Packing up (for now)

The map board gives the overall big picture of the trip. 32 completed mountains spread out over the four NY Counties that make up the Catskill Mountain range. I put over 1200 miles on my truck driving back and forth to trail heads that were mostly found at the dead end of long valley roads along brooks and streams with great scenery all around. The small number of pictures that I was able to post can't even begin to do it justice. Hopefully during the interim before I come back to finish the last three (non-Winter) hikes, I'll be able to keep the blog going by putting up some of the numerous other pictures that I took and explain some of the back stories that went on behind the scenes when I wasn't on a mountain.

The planning for this trip began several months ago, some of which probably occurred on City time, but even while in the mountains it continued on a nightly basis. As a firm believer of "no plan survives the first contact intact," I often had to re-adjust take off points, change the order of climbs, modify the gear in my pack depending on terrain, find different trails away from streams due to water levels and and re-route drives to the trail head due to flooded roads.

All things considered, this part of the trip has been a complete success. Especially due to the fact that early on, after my first bushwhack climb to Friday and Balsam Cap Mountains with the group, I questioned my ability to find canisters on my own and had downgraded my overall goal to possibly 25 or 27 total mountains for the trip. Everyday proved to be a learning experience and through a combination of planning, perseverance and just plain being stubborn I managed to find 8 of the 14 canisters on train-less summits on my own. (and a little help from my GPS) Three others were achieved on group hikes leaving only the last three remaining Catskill 35's to go.

So, on Tuesday morning October 12th, I shaved, cleaned the cabin, packed up the truck, loaded up the dog and said good-bye to the town of Phoenicia and the Catskill Mountains for a little while. I'll try to write more about Phoenicia (and the other mountains towns that I frequented) in another post, but I think it can be best summed up as the "town where hippies not cool enough for Woodstock went to retire." It is quaint, but odd.

For now... a trip across the river to have lunch with my brother and his girlfriend and then the 11 hour drive back to North Carolina. In about a month, when I have things back in the right perspective... I'll be back.