Episode 127 - Listener Spotlight - Danny aka mightymischievous

[00:00:00] So we go around the Hudson Valley and we monitor Native American sites.

[00:00:06] We explore and find new Native American sites.

[00:00:10] This is all in prevention of vandalism.

[00:00:15] So we would clear fire rings, we would educate anyone camping in there,

[00:00:20] remove graffiti, remove trash, things of that nature.

[00:00:25] Just making sure that the Native American history isn't erased by the drunken fool.

[00:00:30] A recent place that we just found, maybe found about two weeks ago,

[00:00:36] there's a brand new site, was actively being raided.

[00:00:40] There is two foot trenches all throughout the front of this shelter.

[00:00:46] And whoever was this person, they had camping gear, hunting gear,

[00:00:51] and they made screens to sit through the dirt to find artery

[00:00:56] and different arrowheads and different artifacts.

[00:01:10] The bushwhacks were some of the worst days I've ever had in the mountains, or life really.

[00:01:15] Whereas Pansy Mountain is totally opposite, it's a mountain on top of a crater.

[00:01:20] I think the weather challenges on this incident were particularly difficult.

[00:01:25] It is really the development of New York State.

[00:01:30] Catskills are responsible.

[00:01:35] Now you're listening to Inside the Live, the Catskill Mountains podcast.

[00:01:41] It's like the DEC podcast, man.

[00:01:49] Well, it's nothing like the DEC. They get like thousands and thousands of people.

[00:01:55] The DEC has paid listeners. That's what they have.

[00:02:00] Like the Joe Rogan of the East Coast.

[00:02:03] I heard if you're busted for violating one of the rules and regulations,

[00:02:08] camping where you're not supposed to, pooping or peeing within 150 feet of a trail,

[00:02:13] the punishment is you need to listen to two episodes if you're a first offender.

[00:02:18] That's what I heard. I haven't seen it in writing.

[00:02:23] It just might be some false information, but that's how I heard they're building their listener base.

[00:02:28] Good for them.

[00:02:33] Exactly. Has anybody listened to them by the way?

[00:02:38] Well, yeah, a couple of weeks ago I did get caught doing something too close to the trail.

[00:02:43] I'm not sure if it was number one or number two, but I had to listen to a couple episodes.

[00:02:48] That's how I know this. Yeah, it wasn't so bad.

[00:02:53] The punishment wasn't bad. I just kept hitting the fast forward button.

[00:02:58] I'll have to listen to it. My friend that I work with, she said she listens to it and she says

[00:03:03] it's sorry DEC, but it's very boring because you guys got certain parameters that you have to stay in.

[00:03:08] We just need to back up. You said a friend that I work with listens

[00:03:13] to the competing podcast. She listens to our podcast too.

[00:03:18] So you still consider her a friend even though she's in part a trader?

[00:03:23] 100%. That's a tease. We're all friends with the DEC.

[00:03:28] You're easy. You're too easy. Danny, I hope you put up a fight.

[00:03:33] Stosh is just rolling over already.

[00:03:38] He hasn't even started recording yet and he's just rolling over.

[00:03:43] This is recording 100%. Five minutes in.

[00:03:48] Welcome to episode 127 of Inside the Line, the Cats Come On podcast. Tonight we're going to do Listener Spotlight.

[00:03:53] First time ever with this and I thought I would start with a first time ever with a guy who has been

[00:03:58] following me, I guess, which is pretty scary as of now. His name is Danny.

[00:04:03] My name is Chevious on Instagram. He's a cool mofo.

[00:04:08] I was going to say the other word, but he's done a lot of stuff throughout the Catskills and through the Hudson Valley.

[00:04:13] A lot of time volunteering and stuff. So we're going to have him on tonight.

[00:04:18] He definitely deserves it. Welcome to the show, Danny.

[00:04:23] Hey, Danny. How are you doing? Very good. Thank you. Very little warm today. This whole week is a little warm, but we're getting there.

[00:04:28] Yeah. And that brings up my next, my thoughts.

[00:04:33] Do you guys have any like hot summer day hiking tips? Because it's been high 80s.

[00:04:38] What about you? Let's go, Danny. Let's go with you. You got any tips for the hot summer?

[00:04:43] I have heat issues so I can overheat very easily.

[00:04:48] I bring one frozen, fully frozen liter of water.

[00:04:53] And then my first drink is a half frozen liter of water.

[00:04:58] And then usually by the end of the day you still have a little bit of frozen ice left in there.

[00:05:03] And if those two liters aren't enough, then you throw another third liter in there, but you'd have to go with frozen water.

[00:05:08] Nice. That's smart. Very smart. Tad, what about you?

[00:05:13] I don't lose points on this one for not planning ahead and freezing my water, but I do.

[00:05:18] I start off with more than three liters.

[00:05:23] I mean, I just, I pour it down and sweat it out as fast as I can pour it down.

[00:05:28] It seems so there's there's many a times I'll have to dip down and find water on a hike to replenish three liters on a hot day.

[00:05:33] Yes.

[00:05:38] I'm not going to be enough for me.

[00:05:43] Yeah, there's always the backup filter for those amazing Catskill creeks that you don't even need to filter.

[00:05:48] My friends may find me because sometimes they don't filter.

[00:05:53] You say Catskill creeks. Well, you don't find those until you're like below 2,800, 2,600.

[00:05:58] They're usually pretty far down in the mountain.

[00:06:03] Well, let's just call them what they are. They're bogs.

[00:06:08] They're like little swamp marshy areas and you can probably get like a half a liter per filter right before your filter clogs up.

[00:06:13] But when you're thirsty, you're going to do it.

[00:06:18] Water is water.

[00:06:23] Exactly. Water will keep you alive. You know, the one thing that I do when it starts getting really hot out is of course I always freeze my bladder, my water, my hydration pack.

[00:06:28] I freeze it and then I always have a huge amount of just ice that I freeze and pour it in there right before I go.

[00:06:38] I poured in the bladder probably halfway up, fill it up with water, turn the bladder upside down, put it into like a cooler so it doesn't freeze on the end of the tip before the hydration like filter or the hydration like tube goes in.

[00:06:44] And then on the whole way there, it's always just surrounded by like frozen stuff, frozen packets or stuff like that.

[00:06:49] So it stays cold.

[00:06:54] So I never have basically a warm water until basically I'm like, oh, I'm going to freeze it.

[00:06:59] I'm going to freeze it.

[00:07:04] So I don't have to do that.

[00:07:09] I don't have to have basically a warm water until basically near the near end.

[00:07:14] And that's what it was when I did Wittenberg and Balsam Lake today or the other day.

[00:07:19] So before we move off the topic of hydration, packing in water, filtering and carrying water around on the trail, have you ever brought home water that you harvested when you're in the Catskills?

[00:07:24] I'm not going to say that.

[00:07:29] No, the DEC is going to get me on that one.

[00:07:34] No.

[00:07:39] As long as you get it from a permitted and approved area, you're okay.

[00:07:44] From a spring.

[00:07:49] So let it sit around for a few months and see what happens.

[00:07:54] Right here in my home office, I have a little experiment off to my right.

[00:07:59] It's from last fall.

[00:08:04] I grabbed this water.

[00:08:09] Can we see?

[00:08:14] Right.

[00:08:19] So what's the over under? Who's projecting that it's going to have like green algae?

[00:08:24] Let's see, these squiggly things crawling around in it.

[00:08:29] And I don't know, a shark.

[00:08:34] I'm a negative on all of that.

[00:08:39] I've previously have discussed that they make those delicious bagels and New York City pizza from this is, this is it.

[00:08:44] So this has been around, what's that like six months now? Eight months, eight months.

[00:08:49] Yeah.

[00:08:54] Where's that from?

[00:08:59] It's from the NeverSync.

[00:09:04] Okay.

[00:09:09] Yeah.

[00:09:14] So hot summer days are coming.

[00:09:19] So be prepared with keeping yourself hydrated, number one, and keeping yourself cooled.

[00:09:24] Number two, that's why I put the ice in my hydration bladder and, you know, keep it cool during the day so I can drink a lot.

[00:09:29] I've been in the water for a while.

[00:09:34] I'm not sure if you can see it, but I'm just going to go ahead and go ahead and get some water.

[00:09:39] I'm going to go ahead and get some water.

[00:09:44] I'm going to go ahead and get some water.

[00:09:49] I'm going to go ahead and get some water.

[00:09:54] So,

[00:09:59] I'm going to go ahead and get some water.

[00:10:04] So,

[00:10:09] I'm going to go ahead and get some water.

[00:10:14] So,

[00:10:19] I'm going to go ahead and get some water.

[00:10:24] I'm going to go ahead and get some water.

[00:10:29] Number one,

[00:10:34] and 11-year-old just flying off of the limbs and just going down anywhere on white base would be absolutely tragic.

[00:10:39] They got lucky.

[00:10:44] I don't know if he's thinking that way at the age of 11, but maybe when he gets older, he'll realize, you know,

[00:10:49] Hey, I can overcome adversity and the inattention of my parents.

[00:10:54] I mean, white base is like a pyramid-shaped peak.

[00:10:59] So it's like you go down, you instantly go down.

[00:11:04] It's not like you go low, like elevation gain is like low.

[00:11:09] It's absolutely insane.

[00:11:14] I think for a ski area, Whiteface Mountain has the most vertical drop of any ski area in the Northeast.

[00:11:19] Although it's not the highest,

[00:11:24] it has the most prominence of ski areas and the most vertical drop in the Northeast.

[00:11:29] And it's separated from the other high peaks of the Adirondacks so far.

[00:11:34] It peaks out there just out of nowhere.

[00:11:39] So crazy, crazy instance, of course.

[00:11:44] Imagine how insane that search would have been if the 11-year-old wasn't found within a couple hours.

[00:11:49] All I know is I can't speak for these parents,

[00:11:54] but if I was out hiking with my daughters when they were that age and I had to report to my wife

[00:12:00] that I lost one of the kids, I wouldn't be here tonight with you guys on the podcast.

[00:12:05] Okay.

[00:12:10] I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have reported it.

[00:12:15] I would have reported it, but man, for a parent to lose their child out in the woods like that, that's really hard.

[00:12:20] I mean, that's absolutely insane.

[00:12:25] But they're fortunate.

[00:12:30] Had it been like a month and a half before, it would have been dark by seven, maybe close to seven.

[00:12:35] So they had plenty of daylight this time of year.

[00:12:40] Snow, stuff like that. Ice, it would have been absolutely insane up there.

[00:12:45] Crazy.

[00:12:50] I can't, you know, they just keep coming up with stuff day after day.

[00:12:55] These ultra light people of just new like occurrences that they use.

[00:13:00] So I read this article that say ultra light backpackers are using large sponges as pillows now just to cut down on the ultra light.

[00:13:05] So I read this article that say ultra light backpackers are using large sponges as pillows now just to cut down on the ultra light.

[00:13:10] A lot of these ultra light people are just doing anything and everything they can to shave off the pounds that they can cut.

[00:13:15] Not even pounds, grams that they cut to hike ultra light.

[00:13:20] And apparently these sponges which you see in Wal-Mart, any area to wash your car,

[00:13:25] big sponges probably the size of your two hands and stuff like that are being used for pillows.

[00:13:30] Now I don't find them. I have one of those for washing my car and I don't find it that comfortable at all.

[00:13:35] But these people, they're just so lucky.

[00:13:41] This article which was on backpack magazine said that they tested it out.

[00:13:46] This article which was on backpack magazine said that they tested it out.

[00:13:51] It weighed half at 54 grams.

[00:13:56] So that was half of the weight of their actual pillow that they get to pack, you know, their micro pillow I guess.

[00:14:01] It was microfiber so it was a little extra spongy on the outside.

[00:14:06] So it's not like it's one of those hard sponge pillows.

[00:14:11] $4.99 compared to a backpacking pillow that is $20-$65.

[00:14:16] So that's definitely a budget cutter right there.

[00:14:21] And you know, I really can't say that I would definitely do this.

[00:14:26] But I have ultra light backpacking pillows that I kind of like because you can kind of inflate and deflate to your kind.

[00:14:31] But a sponge? No, it doesn't sound like it.

[00:14:36] So I'm going to put Danny on the spot here and ask him.

[00:14:41] Let's suppose Danny you're out there with your ultra light gear and your car wash.

[00:14:46] I'm a cheap skate and too thrifty to buy a real pillow to go backpacking with.

[00:14:51] And you just hammered out 25-30 miles on the trail.

[00:14:56] You're ready to hunker down for the night and you bury your head in a car wash sponge.

[00:15:06] That probably... Green sponge.

[00:15:11] Yeah, this one's green in the article.

[00:15:14] But I imagine that it has some like industrial chemical odor to it.

[00:15:19] Right? Because it wasn't made for people to bury their face in.

[00:15:24] After they've been hiking or backpacking all day.

[00:15:29] So here you are, you're out in the middle of nowhere in the wilderness.

[00:15:32] You're tired.

[00:15:34] You cuddle up with this industrial odor sponge.

[00:15:39] What do you think? Is it still a good idea?

[00:15:44] I think you'd probably need to rinse it a few times because you know when you buy regular house sponges, they're soft.

[00:15:49] But when you dry it out on your counter, they're rock solid.

[00:15:53] So there's definitely something in there from shipping.

[00:15:56] That's part of the break-in period is what you're saying?

[00:15:59] Yeah, there's the process to their weight loss.

[00:16:03] I got it. So it's like the old days when you would buy a pair of leather hiking boots.

[00:16:07] You'd have to break them in before you took them on the trail.

[00:16:10] There you go.

[00:16:11] He's so young he wouldn't know about that.

[00:16:13] Yeah, I know. Right?

[00:16:14] Why are you saying that?

[00:16:16] Let's send him an electrical jolt.

[00:16:21] There you go. I don't know if I'd be so weight conscious back in my backpacking days.

[00:16:26] I would just wad up a bunch of clothes.

[00:16:29] Yeah, that's what I do.

[00:16:31] Yeah, and put my head in that.

[00:16:32] I wouldn't bother with the backpackers pillow, a car wash sponge or anything else.

[00:16:38] They definitely do some unique things.

[00:16:42] Bring a tarp rather than a tent or bring a blanket rather than a sleeping bag.

[00:16:48] Things you wouldn't expect, but they want to get as light as possible.

[00:16:52] No flashlights. Go by the moon.

[00:16:55] Why not?

[00:16:56] That's what I'm saying. Yeah.

[00:16:58] I can't, you know, I sometimes I agree with these people, you know, with with ultra light, you know, I packed with that Pemi loop that I did.

[00:17:08] I had 39 pounds on that and I don't know, say I regret it, but it was it was tough.

[00:17:14] But, you know, going with a sponge, yeah, that takes up a lot of space.

[00:17:18] That's fun. Doesn't compact to like, sorry, I still got the cough, but it doesn't come back down to like a, you know, inflatable pillow does.

[00:17:28] But like some of this stuff, like you said, you know, people go with tarps instead of, you know, a tent and stuff like that.

[00:17:36] I'm pretty sure, you know, being on search and rescue, I have to carry a tarp with me and a tent.

[00:17:40] The tarp doesn't even pack as good as the tent. Not at all.

[00:17:44] So, Jesus, what the hell is wrong with me?

[00:17:49] I'm renewing my thoughts that Stosh is allergic to podcasting.

[00:17:54] No, I think I'm allergic to my freaking house. It's whenever I come to my house.

[00:17:58] You're breaking out in hives now too. I see that.

[00:18:01] I see that. It's whenever I come to my house, it's like I start coughing.

[00:18:04] So no matter the wilderness, it's nothing.

[00:18:06] So but Ultralight, you guys need to like shave it off.

[00:18:12] Come on. Stop going that crazy.

[00:18:14] So all right. So once again, what is this going on?

[00:18:19] Ted, you got something going on here? Yeah.

[00:18:21] You put this in like last second. Jesus. Yeah.

[00:18:23] This was a last minute add on.

[00:18:26] Nice. A couple of weeks ago, you pointed out how

[00:18:29] Ulster County has I think three or four bus routes running this summer.

[00:18:34] And another thing that apparently is going on in the area is the New York State Parks and Recreation

[00:18:40] and Historic Preservation Organization is pleased to announce its outdoor summer concert series called

[00:18:48] Twilight Music in the Parks to be held on the walkway over the Hudson State Historic Park.

[00:18:57] Now, for those of you who don't know the walkway over the Hudson is an old railroad

[00:19:02] trestle that was in a advanced state of disrepair and was going to be dismantled

[00:19:09] and a number of local people banded together and formed a grassroots organization to save it.

[00:19:17] And now it's I think one of the most popular attractions in upstate New York outside of Niagara Falls.

[00:19:25] So going back to the Twilight Music in the Parks, the music series will be each Tuesday and Thursday night from 6 to 7 p.m.

[00:19:34] From now through August 30th.

[00:19:37] The free concerts will be held on the Highland side of the park, which is in Ulster County at the Welcome Center.

[00:19:47] It's going to feature local musicians from the Hudson Valley, which thankfully excludes Stasch and his karaoke machine.

[00:19:54] The Twilight Music in the Parks outdoor concerts are free and open to the public, weather permitting.

[00:20:03] So in the case of inclement weather, check for updates on the walkway Facebook page or visit parks.NewYork.gov.

[00:20:12] Nice. That's fantastic.

[00:20:16] Yeah. Maybe we should maybe we should do a show right there from the venue.

[00:20:21] The walkway is on a Tuesday night starts at seven.

[00:20:25] We could. Yeah, we should get a van equipped with podcast gear and just drive around from one state park to the other and go live on location.

[00:20:37] Yeah, we don't need a permit. Screw that. Yeah.

[00:20:40] Well, how about we just go right over the walkway, the Hudson in the middle and just interview people?

[00:20:44] Yeah, we're doing that.

[00:20:46] I mean, it's like apparatus is I could I could admit that I've never been on the walkway over the Hudson.

[00:20:53] Yeah, I think I've said well, it's you know, it's an interesting thing to do.

[00:20:59] You're well over 100 feet above the river or at least 100 feet, I think.

[00:21:05] And it's a it's an interesting way to do a quick out and back in the afternoon.

[00:21:12] Just bring some cash with you because on either side, you got some guys selling cold treats, you know,

[00:21:21] either from a cart or from a stand.

[00:21:24] And when you walk across that thing on a hot summer day, even three liters of frozen water in your hydration bladder is not going to cool you down.

[00:21:34] You're going to want that ice cream.

[00:21:37] How long is that going from point to point like that?

[00:21:41] Yeah, I'm you know, I over the Hudson itself proper.

[00:21:44] I'm not quite sure, but I think the total elevated span is over a mile, maybe a mile and a half.

[00:21:50] I was going to think so like going from Albany all the way down.

[00:21:53] It just gets wider and wider.

[00:21:55] Yeah, the river.

[00:21:56] Yeah.

[00:21:57] And then plus this starts at a pretty substantial elevation, which makes it further back from the riverbanks than where the river proper flows.

[00:22:06] No, I will definitely tag that in the show notes because that's pretty cool.

[00:22:11] I got to admit thing to do, you know, if if you just have some time and you want some cool views over the Hudson Valley and just over the Hudson in general,

[00:22:20] the walkway over the Hudson is a beautiful spot.

[00:22:23] And like you said, I didn't know that it was an old trolley that was.

[00:22:27] Yeah, actually not trolley, but freight trains and passenger trains is what it was built for.

[00:22:34] When it was built, it was quite an undertaking.

[00:22:36] I don't think it was at the time the longest trussle of its type, but it was rather significant.

[00:22:45] And at the time it was built, it was the only bridge connection over the Hudson River between Albany to New York City.

[00:22:55] And in fact, there was nothing in New York City at the time.

[00:22:58] The George Washington Bridge hadn't been built and the locomotives would be offloaded or put on ferries at places like Hoboken and then going over the surface of the water taken to Manhattan.

[00:23:15] Wow, unbelievable. Crazy history once again.

[00:23:19] Yeah.

[00:23:20] Yeah, cool stuff. So get out there and get outdoors, go to Hudson, walkway over the Hudson.

[00:23:26] Actually, I've seen it from the base.

[00:23:29] One of my friends lives near that area and can see it going over him. It's absolutely, I got to admit, it's majestic, but just too far away for me just to walk over a mile and back.

[00:23:39] Yeah, well what I think is particularly cool is the government apparatus was mobilized to have this taken down and a number of local people, you know, mobilized and developed a grassroots organization that has turned this thing from something that was dangerous to now something which is a significant attraction.

[00:24:07] And here we see that the state of New York is fully behind it now.

[00:24:11] Wow, awesome. I never knew that. Amazing. Amazing.

[00:24:15] See the things you will learn when you listen to the podcast.

[00:24:19] Right, right. Nobody knows about this. I don't know about this.

[00:24:23] So a cool thing that I've come upon, a cool site, it's called Overlook Outdoors. You want some Catskill merchandise?

[00:24:32] You know, my friend, Todd Bold, pointed me this out. It's definitely a cool place as they have merchandise just for the Catskills, the Adirondacks, the Hudson Valley area.

[00:24:42] And, you know, I think I've ordered like at least two or three hats or two hats from there and some shirts. So I need some more hats to hike with because all mine are just god that god awful sweat stains on it.

[00:24:58] Right. Yeah, salt wine. That's what it is.

[00:25:01] It's from drinking all that frozen water.

[00:25:03] Exactly. And what's the problem with that? It's good. So but check it out. Overlook Outdoors. I will post that in the show notes. Awesome merchandise.

[00:25:14] I'm already on my way to get some stuff. So thank you guys for shooting the shit.

[00:25:21] Appreciate it. Once again, it wasn't like two and a half hours as other times. So that's good. Twenty nine minutes. That's not bad.

[00:25:29] Who says I'm done shooting this shit? Go ahead. What do you got to say, Ted?

[00:25:33] I got a lot more. I have like diarrhea of the mouth tonight. So bring it. Bring it. Bring some shit. Yeah. Danny wants Danny wants me to know we want I want to get the Danny segment.

[00:25:43] So I'm going to shut up, but I'm looking forward to recent hikes.

[00:25:49] Now I'm looking forward to this weekend, June 8th, Saturday. You know, we're going to be at the Catskill Outdoor Expo.

[00:25:58] Catskill Visitor Center. Right. It's going to be pretty crazy.

[00:26:02] Ted and I are going absolutely insane over this. And, you know, we try it. We're going to try to look as professional as we can.

[00:26:10] No, we're not. Yeah, it's not going to, you know, I'm seriously going to be outlaws. It's going to be like ZZ Top comes to the Catskill Fair.

[00:26:18] Should I wear? You know, I got a shirt that I got at my last show that I went to the Sum 41 show and it says fuck Sum 41. Should I wear that?

[00:26:28] Well, if you want to wear a shirt, wear a shirt. I wasn't planning on wearing a shirt. Hey, if we're going to do karaoke, we're not going to wear shirts. That's right. Oh, man.

[00:26:37] Who's going to attend the after party? Is it going to be at Jeff Centerman's house or DEC?

[00:26:42] I don't know. I'm not an after party kind of guy. I party at the party. That's what I'm going to do.

[00:26:49] There's both. There's partying at the party and then the after party. So you got to bump those numbers up. Those are rookie numbers.

[00:26:57] Yeah. So one of the reasons to come is Stash and I are putting together a survey and we want you to take our survey. We haven't hammered out all the details.

[00:27:08] We're still working on the questions is we'll see when we get to the stump Stash episode that some of the questions that Stash cut out of the survey.

[00:27:19] I'll actually be asking him tonight and maybe we'll find out why we cut them out. But one of the things that we're putting together is to encourage people to show up and partake in the survey is we're putting together a gift box.

[00:27:33] And if you take the survey and you leave your email address at the end of the survey, you'll be registered for our drawing to win the gift box.

[00:27:46] Some limitations and restrictions do apply. So I don't know Stash whenever you want to. I do have some of the stuff I'm throwing in the gift box at hand.

[00:27:55] So whenever you want to look at that, we can do it.

[00:27:58] Yeah. And unfortunately New York State doesn't allow me to send hard ciders to everybody.

[00:28:04] You say that. That is true because again if you were to send alcoholic beverages to somebody, it would need to be restricted delivery proof of age and signature required.

[00:28:16] So we couldn't get into that. But I thought when you mentioned that my reaction is while we cannot give away and mail to somebody a hard cider, somebody can bring to you Stash on Saturday a hard cider and donate it and make it part of our reuse and repurpose hard ciders.

[00:28:40] We're going to recycle Stash is going to be the human hard cider recycling machine and we'll see if he actually can make it to the after party.

[00:28:50] Todd, my friend Todd is going to be showing up with some hard cider. So I have some for him. He has some for me. So it's a full exchange. Awesome.

[00:28:59] So be there. Catskill Outdoor Expo at Catskill Visitor Center in Mount Trumper.

[00:29:04] What time?

[00:29:06] I think it starts at 10 and ends at like three or something.

[00:29:09] We don't have a clue.

[00:29:11] Yeah, we'll be there partying our night.

[00:29:13] Yeah, I'm going to camp out overnight in the parking lot with my sponge pillow. I'll be the guy with like you know Brit on the side of my face and like the imprint of like sponge pours.

[00:29:24] That'll be me.

[00:29:25] And I'll be doing karaoke from the fire tower.

[00:29:28] So there's no limits. No limits. They're gonna hate us after this.

[00:29:33] We're gonna put I gotta stop talking about this.

[00:29:37] We're going to keep it clean. You can bring your children. Don't worry.

[00:29:41] You can bring your 11 year olds. It's not like you're sending about Mount Washington or Mount Whiteface by themselves.

[00:29:48] Everybody's going to be safe and have a good time. Okay.

[00:29:51] Right. It's going to be crazy. So be there or be square.

[00:29:55] So thank you to the monthly supporters Darren, Vicki, John, Betsy, Denise, Vanessa, Joseph, Jim C, Michael, David and Chris.

[00:30:03] Thank you guys very much for putting the show.

[00:30:05] Really appreciate it. Also give a big shout out to our monthly sponsors.

[00:30:09] Outdoor Chronicles Photography. Molly from Outdoor Chronicles Photography specializes in adventure elopement and adventure couple photography in the Catskills, Adirondacks and White Mountains.

[00:30:19] She's an officiant for getting married, a licensed guide. But most important, she is a story maker.

[00:30:25] Molly wants to give you photos to give you memories that will last forever.

[00:30:28] Don't hesitate to get a hold of Molly on all platforms.

[00:30:32] Also, if you ever want to learn more about hiking or backpacking,

[00:30:35] we can just brush up on some of your old skills in the backcountry.

[00:30:38] Check out Trailbond Project, a hiking and backpacking school.

[00:30:42] Scott and Joe from the New Jersey Search and Rescue Team have amazing backgrounds in Wilderness First Aid,

[00:30:47] Wilderness First Responder and Mountain Rescue Association.

[00:30:50] And they are here for you to learn all the new skills of hiking and backpacking.

[00:30:54] They teach anything from first aid, map and compass, and many other skills that could help you and others while on the trail.

[00:31:01] Check them out on their website and all social media platforms.

[00:31:04] So once again, you mentioned us in the podcast, on your Instagram, Facebook, whatever it is.

[00:31:12] We'll give you a shout out on the show.

[00:31:14] So let's go on to what you're drinking tonight. Danny, what you drinking?

[00:31:19] Jack and a little Hal's.

[00:31:24] Hal's? What's that?

[00:31:26] Seltzer.

[00:31:28] Nice. All right. All right.

[00:31:30] I got to go refill on mine, so I'll get that soon.

[00:31:32] So, Tad, what about you? Nice, Danny.

[00:31:35] I have a complete lack of originality or uniqueness.

[00:31:42] It's a home roasted, home brewed coffee in the Yeti cup.

[00:31:48] Again, listen to the sound of disappointment in his voice.

[00:31:52] All right. I'm changing it up. I'm going to crack open.

[00:31:54] I'm cracking open the Catskill water.

[00:31:56] I'm going to drink it right here in front of Stash and Danny.

[00:31:59] Right? And if I fall over, it'll be the first time Stash can't jump into like give somebody CPR.

[00:32:08] It won't be from the water. It wouldn't be from the water.

[00:32:11] It's from the excitement of this episode.

[00:32:13] I'm going to go into cardiac arrest.

[00:32:15] It's from the chemicals of that Yeti cup that you have.

[00:32:17] Yeah. Maybe because I've had this stuff in a plastic container so long, the water is like absorbed.

[00:32:23] All this stuff. Oh well.

[00:32:25] True. True. So once again, I'm having a I know I sent you Danny and Tad a picture of the rum and Coke, but I am actually having now.

[00:32:37] Yeah. So just basic rum and Coke once again, living it up after an awesome hike today.

[00:32:45] So talk about previous hikes. Who do you want to start off with? Danny, we all start off with you.

[00:32:51] What was your previous hike? I remember you. We were very close to each other.

[00:32:54] This past, I believe it was Saturday.

[00:33:01] I was at Panther. Nice.

[00:33:03] Maybe Sunday?

[00:33:04] Sunday. You said Sunday.

[00:33:06] Yeah, that was Sunday we were at Panther.

[00:33:08] That is our me and my hiking buddies.

[00:33:11] It is our 34th peak for the spring season challenge.

[00:33:19] And so elaborate what's spring buddy, what buddies? What are you talking about?

[00:33:25] So there's a there's the 3500 challenge, the five peaks in the winter and the 30 or four peaks in the winter.

[00:33:35] I forget where it is. But four peaks, four peaks in the winter and the rest during the summer.

[00:33:39] There's also a season challenge where you can do all 35 winter, spring, summer and fall through Hikers Anonymous.

[00:33:49] It's the same peaks except for one or two. And you just have to keep going.

[00:33:54] They have tons of different challenges, whether it's seasonal or monthly, yearly, anything you want.

[00:34:00] They have a whole bunch of different challenges.

[00:34:02] Nice. Nice.

[00:34:04] And you is this your own kind of like buddies that you do, your own group or where's this from?

[00:34:10] This is a good friend of mine.

[00:34:12] We just met maybe two or three years ago, Joanne.

[00:34:16] We do some volunteer stuff together in the Hudson Valley and two adults with two cars.

[00:34:23] We have greatly helped each other doing point to point hikes in the Catskills and just a great hiking friend altogether.

[00:34:33] Nice. And you guys just do this group group hikes out of nowhere?

[00:34:38] Yeah, just each other. It's just the two of us.

[00:34:42] We just pick whatever peak we need and we hit it thinking about doing like it's not just Catskills to so some mohawks, some skid among just, you know, whatever it is, as long as it's entertaining.

[00:34:54] And we both happen to have us.

[00:34:56] Nice. Awesome. Awesome. That's fantastic.

[00:34:59] How was the hike though? Was the conditions perfect?

[00:35:03] Bugs, as usual.

[00:35:05] The black flies are it's almost Father's Day, so they're almost gone.

[00:35:11] But the mosquitoes are right up in there now.

[00:35:15] So the itching doesn't stop.

[00:35:17] But temperature wise, not bad.

[00:35:21] Strangely enough for a Sunday, I think we met four people.

[00:35:27] Nobody was there. Really, honestly, the views were amazing.

[00:35:31] You can see forever.

[00:35:33] Another great day in the Catskills.

[00:35:35] You went up the giant ledge area?

[00:35:37] We did giant ledge.

[00:35:39] We went all the way through giant ledge.

[00:35:42] Then we hit the peak and we went all the way.

[00:35:44] I think it was about nine miles.

[00:35:46] So nobody at the end of the hike.

[00:35:48] Everyone just does Panther and then back out from that close parking lot.

[00:35:52] The hairpin.

[00:35:54] You went all the way to Fox Hollow?

[00:35:57] All the way.

[00:35:58] Is that your first time to Fox Hollow?

[00:36:01] No, winter season we did Fox Hollow to the hairpin.

[00:36:05] Awesome hike.

[00:36:06] That's one of my favorite hikes on trail is to hike from Fox Hollow up to the hairpin or beyond.

[00:36:14] Yeah. And it was a Sunday and not a single person.

[00:36:17] Yeah. That whole side of a Panther coming up from Fox Hollow I think is fantastic.

[00:36:23] It gives you a whole new flavor for the mountain.

[00:36:25] And you see what it's like, what it was like hiking it on trail 10, 15 years ago.

[00:36:32] Because now coming up from the hairpin, it's just all beat up.

[00:36:35] It's all beat up and there's no more nettles on the hairpin.

[00:36:37] You go the other direction, you have about three inches and you have to single file every step.

[00:36:42] Otherwise you are leaving there stinging.

[00:36:45] Yeah. They're ready to snap at you if you go through.

[00:36:50] People don't think about this, but this is where the thickness of your hiking pants comes into play.

[00:36:57] Up until this past weekend you could get away with hiking pants that weren't so thick.

[00:37:03] But you're now getting into the season where any contact with a thin pair of pants,

[00:37:09] that nettle juice is just going to get right through the pants and you'll know it.

[00:37:14] Yeah. What an awesome Fox Hollow all the way up to Panther and back.

[00:37:19] It's just secluded. I'm sorry to say it like this secluded as fuck.

[00:37:24] And that one part when you reach up around the turn and you hit the lead lean to and you hit the blow down of that one storm

[00:37:33] just makes you think like what the hell happened here?

[00:37:36] Like, it's just a microburst railed that trees and the trees are down.

[00:37:42] It took them, I forgot how long it said it took them at least three or four weeks to clear all that blow down out of that area.

[00:37:49] A lot of work there. A lot of work there.

[00:37:52] Unbelievable.

[00:37:53] Yeah, I was wondering, I was like just to carry your chainsaw up there, the amount of work that these men and women put in.

[00:38:01] I was amazed as I was walking through there.

[00:38:03] I just kept thinking because I've dealt with sawyers before and we've done some long hikes.

[00:38:07] But the amount of trees that they cut, it's a long day.

[00:38:12] Definitely. And that was the worst of it, like everything.

[00:38:16] It was absolutely insane. So good for you Danny.

[00:38:18] A lot of people don't do that. They go up to the hairpin turn and then go right back.

[00:38:25] But going over all the way to Fox Hollow is an absolutely amazing hike, different experience.

[00:38:29] Right. We're not there for the same peaks over and over again.

[00:38:32] I mean the peak is the cherry on the cake.

[00:38:35] If you don't enjoy the walk up, you don't stop to look at the mushrooms. What are you doing?

[00:38:39] Yeah, it's all about the journey.

[00:38:41] So you said that was your 34th for the single season.

[00:38:45] Yes.

[00:38:46] So what's left?

[00:38:47] The legal South double top.

[00:38:50] Okay.

[00:38:51] Nice.

[00:38:52] And do you have a date planned for when you're doing that?

[00:38:56] Soon. It's either going to be this weekend or tomorrow.

[00:39:01] I'm off of work this week, so I'm trying to push my buddy to play hooky one day.

[00:39:07] I know she has some things going on with her daughter graduating.

[00:39:12] So I'm just working around whatever I'm offered.

[00:39:16] But soon.

[00:39:18] So when you go, do you have any planned route up to South double top?

[00:39:22] So we're doing a four seasons in a row.

[00:39:25] So we're hitting South double top four times.

[00:39:27] We're going to go a different way to every single peak every time, unless we just have completely run out of.

[00:39:33] I like this guy.

[00:39:36] I like him.

[00:39:37] That's the one nice thing about South double top is it's far enough out there that there's multiple ways to get there that are justified.

[00:39:48] Yeah.

[00:39:49] Yeah.

[00:39:50] You know, it's not like you're going to hawk it and there's some interesting ways to get to hawk it, which are long, or then there's just the up and down.

[00:39:58] Right.

[00:39:59] And if you're, if you're going to double up that hike with something else that day, you're just going to do the quick up and down.

[00:40:05] But if you're going to do hawk it is your only hike of the day.

[00:40:09] There's some, some nice ways to come in.

[00:40:11] One of the best ways I don't know we're talking about hawk it, I guess, because I brought it up.

[00:40:15] But if you're just going to do hawk it as an up and down, do it from shaft road.

[00:40:20] It's a great hike.

[00:40:21] Yeah.

[00:40:22] Going up the waterfall.

[00:40:23] Well, no, you, you right from shaft road.

[00:40:27] Oh yeah.

[00:40:28] Yeah.

[00:40:29] You park at the shaft road lot.

[00:40:31] You cross the road.

[00:40:32] You there's a, that stream that runs along.

[00:40:35] What is it?

[00:40:36] 43 or 42 over there.

[00:40:39] 42.

[00:40:40] 42.

[00:40:41] You cross 42 and then you just make a beeline for the ridge, get to the ridge, hike up it.

[00:40:47] It's obviously more gradual than coming up.

[00:40:50] Yeah, definitely.

[00:40:51] Yeah.

[00:40:52] But it's, it's just a very pleasant hike.

[00:40:54] And one of the nice things about it, you're not following a herd path and you've done this mountain how many times before going the short way.

[00:41:03] Now you're going to do it a different way and see a different side of the mountain.

[00:41:06] All right.

[00:41:08] Back on topic.

[00:41:09] Yeah.

[00:41:10] All right.

[00:41:11] What topic?

[00:41:12] What are we talking about here?

[00:41:13] Ted, what about you buddy?

[00:41:14] Oh boy.

[00:41:15] So I was planning on a Saturday to do the Eastern four of the devil's path, but one

[00:41:22] thing led to another Saturday morning and I just decided on the fly drive and up there

[00:41:30] that I was going to do West kill from two 14 just a little bit south.

[00:41:37] I picked one of the ridges just a little bit south of diamond notch and probably

[00:41:44] the steepest segment of the entire day was coming right off at two 14.

[00:41:51] It was almost like a head wall and probably the worst thing about it was not how steep

[00:41:57] it was and it was steep climbing off at two 14, but the fact that you were doing

[00:42:03] of those hand and knee or hand and feet catwalks through the nettle field going up that steepness.

[00:42:14] Yeah.

[00:42:15] So, and then I found some, I'm going to say relatively recent logging roads and

[00:42:22] to me logging recent is sometime probably in the last 75 years and there was a couple

[00:42:29] other pretty interesting forest areas and landscape features on the way up.

[00:42:37] And then interestingly, when I got high up on that ridge, it just was really thick

[00:42:44] and mucky.

[00:42:46] I wasn't expecting that.

[00:42:47] I had hiked through there earlier in the spring.

[00:42:49] I didn't run into any of that, but this time I was a little bit further over to

[00:42:53] the West.

[00:42:54] Then you get up to West kill and West kills West kill.

[00:42:56] It's got a great view.

[00:42:58] The trail hike out is wonderful.

[00:43:00] And if you've never hiked the diamond notch trail down to diamond notch road to two 14,

[00:43:09] you're missing out because that's a great trail or road, whatever you want to call

[00:43:14] it.

[00:43:15] Wow.

[00:43:16] So you had to go over like hard, like the arm of Southwest Hunter, right?

[00:43:22] On my way out, I went over through diamond notch.

[00:43:24] I went right by Southwest Hunter.

[00:43:27] Oh wow.

[00:43:28] So yeah, that's all I say.

[00:43:29] I kind of see where you that's that's circ of West kill.

[00:43:33] A lot of people don't see the topography from West kill, but that is the one of

[00:43:38] those prominent circles of the Catskill mountains.

[00:43:42] And a lot of people don't realize that it's absolutely amazing.

[00:43:45] Yeah.

[00:43:46] So I actually didn't go up that I had hiked up that ridge right along the diamond

[00:43:51] notch trail years ago.

[00:43:54] And I'll have to say it was a great hemlock forest, but this time I was right down on

[00:44:00] two 14 when I started out in what they call the lane lanes, Brooke unit.

[00:44:09] There's little road, unmaintained trail.

[00:44:12] They call it that allegedly goes through the lanes, Brooke unit.

[00:44:16] I don't know how it got on this map because there was very little evidence of its

[00:44:20] existence for me.

[00:44:23] But as you got in deeper, I hit these logging roads and then eventually it was a forest walk

[00:44:29] to the summit of West kill.

[00:44:31] Yeah.

[00:44:32] I went right by that feature that you pointed out to me a few weeks ago.

[00:44:35] That's a little bit further east of there.

[00:44:38] Nice.

[00:44:39] Yeah.

[00:44:40] See?

[00:44:41] I know my shit.

[00:44:42] Yeah.

[00:44:43] Well, yeah.

[00:44:44] Sometimes you're just like Tad second guesses me is like, Hey, you don't

[00:44:46] know anything.

[00:44:47] I'm just trying to bring you back to earth, make you a little more humble.

[00:44:53] That's my job.

[00:44:54] Right, Danny?

[00:44:55] Right.

[00:44:56] Doesn't somebody have to humble?

[00:44:57] I freaking I'm humble as fuck.

[00:44:59] God damn.

[00:45:00] Humble.

[00:45:01] I'm humble as fuck.

[00:45:03] It's yeah.

[00:45:06] So good.

[00:45:07] Awesome.

[00:45:08] You know, it's always a good time to go out and do your own thing.

[00:45:11] So Sunday I did my own thing somewhat.

[00:45:16] I went up with Berg trail all trail.

[00:45:18] I wanted to go up Woodenberg for the first time.

[00:45:21] I haven't been up Woodenberg in a long time.

[00:45:24] Last time I was up there was like, I couldn't remember 2019.

[00:45:27] So it was five years ago.

[00:45:30] So five years between the last time you were there and then this weekend.

[00:45:35] That's amazing.

[00:45:36] Wow.

[00:45:37] Yeah.

[00:45:38] I it's tough.

[00:45:39] It's tough.

[00:45:40] That's why.

[00:45:41] And I got to admit the last time I went up there, I seriously did not remember

[00:45:45] anything whatsoever of this mountain.

[00:45:47] It was I got to admit it was fucking brutal.

[00:45:50] Twenty five hundred feet of elevation gain from the bottom to the top.

[00:45:54] Three point nine miles is with the terrain sucks balls.

[00:46:01] What to say that?

[00:46:02] Yeah, you know, I mean, you say that and going up is a strenuous hike, but

[00:46:07] really the worst part about doing Woodenberg is an up and down is going back down because

[00:46:14] once you get down, right, because once you get down over those little rock ledges and

[00:46:19] you're back on the trail, it's just forever and two point six miles from the junction.

[00:46:25] It's crazy.

[00:46:27] It's horrible.

[00:46:28] But you know what?

[00:46:29] I was glad I did this because there was only you know, I met a lot of people

[00:46:34] on the way going up.

[00:46:36] There's a lot of people coming down and there was one trail runner that I said

[00:46:40] hi to and he basically didn't say anything to me.

[00:46:43] So I was basically like the whole scene and I forgot what it was.

[00:46:48] Well, fuck me. Right.

[00:46:50] And I was I was like, take it easy, buddy.

[00:46:52] Like, have a good day, buddy.

[00:46:54] But you know, I greeted a lot of people.

[00:46:58] A lot of people were very nice.

[00:47:00] When I got to the top, there was three couples there and they were they're pretty

[00:47:04] cool. One of them was like off to the left.

[00:47:10] One of them was right in the middle of the viewpoint, which was kind of annoying.

[00:47:14] And then the other one was just off the side and she and the guy was and the

[00:47:22] girl was was absolutely flabbergasted by the view because there was their first

[00:47:27] time up here in Wittenberg.

[00:47:28] They were absolutely loving it.

[00:47:31] But this this other couple went to the couple that was sitting right in the

[00:47:34] middle of the view and they asked to take their picture.

[00:47:38] And the couple rejected.

[00:47:40] They said no.

[00:47:41] And I was just like, are you kidding me?

[00:47:44] So I yelled out like, I'll take your picture.

[00:47:46] I'm a nice person.

[00:47:47] And I took the person's picture.

[00:47:49] And every time I took the picture, I'm like, let's move over here so we can

[00:47:52] block that person's view so we can get them out of the picture.

[00:47:56] I'm like, it was ridiculous.

[00:47:58] But they were very grateful.

[00:48:00] I took awesome pictures.

[00:48:01] The other couple was like, let me.

[00:48:03] Can you take our pictures?

[00:48:04] Yes, I can.

[00:48:05] And then I gave them advice.

[00:48:06] You know, going over to Cornell.

[00:48:08] I'm like, oh, yeah, it's easy.

[00:48:09] It's not that bad.

[00:48:10] They went over there and then I had to submit to myself.

[00:48:14] I was just blown away.

[00:48:16] Ten minutes sitting there with the summit to myself.

[00:48:19] And the views were absolutely phenomenal.

[00:48:22] Wasn't too muggy out.

[00:48:24] Wasn't too anything.

[00:48:25] I think I killed myself.

[00:48:27] I think I got up to the top.

[00:48:30] Let me get I am trying to push myself a little bit too hard now

[00:48:34] because of the I got the presidential traverse coming up in like 40 days.

[00:48:41] Well, I think I pushed myself up to the top of Wittenberg in an hour and 45

[00:48:45] minutes, so it was a little rough.

[00:48:49] But on the way down, it was phenomenal.

[00:48:52] Listen to the thrushes.

[00:48:54] Thrush were everywhere, every place all over the place.

[00:48:57] It was absolutely stunning.

[00:48:59] And I couldn't ask for a better day.

[00:49:01] I was sweaty.

[00:49:02] I ran out of water right at the like the bridge, right going over the bridge.

[00:49:07] I ran out of water, which was like this is perfect.

[00:49:10] And I got to meet some awesome trailhead stewards down there.

[00:49:15] Natalie, I forget her sons and her husband's name, but they were really cool.

[00:49:19] They're very nice and they were very welcoming.

[00:49:23] And they only said they only had like like 15 people total for the day.

[00:49:28] Absolute study day.

[00:49:29] And they were out working on a on a Tuesday.

[00:49:32] Oh, this was Sunday.

[00:49:34] Oh, you were up there on Sunday.

[00:49:35] Oh, that's right.

[00:49:36] I went to you.

[00:49:37] You're not even today's hike yet.

[00:49:38] OK, yeah.

[00:49:39] You're like a hiking monster recently.

[00:49:43] When I get the time, I will freaking hike the crap out of it.

[00:49:45] A month ago, I was like shaming you for not hiking.

[00:49:48] And now here you are like doing a hike every other day.

[00:49:52] Exactly. And, you know, and then we go on to today.

[00:49:55] I go up also like that.

[00:49:57] It's close to me.

[00:49:58] I could fly up it.

[00:50:00] And I was just like, you know what?

[00:50:01] What the hell? I went up it.

[00:50:03] Absolute phenomenal day.

[00:50:04] Trail conditions were perfect.

[00:50:05] Wind was at that breeze of where it kept the black flies and at bay.

[00:50:10] And Fire Tower was absolutely stunning.

[00:50:15] I got to admit, Balsam Lake offers one of the greatest views

[00:50:19] that you can get if the cat's close.

[00:50:20] You can see anything and everything.

[00:50:22] And I was very, very happy, very pleased.

[00:50:28] What else can I say?

[00:50:29] Just the cat's close.

[00:50:31] I'm going to ask you this question.

[00:50:34] In light of our recent conversation about Graham and Double Top

[00:50:39] on your way up to Balsam Lake Mountain,

[00:50:41] did you trespass on the Gould property?

[00:50:45] I wanted to so bad.

[00:50:46] Yeah, but you didn't.

[00:50:48] You restrain yourself.

[00:50:50] You know, the herd path is you can still see it from that spot.

[00:50:53] It's still prominent.

[00:50:54] Like, it's not like it hasn't been.

[00:50:56] Stop. Stop.

[00:50:58] It's not a herd path.

[00:50:59] It was a Jeep.

[00:51:00] It was a Jeep road or access trail to the radio tower.

[00:51:04] This was like is as much of a road as you get over 3000 feet in the Catskills.

[00:51:10] And they they said people were doing environmental damage

[00:51:15] by hiking on that cheap.

[00:51:17] Yeah, you can still see the whole path.

[00:51:19] I took a video from it.

[00:51:20] Check it out on the Instagram.

[00:51:22] You can easily see the herd path from people created.

[00:51:25] It not has done anything and not as regrowth or anything like that.

[00:51:29] It's it's absolutely us.

[00:51:31] Before we move on, Danny, Danny Jeberhite Graham.

[00:51:35] No, I started this after.

[00:51:38] I'm so keeping it legal.

[00:51:40] Don't want to mess with the hunters.

[00:51:42] Don't want to mess with the millionaires.

[00:51:44] Ah, there you go.

[00:51:46] Well, maybe we'll have to ask you.

[00:51:48] Maybe we'll have to ask you to leave the show then, Danny.

[00:51:51] We got to mess with the millionaires, man.

[00:51:53] Yeah, you might not be our type of guest.

[00:51:55] Yeah, now we are.

[00:51:58] Oh, yes. Nice.

[00:51:59] Just so once again, awesome.

[00:52:02] Previous Hikes Catskill News volunteer definitely will be talking about that

[00:52:06] tonight with Danny.

[00:52:08] 3500 Club has the trail of stores that slide to Wittenberg Mountain.

[00:52:11] Checked out on their website.

[00:52:12] Catskill Trail Crew has a bunch of stuff coming up.

[00:52:15] Catskill Mountain Club has a definitely a bunch of stuff coming up as well.

[00:52:19] Visitor Center has a bunch of opportunities.

[00:52:22] Jaller Rovers Trail Crew, I know it's all over the place.

[00:52:25] And the Bradley Mountain Fire Tower has definitely some opportunities.

[00:52:28] And also, if you need stickers,

[00:52:30] contact me or go to Camp Catskill.

[00:52:34] Check it out.

[00:52:35] So weather forecast. Let's check it out.

[00:52:37] I'm going to go with Balsam Lake Mountain this week because I was there.

[00:52:40] So we'll see what's going on this weekend.

[00:52:43] Friday looks like a little rain showers

[00:52:46] throughout the day.

[00:52:48] High of maybe around 52, low of 46.

[00:52:52] Not bad. Windchill here and there at 10 mile per hour.

[00:52:56] Saturday looking a little bit better up in the mid 50s to maybe

[00:53:01] mid 40s. Rain showers here and there, but mostly cloudy skies.

[00:53:06] And Sunday it's saying rain showers again,

[00:53:09] basically throughout the whole weekend, it's saying rain showers.

[00:53:12] But this is spring. We're going to have those conditions all the time.

[00:53:15] Rain showers throughout high of maybe mid 50s, mid 40s low.

[00:53:22] So with wind, hopefully the wind stays up.

[00:53:25] It keeps those fricking bugs at bay because the bugs are absolutely

[00:53:28] a choice as they weren't bad today. I had a great phenomenal time.

[00:53:31] The wind was perfect.

[00:53:33] Five to 10 miles per hour up on Balsam Lake today.

[00:53:36] And I didn't have any bug bites.

[00:53:37] I didn't have any problems with the bugs. But, you know,

[00:53:40] Balsam Lake is sitting right on that edge of the Catskills

[00:53:43] where it's the highest that will keep the wind at the most times.

[00:53:47] There'll be no there'll be wind all the time.

[00:53:49] I've never been up there without any wind.

[00:53:51] So that's just me.

[00:53:54] What do you so? Yeah, get out there.

[00:53:57] We can hike, volunteer, whatever you want.

[00:54:01] Do what Danny does, hike and volunteer.

[00:54:04] Just get out there.

[00:54:06] Exactly. Do what Ted doesn't do was his volunteer.

[00:54:09] He doesn't volunteer that much.

[00:54:11] Actually, I don't know.

[00:54:12] I'm very happy that Ted does the parking lot pickups that he said the 10,

[00:54:16] at least 10 pieces.

[00:54:18] Oh, yeah. And every little bit helps.

[00:54:20] So thanks, Ted.

[00:54:22] Yeah. And it's it's it's amazing.

[00:54:25] Not only you got to find him.

[00:54:26] Yeah. Not only what you find.

[00:54:28] Yeah. I'm glad you're on the show tonight, Danny.

[00:54:30] You're going to be my wingman from now on.

[00:54:33] You and I versus Stas.

[00:54:35] OK, man to the sidekick. I like it.

[00:54:37] Yeah, that's right.

[00:54:39] So zero responsibility.

[00:54:42] Yeah, I mean, the the leave no trace doesn't start at the trail.

[00:54:46] It starts everywhere at home.

[00:54:49] Yep. That's right. Correct.

[00:54:51] Correct. All right.

[00:54:52] So we're going to go into some Catskill Mountain history.

[00:54:55] How about that real quick?

[00:54:58] All right.

[00:54:59] So I pulled out a book from called The Catskills from Timoth

[00:55:03] Longstreet.

[00:55:04] Awesome book has a description of the Catskills all over the place.

[00:55:07] So I took this from a chapter called Big Engine, not Indian.

[00:55:14] Big Engine, I and J.

[00:55:16] I. So talks about Shandakan and Big Engine.

[00:55:19] So I'm going to read this from the chapter also.

[00:55:21] Shandakan is the village at the mouth of the West Kilp clove

[00:55:25] and halfway between the entrances of the Woodson Valley

[00:55:28] and Big Engine valleys, two valley ways that approach slide mountain.

[00:55:32] We chose Big Engine, the name for strapping Redskin, who got in trouble

[00:55:36] because they would murder people.

[00:55:38] The name, of course, have been vandalized into Big Indian,

[00:55:42] just as the Adirondacks, where we prefer to call good significant

[00:55:46] Tahas Mount Marcy.

[00:55:48] We shall continue to Germanize our imaginations

[00:55:51] they starved to death, probably until somebody has power to show us

[00:55:55] that there is a good deal in the name.

[00:55:57] Why hotel men?

[00:55:58] To mention that just in one class should continue to propagate

[00:56:01] Hillcrest and Bellevue's by the hundreds when they can make money

[00:56:05] out of names of distinction and common syndrome

[00:56:09] that does not appeal to the one proud American wits.

[00:56:12] Big Engine Valley begins with a curve that shuts it from the work

[00:56:16] a day world that road and rail, having once wrapped itself

[00:56:19] around the satisfactory and its stir of seclusion.

[00:56:23] It starts off upon the mission of leading back into the heart

[00:56:27] of the wild country.

[00:56:28] The afternoon was as balmy and deceptive spring

[00:56:31] knows how to be a win as tender as the blast of a newborn lamp.

[00:56:35] Played down on a little side cleanse and whispered into the trees

[00:56:39] until it was once ready to believe the tale of summer being on the way.

[00:56:43] The stream curved to the one side and valley bottom to the other.

[00:56:46] Always clear, always rushing.

[00:56:48] Big Engine is the birth date of the esophagus

[00:56:51] and which conjures into a picturesque charm

[00:56:54] to those who brought back the mention of the round out

[00:56:57] the Never Sink and the Skokarit.

[00:56:59] They rounded out the curve

[00:57:00] and to the mountaineering road, always to find some charming slope

[00:57:04] ahead of our some group little hemlocks meeting together.

[00:57:08] Always there was such glimpse of the creeks hurrying down the corners.

[00:57:12] Instead, the mountains of the sky, the Indians might have called

[00:57:16] the country landscape land of the little rivers for down

[00:57:19] each glen sprang some new brook joined the brightest opus.

[00:57:23] Brute and I could not help exclaiming in their beauty

[00:57:27] so intangible and so unpeer-detectable.

[00:57:29] It is for streams that the cascades are bright to be ranked

[00:57:32] the great family of American parks.

[00:57:34] Their volume is not compared to the waters of the Adirondacks of Canada,

[00:57:39] where their scale of things are beyond imagination.

[00:57:42] Neither is there a broken forest large enough to earn

[00:57:45] the name of the wilderness.

[00:57:46] The heart cannot leap as it does not thought of the balsam

[00:57:49] guarded glories of the Osibol and Orquette or the Atabadi and the Rochalu.

[00:57:54] But the sunny afternoon in April, you will go with me

[00:57:57] as I go through the brute forest, glen to glen,

[00:58:00] glenary and their cascades that rejoice in New York City,

[00:58:03] such as the wealth and beauty close at hand of the streams

[00:58:07] of the Catskills that bring up through the Aesopus area.

[00:58:13] Pretty crazy.

[00:58:14] It's pretty nice that

[00:58:16] that this still pertains to this day

[00:58:19] that you can go up going up the slide on what is it?

[00:58:22] 47, right?

[00:58:25] 47 that goes up through.

[00:58:27] I think so.

[00:58:28] Yeah, that goes up through the area.

[00:58:30] You can see all those awesome tributaries going down into the Aesopus

[00:58:35] joining in. It's absolutely amazing.

[00:58:38] Yeah, that well, I've done a fair amount of off trail hiking through there.

[00:58:42] And there's some pretty remarkable areas tucked up in there.

[00:58:50] Yeah.

[00:58:51] The whole Aesopus, the whole Aesopus in and of itself is just

[00:58:55] an interesting water course.

[00:58:56] The way it goes clockwise around Panther Mountain

[00:59:01] is pretty cool.

[00:59:03] I got to get I got to get that guy back on here about the

[00:59:06] the Panther Mountain meteorite crater.

[00:59:08] That's kind of we got to get him back on here

[00:59:10] because now like it's not 13 episodes where a hundred and something

[00:59:15] episodes and so on and 27.

[00:59:17] So a little bit more mature than I was back then.

[00:59:22] So and then we got Tad here to ask him controversial questions on

[00:59:27] where were you on the night of August 1st, 1822?

[00:59:33] Like that, that type of question.

[00:59:35] Yeah, that's true.

[00:59:39] But so a little bit of Catskill Mountain history from Timor's Longstreet.

[00:59:43] Once again, get out and get his books, the Catskills.

[00:59:46] I will tag that also.

[00:59:49] Awesome stuff about history of Indians, just mountains,

[00:59:53] the mountain names, the the Native American history of stuff in the Catskills.

[00:59:59] Check it out.

[01:00:00] So last set of sponsors and then we'll finally get on to Danny.

[01:00:05] Mighty mischievous about time.

[01:00:07] So sorry, it's been a hundred.

[01:00:08] Wow. Hour nine minutes. Sorry, Danny.

[01:00:12] OK, always fine.

[01:00:13] It's always hard.

[01:00:15] He's got to say, is it OK?

[01:00:16] That's this is a question we're going to have at the the expo.

[01:00:19] Is this too long or too short?

[01:00:20] What is it too long?

[01:00:22] Perfect. Perfect.

[01:00:23] It's the history. It doesn't matter.

[01:00:24] It's the history that we're here for.

[01:00:26] So as long as you're interacting, we're happy.

[01:00:29] Nice. I like this.

[01:00:30] I like this guy.

[01:00:32] So you're going to be at the Catskill Espo.

[01:00:34] All right. He's going to be our spokesperson.

[01:00:36] So is it time for some new gear hiking as Catskills?

[01:00:39] Say no more. Kim Catskill in Tannersville has all your hiking needs.

[01:00:42] Footwear, socks, moisture wicking shirts, free dried meals,

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[01:00:48] They have all the essential needs for you located in Tannersville and online.

[01:00:52] Check out Catskill.

[01:00:54] If you want free stickers, stop here.

[01:00:57] Ted, nice. Well done.

[01:01:00] Are those the the stainless steel or the galvanized mountain lion traps?

[01:01:05] Because I know the last mountain lion that I got in my trap,

[01:01:09] I just had the galvanized one I bought at Wal-Mart and the mountain lion.

[01:01:14] I don't even think he was full grown, but he just ripped right through that

[01:01:18] and walked off with my trap.

[01:01:20] So if if Camp Catskill is selling those stainless steel ones

[01:01:26] with the heavy duty bolts, I got to pick up a couple of those.

[01:01:29] What do you think, Danny?

[01:01:31] Yeah, I think the upgrade is necessary.

[01:01:33] Anything cast would probably not be recommended.

[01:01:35] But yeah, if he's walking away with it, time to step up the game.

[01:01:39] Excellent.

[01:01:41] All right. So also, if you're ready, hit the trails.

[01:01:44] Make sure you take the scenic route.

[01:01:46] Scenic route guiding there here to help you where they go big or small.

[01:01:49] Like Marcia slide or low in the sewers.

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[01:01:56] Also, if you mentioned the podcast, you can get 10 percent off.

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[01:02:34] Finally, let's get on to the guest of the night.

[01:02:41] Danny, a.k.a.

[01:02:42] My name is Seavius, who's been following

[01:02:45] the podcast for quite a long time.

[01:02:46] He's been in contact for a while.

[01:02:48] So, Danny, welcome to the show, buddy.

[01:02:51] Nice to be here. Thank you very much.

[01:02:53] Good. It's good to have you here.

[01:02:54] Are you wasted yet?

[01:02:56] No, I'm still still

[01:02:58] trying to be responsible.

[01:03:00] I have an early morning.

[01:03:02] I know what time is your early morning.

[01:03:04] So I live in Long Island.

[01:03:06] Any Catskill hike is a minimum two and a half hour drive.

[01:03:10] Nice.

[01:03:10] So those eight, nine o'clock

[01:03:14] a.m. starts usually start about four or five for me.

[01:03:18] So it's like a regular workday up at four.

[01:03:21] All right. Well, let's get this going.

[01:03:23] I understand.

[01:03:23] I definitely understand because I got to wake up at four o'clock again.

[01:03:27] So good to have you on here, Danny.

[01:03:30] Listener spotlight tonight.

[01:03:31] This is our first time with listener spotlight.

[01:03:33] So Danny has been following the podcast for quite a long time.

[01:03:37] Has been tagging us, has been sending me messages in a while.

[01:03:40] And I always am grateful to hear his stuff

[01:03:44] and to hear his daily lifetime with the Catskills

[01:03:48] and, of course, a volunteering.

[01:03:50] So he'll be on tonight.

[01:03:51] Talk about that.

[01:03:52] So why don't you give a little background about yourself, Danny?

[01:03:55] So I am a my dad's a pastor.

[01:03:57] I'm a PK.

[01:03:59] So Mom used to take us camping a lot.

[01:04:04] Dad wasn't always with us, but that came that that was involved with the church.

[01:04:09] But Mom and my aunt would take us caterskills and wildwood.

[01:04:13] And this is all under 10.

[01:04:15] So just always outdoors as a kid, because dad is a pastor.

[01:04:20] I wasn't in Boy Scouts.

[01:04:22] We did something a little different called Royal Rangers.

[01:04:24] So it's the same concept as Boy Scouts.

[01:04:27] But there is a just a little bit more touching on Native American things,

[01:04:31] food and culture, leatherworks, even Revolutionary War,

[01:04:39] the muskets, tomahawks, you know, different cool things

[01:04:43] that Boy Scouts wouldn't really get into.

[01:04:45] We camped out on Iona Island a lot.

[01:04:48] We did a lot of Hudson Valley hikes.

[01:04:52] And then I had high school and all of that disappeared.

[01:04:56] Got involved with skateboarding and girls and.

[01:04:59] Was living my dream and then Corona happened.

[01:05:02] And I asked a good buddy of mine, Greg, can you recommend the hike?

[01:05:07] He recommended Popaloban Torn.

[01:05:10] I'm not sure if you've heard of that.

[01:05:11] It's a memorial hike for the West Point cadets open to the public.

[01:05:19] Short hike, 45 minutes.

[01:05:20] I was done with it.

[01:05:21] And I called my friend Greg back.

[01:05:24] I said, I need a little bit more.

[01:05:26] What do you have for me?

[01:05:27] So he told me to take a break next to the Beacon Fire Tower and back.

[01:05:32] So that was about 16 or 18 miles.

[01:05:35] And that started the hike.

[01:05:37] That's when I knew that's what I needed.

[01:05:39] I needed to be outside.

[01:05:42] So thankfully for Corona, it was a very traumatic time

[01:05:46] in a lot of people's lives.

[01:05:48] But I used it for what I could get out of it at that time.

[01:05:53] I increased my circle of friends phenomenally.

[01:05:57] And I was introduced back into the world of outdoors and volunteering

[01:06:02] and helping and just getting out of your house.

[01:06:07] That's that smile on the face.

[01:06:08] I wish people could see that smile on your face.

[01:06:11] You know, that's the one thing that I wish people could see.

[01:06:15] So the hiking kind of rejuvenate to makes you make.

[01:06:19] Well, who is this great character?

[01:06:22] He is he lives in, I believe, Peekskill.

[01:06:25] He is a super of mine at work.

[01:06:28] I believe he is the real Greg Outdoors on Instagram.

[01:06:32] Great friend, great hiker.

[01:06:35] He's actually doing the presidential hike sometime in the near future.

[01:06:41] July, if it's July, I'll be with him.

[01:06:44] It's probably not July.

[01:06:45] I haven't spoken to him about that.

[01:06:47] But I my knees cannot do more than, let's say, 18 miles a day.

[01:06:53] So I regrettably can't join him on that hike.

[01:06:55] But a great guy, great outdoors, great outdoorsman.

[01:06:59] Danny, you can do it. Trust me.

[01:07:02] I can do it. My knees can.

[01:07:03] Yeah, I have my knee.

[01:07:05] I say the same thing, but I did the president answer to first 34 miles.

[01:07:09] It was tough, but I did it.

[01:07:11] So I don't know if I could do that.

[01:07:12] Maybe maybe in two days, 1616.

[01:07:17] We'll see, Danny, I will.

[01:07:19] I will hook up with you and we'll do something together, buddy.

[01:07:21] So I'm down.

[01:07:22] So what initially drew you to hiking?

[01:07:26] Like, was it the Rangers program or was it, of course, the horrible and yes.

[01:07:34] Yeah. So it had to be the Royal Rangers.

[01:07:35] So I own island is a close to the public recently close to the public.

[01:07:41] I believe it's a bird sanctuary used to be a military base.

[01:07:46] Used to be a bunch of different things owned by the state.

[01:07:50] And we would camp there preteen teen.

[01:07:53] I'm not exactly sure when it was, but when you're very influential

[01:07:58] or easy to be influenced,

[01:08:03] there are a lot of a lot of cool outdoor activities, hiking.

[01:08:07] We so it's an island.

[01:08:08] We were allowed to play like hide and go seek on our own on the whole island.

[01:08:12] Just, you know, don't go in the water.

[01:08:13] Don't touch anything you're not allowed to touch.

[01:08:15] But the freedom of being outside and finding things.

[01:08:21] So there is just ruins and springs

[01:08:25] and things that even now you find as an adult, shiny rocks.

[01:08:28] This thing's that interest you.

[01:08:31] And you're like, you know what?

[01:08:32] This is this is what life is about.

[01:08:35] Yeah. You know, and you know, Danny, I hate that I ask everybody this

[01:08:39] because, you know, I got to admit it's a generation kind of thing.

[01:08:42] How old are you? I am 43.

[01:08:45] See your your your age.

[01:08:47] Tad me you, you know, we're at the age of, you know, just going and exploring.

[01:08:53] It's just speak for yourself.

[01:08:56] I'm like decades past 43.

[01:08:59] Well, we had to follow somebody on these explorations.

[01:09:02] Yeah, right.

[01:09:03] You know, but we're all about exploring.

[01:09:06] We're all about like, you know, like what is this?

[01:09:10] Why is this down here?

[01:09:11] Why is this crayfish like going this way?

[01:09:14] Like what leads to this?

[01:09:16] What does this creek lead to?

[01:09:17] And then all of a sudden you're lost.

[01:09:20] Yes. And that's the best part, getting lost and figuring out I

[01:09:23] two more hours of sunlight.

[01:09:25] I guess I could wait two more hours and start heading back.

[01:09:28] Right.

[01:09:29] God, you know, those those times of where people weren't worried of us,

[01:09:34] where there is no like we could do our own shit and come back

[01:09:38] was just those those days.

[01:09:40] Tad, you know, do you feel that same way with with your little girl,

[01:09:44] with your girls?

[01:09:46] Yeah, I so I have two daughters and is

[01:09:50] many parents would appreciate my

[01:09:53] my two daughters are from opposite hemispheres

[01:09:57] and they're both great and wonderful people.

[01:10:03] But I notice that the one who's older,

[01:10:08] who lives that outdoor active lifestyle,

[01:10:11] you know, it's kind of you.

[01:10:14] You go out on these long hikes, these long outings,

[01:10:17] and it's kind of, you know, the tranquility of it is like a tranquilizer

[01:10:22] and it just mellows you out, gets you to slow down

[01:10:25] and focus on some pretty simple things.

[01:10:27] And I think to go through life today

[01:10:29] with these nonstop distractions and interruptions

[01:10:33] and sensory overload of the social world,

[01:10:38] if you can go out in the woods for 16 miles

[01:10:42] and not be interrupted by anything other than some mosquitoes,

[01:10:47] some nettles grabbing at your legs,

[01:10:50] you know, stepping over some rocks, some roots.

[01:10:53] But it's not the view at the top, it's the journey up and down.

[01:10:57] And it's, you know, it's a cool experience.

[01:10:58] And it's a whole mindset of getting into that flow

[01:11:01] that makes it extra worthwhile.

[01:11:04] Right. Absolutely.

[01:11:05] I'm fine. And, you know, Danny experiences this and, you know,

[01:11:12] like what drew you to the Catskills, though?

[01:11:17] OK, so again, my circle of friends grew phenomenally through Instagram.

[01:11:24] A lot of people, a lot of my friends.

[01:11:28] Have issues with social media, understandably,

[01:11:32] and not even to the point where you can't put your phone down,

[01:11:36] but just meeting the wrong people and opening yourself up

[01:11:40] to different situations, I guess.

[01:11:43] I used it for what I wanted from and I got a I got a crap ton of awesome

[01:11:47] friends, including the podcast.

[01:11:49] So another friend from Instagram and a lot of these people I haven't met yet.

[01:11:54] But I don't remember this guy's name, HB Trails on Instagram.

[01:11:59] He. Repeatedly has done the fire tower challenge,

[01:12:04] not the fastest, but the first of the year.

[01:12:07] So he sends in his application usually July 1st.

[01:12:11] And I was asking him, what is this fire tower thing?

[01:12:15] I don't even know what a fire tower was. And.

[01:12:19] I have to admit that it took me probably three or four

[01:12:22] or 12 times of going to a fire tower before I got enough courage

[01:12:26] to get to the top.

[01:12:29] Just scary. But yeah, my my friend HB Trails

[01:12:32] showed the fire tower challenge DC.

[01:12:35] And that was my hunter was my first cast skills hike.

[01:12:41] I went up a really short way.

[01:12:43] I'm not sure which which parking lot it was.

[01:12:46] Went up the shortest way to.

[01:12:47] How low, baby?

[01:12:48] Yeah, I didn't know about Southwest Hunter.

[01:12:51] I missed that. I didn't know about Ruskin East Rusk.

[01:12:53] I missed all of that.

[01:12:54] But again, I was just there for the fire tower.

[01:12:56] And that was a rough way up as a mountain hiker.

[01:13:01] I said, Hunter, one and done.

[01:13:03] I'll never do it again.

[01:13:04] And it's we're probably up to about 12 times now since I've been to Hunter.

[01:13:08] So it never, it never ends.

[01:13:09] It started with the fire towers and it's probably never going to end.

[01:13:13] Good. You know, once again, that like

[01:13:18] break into somebody that that little introduction,

[01:13:21] the fire towers introduces you into a whole different world.

[01:13:26] And it gets, you know, you went up Becker Hollow.

[01:13:30] I got to admit that's insane because that is two point two miles

[01:13:33] with around 2200 gains.

[01:13:35] So you're having the one of the most difficult hikes in the Catskills.

[01:13:40] I got to admit, if you don't go off lost clover,

[01:13:42] you don't go off Catterskill High Peak from the south.

[01:13:45] You have one of the most difficult hikes.

[01:13:47] And if you can withstand that,

[01:13:50] I got to admit you're in Golden for the rest of the time.

[01:13:53] Definitely did not withstand that.

[01:13:55] I barely made it up.

[01:13:57] And I'm thinking to myself, like,

[01:13:59] what kind of people do this to a daily basis?

[01:14:03] The and that was early, too.

[01:14:06] So you you you were a khaki hiker.

[01:14:08] I was a denim hiker.

[01:14:10] I love this guy.

[01:14:12] Definitely had the cotton shirt and.

[01:14:16] OK, so I had I had fancy boots.

[01:14:18] I had Zambrolin hiking boots, but the denim was with me on every hike.

[01:14:25] Sweating my brains off.

[01:14:26] So, you know, living and learning.

[01:14:28] And that is one excessively aggressive hike for your first hike.

[01:14:33] Yeah. You know, and like you said, living and learning.

[01:14:36] That's what it's all about.

[01:14:38] You know, I started off once again wearing khakis, like you said,

[01:14:42] and a band t-shirt Exodus.

[01:14:45] And beyond that, I was just like, oh, crap.

[01:14:48] Good going out in the winter.

[01:14:50] My my khakis are freezing.

[01:14:53] Yeah. And they're freezing over and now it would become Jinco jeans.

[01:14:56] And my it's just I'm wearing too much.

[01:15:01] I have too much on me.

[01:15:02] Why don't I change to, you know, some some stuff that's lighter

[01:15:05] that moisture working and stuff like that? So.

[01:15:09] Yeah, my my pant game, I used to do denim jeans

[01:15:11] and I would have like a fleece, like a pajama pant liner

[01:15:15] that I would wear and be cold.

[01:15:18] And once you step up to rayons and the correct gear,

[01:15:22] you're in a single pair of pants.

[01:15:24] So your weight is reduced and your comfort is increased.

[01:15:27] Just education. You need to know.

[01:15:30] And and people often who people who don't hike

[01:15:33] or they don't hike in the winter,

[01:15:35] you tell them that you were out the past weekend hiking

[01:15:37] and, you know, the temperatures were like eight degrees, 12 degrees.

[01:15:42] They're like, wow, weren't you cold?

[01:15:44] And you're no, I wasn't cold in the least, man.

[01:15:47] I was, you know, going up.

[01:15:49] I didn't have a lot of layers on and I was venting and I was fine.

[01:15:54] And as I'm getting to the summit, I start pulling on a couple of layers

[01:15:59] and get cold once.

[01:16:00] And I was out in single digits or low double digits.

[01:16:03] So, yeah, having the right gear surely makes it a lot more enjoyable.

[01:16:09] Yeah, this was a warm winter, but I don't think I use my winter jacket.

[01:16:14] Other than we didn't even use it when we sat for lunch,

[01:16:16] because we barely sat for lunch, but I didn't use my winter jacket

[01:16:19] until springtime.

[01:16:21] But yeah, you just got to keep moving.

[01:16:23] If you stop, you die. So don't stop.

[01:16:25] Yeah, truth, truth, truth.

[01:16:28] So do you hike?

[01:16:30] Of course, you know, being from Long Island,

[01:16:33] you got to hike anywhere other than the Catskills, buddy.

[01:16:36] Yeah, so I am.

[01:16:38] My first couple of years were Hudson Valley only.

[01:16:41] When I'm bored and don't want to drive, I'll do Long Island.

[01:16:44] There's a couple of extremely populated hikes out here.

[01:16:48] But Hudson Valley is my home, hiking wise,

[01:16:52] and the Catskills is my dessert that I get whenever I can.

[01:16:57] So you get around in the Hudson Valley,

[01:17:00] you hike Harriman State Park and the surrounding areas?

[01:17:04] Yes. So there's Storm King, Shalimar,

[01:17:09] Fonstock across the Hudson, any one of those little parks.

[01:17:14] The Hudson Highlands.

[01:17:16] Hudson Highlands, amazing spots.

[01:17:19] Sterling has a fire tower.

[01:17:22] Harriman has a fire tower.

[01:17:25] Anywhere, just go and explore.

[01:17:30] Do what you like. Walk at your speed.

[01:17:33] So for somebody who's had a lot of fun,

[01:17:38] and has more of a fair balance of Catskill hiking versus Hudson Valley hiking than I have,

[01:17:45] how would you compare and contrast the hiking in the Catskills

[01:17:50] versus the hiking in the Hudson Valley at these places?

[01:17:55] Harriman, Hudson Highlands, Sterling State Forests, etc.

[01:18:01] The only similarity I'm going to say is the bugs.

[01:18:05] There's more people, there's more trash,

[01:18:10] there's less parking in the Hudson Valley.

[01:18:16] I very often do a Catskill peak on a Saturday,

[01:18:19] and then I'll go on a Sunday and explore in the Hudson Valley.

[01:18:25] The elevation just isn't there.

[01:18:27] You're not going up 2,000 feet of elevation.

[01:18:31] It's just not there.

[01:18:32] So you can have a nice relaxing hike in the Hudson Valley.

[01:18:37] Don't get me wrong, there's still aggressive hikes.

[01:18:39] There's breakneck, which we all know is just up vertical rock climbs.

[01:18:44] So it depends on where you go,

[01:18:46] but you can find a nice rolling woods road in the Hudson Valley

[01:18:51] that'll get you to a peak.

[01:18:54] The Catskills is more aggressive.

[01:18:58] And again, everybody does it.

[01:19:00] People bring their children on it, so don't be afraid of it.

[01:19:03] Just be prepared.

[01:19:06] Correct.

[01:19:07] And both areas, the Catskills and down in the Hudson Valley area,

[01:19:12] still has its technical difficulties.

[01:19:15] People underestimate that 1,000 feet is 1,000 feet.

[01:19:19] It doesn't matter what level you're talking about.

[01:19:22] That it can still be dangerous.

[01:19:24] Yeah, very much so.

[01:19:26] I did a group hike on breakneck about two years ago,

[01:19:32] and someone was having heat issues.

[01:19:36] So regardless of where it was,

[01:19:38] thankfully I carried the ice

[01:19:40] and I was able to help this person with the ice,

[01:19:42] but they were close to fainting and on a rock ledge.

[01:19:46] So that could have ended completely different than the way it did.

[01:19:52] The risk is always there.

[01:19:53] The risk is always there.

[01:19:55] It's just your level of accepting it.

[01:19:59] You know, you want to stand on the edge?

[01:20:01] That's quite all right if you stand on the edge,

[01:20:03] but you have to be willing to stand on the edge.

[01:20:07] Yeah, so you mentioned that there's more people,

[01:20:10] more trash in the hiking areas in the Hudson Valley.

[01:20:15] One of the things I also found

[01:20:17] in the several times I've hiked in the Hudson Valley

[01:20:21] is there's a lot more trails, it seems.

[01:20:25] Yeah.

[01:20:26] Right?

[01:20:27] There's this amazing web or network of trails

[01:20:30] in Harriman State Park and in the surrounding areas.

[01:20:35] My first recent experience hiking in Harriman State Park

[01:20:39] a couple years ago,

[01:20:42] I just felt a different vibe

[01:20:44] hiking in the Hudson Valley than I do in the Catskills.

[01:20:47] Do you find that as well?

[01:20:49] I do, 100%.

[01:20:51] And again, it's where I started.

[01:20:55] So any time I parked the car, I instantly at ease.

[01:21:01] I'm an inner-city kid,

[01:21:03] so road noise is always involved in my life

[01:21:05] and hearing people scream in radio,

[01:21:07] that's extremely annoying,

[01:21:10] but it's a part of hiking in the Hudson Valley.

[01:21:14] You have to put in a good two miles

[01:21:16] to get away from all of that to avoid people,

[01:21:20] but...

[01:21:21] So being a person that, as Catskill,

[01:21:24] all Catskill and not Hudson, what's the different vibe?

[01:21:29] I gotta know that vibe.

[01:21:31] I know it's...

[01:21:35] I haven't hiked anywhere down there, I can say,

[01:21:38] but I know when you go kind of off the beaten path,

[01:21:44] you get kind of like a better vibe somewhat,

[01:21:47] but the Catskills offer so much.

[01:21:49] It's hard to explain vibe-wise.

[01:21:54] Well, explain it in terms that you associate with

[01:21:57] or you identify with it

[01:21:59] in terms of how the Hudson Valley hiking experience,

[01:22:05] not just in terms of the terrain

[01:22:07] and the vertical differences,

[01:22:10] but in terms of the overall experience

[01:22:13] is different than hiking in the Catskills.

[01:22:16] People are nice and people are mean everywhere you go.

[01:22:20] I've met some mean people in the Hudson Valley.

[01:22:22] I haven't had any mean people in the Catskills yet.

[01:22:28] Everywhere you go, you get the people who earbud in

[01:22:31] or they don't even say hi.

[01:22:33] That is what it is.

[01:22:35] In the Hudson Valley,

[01:22:37] there is some questionable characters,

[01:22:41] not dangerous in any way,

[01:22:43] but there's a lot more people.

[01:22:45] You're closer to Manhattan.

[01:22:47] Inexperienced hiker will cut their teeth down there

[01:22:51] before doing anything,

[01:22:53] and sneakers and cotton is big there.

[01:22:57] So that just lets you know the type of person

[01:22:59] that you're going to run into,

[01:23:01] and it doesn't say anything for them socially.

[01:23:05] They could be a nice person in sneakers and cotton,

[01:23:08] but they're just not knowing what to do.

[01:23:10] Radios will be playing more.

[01:23:12] Nice.

[01:23:13] When you tear open your cookie wrapper,

[01:23:15] that small piece you tear off,

[01:23:17] they let it go.

[01:23:19] No need for that.

[01:23:22] The biggest thing,

[01:23:24] the poopy paper.

[01:23:25] I don't understand why so many people use the paper.

[01:23:30] You're talking about poopy paper.

[01:23:32] What is with that?

[01:23:33] Is that a flavor, poopy paper?

[01:23:36] It is the one thing I will never pick up off the trail.

[01:23:40] Poopy paper.

[01:23:42] So when I did my first venture into Harrowman State Park

[01:23:46] a couple years ago,

[01:23:48] I had a lot of different sensory experiences that day.

[01:23:53] One of them was that my natural tendency

[01:23:57] to pick up everything on the trail

[01:24:01] that shouldn't be on the trail

[01:24:03] as I'm going down the trail,

[01:24:05] I couldn't do it.

[01:24:06] Because literally within the first 15 or 20 minutes,

[01:24:09] I had to turn around and go back to my Jeep

[01:24:12] and offload like leaders of accumulated trash.

[01:24:18] It was overwhelming.

[01:24:20] And I'll also say though in the same vein,

[01:24:25] I've also had experiences down there

[01:24:27] where you don't find anything on the trails.

[01:24:30] And a lot of that is the trail maintainer.

[01:24:33] A lot of that is the area of the park

[01:24:38] and how remote it is

[01:24:39] or how less of a magnet it is

[01:24:43] for people to come by and see certain features.

[01:24:45] But one of the bigger experiences I had

[01:24:48] that first day I drove into Harrowman,

[01:24:50] and let's see if you identify with this,

[01:24:54] driving over,

[01:24:56] I never had the sense that I was going into the woods,

[01:25:01] going into the wilderness.

[01:25:03] It was four-lane roads,

[01:25:06] fast drivers, motorcycles whizzing by.

[01:25:10] You get to the parking lot,

[01:25:12] there's picnickers, there's barbecue grills,

[01:25:15] there's the smell of the charcoal,

[01:25:18] the sizzling you hear,

[01:25:20] kids running around, families,

[01:25:22] cyclists getting together in their groups

[01:25:25] to go cycling.

[01:25:26] And when you go into the Catskills,

[01:25:29] I really feel, and how I drive into the Catskills,

[01:25:33] that you're really driving away from all that urbanization

[01:25:37] and you are going into the wilderness,

[01:25:40] into the woods,

[01:25:41] and you're unplugging from that social urban experience.

[01:25:47] Do you sense the same?

[01:25:49] Yeah, I 100% agree.

[01:25:54] The Hudson Valley was more set up for the family hiker.

[01:25:58] They have phenomenally large picnic areas.

[01:26:03] Throughout the parks, they even have these little Fs.

[01:26:06] I don't know if you've ever seen on the maps,

[01:26:08] the trail conference maps,

[01:26:09] there's a little F circle just like the parking lots

[01:26:11] and the shelters.

[01:26:12] And those are fireplaces throughout the parks.

[01:26:16] Sometimes they're double-sided for two families.

[01:26:18] They would expect families to go hiking through the park

[01:26:22] and stop and experience a barbecue at lunch.

[01:26:25] The place, it is extremely over-condensed,

[01:26:29] but thankfully, once you graduate from the Denims

[01:26:34] to the correct pair of pants,

[01:26:37] you know where to go to get away from those people.

[01:26:40] And they won't follow you more than a mile out on trail.

[01:26:45] You'll occasionally get your drunk man wandering the woods

[01:26:48] just trying to get away from his family.

[01:26:49] So you've seen me out there.

[01:26:51] Me too.

[01:26:52] The shirtless drunk man.

[01:26:54] Yeah, that's me.

[01:26:55] That's me.

[01:26:56] Shirtless, shirtless tad.

[01:26:57] Yeah.

[01:26:58] Hey, hey, they each their own.

[01:26:59] No worries.

[01:27:00] On weekends, I don't pour coffee in the Yeti cup.

[01:27:03] Okay?

[01:27:04] Right.

[01:27:05] So Danny, I can't blame people for exploring a little bit beyond

[01:27:11] their reach of Long Island and going beyond Suffolk County

[01:27:15] and Poughkeepsie and stuff like that.

[01:27:18] And I'm glad that New York State is doing this

[01:27:23] to get people beyond this area.

[01:27:25] And hopefully, people like you,

[01:27:27] people like our stewards and stuff like that,

[01:27:29] influence them to do the right thing.

[01:27:32] So we have, once again, amazing people like you on Instagram

[01:27:37] and hopefully just about influencing them

[01:27:41] to do the right thing with these things of, you know,

[01:27:44] like, hey, you might not just be dressed for this occasion.

[01:27:48] Maybe you should do this.

[01:27:50] And do you see that most of the time when you take,

[01:27:53] when you suggest this, do you see them taken the right way?

[01:27:56] You have to bring it.

[01:27:59] You can't, no one wants to be corrected.

[01:28:02] Even if they accept it, no one wants to be corrected.

[01:28:05] So you have to come in a way to that person that might work.

[01:28:11] There was an incident in Harriman with a New Jersey

[01:28:14] hiking group where they were 30 or 40 people deep.

[01:28:19] They were standing on the roofs of the shelters.

[01:28:21] They were climbing into mines, disturbing bats, major issues.

[01:28:26] And the D.C. got involved and no one got in trouble.

[01:28:32] It became all reeducation.

[01:28:34] And that's when I realized education is the only way out.

[01:28:39] I'll give you a thousand dollar fine.

[01:28:41] OK, now you're mad and we have a thousand dollars.

[01:28:43] Nothing's changed.

[01:28:44] So reeducation seems to be the biggest thing possible.

[01:28:49] Just this past Saturday, I was working in Minnewaska.

[01:28:55] And at the end of the day, I went to a well-known,

[01:29:01] very popular swimming area in Minnewaska and 20,

[01:29:07] 10 to 20 high school kids there and beer cans,

[01:29:11] two boxes full of beer cans,

[01:29:13] 60 cans of beer all on the floor,

[01:29:15] all cracked open from the whatever the chubby thing that they do.

[01:29:19] Just kids having fun. Kids having fun.

[01:29:22] So as a human being, just I'm completely disgusted by the amount of cans

[01:29:26] thrown on the floor like when you drink, throw it in the box.

[01:29:30] Anyway, whatever.

[01:29:31] So how do I how do I get these kids to to not be upset with me,

[01:29:39] not push me into the waterfall, but to also somewhat educate them?

[01:29:44] So right before I left them and just asked them, anyone jump in?

[01:29:48] You guys swim, you know, interacting with them.

[01:29:50] And again, I'm just a hiker. I'm nobody.

[01:29:52] But as a human being, I realize that there's 20 high school kids here.

[01:29:59] There might be one or two responsible ones in the group.

[01:30:02] So I always have again with Tad's going back to the Hudson Valley.

[01:30:08] I always have a regular big kitchen garbage bag in my bag.

[01:30:12] And then I have two or three small bags for like stuff that I pick up on the way.

[01:30:16] So right as I left the kids, I said, I have a huge shopping garbage bag.

[01:30:23] If you guys want it, it'll possibly make it easier for you to pick all this stuff up.

[01:30:28] And they were like, yeah, dude, that would be great.

[01:30:30] We would appreciate that.

[01:30:32] So now I let them know that someone on the outside knows that their trash is here

[01:30:37] and still just trying to be friendly and offer them to here's a garbage bag.

[01:30:42] Can you just please make sure you pick up your trash?

[01:30:45] And they were very friendly and accepting to.

[01:30:50] So, again, they were there. They were not going to leave the garbage anyway.

[01:30:53] But I feel that by offering the garbage bag in the slightest bit of way,

[01:31:00] they were like, you know what? We really need to make sure that this is cleaned up correctly

[01:31:04] because there are people watching and maybe next time they won't litter as much.

[01:31:10] And again, when I got back there, the spot was completely cleaned.

[01:31:13] But that was my first time interacting with high school kids

[01:31:17] and they didn't beat me up and push me in the waterfall.

[01:31:20] So I'm very happy.

[01:31:23] So now you're talking about your the ruins and mine stuff like going around

[01:31:30] Harriman State Park and stuff like that.

[01:31:32] Now, you do know about these areas?

[01:31:36] So if it's on the map.

[01:31:39] I am not I'm not familiar with that area.

[01:31:41] So it's on the map they have that that marked Harriman has quite a few mines.

[01:31:47] Sterling has mines.

[01:31:50] Fondstock has mines and these are all off trail mines.

[01:31:55] OK, legally in the Hudson Valley, I believe you're allowed five feet of egress off trail.

[01:32:00] So I am not an advocate for this.

[01:32:04] But if you want to adventure off trail, just be prepared for any consequences that might come along with it.

[01:32:10] But the Hudson Valley is completely inundated with mines.

[01:32:14] Most of them are closed, fenced off, refilled for public safety.

[01:32:19] But there's always an adventure out there if you just look for it.

[01:32:26] You know, I'm trying to think of the so I had a witness first responder time that I had to go to.

[01:32:35] I'm trying to think of the state for us.

[01:32:37] Give me one second to look up where this was.

[01:32:40] And was it Stan?

[01:32:43] Oh, my God.

[01:32:45] But it was it was right on the edge of New Jersey, New Jersey, New York.

[01:32:51] It could have been Harriman or Sterling.

[01:32:54] It might have been Sterling.

[01:32:56] It had a pond where IBM was located at.

[01:32:59] Where was IBM?

[01:33:00] That sounds like Sterling.

[01:33:02] Sterling.

[01:33:03] Yeah. So and there was like a Mormon headquarters, right?

[01:33:06] Yeah, there's the Jehovah Witness World headquarters.

[01:33:10] That's what it was.

[01:33:12] So we had a like test there and I was blown away by the topography of that area.

[01:33:22] It looked like it was flat, but we ventured over some little mounds that overlooked New York City.

[01:33:29] We saw the most beautiful skyline of New York City at night.

[01:33:34] And then we went down and I saw these amazing rock, like 200 foot rock sculptures of, you know, where people do bouldering and stuff like that.

[01:33:44] And I was totally flabbergasted by the what New York and New Jersey had to offer down at the lower spots and off trail.

[01:33:54] I'll agree that there's a different hiking culture or at least different portions of subcultures within the hiking culture in the Hudson Valley.

[01:34:05] But the terrain is extremely interesting.

[01:34:09] The forestry, the undergrowth, it's just a world different than what we run into when the Catskills are further north.

[01:34:19] And it's in my opinion, it's well worth the drive over to that area.

[01:34:27] And I guess this is where I asked Danny if you could, what would be the top three best hikes or trails or areas to visit in that lower part of the Hudson Valley for somebody who wasn't able to spend a lot of time there, but was going to go hike there a couple times?

[01:34:46] OK, well, everyone knows Storm King.

[01:34:50] Storm King is a great park, great hike, very popular.

[01:34:54] So we won't talk about Storm King.

[01:34:58] So now these hikes are it's probably a little less than 10 mile hike, but there's an area in Schoonermunk called the Megaliths.

[01:35:07] It's on the Jessup Trail, also the Hudson Highland Trail.

[01:35:11] It's a huge rock feature, little cavey area.

[01:35:17] It's nothing phenomenal, nothing like breakneck.

[01:35:19] You're not climbing any rocks, but it's an awesome, huge bouldering area.

[01:35:25] And if you do that hike in a loop, that's going to be the South Ridge.

[01:35:29] But when you're on the North Ridge, you're looking at the Catskills the whole time.

[01:35:33] Great view in Schoonermunk there.

[01:35:36] There is Moriarty Outpost in Blackrock Forest.

[01:35:40] So that is a picnicking area, beautiful pines right by a lake, quiet three miles from the nearest parking lot.

[01:35:51] Blackrock is a consortium.

[01:35:55] So occasionally there will be school buses with normal acting school children, no maniacs, no kids running and screaming and throwing stuff at you.

[01:36:05] But occasionally there will be a school involved in Blackrock.

[01:36:09] But the Moriarty Outpost is a relaxing place in Blackrock to enjoy lunch.

[01:36:16] And again, far away from the majority of people.

[01:36:19] You have to be willing to put in a mile or two to get to these places.

[01:36:22] And then my third one, it's going to be in Minnewaska.

[01:36:26] So I just found this spot.

[01:36:29] There's a vacancy on a trail maintainer.

[01:36:33] So they needed some help maintain this section of trail.

[01:36:37] And I walked past this rock overhang called the Wolf's Jaw.

[01:36:43] It's just south of Ousting Lake.

[01:36:48] Lake Ousting, I don't know if I pronounced that correctly.

[01:36:52] We call it Lake Awasning.

[01:36:54] Awasning? Okay, right.

[01:36:56] Just south of that there is the Wolf's Jaw Connector Trail.

[01:37:00] And on the Wolf's Jaw Connector Trail has this amazingly huge rock overhang.

[01:37:05] Not recommended during bug season, but you can have lunch under this huge rock overhang and it's a connector trail.

[01:37:12] So it connects the... where are we?

[01:37:15] So it connects the Sjogang's Ridge Trail to the bike path around Lake Ousting.

[01:37:24] And great spot, great spot. Nobody was there.

[01:37:27] I was in that Wolf's Jaw rock overhang for a good hour and a half, two hours, and not a single person walked by.

[01:37:36] So amazing rock feature.

[01:37:38] Again, if you're looking for an adrenaline rush, you're probably not going to find it on a hike unless you do breakneck.

[01:37:44] These are peaceful places where you can enjoy life and be happy that you're outside.

[01:37:51] So, yeah, amazing.

[01:37:54] So with you talking about that, it sounds like you volunteer a lot.

[01:37:58] What is your volunteer in life process?

[01:38:01] So I volunteer with Pipsy Palisades Interstate Park Commission.

[01:38:06] One thing...

[01:38:08] Say that again?

[01:38:09] Pipsy Palisades Interstate Park Commission.

[01:38:13] We... so tons of different organizations in there.

[01:38:17] The one group that I volunteer for, we are Native American Site Stewards.

[01:38:21] So we go around the Hudson Valley and we monitor Native American sites.

[01:38:27] We explore and find new Native American sites.

[01:38:33] This is all in prevention of vandalism.

[01:38:36] So we would clear fire rings.

[01:38:39] We would educate anyone camping in there, remove graffiti, remove trash, things of that nature.

[01:38:46] Just making sure that the Native American history isn't erased by the drunken fool.

[01:38:52] Yeah.

[01:38:53] A recent place that we just found.

[01:38:55] So maybe found about two weeks ago.

[01:38:57] There's a brand new site was actively being raided.

[01:39:01] There is two foot trenches all throughout the front of this shelter.

[01:39:07] And whoever was this person, they had camping gear, hunting gear,

[01:39:12] and they made screens to sift through the dirt to find pottery and different arrowheads and different artifacts.

[01:39:22] So as a generation of Amazon and eBay, you could... you can get a couple of bucks for an arrowhead.

[01:39:29] I don't really see the profit of doing this, but this is a big concern is illegal raiding of these places.

[01:39:38] A lot of this is need to know basis locations, the parks themselves, people you can bring there.

[01:39:46] This is not necessarily open to the public simply due to illegal activity and also criminal activity like Navelle.

[01:39:56] Navelle just had that fire last month.

[01:39:59] Yeah.

[01:40:00] Only due to social media.

[01:40:02] I mean, I guarantee you the electricity wasn't on.

[01:40:05] So that was some kid flicked a cigarette or something.

[01:40:08] Could have been a sick accident, but it's all due to social media.

[01:40:13] I am very big on the leave no trace physically and digitally.

[01:40:18] I am... what's that term you guys use?

[01:40:22] I don't give up my spots easily.

[01:40:25] Gatekeeper. I'm a big gatekeeper, but I'm a human being.

[01:40:29] So I have friends and I trade places with my friends and I trust my friends.

[01:40:34] So, you know, not everything is a secret.

[01:40:38] You just have to know who you're dealing with and social media.

[01:40:42] You don't know who you're dealing with.

[01:40:44] So again, I don't leave any trace digitally.

[01:40:49] Try not to. I'll tag New York. I'll tag Catskills, but I'll never tag anywhere in particular.

[01:40:54] So that's Pipsy. That's my first volunteer job.

[01:40:58] I volunteer also with the New York, New Jersey Trail Conference.

[01:41:01] I am a maintainer in Black Rock Forest.

[01:41:05] Black Rock is just north of West Point Military Academy.

[01:41:09] And as a red-blooded American, I got to say, every now and then you hear the explosions go off or you hear a machine gun go off and the helicopters are swooping low.

[01:41:21] They're doing whatever nonsense training they're doing.

[01:41:24] But I'm a big fan of Black Rock Forest and the West Point Military Academy just below it.

[01:41:32] So I have two miles in Black Rock.

[01:41:36] It is the Tower View Trail and the White Oak Trail.

[01:41:41] They are two and a half miles into the park.

[01:41:45] So it's a nice hike in order to deal with maintaining those trails.

[01:41:51] And then also, last but not least, I just took a new position with the Trail Conference.

[01:41:56] I am the trail chair for West Hudson Valley North.

[01:42:00] This is Black Rock Forest, Schoonemung State Park, Storm King and Minowaska Park.

[01:42:09] I am the Trail Conference trail chair for these parks.

[01:42:13] I get whatever the supervisors need, I try to provide.

[01:42:20] And whatever they are lacking, I would physically substitute.

[01:42:24] That's why I was in the park last week maintaining a trail just so that it's passable while its maintainer is vacant.

[01:42:33] And also, we're not trying to stress out any new volunteer people.

[01:42:37] So we're not going to leave you a trail that's impassable.

[01:42:41] We'll go there with you or before you and make sure that it's not the worst thing in the world to offer to a new volunteer.

[01:42:50] But those are my three main volunteer positions at this point.

[01:42:56] I do not. I am single. I have no kids.

[01:42:59] So my weekends are completely free.

[01:43:02] And after hiking for so long, you know, you it took me a while to hear about the Trail Conference, even after using their maps.

[01:43:11] But once you realize that you can give back, why not? Why not?

[01:43:18] I called them and I said, what do you guys offer?

[01:43:21] So they the Trail Conference offers volunteer hours for obviously for the for the average man.

[01:43:27] But as a Boy Scout or a college applicant, you can also get your volunteer hours needed for those situations in your life by volunteering with the Trail Conference.

[01:43:40] You don't necessarily have to go to an old folks home and play music to get volunteer hours.

[01:43:45] You can go and either maintain with a group or at the trail heads in the Catskills.

[01:43:52] You know, there's many different options to get volunteer hours.

[01:43:55] And all you have to do is send an email to the volunteer org and ask.

[01:44:01] Just ask step one. Ask.

[01:44:04] Yeah, exactly. And that's that's the thing.

[01:44:07] It's just, you know, ask and then do it.

[01:44:10] You know what's what's the problem of volunteering two, three hours of your life per year?

[01:44:19] Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean.

[01:44:22] And then you say, you know, you know, you say, Danny, that a bunch of people with the Boy Scout and stuff, that's like six, seven, eight P like kids to do volunteering.

[01:44:33] Like, that's a huge significant impact on the trails.

[01:44:36] Yes. In Black Rock, they have done a lot of the I'm not sure their terminology, but let's just say a merit badge requirements.

[01:44:45] And you go there on a Saturday and there's in regular clothes and not in uniform.

[01:44:50] But there's, you know, 10 little teenagers run around digging trees and raking leaves and, you know, having fun, experiencing life, experiencing life.

[01:45:01] Right. And it changed their their attitude, you know, and they might change what they're they're thinking about.

[01:45:06] And it might inspire them to be a forest ranger or, you know, like a geologist or something like that.

[01:45:13] It's just, oh, man, I kind of wish I was exposed to this this type of stuff when I was a kid and what I've been right now.

[01:45:20] But who knows? Who knows? Yeah. Yeah.

[01:45:23] Yeah. And the history of it, too. So the the woods roads we always talk about and Ted talked about the the the logging, the recent logging 70 years ago.

[01:45:36] Archaeologists are needed to find the history of these places.

[01:45:41] So you have all those stone Native American.

[01:45:46] I don't even know what they're called. One of your previous.

[01:45:50] Yeah, the different weird structures. So us as normal human beings have no idea what this is other than it's a rock pile.

[01:45:58] Archaeologists would be able to through their schooling be able to know how to dig that up correctly and preserve it and to get to the history

[01:46:07] and to tell you when these things were done and who did them and why they did them sometimes.

[01:46:13] So I am a big advocate for getting kids outdoors and towards archaeology.

[01:46:20] It's it's not your tie and glasses position anymore.

[01:46:29] It is it is exactly like Indiana Jones. You're out there digging around and dealing with people.

[01:46:35] Thinking about thinking about how cool it is.

[01:46:41] I recently one of the books I read recently or took a while to read through it, and that's why I was reading it recently,

[01:46:49] was the story of a fellow who traveled across Death Valley in 1849 to get out to California for the gold rush.

[01:47:01] And that obviously is years removed, but not that many years removed from the Indians in the country,

[01:47:12] the Native Americans and their lifestyle here.

[01:47:17] But you read that book and you get a sense of just what people went through every day back then just to survive.

[01:47:25] And it's a real eye opener to read something like that, where, you know, how many days in a row they would go without food.

[01:47:34] So, yeah, that that's a very good lesson for young people to become acquainted with is how over time we've transitioned.

[01:47:45] And what is important to us day in and day out?

[01:47:49] I mean, now what's important to us is how long we wait in line at Starbucks to get our maki, ladi, skim milk, avocado, breakfast, whatever drink.

[01:47:58] Jesus.

[01:47:59] I have no idea.

[01:48:00] How do you even know this?

[01:48:01] Yeah, well, it's my one daughter buys things like that.

[01:48:04] And I just like, wow, you know, you remember what this order is where I'm just a black coffee guy.

[01:48:11] But then you go back a couple hundred years and people would go days without food, without really food.

[01:48:20] Yeah. Without water.

[01:48:21] I mean, this you read this book and they set out with like a full provisioned stocked caravan with ox and horses and cattle.

[01:48:36] And then they hit Death Valley and slowly one by one, they're killing off the animals and eating them.

[01:48:43] That's how we got across the valley.

[01:48:45] And then, and then he talks about, you know, when they get to the other side, they're going to scale the range, the mountain range, because that's to them.

[01:48:53] That's the way out.

[01:48:54] They had no map.

[01:48:55] It's all word of mouth, the roads and the trails they're taking.

[01:48:58] So when you talk about the Native Americans in that heritage, we really don't have a good written history of that and how they did things.

[01:49:06] And they were probably more prepared or better prepared than this fellow was in 1849.

[01:49:15] But while, you know, living back then now what we what we do for recreation is what they just did for daily survival.

[01:49:24] Right. Yeah.

[01:49:26] And they didn't have sponge and they didn't have sponge pillows.

[01:49:29] Exactly right.

[01:49:30] Totally hardcore.

[01:49:33] Hardcore.

[01:49:34] MF or something to say that.

[01:49:36] So, Danny, do you actually like are you a volunteer for an actual organization or you just doing this all because of you?

[01:49:45] No, I've trail conference and Pipsy.

[01:49:48] Definitely.

[01:49:49] Okay.

[01:49:50] Both of those.

[01:49:51] Nice.

[01:49:52] I will tag them both.

[01:49:53] Yeah.

[01:49:54] Yeah.

[01:49:55] The trail conference.

[01:49:56] Way to give back.

[01:49:58] And it's so easy.

[01:50:01] I watched a YouTube video.

[01:50:04] I read a few contracts and agreements and I was ready to go.

[01:50:09] I had a hands on with the supervisor who showed me what to prune, what not to prune.

[01:50:13] I got my first, I think it was three quarters of a mile trail and I was snipping, snipping away.

[01:50:20] Is that easy?

[01:50:22] Yeah, that's a trail conference is the way to go.

[01:50:25] Exactly.

[01:50:26] So amazing.

[01:50:27] Once again, thank you, Danny for volunteering.

[01:50:30] It's simple.

[01:50:32] It's eight hours of the whole freaking year that you got to put your life into and it makes a huge difference.

[01:50:38] Doesn't matter where, when, whatever.

[01:50:41] It makes a massive difference.

[01:50:43] Yeah, I had a friend just real quick and I asked him, this is when I was newer and fresh.

[01:50:50] So I said, would you like to volunteer with me?

[01:50:55] He said no, no big deal.

[01:50:56] He said he can't put in that time.

[01:50:58] I said, no big deal.

[01:50:59] It just requires hiking for this one thing.

[01:51:01] We're just doing an invasive species check out with prism.

[01:51:04] So prism is another thing I volunteer for.

[01:51:06] It's a part of the New York, New Jersey Trail Conference.

[01:51:10] Prism is the Hudson Valley.

[01:51:12] They also have crisp crisp is the cat skills, cat skills.

[01:51:19] I forget the actual acronym meaning, but crisp and prism does invasive species monitoring.

[01:51:26] I naturalist they'll have you use your phone to locate tree of heaven.

[01:51:33] Numerous, numerous amounts of invasives.

[01:51:36] I asked a buddy if he would join me on that hike and he said he couldn't.

[01:51:41] He wasn't down with hiking and then getting involved.

[01:51:44] And then the next day he was outside hiking.

[01:51:46] And I was like, I wasn't asking for you to do anything physical.

[01:51:51] You just had to hike and view and send an email.

[01:51:54] So everyone has their priorities, but it's as simple as hiking and looking and sending an email.

[01:52:02] You do what you want.

[01:52:03] You don't have to do a lot.

[01:52:04] You don't have to be out there in the sun.

[01:52:06] You don't have to be out there bent over.

[01:52:07] You do what you can.

[01:52:08] You do what you want.

[01:52:10] Unbelievable.

[01:52:11] You know, the impact that one little like influence has that you can do on somebody else and then it could branch off.

[01:52:20] It's just it's incredible.

[01:52:24] And, you know, I don't know what to say.

[01:52:28] I should go back to my original friend Greg from I remember it was March 13th, Friday the 13th was when Corona happened.

[01:52:37] And I asked my buddy Greg, I said, we're going out of work for a little bit.

[01:52:41] Where do I go?

[01:52:42] And I told you he sent me to Popol open.

[01:52:44] But that guy, Greg started all of this.

[01:52:47] So it just takes the right touch from the right person.

[01:52:53] Correct. Correct.

[01:52:54] And I'm glad, you know, you we you have done this.

[01:52:58] You have evolved so much and you've listened to the podcast.

[01:53:03] I followed you ever since beginning.

[01:53:06] Basically, I know I've been following you ever since beginning and you're a very big influence on me and hopefully on everybody else.

[01:53:15] Let's let's hope so.

[01:53:16] Thank you. Thank you.

[01:53:17] It goes both ways.

[01:53:18] It goes both ways.

[01:53:19] The amount of I got to say the amount of history, education and besides the books that I bought that you recommended.

[01:53:28] But the hours of lost sleep that I've had because of you is phenomenal.

[01:53:33] It's horrible.

[01:53:34] You know, just you get stuck.

[01:53:35] You get stuck in a chapter and you got to go to the next chapter.

[01:53:38] It's amazing.

[01:53:39] It's what we're here for.

[01:53:40] You're not here to hike to a peak.

[01:53:43] That's not the point.

[01:53:45] No, that's good.

[01:53:46] Well, I'm glad I've done that.

[01:53:48] So Ted, you sound like you're disappointed with that.

[01:53:51] No, no, I mean, no, I've been down those late night rabbit holes where not necessarily with the books.

[01:53:58] But sometimes with the book.

[01:53:59] But I think it's worse when you're you're web surfing and you get onto a topic, you know,

[01:54:05] and then you can just link from one page to another play page and then you search this and you search that.

[01:54:11] And you're you're just doing this deep dive on what started off as, you know, just a little question you had about something.

[01:54:18] And I'll say the next thing you know, you're you're you're going on private property trying to get some to the I'm not admitting to anything.

[01:54:27] OK, I have the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

[01:54:30] And on the advice of counsel, I'm not answering any further questions, but I will I will admit to reading unit management plans.

[01:54:42] Do you know what those are, Danny?

[01:54:44] I do not.

[01:54:45] So the DEC, part of its implementation of programs in New York state and in particular in the Catskill Park, other parks, forest areas, et cetera.

[01:54:58] They prepare these unit management plans that cover the history of the area, the geology of the area, the forestry of the area, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

[01:55:09] You know how it's used, how it's overused and their projects.

[01:55:13] And I do believe in have you look at some of them and they have like the projected cost of doing this improvement, that improvement.

[01:55:19] The other thing one of the I do find when you look at these old ones, like what they projected the cost of building a certain bridge would be.

[01:55:28] And it's it, you know, you kind of wonder if the state of New York could do anything that cheap.

[01:55:33] But they have those prices in there.

[01:55:34] What I find really interesting when you read these is they're very good sources of the history of that particular area, what the resources are and how it was used 100, 150 years ago.

[01:55:49] And so I often find myself scrolling through these unit management areas.

[01:55:54] And I, one of the things that I doubt either of you are aware of, but there are two places in the Catskills where it's legal and actually occurs that there's easements to draw water from mountain streams and haul it out of the park.

[01:56:13] Were you aware of that Stosh?

[01:56:17] Hmm.

[01:56:18] You sound skeptical.

[01:56:19] I read it in an official.

[01:56:21] I read it in an official DEC document for whatever that's worth, but there's two areas.

[01:56:26] One is in the, I'm going to say it's on the western, no the eastern slope of the Fur Balsam area.

[01:56:40] I haven't pinpoint exactly where it is, but the other I actually found that can shoot you a picture.

[01:56:46] It's this whole Waterworks area where you were today, Balsam Lake.

[01:56:55] Oh shit.

[01:56:56] Yeah.

[01:56:57] Off the main road or main trail when I was bushwhacking through there to hike one of those lower elevation mountains and you hear this sound of water just like you expect to come around the corner and find this huge water hole there.

[01:57:13] Yeah.

[01:57:14] Well, it's, this comes right out of the side of the mountain and it's all, there's well houses and PVC piping and other piping and you come around the corner.

[01:57:25] It's like nothing you've seen.

[01:57:27] And so then you want to figure out what it is.

[01:57:29] And so you start reading up on it and you see sure enough, there's somebody has an easement that predates the time when the state acquired this land to draw water out of the mountain.

[01:57:39] Nice.

[01:57:40] Nice.

[01:57:41] God, I love those times.

[01:57:43] Is this a single person or is this public?

[01:57:45] I don't know who owns it now.

[01:57:47] I didn't do any of the deed research to date and I'm not going to say the area was all that well maintained, but I was coming through in the late spring so the damage I saw might have been just from that winter.

[01:57:59] But yeah, this according to the unit management plan that I then researched to find out what was going on there.

[01:58:06] It talked about there's this easement for whoever holds the easement now by assignment to draw this water from that area of Balsam Lake Mountain and use it for whatever purpose they want to.

[01:58:21] Amazing.

[01:58:22] Wow.

[01:58:23] Awesome.

[01:58:24] I love that.

[01:58:25] I love that shit.

[01:58:26] Whoever.

[01:58:27] That's just phenomenal stuff to hear.

[01:58:30] So all right, so let's wrap this thing up.

[01:58:33] What about post hike bruising bites Danny?

[01:58:37] What would you give a local shout out to restaurant, pub or business after a hike buddy?

[01:58:43] As a fat man in a skinny man's body, I always okay not recently with my new hiking buddy, Joanne.

[01:58:51] But when I was solo hiking, I would stop at the any one of the roadside farms.

[01:58:57] Any, any one of the signs that say farm fresh egg.

[01:59:02] Stop pulling there.

[01:59:04] Not only do you get an amazingly cheap $4 dozen eggs or $3 or $2 dozen eggs, but honey homemade pies.

[01:59:14] They sell the most amazing things at all these roadside farm stands.

[01:59:18] So that's my recommendation is you see farm pullover.

[01:59:22] Farm to mouth.

[01:59:23] That's what I'm hearing.

[01:59:24] Amazing.

[01:59:25] Skipp the table.

[01:59:26] I love it.

[01:59:28] I agree 100%.

[01:59:30] I have like 200 being an only until we have like farms all over the place.

[01:59:34] So it's just all over the place.

[01:59:36] So I love going to those places and getting some awesome chocolate chip cookies and honey and maple syrup maple syrup.

[01:59:43] It's.

[01:59:44] You're talking my language.

[01:59:45] Exactly.

[01:59:46] So once again, Dan, Danny, thank you for joining us tonight on the show.

[01:59:51] I really appreciate it.

[01:59:52] Really appreciate you helping out and supporting the show.

[01:59:56] Once again, I really grateful to have you here.

[02:00:00] Number one, just listening to show number two, volunteering for the Catskills, the Hudson Valley, supporting this area that we need.

[02:00:08] Just keep it up.

[02:00:09] Keep up what you're doing.

[02:00:10] Very happy to be here.

[02:00:11] I do.

[02:00:12] OK, so now I know you guys do the what's dump stash.

[02:00:17] Oh, yes, we haven't done that shit.

[02:00:19] I skipped that.

[02:00:20] Yeah, yeah, I was I was somewhat offended, but I wasn't going to speak up.

[02:00:23] Thanks.

[02:00:24] Thanks for standing up for me, Danny.

[02:00:25] You're welcome.

[02:00:26] You're welcome.

[02:00:27] If you let me, I have two questions, one for each of you.

[02:00:30] Oh, boy.

[02:00:31] Yes.

[02:00:32] Yeah.

[02:00:33] So easy questions.

[02:00:34] Ted, I know you're in the chat.

[02:00:36] And equal equal accessibility for those who can't.

[02:00:41] That's just the way I could put it right now.

[02:00:43] So I have a question for you.

[02:00:44] What is the only section of the Appalachian Trail that is ADA accessible?

[02:00:51] I don't have a clue, but I'm going to guess it's that boardwalk section that runs just north of Vernon, Sussex, New Jersey, and the East Coast.

[02:01:01] Stash, do you have an answer?

[02:01:03] Absolutely not.

[02:01:04] OK, so it's in Bear Mountain.

[02:01:06] It's the only accessible area of the 80 that is wheelchair accessible and also next to a zoo, a currently operated zoo in Bear Mountain Park.

[02:01:16] Yep.

[02:01:17] I used to take my daughters.

[02:01:18] I used to take my daughters there all the time before I felt they were worthy to hit the road.

[02:01:26] We spent a lot of time, I'm not going to say hiking, but walking through there.

[02:01:31] And there's the old, I forget whether it was a colonialist or a British fort.

[02:01:36] Have you seen that?

[02:01:37] There's two forts there.

[02:01:39] There's Fort Montgomery, which has ruins you could walk around.

[02:01:45] And I forgot the other name.

[02:01:47] Montgomery is not next to the zoo.

[02:01:49] There's one closer to the zoo.

[02:01:50] But these were these were active forts.

[02:01:53] We defended the British against them.

[02:01:55] Again, we were right under West Point where they had the Great Chain.

[02:01:59] So the military history there is phenomenal.

[02:02:02] And they have I believe there's a 1776 trail that the troops hiked down in 1776.

[02:02:11] So the history is there is phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal history.

[02:02:14] Wow.

[02:02:15] So I think we've reason I think though we've reasonably deflected from the fact that Stas and I didn't have a clue where the yeah.

[02:02:23] So good.

[02:02:24] We got through the Stas.

[02:02:25] We got through that high five, buddy.

[02:02:28] I have I have a very large brain trust of friends.

[02:02:32] I have a very large brain trust of friends.

[02:02:35] Dave, Terry and Joanne.

[02:02:36] And we get some great history information.

[02:02:40] Second question.

[02:02:41] This is for Stas or for anyone on the Palisades Parkway.

[02:02:47] The curbs on the left and the right of the Palisade Parkway.

[02:02:51] The curbs are angled in a triangle, kind of like a ramp.

[02:02:55] So you could easily drive into the ground.

[02:03:00] There's no four inch, six inch curb stopping cars from hitting the grass.

[02:03:06] Why is the curb shaped like that?

[02:03:10] So that people could get away with killing people on the side of the road.

[02:03:15] I don't know.

[02:03:18] You need to put your your Brooklyn hat on and think about it.

[02:03:23] You need to put your your Brooklyn hat on and think like a member of the Gambino crime family.

[02:03:32] It's because when you're hauling a body out of the city in the trunk of your Lincoln and you hit the Palisades, you can pull off wherever you want.

[02:03:43] Just jump the curb because it's really not a curb.

[02:03:46] You park in the grass and then you just drag the body into the woods and then motor away.

[02:03:51] So I was right there and it goes back to and I know I'm one of the world's leading authorities on the curb mounting or what they call mountable curbs along the Palisades.

[02:04:01] And so when you look back in the history, it was actually constructed by the Genovese crime family.

[02:04:09] Yes, out of Queens.

[02:04:12] And so Father Genovese himself went to the old masons in Sicily and brought them over and they had they cut that what would be ordinarily Belgian.

[02:04:24] But then they put a 40 degree cut on either side.

[02:04:28] So the Lincoln Continental could get over the curbing with the body in the back without scraping the muffler and then get back onto the highway and back to the city before the meatballs and sauce were done.

[02:04:40] I agree.

[02:04:42] How did I do?

[02:04:44] Am I right?

[02:04:45] As a previous Ozone Park resident, I would have to give that to the John Gotties rather than the other family.

[02:04:55] But yes, you were very close to what it was.

[02:04:59] What you mean? I'm wrong after all that.

[02:05:01] I didn't get it right.

[02:05:03] I was just bullshitting. That was just a bunch of BS on my part.

[02:05:07] It's late. It's late. It was BS. I don't have a clue. I'm sorry.

[02:05:11] It's a simple answer. So the park was there first. The highway was meant to join the park.

[02:05:18] The reason the curbs are angled is so any animals crossing the highway won't get stuck on the road.

[02:05:24] It's simply for an animal crossing.

[02:05:27] And also accessibility.

[02:05:29] Wow. Very cool.

[02:05:31] Things that they would think about back then, but not now.

[02:05:34] So, Tad, you have one now because Danny has stumped both of us. So you only have one. Select one.

[02:05:41] Of my three?

[02:05:43] Yeah. And we can do the other two when we go out this weekend at the expo.

[02:05:48] We're going to try to go live this weekend. It's going to be trite.

[02:05:52] Oh boy. So I'm going to be late.

[02:05:54] All right. So as I said earlier in the show, if any of you have made it this far from the beginning to this point in the show,

[02:06:02] these questions that I have, and now I'm only going to use one, were the questions that I was surprised that Stas whacked out of the survey that we're preparing for this weekend.

[02:06:14] So of the three, I'm going to go with this question.

[02:06:18] Yes or no?

[02:06:20] Do you still lie to your partner or spouse about how much money you spend on hiking gear?

[02:06:28] Yes or no?

[02:06:30] Do you still lie to your partner or spouse about how much money you spend on hiking gear?

[02:06:38] Everybody will say, yes, you do. But I don't. I'll admit she's there right with me when I'm buying this stuff.

[02:06:45] She just walked into the room. She's shaking her head.

[02:06:48] Nope.

[02:06:49] Right. There's a big, I see she's like back and forth. You're in trouble. I think Danny and I need to go, man. You're going to get...

[02:06:56] There's no difference between a $9 moisture wicking shirt and a $90 moisture wicking shirt.

[02:07:03] Oh, no, it's all about the selfie. The $9 one, the selfie just doesn't look that cool.

[02:07:08] But if you've got that $90 shirt, especially if you get the right shoulder angle with the logo, is part of the photo.

[02:07:15] Yeah. Right. If you can get that in the Instagram crop or the Facebook crop, it's golden. I mean, you've really pulled off the pro move.

[02:07:24] The only thing I don't skip out on is like winter gear. I will go all out and they understand.

[02:07:30] But anything other than that, I'll buy the cheapest crap because you know what? You just sweat your crap, your ass off like today.

[02:07:39] It was horrible sweat.

[02:07:40] Speak for yourself. I don't sweat when I hike.

[02:07:43] That's pretty scary. You should probably go to a doctor for that.

[02:07:49] That's something you should definitely be seeing about.

[02:07:51] Stash, I think that your mic drop moment.

[02:07:54] It is. It is. So excellent.

[02:07:56] Calling the MD.

[02:07:58] I nailed that for the one for one. All right. I'm fine with that.

[02:08:04] So once again, thank you, Danny, for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it.

[02:08:09] Good to have a listener spotlight. We'll get these more often.

[02:08:12] This is fantastic. Thanks for volunteering.

[02:08:15] Thanks for volunteering. Yeah, thanks for volunteering throughout the Catskills.

[02:08:18] You know, being an influence. Keep doing what you're doing.

[02:08:21] Keep, please just inspiring people to do the better good and keep being you. What the hell? Right?

[02:08:30] Being a good example. Exactly.

[02:08:32] Thanks guys. It's been a lot of fun and don't end the podcast. We love it.

[02:08:37] Oh, it's going to be two hours and 20 minutes. We gotta end it, man.

[02:08:42] Come on. Very cool. All right. Very cool. So thank you to the monthly supporters and monthly sponsors.

[02:08:46] Really appreciate it. Thank you to everybody who has donated to the show. Really appreciate it.

[02:08:50] Also, thank you to everyone who is listening. 127 episodes and Jesus Christ, it's a long time.

[02:08:57] So once again, thank you, Danny, for participating tonight. Really appreciate it. Hope you had a good time, man.

[02:09:04] Totally. Totally did. Absolutely. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

[02:09:08] All right. So have a good night, Danny. Let's get together on the trail soon, man. See you all this weekend.

[02:09:13] Yes. See you this weekend, June 8th. Catskill Expo. Be there.

[02:09:43] Hiking News and local news on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and the official website of the show.

[02:09:51] Remember this. You gotta just keep on living in the Catskills, man.

[02:09:57] L-I-V-I-N

[02:10:01] Wicked. Wicked. Wicked. Wicked.