It's early Spring and that means we're hiking a lot of Lake George and Catskills trails. There are several reasons for this. Top among them are that the conditions in the North are dicey and getting a good day for hiking is problematic. Another reason is that the more Southern regions do have rattlesnake habitats and it's safest for dogs to hike them this time of year. Jay had mentioned possibly hiking the Big Indian region of the Catskills a few weeks ago and we both had a free Sunday coming up and the weather report was looking extremely favorable, so our plans coalesced to make this a...
This week's hiking day dawned cool and cloudy but without precipitation. I'd seen reports that Dacy Clearing Road was open so I excitedly made my way to hike Sleeping Beauty Mountain.
I like to feature local hikes on this blog, especially if it's the first time we've experienced it. Yesterday we checked out a trail we've passed many times on Rt.146 but never visited. The location is called "Garnsey Park" and it's situated just a few miles West of the main body of the Clifton Park retail district. From the website: Garnsey Park offers over 150 acres of rolling meadows, wooded ridgeline and a mile-plus of nature trails in Western Clifton Park, helping retain the rural, open character within this area of town. It is also the site of the Rexford Veterans Memorial, which was...
I was quite keen to get another High Peak before mud season. Meanwhile, both Jay and Dan had expressed interest as well and it had been a few weeks since I'd hiked with Jay at all. When schedules coalesced for all three of us to hike this past Monday, we jumped at the chance. Initially, we were largely ambivalent about which peak(s) we'd end up climbing. However, as the day neared, the forecast grew more and more worrisome. The temps warmed over the weekend and rain poured on Saturday. By then, we'd decided our best bet would be Algonquin and, if we were feeling strong, Iroquois. The Algonquin...
I'd been chatting with Nick since September about getting Stella caught up with his 46ers and as of this year only needed the Lower Great Range. (After that, they would both need Cliff, Redfield, Gray, and Skylight.) We agreed that it'd be nice to get Lower Wolfjaw done as a single hike. This would save us from having to tack the mountain on after doing the rest later this year. On paper, another 700' in half a mile may not seem like much, but I guarantee when we get to that Wolfjaw/Range/White junction later this year, we'll be super glad we did it ahead of time. I kept an eye on the weather...