Aug 10th, Day Ten

Looks like Ky

We woke up at a good time and rapidly broke camp, both to avoid the mosquitoes, and to get an early start on a long day.  Most of the morning was spent climbing up into the Shawangunk Ridge park area.  The climb was along a beautiful stream for much of the hike; and wandered through forests that were very similar to being home in Kentucky. 

The shrubbery on top of the hill.

Once we walked out on the ridge though all of that came to a drastic change.  First we passed by a visitors center in the park.  We got some granola bars and refilled our water here.  We then proceeded to follow a road back to the trials.  At the top of the hill there was a rock outcropping where we could look out at a huge valley below.  As we walked away from there Miles got into a conversation with a nice gentleman out walking with his family and his dog.  He was interested in the hike, and had even thought about doing it himself before.  Hopefully he gets a chance to read these stories, and it was nice chatting with you if you do.  Eventually our trails parted ways, they were going to the ice caves and we were heading for the waterfall.  The scenery had completely changed; everything was huckleberry bushes, scrub pine, and rock. 

Looking into the valley below.

Verkeerder Kill Falls, beauty defined.

After hiking for a while we finally came to Verkeerder Kill falls.  It was flooded from the four and a half inches of rain we had received the previous night, and was thundering over a hundred and fifty to two hundred foot drop.  It was definitely one of the most amazing sights of the trip.  It was a beautiful place for us to sit and enjoy some trial mix.  From here we took the high point trail, and true to its name it led to a high point.  This was neat because we could look behind and see where we had come from, and then look to the future and see the Catskill Mountains where we were going.  It was like looking into your past and future at the same time. 

The Catskills where we are headed.

From high point we took the Berry Picker Trail, and yes we ate some berries.  There were wild blueberry bushes that were eight to ten feet high, it was awesome.  This is also where we saw a porcupine for the first time in our lives.  It was pretty neat, we were walking along and there was a noise ahead of us.  We looked up and saw this beast standing in the trail; he had spikes sticking out all over.  As soon as he saw us he turned his back and slowly waddled away, Miles was too afraid to get really close cause neither of us could remember if it is fact or fiction that they can shoot their quills.  Miles decided rather than receive a face full of pointy projectiles we would just give the critter a respectable distance.  After about thirty feet he moved off the path and climbed a tree. 

Porcupine.

Traveled 16.75 miles of trail. 

-SM-

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