Fire Tower Challenge

On this day I decided to make a trek up to the Adirondacks and put a dent into the Catskill/Adirondack Fire Tower challenge. I managed to do Spruce and Hadley in the southern Adirondacks, Snowy and Pillsbury near Indian Lake, and Kane in the southwest Adirondacks. This brings my total to 14 out of 28.

Snowy was the only hike that was particularly challenging. It was about an 8 mile hike with a solid amount of climbing over wet slippery rocks. The trail followed a creek the first couple miles making numerous crossings before the trail started climbing relentlessly. Just below the summit, there was a fabulous view of Indian Lake and its many islands. The lake looks like its calling me to kayak there. The views from the tower were just as great, affording views of the larger mountains to the north and west.

The other hikes were all similar in difficulty and length. They were about 2-3 miles round trip with about 1500ft elevation gain. Spruce mountain had a fire tower but sadly it was not open. There were no views to be had without it. It does not appear many make there way over to this mountain. I was the first in a couple weeks. This mountain is probably left for us peekbaggers in pursuit of doing all 28 fire towers.

Hadley was a few miles north of Spruce and was packed with people on the summit. It was a nice little walk up on a clear blue day. Thankfully it was dry, since much of the trail were long slabs of rock. The views overlooked the many lakes in the region and the surrounding mountains.

After Snowy, I had one of the more interesting drives to a trail head that I've been on. Pillsbury was a 6 mile drive on logging roads to get to the start of the hike. I parked a couple miles before the trail and did a run/hike to the summit. I ran when I could and hiked when I couldn't. This made it a relatively quick one. The tower was climbable, but it was a bit shady. There were missing planks and missing railings. It was near sunset and I still had Kane left to go.

I basically arrived at the trail head of Kane at dark. I started the hike just after 9pm, making it the latest I've ever started a hike. By the time I reached the summit, I was exhausted. But, I sat at the top of the tower enjoying the best tasting grapefruit ever while listening to fireworks and watching the last bit of colors disappearing from what remained of the sunset. This is exactly why I go on these mini-excursions.

Morton Memorial Hike to Red Hill

It's been 4 years to the day that my buddy Morton got hit by a car. Every year I do a hike in memory of that beautiful, good-natured cat. The first year I did Big Slide in the Adirondacks. The following year it was Porter. And last year while in Spain, I limped 25km out of Burgos to San Bol, an old Roman army site and the best alburgue on the Camino.

This year with the weather being lousy I decided on doing something short. Red Hill fit the bill well. This would also be the 9th fire tower out of the 28 that exist in the Catskills and Adirondacks.

I decided to walk the mile stretch of road to the parking area where the trail starts. Despite having rain gear in my car I choose not to carry it along. Big Mistake.

The trail was a typical Catskill trail (more rocks than dirt) with a steady climb. The views did not exist. I could barely see the fire tower even though I was on it. This was one of the thickest fogs I have ever seen. It then proceeded to rain and despite the tree cover, I got totally soaked. This reminded me of the times I would call in the cats if it were raining. Sometimes they didn't listen. They'd come in soaked and I'd have to dry them off with the towel. R.I.P. Morton.

State High Pointing

OK, this is not the Hudson Valley or anywhere close and there also wasn't much hiking, but it's 3 more high points on my quest to do 49 state high points (I will not be doing Alaska's Denali).

Mt Davis in Western PA was the first of the three. This was uneventful and was a short hike from the parking lot. It had a tower on the summit. Beautiful views of the rolling hills of farm land. It was strange that this was the high point as it appeared to be only a hill.

Next up was Backbone Mt in the state of MD. On my way, I stopped and the smallest church in the lower 48 states. This required a short hike that started in WV. The short hike became a longer one due to my idiocy. I turned off the logging road too early and followed state forest markings, which soon turned into a full scale bushwack. I eventually realized this could not possibly be it and turned back. I walked up the logging road and found the proper trail leading to the summit. Along the way I came across multiple deer carcasses. I assume the state of WV uses this area for its roadkill.

Unlike NY which absolutely does not live up to being called the Empire State (Welfare State or Tax State or Too Many Laws State) WV lives up to being called the Mountain State. Upon crossing the border, views of mountains were endless. Without question there are more mountains here than there are teeth. Although there are probably more things named after Robert Byrd than there are mountains.

The drive to the summit of Spruce Mt. was constant winding roads and ups and downs. Rarely did I top 45mph. But, that was fine, since the scenery was amazing.