Annual Brother's "Winter" Backpacking trip

Post Trip Pic, Pooped Dog and Hungry (smelly) Hikers

 November 7th & 8th, 2015.

Much to my brother's desire to plan in detail, we more or less winged the trip until the very morning when we decided where we were going to go.  He mentioned one place when I thought that we had already decided another place...  Typical for us, and anyone else in our family, rarely do we make a decision and rarely do we plan ahead of time.  Also true to our family vises is you can guarantee when someone says they'll be somewhere at a specific time, just add 20 - 30 minutes and that's when they'll actually arrive.  Once Chris and Zion arrived we packed up, which immediately got my dogs longing for a road trip and camping trip and my 6 year old son in overdrive ready to come with us.  Little did I know how interested he was, he's not at the age where he shows too much interest in things other than his friend's, his trains and snacks.  I hated to see him sad and leave him but there was no time to pack for him and where we were off to wasn't really ideal for him just yet.  But next time buddy, you're coming with, I promise...

After we headed out of the driveway, we had two quality hours to spend together in the car ride up to Harriman State Park in New York.  It's become one my favorite places to go to when looking for a fun over night trip due to it's closeness to us and it's very diverse features through the park.  There's tons of water and rocks bigger than some buildings that you scale just to walk along their spines and see for miles in any direction.  It was nice to spend that time with just Chris because rarely do we get to hang out alone and have the time to speak without interruption anymore.  Zion, Chris' Yellow Labrador was happy napping in the back while we sped along 287 North.

Once at the park, the rewards of the nice weather introduced us to the hoards of park visitors......  By the droves and passenger van full.  They were parked here, there and everywhere.  We managed to get the right timing when someone was coming down and left, we grabbed their spot, reorganized, weighed out packs, loaded the pooch with her backpack, stretch and start hiking.

Did I mention that I really like Harriman?  And especially their great building sized rocks you can walk on?  Well the downside is that you have to get up those huge rocks to see the amazing views that reward you at the top.  Once out of the car and on the path, the Appalachian Trail, after a few hundred yards we were headed pretty much up, up and more up.  From just getting off the couch, I'd say I was more than a little rough.  I hadn't worked out in some time, schedules just haven't allowed it, and my legs weren't felling ready for the challenge.  BUT being stubborn and determined I made it up, sweating, cursing and chaffing as I went.  I got there, pleased with my accomplishment and the many views that rewarded me at the top.

Once at the top we hiked along for some time before coming to one of the many beautiful lakes of the area, a great picnicking spot if you can find space.  There's so many neat valley's and areas carved out by glaciers many years ago.  Everything just seems to flow perfectly.

Further down the way we got to one of the neat rock formation along the way, one that definitely makes you feel small, all things considered.  The Lemon Squeezer on the Appalachian Trail.  It's a pretty tight fit between two enormous rock formations that the AT runs through, we have been that way before, checked it out again and headed in the opposite direction to go one some trails we had not been to previously.

There were people every where during this portion of the hike, something I'm torn about because although I love that people are getting out and using our treasured parks, I'm just not used to seeing that many people in the parking lots and on the trails in November.  But it was a very nice day and that means everyone wants to get out and enjoy nature, who can blame them?

We made it over many ups and downs and then came to a burned out section that led us to one of my favorite places, high up on a ridge with views galore.

The rest of our day consisted of similar scenes, ups and downs and more exploration.  There were spots where there were tons of people, mostly very polite which was great to be a part of, and then there were places where we weren't bothered by a soul.  We saw parts of the park that we never had seen before and it was a very nice change of pace.

We made it to the shelter where we were going to camp near only to find that it was a very popular place with lots and lots of other hikers and campers.  Too many for my liking and I'm a pretty sociable guy.  The part that was too much for us is there was a group of dad's who brought their daughters out for the night, which is great, but they were very loud and out of control and left used TP  all over the place.  I am happy they brought their daughters out but they should teach them the right way to do things in the woods so we can come to these places in the future and not see liter.

Our camping options were limited but we made it down this ravine to a semi flat area with a little water available and we made camp.  The dog immediately went in the tent once up and was done for the day.  I, somehow managed to start our campfire with a striker and it actually worked!  I felt more manly than ever.

After hanging the bear bag and getting set for bed, we hung around the camp fire and enjoyed more conversation and some dinner.

 In the morning we were greeted with a beautiful day.  I had slept great but due to my snoring, my poor brother did not.  It's unusual because I don't often snore, let alone enough to keep someone from sleep.

 We had some breakfast and broke camp, in true form we were not out of camp before 10 am and also in true form, it was a straight up hike out of the ravine to get back onto the trail to head back to the car.

We did plenty of smooth rock ups and downs, through some blow downs and over ankle biting rocks.  We saw plenty more happy people out enjoying the trails, saw one woodpecker and more beautiful miles of trail.  The leaves on this trip provided both entertainment, for those not slipping on them, and a level of technical footwork I wasn't expecting without snow.  They were very slippery.

All in all I think we did about 8 miles.  It was a very varied 8 miles, with barely a smooth/flat spot to be seen.  It was a great time and we're planning on heading out when the temps get a little colder and the chance of snow it more likely to be in the air.  We both missed our brothers that couldn't make it and enjoyed the rare time spent together.