Catskillmountaineer.com Forum

So went for a hike up Balsam. The leaves were spectacular. It only took us 3 hours to make it up and around. We were going at a breakneck pace since we hadn't left NJ until 9, and didn't start hiking until 11:30. Still was nice to catch some of the fall foliage. I used my circular polarizer to make some of the duller colors pop a bit more.

The trail diversion from the stream is much improved since the last time I was here.


mine hollow






Me looking up at a hugely tall pine


This is what I was looking at




A tree swallowing its marker








Intersection with little more than 1 mile to go.


The climb comes to this slight viewpoint


From the tops of those rocks


Into the pines


snow


hanging out at the viewpoint








Summit


Then the hike back down was just tons more color








The lean-to is a leanin-too much. I would be scared to sleep in a parrallelogram

Saturday was beautiful. Nice cobalt blue skies. Looks like you had the best foliage. Most of the places in the NE catskills have lost most of their foliage. Foliage was an elevation event this year. In Tannersville this weekend, the leaves were gone. But, down at Huckleberry Point there were still leaves. Still leaves in the Kaaterskill Clove.

Balsam Mtn can be boring at times. But, from your wonderful pictures it looked fantastic.

Great pics and great color! Looks like a really nice hike!

Great photos. It looks like I'll be doing this hike on Friday as long as the weather is good. Has the bridge towards the beginning been rebuilt? The first time I tried to do Balsam from Rider Hollow the bridge was out and there was no way across the stream without getting wet.

I did not post all the pics here more can be found at my picasa (link in signature). Here is the new bridge which is close to the parking area.

This is the first crossing of the stream, and probably the one where you might have gotten wet.


After this bridge the trail is rerouted up the hill to the north, to bypass the washed out section from Irene. They even moved the trail intersesction up on the hill. The bridge on the red path is still there, (the one I can just barely fit my shoulders through)



There are several stream crossings between the summit and the lean-to along the red trail that there are no bridges, but the gaps are small and easily crossed in low water.

It must have been the first bridge that was out. Thanks for the pictures. I guess I'll save those stream crossings for the end just in case.