~*~ Big Indian Wilderness: Neversink Loop ~*~

“Where is the freakin’ trail?” Catskills, NY

Date: September 24-25, 2005

Hikers: Green Monkee & I

Mileage: Planned? About 22. Actual? More like 27

Elevation Gain/Loss:

Friday

Somehow I think we are just destined to not reach the trailhead before midnight. It doesn’t seem to matter what time we leave, we are consistently late! There was quite a bit of traffic on I-87 into NY and we managed to take the second best exit to our destination. When we finally reached the trailhead, at the end of a long and winding dirt/gravel road, we were relieved. Since it was too late to get any hiking in, we decided to find a place to stealth camp for the night. Thinking we discovered a perfectly sheltered spot, we set up the tent and went to sleep.

Saturday

I heard “…private property…boss on the way…your tent…have a nice day…” and I woke up from a dream that I was camping on the playground of a schoolyard. GM was already awake and had been talking to a ranger. Whoops. In the darkness of last night, we managed to set up a tent about 10’ from a “PRIVATE PROPERTY” sign, as well as only about 20’ from a trail. Thankfully the ranger was kind and understanding. We packed up and skedaddled up to the car.

By 8:30am, we were headed out on the Neversink Trail. This hike was going to be a series of linking trails in order to make a loop, since there is no higher mileage loop. As we set out, the trail is very gradual and smooth. There was so much green, although some of the trees were trying hard to change. We came upon our first trail sign rather quickly and took a minute to snap some photos. There was a particularly strange looking fungus on a blowdown. Two small round fungi, about the size of pencil erasers, one an off-white color and the other neon orange. Very peculiar looking.

The trail took us along a stream, very welcomed by us after last weekends lack-of-water debacle in Harriman. About a mile up the trail, we came across a memorial to a man that had passed away. There were three sticks built into a pyramid with a poem, laminated, hanging from the center. GM was a bit fascinated by it, but in all honesty, it gave me the heebie jeebies and I wondered aloud if he was buried there. I decided to scout the trail while GM pondered the death marker. I suppose it was beautiful in a twisted little way.

This trail is not very well marked and we kept checking the map to see if we were indeed where we were supposed to be. It’s not consistent, going from small round blue blazes to giant red snowmobile ones. Passing through a marshy area and what appeared to be a burial ground for trees, we finally came upon Fall Brook lean-to which was loaded to the hilt with firewood! I’ve never seen so much in my life. We later found out from an older gentleman that it is used as a hunting base and they bring the wood in. We paused briefly as I signed the shelter register, noting that the only other entries for months were that of the ranger making his rounds. Shortly after passing the shelter, we found ourselves on a hideous 4 mile road walk that we weren’t expecting. To the East, we had a nice view of Whittenburg, Cornell and Slide Mountains but it did little to appease us while we trudged along the road, passing one hunting cabin after another. We even stopped on a pull-off on the side of the road for lunch because we were starving and didn’t know how much further we were going to be on the road.

At long last, we found our way back onto wilderness trail (or a snowmobile trail). Our destination was Long Pond lean-to. By this time, we were beat from the road walking and just hiked on in silence, hoping to get to the shelter soon. We found it around 4:30pm and were ecstatic. Again, no visitors since the 4^th of July other than the ranger. We walked down to Long Pond to filter some water and check out the view. As we were standing in silence, we hear a bear rustling on a nearby bank. GM saw his head but alas, I saw nothing. Just hearing him was enough to make me whack my sticks together, at which point he took off running.

Back at the shelter, “the Ritz”, we cleaned up the dilapidated fire pit, set up the tent inside the lean-to because there was NO flat, rock-less ground, and made dinner. GM’s first attempt at bear bagging for the evening went awry as the nylon cord left his hand and sailed over the branch. It helps to hold onto the other end. We ate dinner and listened to the creatures that milled around the lean-to. I fully expected Mr. Bear to come back, but to my knowledge, he didn’t. And so another night passed and we faded off to sleep…

Sunday

We woke up to a dreary and rainy day in the Catskills which we made better by indulging in some hot cocoa. Actually, GM served me hot cocoa in bed so I didn’t have to leave the warmth of my bag. <insert ‘awwwwwwww” here> We packed up quickly and headed out, knowing we had about 10 miles to cover before driving back to NJ,

The hike started off okay, but as I mentioned previously, the trail is not very well blazed since this is not a particularly heavily traveled route. Now, if I was planning on buchwhacking, I wouldn’t mind. But unplanned…well…it makes me a little nervous sometimes. We were moving along just fine until we reached a road crossing. At that point, we lost the blazes completely. We kept on moving, careful to stay in sight of each other and relying on the map, elevation, and GM’s watch for guidance.

After about 2 hours of what seemed to be aimless wondering, we stopped at a lake to have lunch. While a bear rustled around in the woods behind us, we gorged on tortillas with Nutella and banana. As we sat, we looked at the map and realized instantly where we were. That was great, except where we needed to be was across the lake and straight up the mountain on the ridge. Ah, poop. The rain was coming down again so we packed up and set out. An old fire road led us gradually around the lake to the mountain we needed to climb. You know, it gets to the point where there is no point in looking for a good route. The best thing to do is just turn and hike straight up. So that’s what we did. The climb became steeper and steeper, turning from roots and leaves to slate and rocks. When we reached what appeared to be the “final push”, I went ahead to test the waters. Footing was pretty treacherous because of the loose slate. I was worried I would send a cascade of rock towards GM as I carefully moved up the side. Unfortunately, it was a dead end with a 25’ crevasse that I couldn’t cross. We went the opposite direction about 50 yards and were able to find a place to get to the ridge.

The only thing between us and the trail was about 40 yards of pricker bushes. I didn’t care at that point and just got through them as fast as possible. When GM yelled “THERE’S A BLAZE!!!” I could have kissed him. In fact, I think I did. But he kissed the blaze instead. Team Kiss the Blaze strikes again. I’ve never been so happy to see a 3” round piece of metal before in my life. Of course, the trail signs we saw were all broken or didn’t tell us anything we needed to know.

Though we still had several miles to go, I didn’t care. I was so happy to be back on the trail. We breezed through the last few miles before coming to a stream crossing and suspension bridge. We took a break, filtered some water and had a snack before exiting the trail. Once on the road, we had a 1 mile road walk back to our car…no big deal, but yuck. Boy was I happy to see that car!

I love the Catskills but I will not do this hike again. The entire thing was poorly blazed, way too many miles of road-walking, and no climbing to speak of. It’s just not my cup of tea. Although it’s always great to get out for the weekend, both GM and I were a bit disappointed with this section after having such a great experience on the WCS Loop back in August.

What I Learned:

~ It helps to hold onto the end of the cord when you throw the other end over a branch for your bear bag.

~ The Wampus Kitty is following me.

~ How to celebrate the 4^th of July in September.

~When GM has fireworks, RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!

~I am now capable of hearing wildlife, but still not capable of seeing it.

~Road walks f@#*ing suck.

~Why nobody ever hikes that particular loop.

~GM is sneaky with the camera.

~Broken trailhead signs are surprisingly no help at all in determining where you are.

~Don’t panic.

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