The drop to the col between Slide and the start of the climb to Cornell is 930 ft. By far the toughest, most technical, vertical and without a doubt most rewarding descent so far this trip (you just can't do this in Raleigh). That made the climb up Cornell almost like starting from scratch, but nothing like the sheer cliffs and crevasses that we had just come down. We took a lunch break just short of the summit on a huge rock with great views. At this point we were thankful that we had finished climbing the highest mountain in the Catskills and were already on top of the second of three mountains for the day.

After having previously looked out from the top of Slide and by also checking the contour lines on the map, I could tell that the drop between Cornell and Wittenberg was not that much. Thankfully, this ended up being correct and we reached the top of the next mountain quickly and without too much of a difficult climb. The views from the Wittenberg summit were amazing. The trail opened up on to a huge rock shelf where you could see out over the Ashokan Reservoir and then on to the Hudson Valley. We met up with another hiker there with a small dog who asked where we had come from. When I told him the "Slide Mountain parking area," he looked over at Sarge and said "how did you get him down the back side of Slide?" The only answer was "teamwork... and oh yeah, he's kinda like a mountain goat."

Now this being the last of three mountains for the day should have been a cause for celebration, but our new hiker friend reminded us that there was still a long way down through several tough climbs. The distance back to Woodland Valley Campground was four miles after having just completed six to the top of Wittenberg. It ended up being a very long hike down over rocky trails that tested all of our endurance. At this point, each person's body craves different things. I was thinking about a cold beer, Sandy was thinking about a banana and some yogurt and I think Sarge was thinking about how he was going to eat both of us if he got hungry enough and if I made him do this any longer.

After what felt like an eternity, we reached the Woodland Valley parking lot where we had staged the truck earlier. We dropped our packs and sat down for the first time in six hours, getting in the truck and riding back to the cabin for showers and clean clothes.

A full day, in and of itself... but we still managed to pick up the staged rental car and then make it across the river (the Hudson, the only true river in my mind) to my sister's and brother-in-law's house for pizza.

I do have to mention that Sandy is one tough lady (and maybe a little crazy), since no normal person would stick with me for all that I was planning to do in one day... (but then again... she asked for it)