Westkill
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 7:47 am
So I was beat yesterday and didn't post my trip. I see that other forum goers were out and about in the Catskills, and depending on timing I just might have pictures of you at the tops of your mountains (although you might be really really small).
I got no response from any of my hungover friends, no one was going. That's OK though because my wife had got me for father's day a new remote for my camera. It's just a shutter remote, but now I could take pictures of my self at distances greater than 10 seconds. I went solo and left NJ around 9. I got to the Spruceton Rd. about 11:00 and set off.
These were growing all along the road
Trailhead
The trail to the Diamond Notch Falls is a gradual incline. There are some spots along the way to hop off the trail and photograph the Westkill stream.
When I got to the Diamond falls there were a lot of hikers there. I think they were going some way along the devil's path. I saw the falls, and crossed on the rocks below it. One of the hikers didn't like that I wasn't stopping to photograph the falls. He must have seen me with all my camera gear and tripod and wondered what was up. The sun was right above the falls, and I wouldn't get hardly any good shots. He then followed me up the falls and I wound up missing the devil's path. I took a picture from the top of the falls,
And here's one from where the bridge I guess used to be
I found that I was still on the blue trail, and knew I should have been on the Devil's path. I turned around and had to pass by them again and the guy asked why I wasn't taking a picture of some small cave. I had the summit on my mind and just kept going. I was on the Devil's path and just started the vertical climbing.
Here's one of me climbing up
The cave at 3490ft.
The buck ridge Lookout
From this spot you can get almost 180 degrees of viewing. Here's some shots from left to right
The blackhead range:
Hunter Mtn.
Southwest Hunter with Plateau Mtn behind it:
The Hudson Valley (River is on the left center shot)
Slide Mtn. Center Shot, Cornell and wittenberg on the left, and through the middle of them in the back is Lone and even Peekamoose sticking up.
Quite a nice viewpoint.
Random closeup flower shot:
Summit cairn
Summit hammock
Random butterfly shot
Here's the other viewpoint that looks north into the valley
This is rusk mountain, it's very dark cause it's under a cloud and underexposed
Here's some fields on spruceton rd. Down there is about where I parked
Westkill actually doesn't have as much pines on the top as a lot of the other 3500 mountains. This one has a lot of ferns and bushes that you have to walk through. I put on my gaiters for the trip back down cause I was fearful of getting poison ivy or something on my exposed legs. It's not like climbing up through the pines where there's only moss. Definately would have worn long pants if I knew that there was that much tall bush that had to be passed through
Trail skirts the mountain for a while and you get this kind of tilted walk cause you're traversing along the mountain for so long
This is what I guess the spring is, it was a few hundred feet off from the coordinate on my GPS (But all my coordinates are off). I guess it's flowing? I only heard it on the way down, it probably was barely flowing on the way up. No pipe but it looks like fresh water. I'd drink it but I had brought 4 liters and only drank like 2.5. It wasn't as hot and humid out today as I thought it was going to be so I didn't use as much water I guess.
By the time I got back down to the diamond notch the lighting was perfect. It wasn't dark enough for me to get a really good shot, then I put on the polarizing filter so I could get a bit darker. 100 speed All the way closed up to f32 and down to 1.6 seconds.
There were only 2 hikers here when I got back. The lighting was a lot better, and I decided to dip my feet. That water is COOOOOOLD. I didn't dare dip anything else for fear of it freezing and falling off.
Some more time exposure of the Westkill
Flower back by the parking area
I got no response from any of my hungover friends, no one was going. That's OK though because my wife had got me for father's day a new remote for my camera. It's just a shutter remote, but now I could take pictures of my self at distances greater than 10 seconds. I went solo and left NJ around 9. I got to the Spruceton Rd. about 11:00 and set off.
These were growing all along the road
Trailhead
The trail to the Diamond Notch Falls is a gradual incline. There are some spots along the way to hop off the trail and photograph the Westkill stream.
When I got to the Diamond falls there were a lot of hikers there. I think they were going some way along the devil's path. I saw the falls, and crossed on the rocks below it. One of the hikers didn't like that I wasn't stopping to photograph the falls. He must have seen me with all my camera gear and tripod and wondered what was up. The sun was right above the falls, and I wouldn't get hardly any good shots. He then followed me up the falls and I wound up missing the devil's path. I took a picture from the top of the falls,
And here's one from where the bridge I guess used to be
I found that I was still on the blue trail, and knew I should have been on the Devil's path. I turned around and had to pass by them again and the guy asked why I wasn't taking a picture of some small cave. I had the summit on my mind and just kept going. I was on the Devil's path and just started the vertical climbing.
Here's one of me climbing up
The cave at 3490ft.
The buck ridge Lookout
From this spot you can get almost 180 degrees of viewing. Here's some shots from left to right
The blackhead range:
Hunter Mtn.
Southwest Hunter with Plateau Mtn behind it:
The Hudson Valley (River is on the left center shot)
Slide Mtn. Center Shot, Cornell and wittenberg on the left, and through the middle of them in the back is Lone and even Peekamoose sticking up.
Quite a nice viewpoint.
Random closeup flower shot:
Summit cairn
Summit hammock
Random butterfly shot
Here's the other viewpoint that looks north into the valley
This is rusk mountain, it's very dark cause it's under a cloud and underexposed
Here's some fields on spruceton rd. Down there is about where I parked
Westkill actually doesn't have as much pines on the top as a lot of the other 3500 mountains. This one has a lot of ferns and bushes that you have to walk through. I put on my gaiters for the trip back down cause I was fearful of getting poison ivy or something on my exposed legs. It's not like climbing up through the pines where there's only moss. Definately would have worn long pants if I knew that there was that much tall bush that had to be passed through
Trail skirts the mountain for a while and you get this kind of tilted walk cause you're traversing along the mountain for so long
This is what I guess the spring is, it was a few hundred feet off from the coordinate on my GPS (But all my coordinates are off). I guess it's flowing? I only heard it on the way down, it probably was barely flowing on the way up. No pipe but it looks like fresh water. I'd drink it but I had brought 4 liters and only drank like 2.5. It wasn't as hot and humid out today as I thought it was going to be so I didn't use as much water I guess.
By the time I got back down to the diamond notch the lighting was perfect. It wasn't dark enough for me to get a really good shot, then I put on the polarizing filter so I could get a bit darker. 100 speed All the way closed up to f32 and down to 1.6 seconds.
There were only 2 hikers here when I got back. The lighting was a lot better, and I decided to dip my feet. That water is COOOOOOLD. I didn't dare dip anything else for fear of it freezing and falling off.
Some more time exposure of the Westkill
Flower back by the parking area