On September 1st, 2010, I retired from the Raleigh Police Department. As this blog has documented, I have managed to climb all of the 35 Catskill High Peaks required for the 3500 Club. Last year, my wife and I tried to finish out the quest by climbing the last four required winter mountains. Unfortunately, time constraints held us to just three. So... I have gone back to work but since social media constraints prohibit me from naming my new employer, at least it thankfully didn't stop me from getting a couple of days off to walk up one more mountain.
With time ticking away on the winter season, we packed up a rented mini-van with hiking gear, one wife, one son, a daughter-in-law, a (are we there yet?) grandson and of course, Sarge the "mountain climbing machine" dog.
In true "no plan survives the first contact, intact" fashion, Friday March 16th was a wash out with cold rain all morning. We improvised and waited to hike on a dryer day. That didn't stop us from getting couple's massages at the Emerson Spa and Resort that I had booked earlier. The weather forecast for the next day was much more promising.
St. Patrick's Day 2012 proved to be all we could have hoped for. Sunny and 65 degrees. We started up Balsam Mountain from the Ryder Hollow trail head. The remnants of Hurricane Irene were still obvious, but trail workers had replaced two main bridges that had been washed away. The rest... was up to us. Balsam Mountain would never be thought to be easy, regardless of what direction you came from. The fact that you can do it as a loop trail is nice. As hard as it is for me to admit, my wife and my son are in much better shape than I am. I think that Sarge is actually the only one on this trip that is older than me. For anyone that actually follows the Catskill maps, we took the red blazed Oliverea-Mapledale trail to the junction of the Pine Hill West Branch trail to the summit. We stopped long enough to take pictures on the actual summit (about 100 feet off the trail) before we started our steep decent back to the trail head. Even though this was technically a winter hike, there was no snow and very little ice. The money that I had invested in "micro-spikes" was not
needed, but I guess it's better to be
needed, but I guess it's better to be
safe than sorry. It certainly was nice to finish up this quest with Sandy, Dave and Sarge by my side. It was equally great to have Kailyn and Connor as our support team. As I was told by a group leader back in 2010, it's not official until you make it back to the car. (Dave actually can quote George better than I can)
The trail on the way back had literally been washed away by the hurricane. A mud-slide didn't help us and poor Sarge was done. I'm glad that he had this one last mountain in him. It is time for him to retire too. We did manage to find our way back so that I could sign myself out of my last trail register.
It's hard to close out a blog that you have been working on for two years. Kailyn and Connor met us at the trailhead with cold beers. Corned Beef and Cabbage followed as is fitting on St. Paddy's Day. It is a bit surreal that it is done, but I do thank all my family that put up with me while I worked my way to the top of 39 mountains. There will be one more post on this site when I receive my certificate and patch at the banquet next week. Thank you to all that traveled with me, especially Sandy, Dave, Kailyn, Connor, John Black, Austin and of course, Sarge...
On to the next adventure....
