Weekend hike, Blackheads/WHP, September 21-22?

[kennykb]

View south from Burnt Knob by ke9tv, on Flickr

Anyone interested in an overnighter in the northern Catskills on the weekend of September 21? I'm thinking of starting from Barnum Road, doing the Blackheads, staying at the Batavia Kill shelter (or the primitive campsite nearby), then returning the next day on the Escarpment over Acra Point, Burnt Knob, and Windham High Peak. There's about a three-mile roadwalk at the end that could be cut off with a second car (or at least be made more pleasant with someone to talk to!). Pace will be leisurely.

If someone is coming in from out of town, I could probably shuttle from Trailways (Catskill or Saugerties) or Amtrak (Hudson or Rensselaer). If coming in on Saturday makes for an outrageously early start, we could even do the loop in the opposite direction, with an easy 1.3-mile evening hike in to the Elm Ridge shelter on the Friday and a head start on Saturday morning.

Plans are flexible at this point. If someone really wants to do another route at a leisurely pace, I'm open to suggestions.

PM me if you're interested, or email kennykb (at) acm (dot) org.

[mike]

I'm about overnight'ed out. I just got back from Glacier National Park. Sounds like a great overnighter.

Another good overnight trip is from the Blackheads -> Arizona -> Field camping. Second day: Stoppel Pt -> North Mtn - North-South Lake. A good trip in October when the leaves are coming down.

You could also bring a bicycle to get back to your car. Much easier then walking. A second car would be even better.

[Jon]

I'm down for it. i was just talking with someone about possibly doing an overnighter that weekend. I would probably drive up from NJ, so we could have a 2nd car.

Alright if my brother-in-law comes too?

[kennykb]

Sure, I figured that if you were coming and Frank was free, he'd want to come along too.

I've tried to send you an email through the site. If you don't get it, send me a private message here, or an email at kennykb (at) acm (dot) org.

[Jon]

Ok it may be 4 of us. I will know a final count by this Thursday probably.

[Birdman]

How did it go?

[kennykb]

Great for me! Trip report is likely to be delayed because I have a business trip this week. And I didn't get great pictures this time on account of the weather.

I packed in over the Blackheads from Barnum Road. Jon, Frank, Chris and Ravi parked at Big Hollow, set up near the lean-to, and did a loop over Blackhead and Black Dome. I ran into them coming down Black Dome as they were going up, and of course met them later at the lean-to. It was pretty intense, coming down the scrambles on the north side of Blackhead while conscious that I was racing a thunderstorm. (The rain didn't actually start until later in the evening, when everyone was buttoned up.)

We took it easy on Sunday, hung out for a while and then just hiked out to the road. I was all for doing at least the Acra Point loop with light packs, even if we didn't hit WHP, but one guy was nursing a hurt knee, one guy had a problem with wet gear, and one guy had a concert to get to in New Jersey, and I let them shuttle me back to my car. I wasn't too disappointed, I'd done that part of the Escarpment just last month.

[Jon]

yes i got a tad wet. I wound up retreating to the lean-to after fear of branches making a widow out of my wife. I heard a couple of big ones crash down. Funny thing is my friend decided to buy a hammock and try it out, and he was sleeping so deep I was practically yelling to wake him up!

I still think everyone had fun. The weather was unbelievable. The clouds were moving so fast, they looked like freight trains above your head. It held out raining until late at night, but I hadn't sinched up my rainfly correctly and my pad was sticking out underneath it. It kind of just funneled all the rain right under me and everything was wet. I had to run out in the pouring rain to fix it after midnight when the water finally woke me up!

Still I'm glad I didn't spend much time in the lean-to. It definitely smelled like rodent feces, even with the tarp over it. There are also several large holes in the floor that have been "plugged" with large rocks. I have no doubt that probably many mice or rabbits live under there.

Oh and KennyKb like I said the guy was bit by the mouse http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/forums/show ... hp?t=19305 and it wasn't in the Catskills it was at Uphill lean-to (we passed by that on our ADK trip this year). Although you are correct, you can get Hanta virus from just inhaling excrement.

I believe there were also some people at Curry Village in Yosemite that died from Hanta recently. I remember staying in those tents as a child and one of my brothers getting severely ill for the whole Cali trip. Wonder if it was a mild case?

[kennykb]

Trip report is finally up: http://dftscript.blogspot.com/2013/10/b ... -2122.html