Aug 16th, Day Sixteen

Our campmates, who were generous enough to share their food.

Today started off great; Sam, Alan, and Will were the people camped inside the shelter the previous night.  They were a father and two twin boys out for a couple weeks having an adventure.  They were all up before us and talked with us as we got ready to break camp.  They ended up offering us some orange, and more importantly some bacon they were cooking up.  Not only was it bacon but it was some of the best bacon ever, big thick slabs of Kentucky bacon; and you all know how Miles likes anything Kentucky!  As we enjoyed our nice crispy fatty calories, we chatted about adventures and all the cool things to do in nature.  Finally, after a wonderful surprise breakfast, we bid the guys adieu and took off on the trail. 

Afternoon waterfall.

Early morning waterfall.

From that point on the whole day just went downhill.  The trail was rough that day with lots of boulders strewn about; it was hard to get a pace.  The trail didn’t go by any really spectacular views either it was just a lot of up and down through the woods which tended to be demoralizing.  Miles was also still kind of exhausted from his long day yesterday, so todays pace suffered as a consequence.  There were many times during the day where Miles would say, “Man, I just wish I could be back in NYC with the guys, drinkin beer and watchin football.”  This was not the first or last day for this though to occur, but it was the most prevalent. 

Something else we must climb.

Towards the end of the day we decided to pass up going into Palenville, since we were still well supplied.  From there we hiked up a long hill on an old carriage road.  This brought us into a very popular area of the Catskills.  There were lots of horse trails, and bike trails; and it was here that we set up camp for the evening.  We camped alone in a circular clearing with a fire pit and an outhouse; the park service called it a primitive camp site.  It suited our needs just fine. 

Also the land of Rip Van Winkle.

Traveled 14.42 miles of trail.  

-SM-

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Aug 15th, Day Fifteen

Mountain top view.

This morning we started the day off early, not so much to get an early start, but to go into town and get one last good breakfast.  Oh man, people food is amazing.  We went to the same breakfast place as yesterday, and ordered roughly the same thing; only a different kind of muffin.  A while later we set out on the trail. 

Pretty much the first thing we did on the trail was hike up a mountain, go figure.  It was then that Miles realized how much stuff he had bought in town, the pack was heavier than it had ever been before.  We figure it was in the forty-three, forty-four pound range.  The trail was just as steep as it had ever been; we were going to have one hell of a day. 

A look at the Devils Path.

After a while of hiking we merged onto a Catskills trail called the Devils Path.  At this point let us warn you if you ever see a trail called anything like the Devils Path, that trail is probably HARD.  Ours sure was, it seemed to have the sole mission to ascend and descend every peak it could find as steeply as possible, and it achieved its goal.  We would scramble up one side of a mountain, then immediately scramble back down the other. 

In the mountains we had discovered it was very hard to tell time; if the sun was out it was easy enough, but if it was cloudy, the early afternoon would seem like early evening.  Today it was cloudy, and in what we thought was early afternoon we reached a decision point.  We had reached one shelter, but there was another one ahead that we wanted to make.  It was six and a half miles more but in that distance there were also four more high peaks.  Of course if you know Miles at all this was no decision, we set out to reach the next shelter.  The first peak about killed us, it was a twelve hundred foot ascent in a mile.  After we completed that one there was another, it was like really big waves in the ocean.  Each wave just beats you down and rubs your face in the sand, and they keep coming.

Across a valley.

The next wave.

We topped the third mountain as the sun set; which was gorgeous, but we knew we were not going to make it to the shelter in the daylight.  We pushed on anyway; Miles was not giving in now.  As we neared the top of the fourth peak it was no longer light enough to be able to see where you were walking.  Miles traded in the floppy black hat for his neon green head lamp, and we pushed on.  He explained to me that he figured anyone could night hike a nice flat trail but night hiking down the side of a mountain in the Catskills, where you had to climb down rock faces and such, well that would be a true test of skill. 

Sunset from

the mountain top.

A city in the night.

We hiked for about another hour and a half by headlamp.  The descent off the mountain was steep at times, but was not the hardest we had done.  There were only a couple times where we had to climb over an edge on all fours.  The descent went for about two miles, and then we turned up a side trail to reach the shelter.  As we arrived at the shelter there were already some tents there, we made camp as quickly as possible and immediately crashed into bed.  It was an exhausting day. 

Traveled 23.33 miles of trail.

-SM-

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Aug 14th, Day Fourteen

Our breakfast haven.

Today was our layover day, for the first time we woke up and did not have to break camp.  We simply got to walk into town and have breakfast.  It was an awesome feeling; some parts of civilization sure are amazing.  The establishment in which we dined for breakfast was called the Mamas Boy Coffee Shop.  We had spotted it the previous night and they had free Wi-Fi, so that was one of the reasons we went there. 

For breakfast Miles ordered a bottomless coffee (great investment for someone with a day to kill), an orange muffin, and two egg sliders.  The sliders were good, the muffin was amazing, and the coffee…well when is coffee not amazing in the morning.  Miles connected his phone up with the real world, and after an hour of updating, he got to make his weekly calls and texts letting everyone know he was ok. 

Phoenicia is voted one of the coolest small towns in America.

We finished up there about lunch time, and resisted the urge to just sit and eat all day.  Instead we went and did our shopping for supplies.  This consisted of reloading our trail mix, getting more beef jerky, more fuel for our stove, more ramen, some other miscellaneous food, and most importantly getting a pad to sleep on.  The blanket had been nice but a rule of camping is, “there is always one rock under your tent that you don’t find until you lay down.”  The pad would also insulate Miles a bit better from the cold earth and keep him warmer.  Once we got all of our new acquisitions back to the tent we loaded them into the pack, it was then apparent that we bought a lot of stuff; I mean a lot. 

The bear cub was back again too.

At this point we decided to head out for lunch.  We went and got a pizza at a place called Brios; the food was pretty good, but the service was the worst we have experienced in recent memory.  Miles nearly walked behind the server station to refill his drink, but instead just left without.  I would not recommend this place to anyone who ever visits Phoenicia; take your business to some place that wants it. 

For the afternoon we strolled casually through the stores on Main Street.  The section we walked reminded us of a four hundred food long stretch of Gatlinburg.  There were odds and ends shops, souvenir shops, food shops, and other things scattered about here and there.  We actually found some cool stuff but nothing cool enough to carry on our back for another hundred miles. 

Good food, bad service.

After our wandering Miles went back to the ice cream store from yester evening and sampled some more flavors.  If there is one thing that Miles loves its ice cream, and they had some good varieties.  From there we went back to the tent and actually called it an early night, we wanted to get an early start in the morning. 

Some things are too funny to pass up.

Traveled 0.0 miles of trail.

-SM-

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We thought it was neat that they have their own playhouse.

Aug 13th, Day Thirteen

We woke up this morning to the now familiar sound of rain.  One would almost think it was April, not August.  On the bright side though, today was only about a ten mile day.  Once we hiked our ten miles we would be in the town of Pheonicia, and planned to stay at the campground there.  Since it was a short day we decided to stay in the tent for a while and see if we could wait out the weather.  After a bit the rain slowed, and tent fever kicked in.  We got up and broke camp in a hurry to avoid soaking all of our gear. 

Before setting out, Miles ate the last of his chocolate and almond bar to help him get his energy and spirits up.  We set off down the mountain, and shortly after our departure the rain stopped completely.  This provided a beautiful view of the fog and clouds in the mountains.  Once we reached the bottom of the mountain the rest of the hike was along back roads. 

Shot going down the mountain.

Same shot about three minutes later.

My home for the night (or two).

We walked into the Black Bear Campground sometime in the early afternoon, and set to talk with the owner and pay for our site.  As we were sitting telling stories of the hike and figuring out what site to use, a small black bear cub walked through the middle of camp.  We had been on the lookout for bear for the last 12 days, now we sit in a campground for five minutes and one practically falls into our lap.  They said he was a regular, always came around looking for food. 

Did not actually expect to see a black bear at the Black Bear Campground.

Some of the local flavor.

After Miles set up camp we took a lay of the land, and ran into another regular (human this time) who went by the name of Swampy.  He passed on some valuable information such as which shower was the hottest and where there was a good place to eat; he also invited us over for a beer later if we so desired.  Miles almost immediately took a shower and put on his cleanest dirty shirt.  We decided to set out for a meal and happened to walk by Swampy’s camper.  He saw us out the window and asked if we wanted company, and offered to buy the first round.  He was obviously a character and probably had lots of stories so we accepted. 

As we walked towards Tavern 214 Swampy regaled us with stories of when he got out of jail and hiked across two counties in Florida to get home, and how he lived in the campground for a couple years after helping rebuild it.  He was a character that was for sure.   As we walked up to the tavern the manager was sitting outside.  They were actually closed for the weekdays, so Miles would have to find dinner elsewhere.  We ended up chatting with the manager and Swampy for a bit outside though; after a couple minutes Swampy turned to Miles and said, “Well, I’d buy you a beer at one of them other places back there, but none of them let me in anymore.”  With a good natured laugh and farewell he departed back for the campground while Miles and I stayed and took a tour of the Tavern.  It was a shame it was not open, because it looked like the exact kind of place we were looking for; a very nice menu and wide selection of drinks.

As we departed they recommended we visit the Alamo Cantina for taco Tuesday instead.  We sauntered into the establishment and pulled up to the bar.  We ordered two beef and two chicken tacos to go with a draft beer.  After we put those away, we proceeded to order six more, and put them away too.  What can I say?  Hiking makes you hungry.  We also stopped by the ice cream store down the street and had a large ice cream.  As the tacos, beer, and ice cream battled for supremacy in Miles stomach, we went to bed. 

Traveled 10.35 miles of trail. 

-SM-

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