Take the Train to The Trail

Breakneck Ridge

Picture by Kimba from Flickr photo site 6/11/06


One of the unique things about the NY City area is that we have some beautiful hiking /backpacking areas close to home. Unlike many parts of the country we are lucky in that many trails are accessable by public transportation from NYC. Due to the work of early conservationist and environmentaly conscious philantropists NY'er can enjoy forested mountain hiking areas in just 30 miles from the bustling city. You can take the train to the trail to reach some favorite day hiking trails in Harriman State Park or Hudson Highlands State park. Metro North connects with trails in the Hudson Highlands. The Poughkeepsie train from Grand Central leaves daily at 8:51 AM and arrives at Breakneck Ridge station at 10:08 AM where the Breakneck Ridge trail head is just 1/4 mile down the road. The Breakneck Ridge trails have exhilirating rock scrambling at the beginning with some awesome views of the Hudson river and NY skyline from the top of the Ridge. NJ Transit trains leave from Penn station to connect at Sloatsburg and Tuxedo and Harriman stations where Harriman trails just a short walk from the tracks. So take the train to the trail and happy hiking!

Description of Breakneck Ridge hike from backpacker.com
http://www.thebackpacker.com/trails/ny/trail_509.php

Check out the New York New Jersey Trail Assocaition for trail maps to Harriman and the Hudson Highlands. http://www.nynjtc.org/index.html

And "You don't Need a Car" Info on trains to the trail:
http://www.nynjtc.org/trails/no-car.html

Gear Guide - Boots

The first step in getting started in backpacking is choosing the right pair of boots. The right pair of boots can make the difference between happy feet or miles of endless screaming agony! Anyone who's had to hike out for miles with blistered feet know's that first your afraid you'll die and then your afraid you won't.
As Colin Fletcher, author of "The Complete Walker" states there are four criteria when purchasing boots: 1. a quality boot, 2.fit, 3.fit, 4.fit. The quality part means that you really are not gonna get off cheap. ( don't buy your boots on sale at Payless and don't even think about buying online unless your are sure of the exact boot style and size). Getting the right fit is the most critical. It's not enough to just know your size. All manufacturers use different lasts ( standard size patterns). Many European brands are based on metric sizing which does not tranlate precisely to English /US sizing.

A qualified sales person at a store that specializes in high end backpacking gear is your best bet for finding the right boot. In the NY metro area Eastern Mountain Sports (EMS) has several locations with knowledgable sales people.
Make sure you've got plenty of time when you go boot shopping. Try on several pair and walk in them for 10 minutes to see how they feel. You will want to wear backpacking socks to make sure you get the right fit. Most backpackers wear two socks:an inner liner of thin cool max and a thick outer sock designed for backpacking. I recommend Dahlgren wool backpacking socks. Boots should fit comfortable without siding inside, heal movement, pinching, or banging your toes in front. Try standing on your toes or walking on an incline to see if your toe jams on the front. Eastern Mountain Sports stores have an incline platform for trying out boots. Check their web site: http://www.ems.com/

Backpacking boots need to provide support, keep your feet dry and be comfortable for many miles on the trail. A high boot for ankle support with a thick sole and stiff enough to support your weight and load is recommended. Weight is an important consideration; as the saying goes a pound on your feet is like five more pounds on your back. Boots are now made with a combination of leather and synthetic to reduce weight from the clunky "Frankenstein boots" of years ago. Gore tex provides a waterproof, breathable insert recommended for keeping feet dry. Some popular brands include Lowa, Vasque, Montrail, LL Bean, Asolo, La Sportiva.
When you've found the perfect boot it's time to do some warm up hiking to break in your boots. The "50-Mile Rule" means to break in your boots for 50 miles before taking them on an extended trail hike. Happy hiking!

The Bear Necessities...

As a follow up to recent close encounters with wildlife in the Tri-state area here's a funny little twist on the Goldilocks story.... last week a New Jersey woman had a strange visit from a black bear who decided to take a nap in her backyard hammock!!. Unbelievably the cute bear went to sleep for about five minutes before falling out! In a related story in Baker Lake Washington a bear was found passed out after chug-a-lugging 36 cans of Ranier beer! It seems this bear had a preference and would not touch the Busch beer. ( maybe it's the name??) Check out this fun clip and both stories on Sploid News site published by Gawker.com.
http://www.sploid.com/news/2006/06/shocking_video.php

Go Clubbing! - Join The Appalachian Mountain Club

Hello adventurers & thrill seekers! I'm telling you to get out & stay out!.... on a wilderness adventure that is. The best way to get started is to go clubbing...join the Appalachian Mountain Club!

The AMC is one of the oldest and largest conservation & outdoor recreation organizations in the U.S. Since 1876 the Appalachian Mountain Club has been promoting the protection, enjoyment and wise use of the mountains, rivers and trails of the Northeast outdoors. If you live in the NY city area you are in luck because the local NY - NJ Chapter is one of the most active with 13,000 members and over 2000 outdoor recreational activities per year!

Fun activities include: backpacking, biking, mountain biking, in-line skating, canoeing & kayaking,rock climbing, conservation & all levels of hiking, sailing, cross country and down-hill skiing, co-ed softball. The club provides the chance to learn a fun new outdoor sport, meet new friends and challenge yourself in a safe, group setting. There are special group recreation events for young members ( under 30 years), singles & sociables. The club owns & maintains a series of wilderness huts in the White Mountains of New Hampshire for overnight stays. If you are a beach bum spend summer weekends or day trips at the AMC Fire Island Cabin, in Long Island or at a new facility in Sandy Hook, NJ. For cabin camping and wilderness training programs the Mohican Outdoor Center, in NW NJ is the place. A great way to meet interesting & fun people with a common interest in outdoor adventure, enjoying nd protecting our environment.

So, get out and stay out!!!... on a backpacking or outdoor adventure. Go clubbing with the AMC! Check out the New York - New Jersey Chapter web-site for info on how to join! http://www.amc-ny.org/

Trip Report - Northeast Catskills Windham Circular Backpack

• Dates: June 17-18th, 2006
• Description: Northeast Catskills Windham Circular Backpack
• Group: Appalachian Mountain Club, NY-NJ Chapter: Monika ( leader), Hillary, Frank, Hao, Kyle & Joe
• Location: NE Catskills, Windham High Peak Wild Forest & Blackhead Range Wild Forest
• Trail Map: Northestern Catskill Trails, Map 41, Published by the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference
• Trail head start: Escarpment Trail, Route 23 & Cross Road; End: Black Dome Range Trail,Barnum Road trail head parking
• Itinerary: Saturday - Total mileage: 9.4, elevation Gain: 2570. elevation loss: 1720; Sunday: Total mileage: 7, elevation gain: 2160, elevation loss: 2660

A fun trip with starting with great views on the Northern Escarpment Trail and 4 of the 35 Catskill peaks over 3500 for you peak baggers: ( Windham, 3524 ft, Blackhead, 3940 ft., Blackdome, 3980 ft. and Thomas Cole, 3940 ft.)

I was co-leading this Appalachian Mountain Club group of 6. The AMC backpacking trips are always a fun with an interesting group of people. Our leader Monika is a high school chemistry teacher originally from Dusseldorf, Germany and residing in NJ. Other participants included Hillary, a college art teacher from NYC, Kyle, a chemist from NYC, Frank a guidance counselor from Queens, Hao, a computer specialist originally from China living in NJ and doing his first backpack, and yours truly an unemployed media exec from Long Island. I had a great time getting to know everyone and helping to lead the group.

The adventure begins...the weather report was hot with sunny skies so of course when we arrived at the trail head on Saturday morning it start's pouring rain! The plan was to take the Escarpment trail to the Batavia Kill Trail and camp by the junction of the Batavia Kill (yellow blazes) and the Blackdome Trail, (red blazes). With trusty raingeer donned we started on the Escapment Trail on the other side of Rt 23.

The entire Escarpment runs 23 miles ending at North South Lake State Campground. This area was known for the Catskill Mountain House, a famous hotel destination for the wealthy NY'ers in the 1800's. It's guests included writers Washington Irving, Thomas Cole, James Fennimore Cooper and William Cullen Bryant. The beauty of the mountain scenery here inspired the Hudson River School of Landscape painters who painted a new romantic vision of the wilderness.

The escarpment is very scenic with 8 viewpoints marked on the map in the northern section. It ascends gradually from 1700 ft to 300o ft for the first 3 miles followed by a steeper climb up Windham Mountain to a view point at 3524 ft. On the way up we met a family of day hikers who decided to bail out. They said it was hailing on top of Windham! But, luckily, the rain tapered off by mid-day and we were rewarded with some awesome views. We were looking down at the clouds which made it feel a lot higher! From the Windham High Peak the trail heads SE along a ridge with beautiful views along the way. We stopped for lunch at a view point right before Acra Point ( 3300 ft).

Yeah! the sun was out as we continued on to our camp site along the Batavia Kill stream. Here we bushwacked a short distance to a backwoods camp site. It was a beautiful, secluded site with old growth hardwood forest and the sound of the stream below. There was a small rise with space for 2-3 tents. Tent space was a little tight but we managed to find space for the entire group.

I set up my Hennessy Explorer Ultralite Hammock shelter in a serene spot next to three large Hemlock evergreens measuring about 3-4ft diameter and towering 60 ft tall. Ahhh...sleeping in backwoods is always a magical feeling... surrounded by a majestic canopy of forest, fresh air and the musical sound of a running stream at night. Ever since a child I have loved the wilderness, the tranquil beauty that is nature.

The long near- summer day gave turned into night. Frank and Kyle did a great job of getting a fire going with semi-wet wood. We then filtered stream water for drinking and prepared our dehydrated backpacking meals. These are surprisingly tasty and everything taste better in the backwoods. At around 9PM ( backpacker midnight) we all turned in.The night was warm and clear and I slept like a baby in my hammock especially because I was running on about 3 hours sleep in the last 2 days. (Note to self: get more sleep before backpacks)

Sunday morning we had a 5AM wake up call from a chorus of many birds. After breakfast and a promise to break camp by 830AM we started our day. Today was hot-hot hot! After a cool Spring we were not used to this. While Saturday was mostly an easy-sleazy ridge walk this day was a peak bagging marathon! We started out with a continuous ascent up the Blackdome (Red) trail. At the trail junction with the Blackhead Mountain trail (Yellow) we dropped packed and headed east and up to the summit of Blackhead Mountain (3940'). Monika remarked "Blackhead, Blackdome...why couldn't they think of another name?" Today was clear with awesome views. We proceeded down again, donned packs and continued west on the Red trail with a climb to the summit of Blackdome (3980"), with two good view points on the left. This was followed by an easier ascent to Thomas Cole Mountain.

Summer was hear and so were the bugs.... big black horse flies!. They really didn't bite too bad but came in swarms whenever you stopped. So, we skipped lunch and kept moving. I know myself and everyone else were really feeling the heat and glad to make it back to the cars at about 2PM. You know the best part of backpacking...it feels so good when you stop!

Monika did a great job of leading us and bringing everyone back alive... and a good time was had by all!

King of the Jungle

OK...so this one is not really about backpacking but... for all of us who venture many miles in the wilderness hoping for a fleeting glimpse of wildlife looks like we're looking in all the wrong places! This week there were 2 close encounters with predators right in our own backyards. In Croton-On Hudson a 75 year old man saved his daughters little pooch from a savage coyote. See Newsday online article of June 5th: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--closecoyote0605jun05,0,73883.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

In a more bazzar story, a West Milford, NJ man's 15 lb cat named "Jack" proved who's king of the jungle by cornering a black bear up a tree! See post on WINS-AM, News Radio online: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CAT_SCARES_BEAR?SITE=1010WINS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Sadly, both stories are indicative of the problem of loss of natural habitat affecting wildlife. This is particularly true with predators that need a large range of habitat to survive. Coyotes are actually beneficial to the environment by eliminating over-run smaller species and maintaining a balance in the food chain. They are rarely seen in the wild but can often be heard at night while camping. On a backpack last Labor Day weekend in the Catskills Slide Mountain wilderness, we were thrilled to hear coyotes howling at night... the call of the wild!

Black Bears sightings on the trail are also rare. My first bear encounter was unexpected: our Appalachian Mountain Club group had just completed an overnight trip on the Escarpment Trail in the Catskills without a sight of any creature large or small. After stopping for dinner at an Italian place in Tannersville we proceed to to the parking lot in the dark. Suddenly... we spotted two HUGE BLACK BEARS at the far end of the parking lot!!! They had just finished chowing down at the dumpster. As I fumbled around for my car keys to get my camera the bears stopped, gave us a bored look and slowly ambled into the woods. It was amazing!

Neither Black Bears nor coyotes pose a serious threat to humans and need to be protected. Backpackers must always string food up in bear bags to avoid problems. Likewise, residents near wilderness areas must be careful with garbage. As they say "a fed bear is a dead bear". Please do your part to preserve these marvelous creatures.

That's all for today! Thanks for reading and Happy Trails!

Where are we now?

OK - quick test - in the photo below what state are we in? ........ surprise!..if you guessed the home of Tony Soprano - you're right! The place is Buttermilk Falls in the Kittatinny Mountains and one of the best kept secrets in New Jersey. This beautiful waterfall which cascades 80-90ft is located near the town of Wallpack Center. A world away from the "Joiy zee" part of the state familiar to the NYC crowd, Northern NJ is home to several beautiful falls. See link to some of Jersey's secret water falls in "Waterfalls of New Jersey" a site by Gary R. Letcher with spectacular photos and descriptions. Kittatinny, which means "endless mountain" in Native American extends from the Delaware Watergap to High Point State Park in north-west NJ. The trail begins with a steep incline and meets the Appalachian Trail which runs along the ridge. The area is spotted with some serene glacial ponds, nice ridge views and an awesome vista of the Water Gap. Overnight parking is permitted for backpackers on the AT but it's always best to check with the local rangers. ( Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area phone: 570-588-2451) Did and AMC backpack there on April 8th & 9th with every kind of weather... started with rain turning to snow and cool temps at night. I wasn't expecting it but my water bottle froze that night! On Sunday a sunny spring day that went up to 60 degrees. That's what keep it interesting... you never know what nature will throw at you. Check out some of these New Jerseys waterfalls but.... keep it a secret!

http://waterfalls.nature.st/NewJersey/Sussex.html

"Backpacking 101" Article

Article: "Backpacking Light 101" - article from www.backpackinglight.com magazine, "home to the most fanatic pound-shedders on the planet", and a cool site no matter what weight class you happen to be in! Great place for new gear reviews, ultralight backpacking techniques and resources. Check out the article linked below for a first look at the what, why and how of getting into ultralight. Excellent site. Thanks to all the folks at backpackinglight.com.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/00034.html

Getting Started - "Get Packing"

Hi Folks! Here's another article on getting started from Christine Benton, a backpack leader with the Appalachian Mountain Club. (see Trails & Waves, page 8) Christine is a backpack leader with the club and expert in ultra-light backpacking techniques. Thanks Christine for helping us all lighten up!
http://www.amc-ny.org/facilities-services/trailswaves/2005_01/trwv200501.pdf

Backpacking - Why...?

Backpacking – Why Leave a Perfectly Good Home to Sleep In the Woods?

An article by Joe DeMott published in "Trails & Waves", News from the New York - North Jersey Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club, Vol 28, Issue2, Summer 2006

A wise old saying goes “ never own anything you cannot carry on your back” Guess that’s not really a possibility for most of us. But, the feeling of leaving home, car, TV, cell phone, e-mail, cappuccino maker and all the other things we call civilization and hitting the trail with everything you need on your back is just the beginning of the freedom and adventure you can experience while backpacking. Ask any die-hard AMC backpacker what they love about backpacking and you are likely to get many answers. For some backpacking is the freedom of venturing into the wilderness with everything you need on your back, the adventure of exploring remote forest trails far from the crowd, or the inspiration of immersing yourself in the quiet beauty of nature. For others it’s the exhilaration of “peak bagging” the highest mountain summits, the challenge of winter backpacking or the accomplishment of through hiking the Appalachian Trail. Still, many enjoy camping in backwoods sites where few have been, cooking delicious gourmet trail meals and the camaraderie of jokes and stories around the campfire. For most, I am sure it’s the adventure of all the above that makes each backpack a unique experience.

If you already enjoy day hiking, backpacking can add new dimensions to your hiking experience. Exploring in smaller groups with a maximum of ten people provides a better chance to experience nature, encounter wildlife and get to know the people on your trip. An extended stay on the trail gives you a deeper connection with nature. There is nothing quite like camping in a moonlit forest or under a brilliant starry sky with the sound of a flowing stream to serenade you to sleep. It’s an experience! Another great thing about backpacking is you can travel further into the wilderness and see places that would not accessible on a day hike. You can get a chance to explore many impressive peaks, waterfalls, old growth forests and secluded lakes away from crowded day hiking trails. There are many beautiful backwoods areas within a days hike in the Catskills or Adirondacks where there are no signs of development. It’s an adventure to explore more remote wilderness areas that few people get to see.

Getting started in backpacking is easy. The AMC Backpacking Committee has a series of instructional seminars, and trips designed for people who want to try backpacking for the first time. The Chapter web site has a schedule of events with info on gear lists, minimum impact camping and links to backpacking sites. Just in case you’ve heard horror stories about feeling like a pack mule and having to lug a 50 lb pack around there’s good news. Ultra-light equipment designs have lightened the load eliminating a lot of the torture of yester-years. Most lightweight backpackers carry overnight packs in the 20-25 lb range. You can too by choosing the right gear. You do not need to break the bank to get started. If you are a day hiker you probably have some of the necessary clothing and gear. You can borrow or rent the extra gear you may need to try your first trip. On a group trip, sharing gear is also an option. AMC leaders are experienced backpackers who know the trails well and can make sure everyone has a safe and enjoyable trip. Going on a club trip is a great way to learn backpacking. Beginners will find a supportive, fun and safe environment. The friends you will meet on AMC trips are fun people from all walks of life who share a passion for outdoor adventures. So come on out and hit the trail with us for a weekend of adventure, challenge, experiencing nature and meeting interesting people.

John Muir expressed the allure of nature well:

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”

But, in addition to these philosophical observations the most important reason for backpacking is: Backpacking is fun! Hope we see you on the trail!

Welcome to Backpacker Buzz!

Welcome to Backpacker Buzz, the blogging site for backpackers and outdoor enthusiasts! This site is a place to share experiences with discussion on favorite backpacking destinations, trip reports, lightweight backpacking techniques and of course lots of equiptment talk for all us gear heads. If your new to backpacking there are tips and links to help you get started. Please let me know about some of your most memorable backpacking experiences, your gear preferences and upcoming trips.

Thanks and hope to see you on the trail!

-Joe