Catskills

Winds

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It was a cool morning in early November.  I was following a ridgeline in Harriman State Park, moving through open forest and across grassy knolls, sauntering easy and cheerful as the morning sun set the oak forest glowing in colors of tawny ocher and burnt orange — when suddenly the wind picked up.  It rolled in from the west without warning, jostled treetops, roared like a jet plane.  I zipped my jacket tighter, recognizing in the rough gusts the angry sound of winter.

That evening, I was chatting with my friend Stash Rusin, who’d recently climbed Cornell Mountain in the Catskills on a cold fall day, the sky overcast, the ground at elevation already dusted with snow as light as sugar frosting, although surprisingly no ice.  From the summit, he looked south, but a squall had pushed into the valley and blocked the mountain views.  He made his way through the woods to the north side of the summit and found himself in the middle of a maelstrom.  “The winds were 30-40-50 mph,” he recalled.  They made him feel “so excited – so alive.” Continue reading “Winds” →

Winds

Reservoir Year by Nina Shengold — A Review

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Everyone wants to be in charge, but there are so many distractions

The Ashokan Reservoir is an important component of the New York City water supply.  Lying at the base of the Catskill Mountains, the reservoir is 12 miles long, covers 8,300 acres, and has a maximum capacity of 123 billion gallons of water.  Reservoir Year: A Walk of Days is Nina Shengold’s account of a unique project during which she visited the Ashokan Reservoir for a daily walk along the shore, with a special commitment to complete a full year’s worth of walks without skipping a single day.  In her daily notes, which range from a single sentence to a few pages, she brings the reservoir to life.  She recounts the drama of sky and water.  Shares the antics of crows, deer, squirrels, bears, herons, and bald eagles.  Relates the interactions with strangers she encountered and with friends and family members who sometimes walked with her during this improbable quest.  Improbable, for a 60-year-old single mother with bills to pay and aging parents who need her help and many other obligations.

Nina is a talented writer and in particular a master of metaphor, which makes the book a stimulating read.  On a spring-time visit, the cloud-striped sky evokes a blue-and-white lava lamp.  The atmosphere beneath a brewing thunderhead feels “dead-air, locker room humid.”  A sunset morphs from pastel “to flamingo, persimmon, tandoori salmon, hot lava.”  It’s clear in writing up this account she had fun.

But beneath the engaging prose, a serious question lurks.  Why?  Why, if you didn’t have to walk a dog, would you visit the same place on every single day for a full year?

Looking across the Ashokan Reservoir

Continue reading “Reservoir Year by Nina Shengold — A Review” →

Reservoir Year by Nina Shengold — A Review

Hybrid Navigation Approach for the Catskills Off-trail Regime

Barefoot Ken, , , , 1 Comment

Old-schoolers insist on carrying maps.  Paper maps.

I used to carry paper maps.  Back in my Army Ranger days, some 40 years ago – always.  Of course, that was before GPS.  Since then — not so much.  In August 2021, I was thru-hiking the John Muir Trail, and I distinctly remember reaching into my pocket for the map, but it wasn’t there.  I’d stopped at Woods Creek to filter water and placed the map on a rock to keep it from getting wet.  This was two miles back.  I was so upset when I realized I’d have to go back to retrieve it.

Today, I rarely carry paper maps, and never in the Catskill Mountains, which lie in New York’s Hudson Valley, an area I know intimately.  Instead, I use technology.  That’s not to say I’m ignorant of the risks. The more you stare at a compass needle or screen, the less you look around and think. David Barrie, a fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation, describes GPS as one of the great achievements of modern times. But then he comments on what the technology is doing to us, now that we’ve become dependent: “Though we may not realize it, we are fast becoming navigational idiots.” Continue reading “Hybrid Navigation Approach for the Catskills Off-trail Regime” →

Hybrid Navigation Approach for the Catskills Off-trail Regime

Running and Age

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We run to learn.  This means that as we age, nothing changes.  Until you are ready to surrender.

Nothing changes because the hunger is still there.  The craving for intensity.  Fear is still there too, because it’s inescapable that physical resilience degrades with time, and injuries heal more slowly, which means the consequences are more severe and the stakes are higher when we head out sleepy-eyed for the morning jog or toe the starting line for an important race or disappear into the wilderness in pursuit of enlightenment. Continue reading “Running and Age” →

Running and Age

Completing the Catskills All Trails Challenge — One Step at a Time

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On October 26, 2019, Steve Aaron and I stood on a vantage point near the summit of Balsam Mountain and celebrated his completion of the Thirty Five.  We stared across the valley at pumpkin-colored ridges and frothy marshmallow-mist swirling beneath cerulean sky, while overhead the clouds spread out into a celestial ribcage (the scientific term is cirrus vertebratus) and I thought, how strange that the sky would celebrate Steve’s accomplishment and then, wouldn’t it be even stranger if this was all coincidence….

Continue reading “Completing the Catskills All Trails Challenge — One Step at a Time” →

Completing the Catskills All Trails Challenge — One Step at a Time

Reflections on the Passing of a Friend

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(Photo credit:  Steve Aaron Photography)

He staggered for a step or two.  I saw the concentration in his eyes.  The inward scan and self-assessment.  He seemed to understand that he could not go on.  He seemed to accept it.

Afterwards, we called my son to let him know.  My wife relayed the news, while I tried but could not speak.  Later I dove into a decade’s worth of photos.  Found a special image and sent it to my son.  And began the process of reflection and understanding….

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Reflections on the Passing of a Friend

22 Times Up Peekamoose

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Afterwards, sitting by the fire, sipping Darjeeling tea, listening to a violin sonata, there was a feeling of completion. And a moment of contemplation. Beforehand, though, I wasn’t sure I had the energy. Maybe yesterday took something out of me. I hiked up the mountain behind the house, with 40 pounds on my back, in the middle of a snow storm. (How the tall slender maples whipped back and forth as the wind rolled through!) Maybe it was the thought of snowshoes, which following the storm would certainly be called for. I’m not a fan of the extra clumsy weight and hadn’t touched them in a year. Maybe life is variable, and our energy levels fluctuate for reasons that aren’t apparent. Or maybe this is how it feels as you get older.

In any case, it wasn’t until I was back home and going through the spreadsheet that I realized how many times I’d climbed Peekamoose Mountain in the Catskills, and its Neighbor Table Mountain….

Continue reading “22 Times Up Peekamoose” →

22 Times Up Peekamoose

8,000 Miles Barefoot

Barefoot Ken, , , , 5 Comments

By Barefoot Ken

In April 2021, I reached my 7,000th mile of hiking, running, and walking barefoot, accumulated over roughly seven years.  Now — five months later — the mileage stands at 8,034.  I seem to be picking up the pace.  Which supports the thesis that practice makes you stronger (at least until age catches up).  The real thesis, though, is that life is better with more nature and less technology.

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8,000 Miles Barefoot

The Catskills All Trails Challenge

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Over the last few years, I’ve spent a lot of time climbing the Catskill High Peaks, traditionally defined as summits of 3,500 feet in elevation or higher. Not only have I climbed each of these, I’ve done each in every month of the year, which is called the Grid.

The Catskills All Trails Challenge is a different kind of exercise. It requires you to complete every hiking trail in the region, which total 347 miles in length. I embarked on this challenge with curiosity, for it would take me out to places I’d never seen before.

Since I’d been hiking and running in the Catskills for many years, I already had close to half the trails complete. Over the last year, I’ve made several trips in pursuit of this new goal, which has pushed my completion level to 66%. It’s been slow progress. Many of the trails are remote. Sometimes the trails I need are quite short, but require a long walk to reach a junction I’d never taken before. While there are some loops, most often I have to go out-and-back, which means it takes twice the required distance to complete the trail.

Like any challenge, this exercise provides structure, a specific goal, camaraderie, and a sense of meaning. I’m looking forward to earning the certificate of completion, which I’ll add to my collection of finisher medals and other trinkets. But the real question is what I’ll experience by going out to new places. What I’m finding so far is that the All Trails Challenge is a different experience from peak-bagging. Instead of rocky summits with distant views, I’m discovering lovely forests and meadows and so much water — ponds, lakes, streams, bogs, and falls.

What follows are a handful of images and some observations from trips taken over the last year.

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The Catskills All Trails Challenge

The Diogenes Challenge

Barefoot Ken, 6 Comments

The Nine is not for the faint of heart.  It’s a daunting 20-mile route which summits nine of the Catskill High Peaks — and it’s longer if you get lost, for what’s especially challenging is that five of the peaks have no trails, which means it’s necessary to “bushwhack” or move through the forest using map, compass, and GPS.  Even with this gear, navigation is no simple task, for the terrain is steep and rocky, and the forests thick and tangled, which renders “the eye of little service,” as Catskills author John Burroughs wryly noted.

I had completed the Nine, or parts thereof, on several occasions:  once trying to run it for speed, once at night, once in the winter.  In April 2016, as a novice barefoot hiker, I tried to complete the Nine without shoes, but after six of the peaks I’d had enough.  A year later I tried again and this time gave up after a single peak, defeated by the rocky trails.

Over time, my practice of running and hiking continued to evolve in a minimalist direction.  I developed an interest in “natural navigation” (moving through the forest without technology — meaning no map, no compass, no GPS).  I began to incorporate intermittent fasting into my dietary and training plans.  And I became somewhat more experienced at going barefoot.  One day these themes coalesced in my mind, and I came up with a grand plan:  to complete the Nine not only barefoot, but navigating naturally, and without carrying food or water.  I would call this the Diogenes Challenge, after the ancient Greek philosopher who advocated for simplicity and self-discipline.

Upon reflection, however, the Diogenes Challenge seemed like a little too much, even for an arch-minimalist like me.  I quietly let it slide and focused on other things.

Until one day my friend Kal Ghosh asked, when were we going to do it?

Continue reading “The Diogenes Challenge” →

The Diogenes Challenge