Hiking Windham in winter

Sunday's Winter Weekend hike was my third climb of Windham, but the first in winter. I had expected the weather to be a tad warmer than on Saturday, but instead it was snowing and blustery. This made getting to the trail head a serious drive, and it meant that the views from Windham weren't optimal.

We took the Elm Ridge Trail (which I needed for my all trails patch!) before joining the Escarpment Trail, returning via the same route. Our pace was quicker than Saturday's hike, and, yes, I was the slow one. My hiking speed is still not what I want it to be, nor what it used to be.

However, we still finished in the early afternoon, with plenty of time for German food.

Winter hike of North Dome and Sherrill

I returned to North Dome and Sherrill at the Catskills 3500 Winter Weekend. On this hike, we took a different route than on my first trip. We started at the Timberlake Camp, hiked up an old road (indicated on the map), and then bushwhacked to North Dome. From there, we descended into the col between the two mountains and ascended to Sherrill.

The skies were clear, which meant we had some nice views through the trees and at a viewpoint on the way up to North Dome. The trail was a crust of snow with powder underneath, making snowshoes a necessity the entire way.

The hike was at a pretty slow pace, but we made it back to the inn in time for the very end of happy hour and dinner.

Hiking Kaaterskill in winter

I'm working on my Catskills 3500 winter peaks, now that I've completed the regular requirements. I don't anticipate completing very fast, given that there are only three months of the year that count, and trips up there in the winter are both more expensive (can't camp) and harder to schedule (unpredictable weather). Day trips are really only feasible if you already own a car - or if you catch a ride with someone who does.

That's what I did for Saturday's hike up Kaaterskill High Peak, my ninth winter peak. My previous hike of Kaaterskill was in May, on a relatively nice day. Since KHP has some great views, we all hoped for nice weather. My second choice would have been for fluffy, fresh snow. Instead, what we got was a cold rain.

Because of the rain, we didn't follow the herd path up Hurricane Ledge. (Wet and possible icy rocks? Apparently, the wet is worse than the ice - our leader said that one of the rock climbs basically traps you in a shower.) Instead, we bushwhacked up the east face. The trickiest part is shown above, on our descent.

We had a good group of mostly cheerful hikers, which made the weather less of a tragedy. You'll notice a couple of blurry spots in the photo above. I just couldn't keep my camera lens entirely dry. Luckily, I had the right gear (except it turned out my warm mittens aren't waterproof) to stay dry enough and therefore warm.

Ringing in the New Year with a hike

My hiking club has an annual city hike on the first day of the year. Generally, these are fairly flat, but our leader this year decided to make a step street themed hike. We hiked 13 miles in the Bronx and upper Manhattan.













So many stairs!

I'm not sure what the elevation gain was. It was about 400 feet before lunch, but had climbed to 2700 by the end of the day. That doesn't mean the afternoon was brutal, just that a cold front was blowing in and my watch uses barometric pressure to calculate elevation.

Happy new year!