Trip Report

Wilcox Lake Wild Forest - 23 Aug 2020

My hopes lie like litter in the open road for everybody to drive through. - Timo Maas

Daniels Road State Forest and Surrounding Lands - 3 Mar 2019 and 23 Feb 2019

My last two weekend long runs were at Daniels Road State Forest. On February 23rd, I decided to drive in to the trailhead, which was a mistake. The road was two rutted tracks, 6 inches deep, and slippery the entire way. If I had needed to pull off to let another car pass, I would have been stuck. Amazingly, one other car was parked at the trailhead: another Subaru.

weekly review

Weekly Review - 5 Jun 2016

Monday: Still exhausted. I actually took a nap today, which usually only happens when I’m dealing with a flu.

I caught a third wind around 9 PM, so I decided to grab a short run as soon as it was feasible. While out on the run, I realized that a large part of the reason why my right knee has been hurting on these runs is because of the crown of the road; I played around with various parts of the road surface and confirmed it.

weekly review

Weekly Review - 22 May 2016

Tuesday: Ran the third race of the 2016 AdiRUNdack Trail Series

Wednesday: Light floor work: yoga, stretching, PT exercises (quads), push-ups.

Thursday: 1.8mi at an aerobic pace. Knee was hurting toward the end. I wonder if it’s the shoes?

Friday: Bleeeeerch

Saturday: Yard work

Sunday: 5 miles in Skidmore’s North Woods. I needed a hill, and didn’t feel like driving all the way up to Moreau. I contemplated another go at Lincoln Mountain State Forest, but then I remembered that it’s spring turkey hunting season, and it’s highly likely that numerous people would be hunting up there.

Adirondack High Peaks

Giant Mountain - 3 Jan 2016

My friend Ken and I set out to hike Giant Mountain two weekends ago. We decided to go with the Roaring Brook Trail, which we had hiked before under fairer conditions. The air was surprisingly warm at the trail head, around 32° Fahrenheit (0° Celsius), and there wasn’t enough snow on the ground to justify bringing the snowshoes.

Shawangunks

Walking upon the Turtle's Back - 14 June 2015

Earlier this month, my friend Ken and I headed down to check out more of the section of the Shawangunk Ridge that had been burned. I had gone for a short hike two weeks before, and I was curious to see more of this transitional landscape. We parked off of Ferguson road, at a small parking lot for Wurtsboro Ridge State Forest, then headed out on the little used, yellow-blazed, connector trail to the Long Path. The trail meandered for a while, leading us past a rather unexpectedly large waterfall in the middle of nowhere, until we finally made our way over to the rocky remains of an old road. This lead us to the Long Path/Shawangunk Ridge Trail [LP/SRT], and then we started climbing back up to Ferguson Road.

Shawangunks

The Desolation of Smaug - 01 June 2015

I had planned on heading down to check out Shawangunk State Forest on Sunday, but as luck would have it a work emergency came up. My boss was kind enough to OK a personal day for Monday, and my wife was kind enough to take care of my familial responsibilities, so, off I went. It took a bit of luck to find the trail I was aiming for, a yellow-blazed connector to the Shawangunk Ridge Trail / Long Path (henceforth SRT and LP) off of NY 52 east out of Ellenville, NY. I actually pulled in to the parking lot I should have parked in: a small, uncompleted lot just up the road from the yellow trailhead, but I saw no markings whatsoever, and so I went back the way I had come. I pulled in to the first parking area I had seen, in a fancy brick-paved spot, and noticed a sign that read “30 minute parking” directly to the left of my window. In frustration, I drove a short way further up the road, to a larger turn-off, and parked there. As it turns out, this is the northernmost “P” in the Shawangunk State Forest, as shown on the SRT trail map provided by the NYNJTC. (I’ll cover parking in more detail at the end.)