November 2, 2014
Had a wonderful outing on Hunter
Mountain with my good friend Gary and his wife Trisha. We drove
down to the Catskills and climbed right up to meet winter. Yep, in some
areas, winter has definitely arrived!
Our
mountain for the day. On our drive down, as we got deeper into the
Catskills, we could see snow on the mountaintops and wondered how our
chosen trail would be.
Yikes. Lots of snow sightings in the area. Good thing I wore and brought warm clothes!
Getting set to go - 3.5 miles up 1945' to the fire tower on the summit.
We took Spruceton Trail up the old fire tower jeep road, which meant a wide and relatively smooth route. But plenty steep.
A pretty view along the trek up.
Arrival at the summit. Strong winds kept blowing through, whipping snow from the trees across our faces. As soon as we got there, we had to turn back around away from a huge wind gust.
Fire tower and ranger cabin. Thermometer on the cabin's porch showed a balmy 20F or so up there at 4,040', not taking into account the wind.
Gary and me in front of the cabin during a calm spell.
We
ventured up a couple stories of the fire tower to see the area
mountains. We didn't go up farther because it was so cold. Gary said
when the gales came through, it almost felt as if we were going to be
blown over, and I agreed.
Pretty.
Me, feeling a bit cold but very happy!
There was a ring of lovely little snow-covered evergreens around the summit. Here are some of them from the tower.
Gary enjoying his lunch, with the word "enjoying" being used loosely.
I didn't even get mine out.
Heading back down the lonely trail. Ours were the only footprints on it today.
Back down at the bottom, close to the parking lot,
where most of the snow on the trail had melted. What a fun outing!!
where most of the snow on the trail had melted. What a fun outing!!
