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Like the title says, I haven't done an overnight backpack hike in a long while.  My friend and I went to the Shawangunk Preserve near New Paltz and/or Poughkeepsie NY and camped for one night in hammocks. I'd heard of "The 'Gunks" before, knowing it was a popular spot for the New Paltz college kids, but never went before. Even though college classes aren't in session here, there was a good number of people in and around the preserve. Got there Saturday morning, set up hammocks and poo poo, left some things behind, started hiking at ~10:45 and went ~12-14 miles to Lake Awosting, Castle Point, and Lake Minnewaska before getting back to camp. The main paths and roads were wide, well maintained and paved with gravel, and aside from one steep portion, were fairly tame. We took a few trails off the gravel path, and they were a bit more challenging. One funny moment was following the trail markers towards a large rock formation, turning the corner around the rocks, and just staring dumbfounded at the trail that just came to a stop. We looked around for two minutes for the next trail marker before spotting it UP on the rocks. We didn't know and it didn't occur to us that we'd be doing a little climb on this trail. Awesome! The views were great! And the bugs for the most part left me alone. I attribute that to the permethrin in my clothes and some additional spray. I watched more than a couple mosquitoes land on my shirt and stumble-fly away. Here's a view from Castle Point (sorry for the angle. This is somehow the only somewhat decent picture I got from there.)   The next day we started at 7 AM and went up to Skytop. On the way, we took Undercliff Road, which gave us a great view of why most people visit "The 'Gunks". We spent like 2 miles looking up at people rock climbing and bouldering. After we passed the cliffs it became steep for a while. The 12 miles from the day before were letting themselves be known in my legs during the steeper portions. A small optional rock scramble and some steep bits for the last mile or so had me huffing and puffing but after climbing a tower was rewarded with this view to the south  And this view to the north   A giant fuckoff hotel on the lake. When I saw on the map "Mohonk House" I just thought it was a historical home preserved for a tour or something. Didn't think it was gonna be a Borscht Belt resort. Kind of funny to spend some hours hiking up just to see there's a giant castle hotel right there and we could've just parked there for a view. But what's the fun in that? After spending some time admiring the view we made our way back down the same way we came up. Total of 8-10ish miles? Some thoughts on the trip: -Sleeping in a hammock was awesome, but even after reading about what to expect, I guess I underestimated how much more chilly it would be. It got down to 68 degrees, but I needed to put on some more clothes and add a blanket. Even though I sweat a bit more because of carrying it, I'm glad I "overpacked". - My legs today aren't super sore, but I'm feeling some minor shin splints. I was wearing New Balance light hiking shoes and some decent wool socks. Dunno if there was anything I could do better, but given how much I did, I'm surprised I'm not hurting more. -I would've liked to try and cook some food just for the experience. Probably would've been the perfect time since it was just one night and low stakes. But soaking oatmeal overnight owned, and I just had some bars, a bagel, some dried fruit trail mix, and some berries. Not cooking was totally fine. -Permethrin owns -Don't care what people say, wide brim bucket hats also own. I'm a pale man and my neck and face are delicate. -There was no litter anywhere and the paths were pretty well maintained. Only had a couple instances where we couldn't immediately find a trail marker. -Saw my first bald eagle in NY that wasn't in a cage. Anyway, now that I have one trip under my belt for the year, I've got The Itch and want to plan another weekend somewhere. That's my post. Thanks for reading
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Jul 15, 2019 20:32
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Looks like a good trip. I’m going to be in those same shoes soon, and I cannot wait to get some time away.
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Aug 6, 2019 04:26
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So I went on another trip back in late October, and I don't think I need to start another thread for it. My friend and I went to Powley-Piseco Rd, in Adirondack Park, upstate New York. It's a dirt road that has designated camping spots along it. Being able to pull over and just set up camp right there meant we could afford to get a little frivolous with what we brought. Like, say, two cast iron dutch ovens. Excuse the tweet pics, but it's all I got right now (Also hoping that it does the thing where it shows the previous tweet in the thread, so you should be seeing 4 total?) https://twitter.com/niceoneWern/status/1186103137058381824 https://twitter.com/niceoneWern/status/1186104126700244992 It got down to 28 degrees, which is a first for me sleeping outside. Hammock, underquilt, rain cover, wool blanket under and wrapped over my sleeping bag, and the next day's clothes in the bag with me. I slept pretty dang well, honestly. Cooking was so much loving fun, but we had a hell of a time getting a fire started. The area had bad storms and rain. There was plenty of fallen dead wood, but everything was absolutely soaked. Took an hour and a half the first night to get something to catch. The second day we learned and paid $10 at an honor system road side stand and filled up the back of my station wagon with wood. But yeah, cooking! Beyond sausage (which is pretty great, btw), mushrooms, onion, peppers, potatoes. All just fuckin' thrown in there. I practiced TIG welding at my job and made that little 3 piece stand to hold the pot over the coals. Baked a little bread which came out surprisingly awesome. Just got a little frozen dough from the grocery store bakery, coated it in oil, and chucked the fucker in the pot, covered, and put coals on top of the dutch oven. Rotated it every so often. A dutch oven lid turned upside down makes an awesome little skillet to toast tortillas, too. I'm glad I brought an absurd amount of extra socks, because I went through them all. I wasn't prepared for just how wet and muddy the ground would be, and soaked my non-waterproof trail shows a few times, and lost it to mud suction once. Real rookie stuff. My brother-in-law got me a pair of waterproof hiking boots for christmas, so that hopefully won't be an issue in other trips. We hiked to T-Lake and T-Lake falls. The falls were super underwhelming since you can't see them. It's a gentle, but slippery, downslope of rock. Some people have died trying to inch closer to see the actual falls and just slipped right down. So we stayed away. But the hike to/from was gorgeous. Even if misty, wet, and chilly. This is gonna sound crazy, too, but I had a weird moment where I'd been smelling something the entire time we'd been hiking, and I realized it was christmas tree. All the little saplings were tiny balsam firs. It was weird to see christmas trees in nature. I know it sounds loving silly, yes, of course, trees grow in nature, you absolute dum-dum. I guess there was always some disconnect between christmas tree and real tree. Anyway, thanks for reading. Hope to add to this thread again soon.
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Jan 7, 2020 21:56
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