Blackhead, Black Dome and Thomas Cole

[one2wonder]

n my search for this weeks hike for me and my 2 friends the Blackhead range (or is it the Black Dome range?) caught my eye. Blackhead looked like a nice mountain to do as a loop by itself but offered the option of nearby Black Dome and Thomas Cole if everyone was feeling up to it.
We were on the trail by 8:30 (a new best for us - I had been advised to start at 5:30 - we're not morning people. Getting up at 6 is about our limit). We knew it had the potential to be a warm day so were packing about 4L of fluids each, I had 6.5 in case we ran low. Fortunately the humidity was low and the temps seem to lag a bit in the mountains, plus the nice breeze above 3500ft quickly cooled and dried us off on our breaks.
We started from the end of Big Hollow Rd heading up towards the Batkivia lean to. The first mile and a half were relatively low grade. We made good time as no one needed to stop much. We came up to the escarpment trail intersection at about 9:30 or so (i need to start keeping a log, I can't keep all the times straight in my head). We met a woman waiting for some trail runners to provide them water and fuel. They arrived in the short minutes we were talking to her. We took a pic for them and were on our way. Not 5 minutes later they came hopping up behind us taking a steep section much quicker than we were and then off at a jog after that.
It took us over an hour to complete the next mile on the escarpment trail leading up to blackhead. My companions on the way questioned my sanity on planning 3 peaks (and noting multiple times that I had not included the fact that we would have to hike over one of the peaks twice). It was a steep mile but we stopped less than we have in the past (apparantly we're getting more fit from hiking).
We stopped at the rock on top at the trail split and had some food and drink. I ran down to a lookout for a peek a short way sw down the escarpment trail and came back. We packed up and headed on.
As Black Dome came into view during our descent the crew was making their plea to only do one more peak. The descent was quick and not too bad on the knees. (none of us have poles). The ascent though a workout was not that bad and shorter than expected. We rested at a view point near the summit at which I asked if the others wanted to go on and they eventually said they would. We packed up after a half hour or so stop and were on our way at about 1pm.
The descent wasn't that bad to the notch between Black Dome and Thomas Cole. The ascent seemed almost shorter. We climbed untill shortly after it leveled off. Eventually the gradual downward pitch became visually steeper. The maps seemed to confirm we had the top. We turned around and were back down to the lookout we came from on Black Dome by around 2. We rested for a short bit and continued back along our tracks.
We diverted from our original path not really wanting to go back over blackhead and took the red trail to the left at the notch. We stopped at the marked spring along the way down (first time I've seen a piped spring in the mountains). We reached the car at about quarter of 4. Temps didn't seem that bad when we left, and the last 2 miles were easy compared to the middle of the hike. Got much warmer as we returned towards Albany (my a/c doesn't work and it seems the valleys had trapped a bit of cool air in the Catskills). Bugs were being annoying and spray was applied at most stops though I ended up with only a couple bites.
Overall it was a great hike and a new best for distance and ascent footage for me and my friends in a day hike. (7.9mi ~3200' ascent from my best guess from my map) Glad to be sitting in the A/C now planning my attack tomorrow on the lawn and pool.

[mike]

You guys did a real good job. It was HOT! Good thing you brought a lot of water. Hopefully, you got some good views. The Blackhead Mountain Range is a fun range when the weather is good. Going from Black Dome to Thomas Cole isn't bad at all. But, going up the NE side of Blackhead is fairly steep and challenging. Glad to hear that you had a good day.

[one2wonder]

The views were very nice. Low humidity helped to keep the haze at a minimum. It was nice to get a view of the devils path where we had been hiking and identify the different peaks.

[mtnclimber]

The blackheads are a sweet little hike. Hopefully, you were able to go down the south side of Blackhead for the two view points there? It's good that you were able to do these peaks on a clear day. So many people miss out when they go on a bad viewing day. I hope to see the new view point on Black Dome that Mike had posted. Overall it seems that you guys had a good day.