So, this weekend looks like it is going to be pretty free for hiking.  Saturday looks to be iffy weather in the form of light rain, and Sunday looks to be good weather.  So, my plans are to do a few hikes this weekend to add to the 35er count.  So, I'm going to start with some of the bushwack trails.  First up will be Bearpen and Vly.   These 2 are not really much of a bushwack from what I've read.  Going in from the south, the herd path to Vly is following the state park border.  Bearpen is turning the other way and following snowmobile trails. 

Today, it was a short jaunt up Panther Mountain.  This peak starts off with a very rocky incline....

Today, we did Balsam Mountain.  It was another humid day, but the mountain was mostly leafed out and it was a rather shady trail up.  Overall, it was a lovely hike and the trail was in pretty good shape.  There were a couple muddy spots and a couple blow downs on the trail, but that's par for the course.  The view of the day was about 1/2 mile before the top, and what a lovely view of the valley it was.  Bugs thankfully were not that bad.  A little bit of swarming on the way up, but once spray was re-applied at the overlook, it wasn't a problem on the way down.

Saturday May 14, Michael and I went up the Tremper Mountain Fire Tower.  The day was very muggy, and that slowed me down some on the way up.  Overall, it was a forest road the whole way up once you reached the register.  Down low the trees were fully leafed out, but near the top you started to see the trees not fully out, which gave some lovely views to the neighboring mountains on the trail.  As I said, it was an old forest road which meant that it was extremely rocky for most of the trail, and on top of that, it wasn't solid rock, there were a lot of them that shifted

Sunday, I went south and did a couple lovely fire towers.  First up was a 2.5 hour drive to Balsam Lake via Beaverkill Rd.  There are 2 ways up this mountain, so you can do it as a lollypop loop.  The trail itself is in rather good shape, and apart from a couple spots of mud and a bit of water on one of the steeper parts, it was a dry trail.  I went up the easy way, going straight when the trail to the tower breaks off to the left.  This took me up a valley between Balsam Lake and Graham and Doubletop mountains (2 of the 35'ers that are on private land and curr

Today, I did Overlook Fire Tower making it the first of the Fire Tower Challenge.  The entire hike is a forest road, so dirt and gravel.  The 2.3 miles up is really not that difficult, but being the start of the season for me, I did take my time, still averaging closer to 2 mph on the way up than I expected.  The leaves were not out yet, so the views through the trees into the heart of the Catskills and the peaks I will be hiking at some point, likely this summer.  I got to the top about 3 and climbed the fire tower.  The gate was open so you could climb, but the pl

So, there are a lot of hiking challenges in New York.  the biggest ones are of course the 46ers and 3500 in the Adirondacks and Catskills respectively.  Those 2 hit all the highest mountains in those regions.  One that is often overlooked is the Fire Tower challenge though.  Back before modern technology, it was common practice to build towers on top of mountains so that a ranger could look over the area and spot wild fires before they got out of control.  Many of these towers have fallen to ruins and have disappeared to just memories and a few random bits of steel

Today, I took a floating holiday and went up to get my winter Porter (Cascade was done a couple weeks ago, so it was a secondary goal if weather was clear).  I got up to the trail head about 845 and was on the trail just before 9.  When I was getting boots and all on, I looked down at the trail register and the couple of bridges over small streams and all I saw was ice on the trail.  Now anyone that has hiked a popular winter trail will know that the snowshoes compact everything down and what is known as a "monorail" is created.  Towards the end of the season that tends

So, last time I ended up going up Cascade and skipping Porter.  The biggest reason was I got to the top right about my turnaround time.  This was based off of not knowing how fast I would be heading out.  It took 4 hour up but only 1.5 down.  If it was 4 down I would have been off the trail at 5 and in the mountains where the sunset is around 6, it can get dark quickly and I don't really want to be hiking in the dark.  Now I know better about my abilities.  My turn around time won't be 130 like it was last time.  It will be more like 3.  Looking back

Saturday, I went and did my first winter 46er.  I decided on Cascade and Porter because of the distance (shortest for all the peaks) and because I knew the trail somewhat well.  I got at the trailhead about 9, got my boots, jacket, etc on and started to walk from the second parking area to the trailhead, getting about 3/4 of the way there, to realize I didn't have my gloves.  D'oh!  I get my gloves and go back.  Now this trail in the summer is a good mix of steep and flat with a lot of rocks to navigate over, and one really good scramble before you get to the bald p