35 Peaks in 30 Days: West Kill Mountain

35 Peaks in 30 Days

With retirement quickly approaching, I needed to find something to challenge myself both physically and mentally. Since my first idea of a thru-hike on the Appalachian Trail was out of the question, (sleeping on the ground every night for six months is not a just a challenge, it's slightly suicidal) I decided to attempt to hike all 35 peaks in the New York Catskill Mountains that are over 3500 feet in elevation in 30 days.

The Catskill Mountain 3500 Club awards certificates and patches to those who make all these required climbs.

Almost immediately after retiring, I traveled to New York and did manage to make it to the top of 32 of those mountains in the first 30 days including signing in at 11 cannisters on trail-less summits.

I later continued the quest by coming back after only a month away and finished out the last three "in season" hikes. The unique part of this quest is that in a departure from the requirements of several other such "peak bagger" mountain clubs, you have to return once again and re-climb four select mountains during the winter season.

Three of those winter climbs have been done. Only one remains. It will be completed in December 2011, hopefully with my close family standing on the top of the last mountain with me.

If you happen on this blog and find any of it of interest to you, please understand that each post shows up as most recent first but, the story actually began back in September-2010. Please scroll back and feel free to look at all of it...

Monday, September 27, 2010

West Kill Mountain - 3880 ft.

Having had guests in for the last couple of days, I have fallen behind on posts. We've stayed very active doing a long trail hike on Saturday and an even longer group hike on Sunday, collecting two more summits in the meantime...

We staged one vehicle in the DEC parking area where the Devil's Path begins along Spruceton Rd. and took the other one several miles further down to the dead end. The hike started on the Diamond Notch Trail that I took to the summit of Southwest Hunter the other day. That gave us a chance to stop by Diamond Notch Falls for some pictures before we joined up with the Devil's Path and started the long steep climb up West Kill. Just prior to reaching the top, "Buck's Ridge Lookout" afforded some great views of the Black Dome Range and all the other northern peaks.

West Kill Mountain is one of the few summits in the Catskill's that actually has a sign marking the top. After a quick stop for pictures, we continued on the Devil's Path to the second climb of the day. At 3420 ft., St. Anne's Peak isn't high enough to qualify as one of Catskill 35's, but it stood in our way of reaching the end of the trail. After a short, steep climb to the top of this smaller mountain, we started a long, rocky, bone jarring descent into the Mink Hollow Valley. After about eight miles all together, we arrived at the welcome sight of my truck waiting in the parking lot.

35 Peaks in 30 Days