Winter hike of West Kill

After bagging two peaks, the next day we did West Kill, the westernmost peak on the Devil's Path. When I did it in summer, I came up from Diamond Notch to the south; this time, we came up from Diamond Notch to the north. I've done that section of the Diamond Notch trail several times in winter; it's relatively flat and follows a nice stream. The falls, where the trail intersects the Devil's Path, are actually much nicer in summer, though.

The snow was much deeper on West Kill than it had been on the Black Dome trail. While spikes were still needed, they were biting packed snow, not ice. To make up for the lack of ice, the trail is much steeper - nearly all of the hike's elevation gain is concentrated in the mile after you get on the Devil's Path.

While the peak itself is viewless (although remarkably it is signed!), there are overlooks on both side of the trail near the peak. The view from one is below.

After tagging the top, we ate lunch in the sunshine at one of the overlooks and got to pet two Good Doggos. We headed back down and ran into a large group, a few of whom I knew from the 3500 Club. They mentioned the West Kill Brewery, very near the end of Spruceton Road. It's set a ways back from the road so I likely wouldn't have noticed it. No, we didn't stop in for a beer, but it's an excellent setup for a view 'n brew.

I now have 15 of the 35 winter peaks completed, 7 of them this year. At that rate, it'll be three more years to finish.

A winter hike of Black Dome and Thomas Cole

A friend who is working on completing her Catskills 3500 knew I am working on my winter peaks, and so she invited me on one last trip before the official winter season was over. After comparing our lists, we decided to hike two of the three peaks in the Black Dome Range from Big Hollow Road on Saturday.



The snow that was left on these peaks wasn't deep, but the trail itself had been packed down to a layer of ice, making spikes a must-have. We traveled at a moderate pace, though, and enjoyed the leafless winter views of Blackhead and Windham. The top of Black Dome is viewless, and not especially peaky; at some point you conclude you must have passed the real top because you're now going downhill!

The col between Black Dome and Thomas Cole is relatively modest, and TC has another flattish peak.

Unless you have a car shuttle at Elmer Barnum Road, the only way out is back over Black Dome, so we did it again and the headed downhill.



While it's less verdant, I would say this is one of the Catskills hikes that is improved by winter, what with the views that open up on the initial ascent.

Scouting the Hoeferlin Memorial Trail

In preparation for next month's Ramblers hike, I scouted the route of the Hoeferlin Memorial Trail in the Ramapo Preserve with a friend.

To get to the Hoeferlin Memorial Trail, we used a mix of trails from the NY-NJ Trail Conference headquarters. This included bypassing a nice waterfall that, on another occasion, I'd like to see up close.

There was still snow on the ground, about 60%-80% of what we had on Sunday. It was still wet and unstable, though, meaning that even microspikes didn't do much for traction, because the entire layer of snow shifted underfoot. That meant we had to go a little slower, especially uphill, because it was hard to get a firm footing. We noticed it particularly on very gentle slopes, where one wouldn't slow down much, but where we found ourselves suddenly losing speed.

We finally reached the northern end of the trail and continued all the way to the south end (total hike distance of 17 miles). Along the way there are several fine viewpoints.



We found that the first part of the hike felt very slow; I was dubious about our ability to finish the entire thing in daylight. We did pick up speed in the last few miles, where there was less snow, and finished the trail without needing headlamps. Mind you, there was still a mile or two or roadwalking, which did finish in the dark - but on sidewalks with street lamps.

Manitou, Manitoga, and never mind Lake Lucretia

Sunday's Rambler's hike was in an area I didn't know well, on the east side of the Hudson River across from Bear Mountain. The day was forecast to be rainy and, while cold, at least above freezing. I didn't realize that there would still be significant snow on the trail, which was an error.

After getting off the train at Manitou, we walked around Manitou Point Preserve. It has some modest elevation changes, but one or two of them were treacherous due to the very wet snow that slicked the trail. The nice views of the Hudson River made up for it, though.



We roadwalked over to Manitoga, which was new to me. Here we started gaining elevation in earnest. Here also I realized I'd made a major tactical error in wearing my regular hiking boots, which are low and not waterproof. Surprisingly, my feet weren't cold, but they were very wet. I thought that after we ate lunch I'd bail out early.



However, going back the way we came wasn't all that short, and while most everyone else was dry, they were going slow because of the wet snow. Collectively, we decided to continue north on the Appalachian Trail as planned but skip Lake Lucretia. Although we didn't discuss it, we also skipped Arden Point.



We came out at the train station at Garrison, which was better than going to Manitou would have been because it has a covered, heated area to wait for the train in.

All told the hike was 12 miles, elevation unknown (the batteries are dead in my watch).

What in the blue blazes!

On Saturday the Van Cortlandt trails crew put up new blazes on a slightly rerouted Cass Gallagher trail. This particular blaze is where the trails passes some vernal pools.

The trails of the park haven't been very well-marked in the past (aside from the cross-country trail), so it's exciting to see these new blazes come in!