New Year's Eve Hike to Pitchoff

A partially frozen Cascade Lake with Pitchoff to the right

Situated right across from Cascade along Route 73, Pitchoff has been on my radar for quite a long time.  The trail starts across the street from Cascade.  There is an excellent 5 mile point to point trail that leads over Pitchoff's many rocky peaks.  With only one car, I would walk the 2.8 miles back to the car in a stiff, cold wind.

Cascade is one of the Adirondacks more popular destinations.  It's by far the most accessible 46er.  This made parking a bit of a challenge since the lots were full.  I found a spot after some difficulty.  Stepping out of the car woke me up quick.  I was met with one of the coldest winds ever.  I decided to change into my boots in my cramped car.

After some hesitation, I left the car quite reluctantly.  This feeling would change once on the trail.  If winter won't come to the Hudson Valley, I will just have to go to where winter is.  It has arrived in the Adirondacks.  The trail was covered in snow, but not so much where snowshoes are necessary.  I love winter in the beginning.  The snow covered trees are so beautiful.  The crisp, cold air feels so much fresher.

I met a couple women who were coming down.  Their friendly dogs were happy to see me.  I could not pet them enough.  They would be the only ones I'd meet.  In fact after the first view point, I would follow on pair of boot tracks.  In only a few spots I wished I had snow shoes.

The view of Cascade (or lack of)

Don't eat the yellow snow

Pitchoff

Pitchoff rises a little over 1,500 feet from Cascade Lake.  There are numerous rocky peaks along a mile of trail that crosses its ridge.  On a clear day, this must be a really top notch spot, even for the Adirondacks.  Periodically, I could see down to the lakes, but mostly I saw clouds and fog.

This did not take away from the enjoyment.  The snow and the rocky peaks made the scenery interesting.  It was also just so nice to be in my favorite place in the world.
  

Owl's Head.  I want to go there.  

Pitchooff's rocky ridge from Route 73

Hudson River Bridge of the Month

While driving up to the Adirondacks, I realized I did not have a Hudson River Bridge of the month.  So this month, Chris Hiker will have to settle for an indistinct bridge that carries the Northway over the Hudson.  Despite any remarkable features, this bridge is only one of two that carries I-87 over the Hudson.  The other is the Tappan Zee.

Riverside Park Coxsackie

I went for a seasonably warm walk along the Hudson River in Coxsackie.  It's hard to believe it's almost Christmas and it's in the low 50s.  To top it off the wind was almost non-existent.

Yesterdays rain led to some nice fog this morning and last night.  Before heading to the library, I figured to go for a little stroll along the Hudson.  I was not alone in my enjoyment of the warm temps.  The seagulls appeared to be enjoying themselves just fine.

New Year's Resolution

One of my New Year's resolutions will be to get out into nature more often.  Most specifically, I hope to take numerous full moon walks this coming year.  I have always loved the light the moon gives.  It's as if you're walking inside a black and white film.  I have yet to take any decent pictures under moonlight.  I hope to change that this coming year.  Last night I tried.

Radiation Fog

While preparing my lunch for the week, I noticed the fog had cleared from Rhinebeck.  I wondered if it cleared from the Hudson.  I saw some fog to the west in the vicinity of the river.  It was worth a shot.  

As described by Hudson Valley Weather:

"Sunday was a very interesting day meteorologically. A good part of the region saw lots of sunshine, and afternoon highs in the low to mid 50s... and in those areas, it was a gorgeous December day.

However, valley areas along the Hudson River (primarily north of Newburgh), experienced a much different day on Sunday. A dense, persistent radiation fog settled in prior to dawn on Sunday, and due to the calm winds and the Catskill mountains, north of Poughkeepsie... it never burned off. In those areas, afternoon highs didn't break out of the 30s... thanks to the dense fog trapping the cold air at the surface, and not allowing the sun to warm the air.

The Hudson Valley can have an event like this during the late fall and early winter, because the valley is sheltered by the Catskills on the west, and the Taconics to the east. After a mild day Saturday, as the cold dense air settled into the valley Saturday night, the air cooled... condensed... and radiation fog formed (due to radiational cooling). This was likely enhanced by the relatively warm Hudson River. With the very calm winds on Sunday, the fog was trapped within the valley, and simply never burned off in some areas. In ideal geographical areas, if the winds are calm for an extended period... the fog can persist for days... until the winds strengthen, and mix the atmosphere.

Here's a snapshot of the visible satellite image from 12pm on Sunday. It was feast or famine, as half the area saw sunshine and blue skies, and temps in the 50s... while the other half of the area saw dense fog, and temps in the 30s. Either way... we hope you had a nice Sunday."

Though not as interesting as the fotos taken at Breakneck, seeing the fog lined Hudson provided a wonderful view.  The views south towards Port Ewen were the most interesting, with the mountains jutting through the clouds.  Unfortunately the sun rested directly above.  Still, I consider myself fortunate to be able to get out and witness such an occasion.  

Lots of cool shadows

Early Morning Fog

The Hudson Valley region experienced some excellent fog yesterday.  Some excellent fotos of the event floated around the internets.  I woke up too late to head to the Hudson Highlands, so Ferncliff Forest would have to do.  The fog was dense.  Too dense.  But very beautiful.  

The view from the tower

Sugarloaf (3500 Club Peak of the Month)

The view from Platte Clove Road

Fourteen years ago I fell in love with hiking.  The Catskill 3500 Club peaks introduced me to the joys of nature.  In the past ten years I haven't spent much time hiking in those mountains.  In fact a handful of peaks like Rocky, Lone, Eagle and Balsam I have not visited since.  I hope in the following year to revisit all of them.  A couple years ago this was a goal that fell apart after a few.  I hope to at least do one per month, along side one Hudson River Bridge per month.

The Hudson Valley received a lot of rain this past week.  Friday called for clear skies.  One of the great perks about going to work at 4:30pm is that there is a lot of the day to be enjoyed prior to work.  So why not bang out a nice 6-7 mile hike before work?

Unfortunately the clear blue skies never came about.  But the weather didn't suck either.  As usual, I did not come fully prepared since I only had my basic running/ work shoes.  They would suffice on this day, since winter has not arrived yet.  Not even at elevation.

Before hitting the trail head, I hit up one of my favorite spots, Twin Peaks in Tannersville.  They have great coffee, but best of all they have fresh donuts!  Excellent food to load up on before hitting the trails.  I had pancakes along with some maple frosted, freshly made donuts.

I reached the trail head off of Dale Rd around 10:30.  I would have liked an earlier start, but still had plenty of time.  After a 1/4 mile, there are two trails.  One leads to Pecoy notch which is the col for Sugarloaf and Twin.  The other leads to Mink Hollow which is the col for Sugarloaf and Plateau.  One can do a nice loop up and over Sugarloaf and return to the same parking area.  I did this once before.  Today I would do it in reverse, going up to Pecoy Notch first.

For me, Sugarloaf is the least appreciated of the Devils Path peaks.  All the others have excellent views.  Some of the best views in the Catskills are found from Westkill, Plateau, Twin and Indianhead.  Sugarloaf barely has any.

From a distance, Sugarloaf is quite interesting.  It drops a thousand feet on both sides.  Its quite strikingly round summit is unlike the mostly flat summits of the other Devils Path peaks.  When hiking to Sugarloaf via Pecoy Notch, one passes one of the most interesting spots in the Catskills, Dibbles Quarry.  This makes a great destination for those not interested in ascending 2,000 feet over rugged terrain.  It's an abandoned 19th century slate quarry that features a bunch of thrones.  One can be a king or queen and take in the awesome views of Kaaterskill High Peak and Platte Clove.

From there, the trails rises gently to a small pond.  I mentioned previously, winter had not arrived, even in the mountains.  It sort of hasn't.  There isn't much snow, but this pond was partially frozen.  So winter is creeping in.

From the pond the trail steepens to Pecoy Notch.  Once there I noticed a no camping sign that has been clearly ignored.  From Pecoy Notch, Sugarloaf starts to flex its nuts.  It's not called the Devils Path for nothing.  Many steep sections require the use of hands.  It occurred to me more than once that I may be doing a trail run through these parts in July.

On the way to the summit, I had to negotiate some icy sections.  So far it was not difficult.  It may be in a few weeks.  There were some nice views toward Twin.  The cliffs the trail goes up are quite obvious.  The Devils Path section up Twin might be my favorite in the Catskills.

North and South Twin

The summit of Sugarloaf offers a view, but ever so slight.  I imagine in the summer it's even less so.  Cooper Lake and parts of the Ashokan can be seen to the south.  Many of the Central Catskills are visible, like Wittenburgh.  Visibility was not very good.

The walk down posed some problems.  There was quite a bit of ice and a nice dusting on the summit.  It was quite pretty.  Despite my cold feet and cold hands, I longed for some snow.  I hope to get out quite a bit with the snowshoes and microspikes.