goes all the way to the junction with the tributary where the main branch of the Neversink River turns north, but seems not to continue at all beyond this point. At first, following the path was like a game of hide and seek- it faded in and out, but I always found it quickly after losing it. At one point, it crossed over to the north side of the river to avoid some ledges and cliffs on the south side, but the crossings were easy to find and make without getting my feet wet.

As I continued west, the path become better defined but I still lost it in a few places. I also encountered numerous campsites, most illegal, but there was one nice (although obviously heavily used) designated site on the north shore about two thirds of a mile upstream of the Long Path crossing.

The river itself, though, was the highlight of my walk along the path. It was neat to see it grow from a small stream to a river deep enough that I could no longer cross it without getting wet up to my knees. There were some really neat formations along it, too- one spot where it flowed over a ledge into a crack, and another where it flowed across a wet sloping rock into a deep pool (the later would make a great swimming spot!). I also encountered, to my surprise (and his), a goose- only the second time I've encountered a goose in a wilderness area in the Adirondacks!

The Fisherman's Path isn't short, but I eventually made it back to the dual bridges at the Long Path crossing. Here, I encountered a couple of groups already set up for the upcoming holiday weekend- I was glad to be leaving the woods while everyone else was heading in! As it had on the way in, the walk out on the old road went quickly and easily.

Overall, a fun trip. Carrying a full pack over all four mountains was not as bad as I'd expected- the tough part was simply getting up to the lean-to. There really wasn't enough loss in elevation between each peak after that that made carrying my pack overly tough.

The bugs, though, were the worst aspect of the trip. Definitely the worst I've ever encountered them in the Catskills. I'm going back to the Catskills later this week, hopefully they won't be as bad!