[00:00:00] Did you feel bad just hiking in 3.7 miles to this hot where there's other people that hiked like hundreds, maybe, you know, what they're like 15, 1800, 2000 miles into the Appalachian Trail or more. And there and there and there you are airing out your feet after 3.7 miles all hiking
[00:00:18] these people have been out for months. Yeah, they were I'm not sure I think it's like it is like 1500 miles in maybe even more than that. And so where do they go to? They have
[00:00:29] tent stations nearby for them like you know platforms for them to put up a tent on or something else. They have to hike to the next tent spot which is like over the mountain and then down
[00:00:40] the other side of the military line. The others really wow. Yeah, I felt bad but I was just like but it's your birthday. It is close. It's close to my birthday. Did they have a birthday cake
[00:00:52] for you on that first night? No, we didn't say anything. We didn't want to cause a scene. Cause a scene. Yeah. Alright. The Bushwax were some of the worst days I've ever had in the mountains
[00:01:11] or life really. Whereas Pansom Mountain is totally opposite to Samelton on top of the faith. I think the weather challenges on this incident were particularly difficult. It is really the development of New York State. Catskills are responsible. You're listening to Inside the Line. The Catskill Mountains Podcast.
[00:01:46] It's a 134, Ted. You know what I was recently, you know, a lot of people don't like Facebook but you know what I love Facebook for? The memories. The memories. Yeah, I'm not a Facebook user.
[00:02:00] It gives you the memories that you've had in the previous time that you've posted something on that day. And I was reminded that three years ago that I started to think and started to actually get stuff together about the podcast. That's right. Three years ago. 134 episodes. Wow.
[00:02:17] Yeah, I think this is my 137th episode. Yeah. At least in my head, I keep redoing them over and over. And each time I do the episode remarkably it gets better. It does. Every
[00:02:30] time I do it over in my head, I'm funnier and funnier each and every time. I'm just saying. Well, we'll ask the listeners that. Yeah, our next survey. So we should have the pre-recording on Tuesdays and then maybe Thursday we can do the real show.
[00:02:46] And then I'll be firing on all cylinders. Oh, you'll be firing on them. Do you all have all the coffee in you that you need? You're not recording this, are you?
[00:02:55] 100%. No way. It'd be so embarrassing. I try to come off as Mr. Modesty and this would just ruin that whole image. Mr. Modest Mouse. Yeah, that's me, man. Modest Mouse Studio here. Yeah, right. No way. So while welcome to episode 134 of Inside the Line,
[00:03:14] the Catskill Mountains podcast. So tonight, Tad and I are going to be chatting about one of my recent hikes up on the presidential traverse in the White Mountains. So awesome experience, very different from being in the Catskills. And I know it's not about
[00:03:28] the Catskills, but I thought people should know about it, should actually participate in it because it is a very phenomenal experience and one that is going to be tough to beat in my lifetime. So welcome to episode. Welcome, Tad. Welcome back. Welcome back to reality.
[00:03:49] I mean, yeah. We did this last week. I mean, it feels like a week is a little bit too long sometimes. In between episodes? Yeah. I think it's just perfect. Okay. It just feels like sometimes I'm like, oh, there's Tad. I haven't seen you in a long time.
[00:04:02] And now we're dealing with you once a week is plenty. I don't know how your wife does it, but I'm putting together a collection right now to buy or something fabulous. You should. Yeah. How many years are you guys married?
[00:04:14] Uh, it's and it's going to be in September. It's going to be 13 years. Wow. What day in September? What day? Don't get this wrong. What day in September? September 8th. Oh, okay. She doesn't listen to the podcast anyway. So
[00:04:28] that not that you know. Yeah. Not that I know. But yeah. So why don't we go over some news, some local news. So we had a plane crash up here near me and in upstate New York,
[00:04:40] near Sydney. So this pilot uninjured after crash landing into the Hudson River. So a K-Row. Is that how you say it? K-Row? Is that how you guys say it? Uh, K-Row, K-Row, My-Row. I don't know. I know, right? It's so many different names.
[00:04:55] It's like platykill, platkill, you know. Platk killed. Platk killed. Yeah. So a local pilot escaped injury after a sea plane crash landed in the Hudson River. So around 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 25th,
[00:05:13] Catskill Police Department said the single engine lake LA-4C plane was being piloted by a 71 year old Edward Novick of Cairo. He said they police courted Novick said he has the approach to land
[00:05:25] to land in the river. His aircraft caught a crosswind causing the wing to strike the water. So it's really low and the nose of the plane to slam to the river. The aircraft was taken
[00:05:35] in water, but Novick was available to bring safety and swim to the dock area. He was the only occupant at the time of the crash and the aircraft was removed from the water and no spills were noted,
[00:05:46] police says. The Federal Aviation Administration notified the accident and it was under investigation. Now, once again, I love Facebook. I saw this on Facebook. I noticed it and a lot of people said this guy flies quite frequently through the Hudson Valley and can get annoying at times and
[00:06:08] like just flies low and then dips up and swerves and stuff like that and does really crazy things. So I don't know. That was the small talk over and I forgot was I think it's called Palindale Collection or something like that. Catskill Community Board. It's so much fun.
[00:06:25] Gotcha. So it sounds like instead of a crosswind that caused that wing to tip into the water, it was just a lot of negative energy on Facebook. Yeah. Yeah. Or he's trying to do
[00:06:38] new maneuvers for the Stewart Air Force show next year. Yeah. In his sea plane, I don't know. I noted that the plane is a model 1965, right? That plane is 59 years old.
[00:06:54] So I doubt it has a ton of modern technology in it. Maybe it was upgraded with a few things, but that's old for a plane. I know. Yeah. I think so. Those, I mean, it said it was a Lake LA-4 plane,
[00:07:11] but it's very similar to a Cessna on a Piper. So once again, a lot of these old planes and I've really, of all these old planes and new planes, I haven't seen any reports of new planes crashing
[00:07:24] or something like that. It's always early 70s and beyond or before that. Yeah. I think it's a function of the newer plane is going to have the newer electronics, avionics, autopilot controls and the older planes to the extent that they have the newer equipment is
[00:07:46] going to be equipment that was retrofitted into the plane. And I don't know how adaptive all the other mechanical controls are to this modern technology, but the plane was almost as old as the driver and that not that I have anything against
[00:08:03] old folks of which I'm one, but that might have something to do with all this. So. Yeah. And just to say, we haven't had that many crashes, of course, and the Catskill's in a very
[00:08:17] long time with the planes and stuff. But one went down up near me a couple of weeks ago or over a little over a month ago. And now we got this one going down. So I don't know if they're
[00:08:29] just handing out licenses and people don't care or, you know, this guy's been flying for a very long time. So maybe once again, a fortunate accident. So both of these drivers, the one in
[00:08:39] Sydney, New York a few weeks ago and this fellow were both in their 70s. And, you know, maybe their ability to react to changing situations has something to do with that. And maybe they just get over confident because they have all those experiences and they've flown through whatever
[00:08:56] over the years. And they think they can do it again. But I'll say one thing, you know, having spent decades on sailboats, you can see the wind move across the water. So to be struck by a
[00:09:09] unexpected crosswind is something I would think is interesting that he didn't see that coming and anticipated. What do I know? I just have a microphone in front of me. It doesn't make me
[00:09:22] in a little. Well, I mean, you got to admit like he's from the Facebook stuff and stuff like that. He's been doing it for a while. So he should, like you said, you should know where this is
[00:09:39] happening. But you know, maybe he was like, like I said about to land. And unfortunately, he did get a crosswind and tipped him over and he hit the thing. So who knows until we get the full
[00:09:48] report, which is not really going to ever happen. I've never seen a full report placed after this. So oh yeah, I noticed they updated the report on the folks in Sydney that went down.
[00:09:59] Really? Yeah, they did. Where'd you get that? Right on the, you know, Google the crash and you'll get to the, I think it's the FFA or whoever does those reports. They've got their
[00:10:10] update on it. It's not that lengthy, but they say the plane started to come apart in the air. Oh yeah. Oh wow. So you got to send me that. I got to check it out. We'll do. We'll do. I'll
[00:10:23] put it on my things to do for Stocialist on page. I think it'll get on page eight. I'm on page eight right now. Yeah. Feel like your personal assistant. Oh and by the way,
[00:10:34] I'm taking the car in tomorrow for that wax and shine because we got enough, we got enough ciders over the weekend with that little birthday post I did to pay for a wax and shine at Sal's
[00:10:45] wax and shine in Onianta. It's right next to the pizzeria. That's the cheapest wax and shine I've ever heard of my life. Yeah, they use the extra grease off the pizzas to give it that shine.
[00:10:58] Yeah. So Tata, I remember you sending me this link. So I thought it was actually awesome to bring this up. Now a man tries to escape police from fishing violation by using ride
[00:11:11] share. Now if you don't know what ride share is, ride share is basically like an Uber or a Lyft, just a different company. What's Uber? What's Uber? Run that by me? Uber? What is that?
[00:11:22] Uber Lyft. Come on. It's just a, it's like a taxi but a personal taxi. Oh a taxi. Okay. Yeah, like a little yellow cab thing. Yes, yes. So now attempting to put this guy once again was
[00:11:36] attempting to place escape police custody from law enforcement from ride shares, not really what they intend to do but you know they don't know at the time they just pick you up. So it all
[00:11:48] started with a routine fishing compliance check in Green County and ended with a local man who had been wanted by police facing even more criminal charges. Now the DEC said that officers
[00:11:59] observed a man and woman fishing along the Cascals Creek in the town of Durham, so right outside of the park. The DEC says that the officers ticket a woman for failing to possess a valid
[00:12:10] New York state fishing license. The man did not have identification but provided a name and date of birth that came back to an active fishing license. So that's okay. But then officers ran the license plate on a mowgur cycle in the parking lot and learned that the
[00:12:24] plate was resorted stolen to the SHODAC police department did not match the type of motor, motorcycle location. Now the DEC officers then contacted the SHODAC police who reported the male subject matching the description of the fisherman recently fled from police during
[00:12:42] a pursuit. They informed officer that the same individual violated terms of prohibition and active bench warrants out in the town. But when the officers returned to the creek to investigate further they discovered that he had fled on foot. Now they requested Green County
[00:12:58] Sheriff's canine unit responded immediately and the DEC went to track the men through the woods to a waiting vehicle. The subject apparently ordered a ride share for the transportation out of the area. DEC says the suspect was taken in custody as face of a number of charges
[00:13:14] including two counts of bail jumping, one count of criminal impersonation. Okay so what's wrong with this storyline? What just jumps off the page is being wrong and I'm going to put aside what gave me like that initial pause where you said this was a
[00:13:32] routine fishing compliance check. You ever heard of such a thing? Really not really but in all minds to me that having a fishing license is absurd. Yeah well so it's allegedly a routine fishing compliance check and this fellow who just happens
[00:13:52] to have a few warrants out for his arrest and was recently fled the police who were pursuing him later on whether it was later on that day or later on whenever he's fishing in Catskill Creek
[00:14:08] with a woman maybe his girlfriend maybe not they don't say and they go over to check for licenses. She doesn't have one she's ticketed he apparently matches to a license and now we get into the
[00:14:23] fishy part okay. Pun very much so intended. What is it that's fishy about this story? You're up in where Tim Buck to right this is like no man's land. The DEC come over they ask you for
[00:14:41] your fishing license you know you have warrants out for your arrest you're sweating it you just ran from the cops whether earlier that day or the day before and you're busted now you know
[00:14:53] what's going down the cops leave they don't say how long they're gone that they come back the guy's gone he's waiting for a ride share how is it how is it and Tim Buck to the Catskills you
[00:15:07] can get a ride share to show up in five or ten minutes. This is Durham. All right that's downtown Durham why didn't he just take the Durham subway I mean people go up to the Catskills from
[00:15:19] Penn Central and Grand Central in Manhattan to Durham using the New York subway all the time I think it stopped 1297 on the e-train am I wrong somebody just agree with me how did he get a ride
[00:15:34] share in five or ten minutes it's I mean in Durham in Durham and only on time I can get it I mean we have a good amount of people but you have like college kids there that ride share all the
[00:15:45] time this is Durham so do you think this is like like like fake news do you think they're making this up yeah I think so absolutely but the DEC reported this this is like it's yep right there
[00:15:59] that's it the right that's the most truthful state but the DEC right making it up for they want entertaining stuff to put on their podcast because they know we're out doing them so this is a fake
[00:16:11] this is a fake story it's fake news do you think it is I think we should hire some investigators and get to the bottom of this well I'm not I'm not in my wrong am I wrong is it this crazy you got
[00:16:23] some guy with a fishing pole standing in Catskill Creek around the banks of Catskill Creek presumably minding his own business I mean fishermen who are out fishing really don't act rowdy or call attention to them there's this alleged routine fishing compliance check right the guy doesn't
[00:16:41] have ID which doesn't surprise me I like I don't have ID with me so but he matches to some license but he's got a hot motorcycle there right right the motorcycle had been ripped off okay so wherever
[00:16:55] the police go they come back it's gotta be within five or ten minutes because they expected him to be there right yeah and he and he in that same five or ten minutes summons a ride share
[00:17:08] in Nowheresville New York I don't buy it I don't buy it interesting yeah I mean that is that is very to get it right I know they have internet from from going beyond the five state lookouts well
[00:17:21] even in even in Wyndham you have uh internet due to to Wyndham ski resort or where the hell that place is called now the purple I'm gonna assume what let's say he had like a mammoth
[00:17:32] satellite communication device that his uncle Elon Musk gave to him okay nice how does that still get how does that still get a ride share to this guy in five or ten minutes so maybe the whole thing
[00:17:47] I mean I'm playing devil that they get here go maybe the whole thing went around went down and the woman did it while everything was going on after she got ticketed and she was just like
[00:17:58] that's still but still you're in you're in Durham how long it's like you have some you're we're assuming there's some guy or gal in downtown Durham or its vicinity waiting to get a call
[00:18:14] right I mean seriously I mean it just doesn't happen it doesn't happen if you wanted to make a few extra bucks on the weekend doing ride shares are you gonna hang out in Durham
[00:18:26] right or you gonna like are you gonna get up in the morning like hey hon you know I'm gonna do ride share today I'm driving over to Onianta or I'm heading over to Woodstock you know
[00:18:36] I'm gonna go someplace where I'm gonna get some calls and be there I'm not gonna stay in Durham that's a good point yeah it's a very good point listen to this guy yeah yeah
[00:18:47] Mr. Investigator over here I don't know crazy story though so let's move on to the next crazy story I mean Tad you're just bringing these stories to me one by one I remember seeing this
[00:18:59] up on one of my friend's Facebook posts and it was really really odd once again was this this was reported by the DEC right by the DEC oh god so we're gonna hear a mountain lying thing next
[00:19:12] so it looks like a massive snake sneaks up on workers in upstate New York now let's let's see Albany okay Albany's already it's upstate I'll say it's somewhat upstate so apparently there was some
[00:19:29] people working as some workers working on a water main in Albany New York and unfortunately they they were they were attempting to fix a 48 inch transmission main at Tivoli preserve when they
[00:19:40] came across a looks like a 14 foot boa constrictor now it was on Albany Waters Facebook page so Facebook it must be true it's got to be true on Facebook absolutely they immediately called the
[00:19:56] DEC to report the snake and soon after a DEC crew responded to capture and remove the snake now apparently boa constructors of course are not well common up here so it must have been somebody's pet
[00:20:12] up there and that released it or it got loose somehow I don't know I mean that's pretty pretty crazy and usually they're found in Central and South America but definitely nowhere near New York
[00:20:24] not even you know even then the higher parts of Florida so definitely a weird instance in the picture once again you're you're right is is one of the most blurriest pictures I've ever seen
[00:20:38] I know I know this is from this was also it looks it looks more like the water main than the snake okay do you see any snake markings on this it's twisty turby though twist is that like a technical
[00:20:50] term are you trying to like infuse me by throwing out that technical is that like a snake term that snake terminology and then a pipe like that and it's I don't know it's it looks like a black
[00:21:05] piece of flexible pipe there's no tape or two it's like the same thickness from one end to the other true oh I'm yeah very better pictures on here so yeah let's see Tivoli let me let me look up where
[00:21:19] Tivoli preserve is so Tivoli preserve is a little bit south of uh but south of Albany I don't know why they were saying Albany because okay all right so oh wow so Tivoli is is right outside that the
[00:21:38] Pursualli preserve is right outside of the heart of Albany so to say this was uh an upstate and it's really not well first of all what is is Albany not upstate New York where does upstate
[00:21:53] start to you I mean because you because you live upstate do you view upstate further upstate than where you are I mean I'm I consider myself a little bit upstate but I'm central New York okay
[00:22:06] I always consider Orange County and above upstate yeah well anybody in Manhattan considers anything over the George Washington Bridge to be upstate whether you're in uh Onianta, Albany, Buffalo or going over Niagara Falls and a barrel you're upstate yeah true Canada's even upstate to
[00:22:26] them 100% actually yeah yeah so all right I'm looking at some of these other alleged pictures say I was just let's look at this article DEC clarifies details surrounding 12 foot snake found in Albany found by Albany Water Department employees okay details oh he was killed oh D.C.
[00:22:50] you need to read this one I gotta somehow can I send you the link please oh yeah this is the more juicy one details provided by the New York State DEC Tuesday confirmed the massive snake
[00:23:02] found by the Albany Water Department employees was killed in self-defense I thought you said before they captured and removed it I mean wouldn't you know that you killed it before you removed it but here they're saying it was killed in self-defense so what exactly
[00:23:20] who is defending themselves I mean yeah was found at a construction site based on the initial photos the snake is identified as a regulated python as matter 12 feet 10 inches uh what's this uh the origin of the snake and like the known reason for closure
[00:23:42] that's weird very weird I just look at this article and it just makes me wonder why does somebody want to keep a python I don't know I don't have to ask my friend that he loves snakes
[00:23:52] he's a big snake but still I mean you know I was before the show I was cuddling up with this little abandoned kitten that we took in okay where you can pet it at purge you play with
[00:24:04] it it runs after things you don't have to worry about it wrapping around you and squeezing you to death a boa constrictor what do you really do with that right yeah keep it in captivity what
[00:24:17] sucks yeah right and that's what one of the comments down here at this article says you know you're doing the snake a favor by killing it because why why would it want to be held
[00:24:27] captive that might be a little that might be a little harsh of a view but who were we to take these animals out of their natural environments that's a 12 12 foot animal it's not like it's a
[00:24:39] dog that can live a nice life any air conditioning yeah 12 foot 10 inch boa constrictor yikes uh but they just you know and here again they just say it was killed in self-defense I want
[00:24:52] to know why what what were you doing that you felt you had to defend yourself in that moment what was was a snake coming towards you did they put it like the the DEC capture the snake call a rideshare
[00:25:05] they hop in the back of the rideshare with the snake not realizing that the snake was still free and it started to wrap itself around I don't know I'm just rambling let's edit this and
[00:25:15] I was gonna say that was a little ridiculous yeah but you know I mean to be honest if I saw a 12 foot boa constrictor behind me I would scream like a like a girl say it you would just I don't want to
[00:25:29] say like a girl like a like a freaking bald eagle and just run and be like what the hell I'd like to say like a bald eagle and then lunge towards it and and try to get the same thing on yeah
[00:25:40] and fly off okay do you think this is Alaska or something no I just think we're we're not even like 15 minutes into this and we're already off the rails I don't totally off the rails once again
[00:25:50] it's it's good to have another guest down here to keep us in line because inside the line that's yes inside the gas does otherwise yes no guard no guard rails none so uh unfortunate news in the
[00:26:05] hiking world today uh well earlier on was a daughter slips off cables at half dome during thunderstorm with her father so once again every parent's nightmare unfolded on half dome in you know
[00:26:19] Semine Park and this was I believe it was five days ago five six days ago 20 year old grace roll-off slipped and fell toward death while descending notorious cables and a heavy rainstorm on
[00:26:30] a hike with her father now Jonathan roll-off told the sense of a physical gate that a powerful thunderstorm rolled in literally out of nowhere and they got stuck on the cables that people in
[00:26:41] front of them went down slowly the granite became slick and Grace's feet slipped out from underneath her uh he said she just fell off her slide right beside me down the mountain it happened so fast
[00:26:51] I tried to reach my hand up but she was already gone Grace had secured a permit on someone half dome just two days prior to the tragic accident and said that her father daughter duo drove from
[00:27:01] Phoenix to do the hike which was a bucket list item for grace they were experienced hikers they had trekked together through Zion, Grand Canyon and Arizona as well so unfortunate incident uh
[00:27:15] or uh the father for the family and and such and uh I was watching actually a lot of videos on that day of when the thunderstorm was rolling in and you can see those dark
[00:27:25] clouds that heavy rain coming in and that's you know once again being above treeline if you've ever been above treeline that's very terrifying to know that you're caught in between of where you
[00:27:38] might have to run for shelter or you might have to stick it out and try to outrun it yeah well there's no shelter up there right yeah that's true yeah you got to stay with those
[00:27:49] cables because you're not going to the left or right you're you're stuck and that's just uh it's really sad and horrific event and people go up there and and do that climb up that and
[00:28:05] really not appreciating the nature and extent of the risk because you know storms happen out of the blue and even though you think you're prepared and you're physically fit and whatever you know these freak accidents happen that's very sad yeah she was uh
[00:28:27] studying at Arizona State University to be a teacher and her parents were in the article where both teachers played 15 years on a softball team you know seems like a really outgoing and remarkable young lady and you know just in an instant like that it's all gone
[00:28:45] yeah bucket list thing to do well it's not my bucket list but i don't know if i'd ever do it yeah um but you know it's on my it's on my fourth bucket list not on the top bucket list
[00:28:57] oh come on right yeah i really honestly i don't i don't have any desire to do something like that if my one daughter said hey dad let's go do this then i'm like okay i'm gonna go do it but
[00:29:08] for what if it's not something that one of my kids would be interested in doing with me that's not something i'd be interested in going out and in doing so i'd rather i'd rather i'd rather go see the
[00:29:19] sequoias myself correct yeah that sounds sounds like a fantastic time so i'll take i'll take like a two hour nap somewhere along the trail with those big trees and then wake up wake up in
[00:29:33] a light rain that would be cool and grizzly bear next to you yeah you know i sleep with grizzlies all the time i keep them right next to my pet boa constrictors once again unfortunate incident
[00:29:47] that happened up on half dome but in the lighter in the lighter side of things uh on august 31st there is a fire tower lighting event in new york state that we're having so i don't
[00:30:00] know if it's in other states but i know new york state is fully involved so on august 31st at 8 p.m. to i believe it's like 10 o'clock 10 30 is the lighting of the fire tower so every fire tower
[00:30:17] that is like open to the public will be lit up in some sort of way uh with you know like battery powered lighting objects you know any any way possible that can light it up and usually you
[00:30:30] can see them from a distance so it's it's a pretty cool event i haven't participated in it on top of a tower but i have seen it from other places uh down in stanford i i've viewed mount lancinata
[00:30:45] from there and then also i went and hiked giant ledge a couple years ago and so got to see overlook hunter and tremper lit up and it was pretty cool i had no clue that it was going on i
[00:30:55] totally forgot about it because we were on a search and rescue i'm not a wittenberg bountain but we got called off because they flew in a helicopter so we decided to go up on giant ledge and i'm like
[00:31:06] why are those lights on top of the mountains and luckily i had some service i looked it up and it was the fire tower lighting event and i thought it was absolutely awesome i thought it
[00:31:16] was cool so if you if you want to go hike get your headlamps out go and hike to a viewpoint where you can view all of them or just go to the fire towers with the awesome people who are participating
[00:31:26] at volunteering to light in the fire towers uh and the cats goes end up in the upstate or up in the adorondacks and such they have them all over the place they're going to be lit up everywhere
[00:31:35] across new york state do you have you ever checked this out no not sure not on my it's none of my bucket list yeah maybe maybe i will maybe i'll go out walk outside your house and see
[00:31:47] like or like go up on a little hike up outside of the the gunks and see maybe the ferncliffe forest one or something like that yeah well we have one right here in the gunks that's uh what is on fire
[00:31:59] on fire tower road there's a fire tower which one is that that's i don't know what they call no i don't have no idea what the name is it's on fire tower road so it's right on the schwann
[00:32:10] gunk ridge trail in the long path they both go right by it same trail i was up there that little video reel that you made fun of my daughter and her like you know berkin stocks with the water
[00:32:23] bottle right where you shame to emitter feel overly self-conscious about not being prepared for a mini hike that was where we went and you don't know the name of the fire tower
[00:32:34] that's we just call it the fire tower interesting yeah but it's a cool event i gotta admit it's really cool to see it's really cool that people take their time late at night late at night to hike up
[00:32:45] there so that you could see what it kind of might it might have looked like back when the fire towers were being uh uh staffed and people were up there observing fire towers or fires late at night
[00:32:57] in the morning such like that so cool event to participate in you don't have to do anything they already have volunteers so hike to a location or just drive to a viewpoint
[00:33:08] see if you can see a fire tower and uh check it out it's really cool all right shooting the shit is done thank thank god damn right damn i'm glad it's over tonight i'm just way too long
[00:33:23] way too long so thank you to the monthly supporters darin vicki john betsey denise vanessa joseph gmc michael david and chris thank you guys very much for supporting the show really appreciate it also thank you to outdoor chronicles photography molly from outdoor chronicles
[00:33:40] photography specializes in adventure elopement and adventure couple photography and the cat skills adirondacks and white mountains she's an aficion for getting married a license guide but most importantly she is a story maker molly won't just give you photos she'll give you
[00:33:55] memories that will last forever don't hesitate to get a hold of molly on all platforms also have you ever wanted to learn more about hiking or backpacking or even just brush up on
[00:34:05] some of your old skills in the backcountry check out trail bomb project a hiking and backpacking school scott and joe from the new jersey search and rescue team have amazing backgrounds in wilderness first aid wilderness first responder and mountain rescue association and they are here
[00:34:18] for you to learn all the new skills of hiking and backpacking they teach anything from first aid map and compass and many other skills that could help you and others out in shurrell
[00:34:28] check them out on their website and all social media platforms so alex bettencork thank you for the hard cider for the birthday once again uh not once again so four days ago on this recording
[00:34:39] it was my birthday july 26 so thank you very much for the birthday hard cider definitely gulp that down on that day excellent i made dinner for myself so i had faheeda so just
[00:34:51] yourself now with you and your your wife jessica worked uh a little late so i made it for myself and she came home and had some herself too so super super it's good got some couple hard
[00:35:04] ciders in me so thank you alex for the hard cider so what do you have in tonight dad i'm having what i had last week the uh coca cola and coffee combo just sitting here now i thought i'm gonna
[00:35:17] call it a cat skill coffee that's my new name for this drink all right so i think i needed another dash of coffee in tonight's mix but i'll catch up well that sounds good i guess
[00:35:32] just like that was like the most boring well it sounds good i guess yeah okay i mean i'm like yeah all right you just want to hit fast forward with these occasions i have something to drink
[00:35:43] i had an awestruck uh you know darin who supports the show he had a peach ring awestruck that he said he didn't like so i decided to try it and i got it over here and it's all right it's not bad it's
[00:35:56] not the greatest of awestruck but it's a hard cider so thank you alex for that and thank you darin for bringing that to my attention that i had one of these that need to be finished so did that cool so tad previous hikes what have you done buddy
[00:36:11] uh well you know i um had we had a change of family plans this weekend so it freed up saturday for me to do an extra long hike and at the 11th hour i threw together heading up
[00:36:27] to do a little over half of the tachonic crest trail i did uh i think 21.4 miles started at the northern terminus and hiked down to uh almost a handcock where there's a road crossing so
[00:36:43] it was an interesting experience it was almost too warm um to be enjoyable but um i legged it out and i gotta say the you know there was no views because of all the haze in the air
[00:37:00] the the trail the hiking on it there was nothing technical or challenging um not even the uphills at least for me and i'm not boasting but it was you know not like being on the devil's path
[00:37:12] but what i can say is if you go there in the fall it's got to be you know immensely beautiful because you do walk through these really really tall ferns and sections and those must look great
[00:37:22] in the fall um one of the other things i'll mention is other than tall ferns you do work through a lot of tall plants and i was concerned at one point if some of these plants were poison ivy or poison
[00:37:38] oak thankfully none of them weren't um that so so i did it 21.4 miles uh i'll go out sometime finish up the last segment and complete the form send in my five bucks or whatever it is and get a
[00:37:54] patch to put in my drawer full of patches that i don't put on my pack so that was my saturday yeah nice yeah was that do you think was that when the smoke started coming in yeah in the other
[00:38:07] places oh yeah it was it was as thick as it comes and in anticipation of doing that hike and i've been thinking about doing it for a long time so on the maps they call out all these different
[00:38:21] viewpoints and it was one of the things i was stoked up to do was to hike through there and get to these viewpoints and that was nothing it was you know it was you could just barely see
[00:38:36] the the silhouette of a mountain through the white haze oh yeah that's getting that time a year again it seems like it's happening every year and usually like i don't remember once again like
[00:38:48] saying this i've said this before i don't remember as a kid once again having these kind of days of where smoke traveled from the the west all the way over here to to create this sort of unless we
[00:39:00] didn't understand it at that time yeah i you know and who knows how a student or attuned to these things folks were back then i do remember when i was growing up um in the 70s i worked on
[00:39:12] shatalka lake and lake eerie and we used to get these periods of time where there were they would have inversions of the pollution from the the factories the steel factories in the midwest
[00:39:25] the the air would just you know come to a halt and create um that thick haze for what seemed to be days on end but then there was you know when the steel industry died down in the country we
[00:39:38] didn't have that anymore now we have the forest fires last summer last summer it was the fires up in canada yes this this one it's from i believe it is canada again uh it's coming up from jasper
[00:39:52] which is uh it's very disheartening to hear because that's a beautiful spot so yeah so yeah so awesome yeah i had a similar experience as well when i i went in bushweck thomas coal
[00:40:06] mountain i decided to uh to just on sunday i decided i was like hey i mean yo i'll do a bushback from colgate lake up to thomas coal and uh it was a very dumb choice wasn't the smartest
[00:40:20] choice of my life what why is that just because of the haze or something else uh uh because of a couple things and number one because of the haze and because you know i
[00:40:31] back when i did trail maintenance i noticed from camels hump that there might have been a good viewpoint on thomas coal so i like took a video of it i took kind of like notes of where
[00:40:41] it could be at and i never really found this viewpoint so i'm i like to hike i'm a good view guy i like to sit there take the views in soak it in uh but also it wasn't memorable because
[00:40:56] i wore shorts while doing a full on bushwack yeah i mean it was 0.7 miles of non bushwack but the rest of the 5.7 miles was all bushwack so what were the nuttles like over there you know it didn't get bad until i started ascending thomas coal and the nettles
[00:41:20] started to go really crazy so i found this crazy spot in between almost the coal the the coal of uh thomas coal blackhead had to seem like a massive like maybe like 30 40 foot pit
[00:41:35] that almost looked like an old like pond that could have been okay no no signs of like quarry or digging or anything there were old roads up there but it was just really odd and i was just
[00:41:46] like oh wow like there could be like anything would flow into this but it was completely dry no bedrock vegetation everywhere so i was like it's really odd to see this and you didn't see those
[00:42:00] piles of spoils from quarrying you know the the waste rock that they throw to the side yeah that's interesting i know when i when i bushwacked up thomas coal from the uh
[00:42:12] the lakeside the coalgate lakeside there are a lot of old what i would call logging roads yeah because they were fairly wide and and they had a they had been cut into the mountain side
[00:42:23] so they were more modern than your older like uh hemlock roads or um the old ox cart roads from the quarry days but i remember running into a lot of roads up there i i didn't go during
[00:42:36] the time of year when there would be um nettles out i've gone in the fall and in the winter yeah that was my problem yeah and did you bushwack back down i bushwack back down uh black dome
[00:42:52] so i went up i went up thomas coal i went to i'm pretty sure it was around 2800 feet i kind of hit the level spot or the spine and then i directed myself right straight up the spine
[00:43:03] just kept right in the middle because i knew the viewpoint had to be somewhere and i ran into some pretty cool spots which which crazy is the vegetation up on thomas coal even up to probably around like
[00:43:17] 3600 feet is just massive amounts of uh prickers and uh just just thick i i was kind of hoping they weren't i'm glad they weren't poison ivy but i was like oh shit if this is poison ivy
[00:43:32] i'm pretty screwed yeah and once you get up that high you're like well i don't want to go back down where i came from because that was hell so i gotta go up yeah so and i didn't find a viewpoint but
[00:43:44] i found a really cool uh i didn't post this to you but i found a really cool spot of like uh cone flowers oh yeah well yeah just a patch of cone flowers just sitting there beautiful yeah
[00:43:56] and i was i've never seen them up like 3200 feet in the air just a beautiful patch right before ledges yeah i have to say over over that way i've found um some expansive like grassy areas
[00:44:10] where it's the trees are pretty sparse and there's these open areas it's hard to account for why they're there i've got some theories but i'm you know not educated in this i'd leave that uh
[00:44:23] like like kudish or danie davis yeah right right and you know i i hit those areas as well because when i was going up the spine i ran into these and i was very curious about that as well
[00:44:38] because you know it just it was just it was good it was nice to hit that actually to get a freaking relief for me so let me let me throw out um what i read up in my kudish's book
[00:44:51] uh recently is um charcoal pits do you think that that depression could have been a charcoal pit i have to look on in his book that's a good point yeah i marked it on the map
[00:45:04] yeah when i was yeah when i was out one time and and saw some interesting features i doubled back to his book and he talks about charcoal pits in those areas yeah yeah but it was cool
[00:45:18] got up i hit the summit i it was crazy i like almost directly hit the summit from that spine went over to just below the summit of black dome i didn't summon black dome i just decided to go
[00:45:30] right down that flat spot and hit the spine i kind of drifted off the spine and just went straight down the the side of the mountain that was just treacherous just keep going side
[00:45:42] hill and as much as i could and flying down the mountain tripping over everything and it's not bad how loose was the rock was there like just those big tallas plates going through there or was it
[00:45:53] bouldery what was the it wasn't bad yeah it's just muddy and and rocks here and there but it wasn't bad so there was a lot of like earth in in the rocks them yeah okay i've been some spots
[00:46:05] you go to and it's nothing but like that's just those plates smaller plates and there's no footing everything's moving around underneath you you get into some steep sections it's almost like
[00:46:15] you're you're gonna ski downhill on some slabs of thin catskill rock yeah it wasn't that bad i was surprised because i wasn't on the spine i was more over towards like the i wouldn't say the call but
[00:46:32] on the sides of the the spine of the ridge and yeah just flew down there i'm gonna say from the tracks you sent me you were in the fun part yes yeah it wasn't bad the fun part was actually
[00:46:44] getting back down to colgate lake at that time oh yeah oh my god i didn't you know i've been to colgate lake in the winter and it's nice but in the summer it's absolutely insane with with the
[00:46:57] we'll call him tourist yes yeah i'm looking at your tracks now by the way to to get a sense and you said you ran into that depression on your way down black dome or on your way up thomas cole
[00:47:08] on my way up thomas cole yeah yeah check out mike's book and see if he reports any charcoal making activity over there interesting yeah i'll have to check it out yeah um but yeah
[00:47:25] going back down and hitting scene when i come upon you know that area that you can camp apparently you know there's no trail there so you can camp 200 feet off trail and there's camping spots all
[00:47:38] of a place there's fires everywhere and just like i'm walking through like massive amounts of camping people and i'm just like all right they're probably think i'm crazy hiking and through here
[00:47:49] and then when i hike back i just hear like a lot of people and i go in i dip down you go right over that kind of like wall and then there's a parking lot and it's just full people parking on the roads
[00:48:02] and people walking up with with like like floats and stuff like that generators you showed me a picture of a guy with a generator blowing up his inflatables
[00:48:13] that was on my way back so i was like you know i was dead of course my my legs have taken a beating from all the nettles and all the sticks and stuff yeah i go and i go to the colgate lake i'm like
[00:48:23] i gotta see this it's as crazy as i think it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be for the amount of people because they were all spread out they wanted to get away from each other so i
[00:48:32] dipped my feet in there cleaned my legs and my arms from all the debris i come back and there's this guy and this woman making a massive huge float that's that's it looks like one of those like
[00:48:45] 12 person floats yeah a generator yeah from a generator mm-hmm i was just like all right i'm eating my lunch i'm gonna get the hell out of here using a generator to run an air compressor
[00:48:56] to to build up build blow up this 12 person float all's i want to know is so as you're walking over to colgate lake there's all these families around all these kids running around all this family
[00:49:07] activity and here comes stash with like you know pine needles in his hair mud on his face mud on his legs his legs are cut up he's got like this backpack that's like 85 liters there's like a
[00:49:20] body in the backpack he walks over to the lake to like all the kids scatter do they all run away do the mothers come like running towards their kids johnny johnny come here now johnny get away from him
[00:49:33] guy asked me if i was okay yeah and what did you say my legs were so bleeding and i just said i was just like yeah i just did a bushwhack up thomas col and he's just like
[00:49:44] thomas what and i was like mountain over there and i was just like have a good day yeah right but it was good for them to get out in that that hazy crazy weather yeah you know i guess
[00:49:57] i guess it's hey man when my my kids were younger we would do things like that we didn't have the 12 person inflatable though i wasn't that kind of dad i didn't you know i was kind of low
[00:50:08] key on on the accessories and it was it was wild just seeing people had those canopies most of the pop ups the pop ups yeah i was just like oh interesting so it was definitely
[00:50:22] different time that i visit colgate lake and i don't know if i'll get back in the summer yeah it's it's lovely in the winter when it's like a biting cold i've done that bushwhack when
[00:50:32] it was three degrees right when the snow squeaks you know the snow squeaking because it's like so frozen when you step on it it's just screaming and going up there it was just biting cold that
[00:50:45] was a great hike sounds sounds excellent maybe that's what i should do next time instead of doing it during those stupid stupid times all right so uh catskill news volunteer 3500 clubs still having trailhead stewards i believe till september 1st catskill trail crew has a lot of stuff going
[00:51:07] on check out their facebook and instagram i have their links uh catskill mountains club has some volunteer activities going on visitor's center uh definitely has some opportunities you
[00:51:17] can do it right there jolly rovers trail crew you can uh sign up with them and then be one part of their crew and bradley mountain fire tower has some openings available also if you need stickers
[00:51:30] call me send me a message 8675 309 or uh send me an email or a facebook or instagram message or go to camp catskill and get a free sticker free i got a drop off more there apparently most said that
[00:51:45] that i'm almost out of there i was like oh well yeah i've been going in every weekend and getting two dozen just nice just to make you feel good cool that does make me feel good actually
[00:51:56] whatever it happened so thanks jack for those stickers really appreciate it you're gonna have to resupply tat soon so weather forecast for this weekend let's check it out so friday looks okay in
[00:52:10] the morning and then of course like any other summer day there's a risk of a thunderstorm uh highs of in the 70s so at the summit that is abnormally high to be in that 70s in the
[00:52:23] summit so usually i take that with a great assault because every time that i think it's going to be in the 60s it's actually in the high 80s so it's actually like pretty shitty but 72 degrees at the
[00:52:38] summit is very warm to be honest uh but a risk of t storms on friday saturday and sunday the same risk of thunderstorms and showers here in there uh high of 70 on saturday a high of 64 on
[00:52:51] sunday once again these are summit forecasts so down at the base it's going to be totally a different story of like high 80s probably and when chill is not even a factor it says there's
[00:53:01] absolutely no win this weekend yeah the the important takeaway from that is this time of year you really don't care what the temperature like is like at the summit unless you're like on plateau
[00:53:11] where the summit is you know a couple miles long but anywhere else you're hiking uphill through that heat to the summit so that's important to know important to know what that base elevation
[00:53:24] temperature is as you're ready to set out and huff and puff your way up to the summit and then you can cool off and you know pull out your generator blow up your inflatable and hang out for a
[00:53:36] while at the top of the top of the score. I would pull out this air conditioner. Yeah right your your big 4000 BTU air conditioner. Right yeah once again hydration is key stay hydrated electrolytes are very very good not just water electrolytes so you don't cramp up
[00:53:53] I gotta admit when I was doing Thomas Cole I did have a lot of water but I didn't drink my electrolytes that much so I started to cramp up a little bit on the way down so I stopped
[00:54:04] Drake so like a full I think it was like leader of electrolytes and I stopped cramping so again let's stay hydrated in this warm weather so Ted how about we go into some Catskill mountain
[00:54:20] history. All right let's do it. So it's been a while since I've done that. Yeah I know this is like we you know we lost the educational component but on the survey on the survey it was a listener
[00:54:35] favorite I mean because there's something about being trapped inside of your car driving to the hike on Saturday or Sunday morning where listening to Catskill mountain history is entertaining.
[00:54:48] It is when we have a lot of it here. So let's do it let's talk about this week's topic is what? You know since we're talking about the White Mountains tonight we're gonna talk about the
[00:54:59] the Curtis-Almsbury trail. Wow that's a cool that's a cool how does that connect with the Catskills Curtis Wormsby I don't get it. You already know it. So I know you know you actually brought this to mind I was actually gonna do something different but
[00:55:14] we'll save that for next week but that was a good idea so most of the people damn straight it was a good idea. Yeah so most of the people when they hike up slide mountain they
[00:55:26] don't know the Curtis-Almsbury trail is there they do know it's there but they don't take it because it's of course a little bit longer trail but that's actually a better trail in my opinion.
[00:55:35] Oh yeah yeah it's number one it separates you. Yeah it separates you from all the people that are going up to the highest mountain Catskills. And you also when you take the Curtis
[00:55:44] Wormsby you really get a true flavor of the different layers of forest that you hike through to get to the summit of slide mountain. They're more obscure when you go up the Jeep trail
[00:55:58] you do if you look to your left and right you see them but you're too focused on the rocks and whatever else is you're climbing that but on the Curtis Wormsby it's I think it's a more
[00:56:08] enjoyable experience but with that said I discourage anyone from taking that unless you're hiking with me. Right yeah yeah so they have a monument up there and it's there for a reason so William Curtis William Curtis was 60 years old and he had resident of worth of
[00:56:29] ruby Markey Peaks in his name so he was subtly built he had great calves that rippled as he climbed and also he was not only still hiking but he was contributing member of the Appalachian
[00:56:41] Mountain Club so on June 30th 1900 the Mountaineer planned to tackle the 6,280 8 foot Mount Washington the most prominent peak of the Mississippi east of the Mississippi. Definitely impressive ascent as I did this earlier and the country's oldest maintained foot trail he decided to take was
[00:56:59] the Crawford path leads hikers 8.5 miles straight to the top now that day beneath the midsummer's clear blue skies Curtis and his climbing partner fellow AMC member Allen's Wormsby Wormsby kind of keeps saying breathe for some reason set out to Crawford path to start up
[00:57:18] but some point like we all know on Mount Washington weather turned it's not entirely surprising that the conditions went sour as they often do there the average temperature on the summit is 27.3 degrees so the average wind speed is 35 miles per hour so usually and at the
[00:57:38] press of the time which was the second highest ever speed recorded at a Colonel Mount Washington was 231 miles per hour rough math indicates that 70 miles per hour wind would be enough to overcome
[00:57:53] gravity and lift an average side human being off the ground two and thirty miles per hour is absolutely insane so the the Mount Washington's the station on there only came about 1933 so it's really just impossible to say how the conditions turned on June 30th 1900 but Curtis and Wormsby
[00:58:14] never made it to the top Wormsby only 29 years old was found days later his body covered in cuts and bruises just beneath the summit he was less than a football field away from the crude
[00:58:25] shelter that could have saved his life now Curtis meanwhile was recovered near the lake of the clouds hut which was a tandem skyhugger Terrence well lake of the clouds not the hut so there was a
[00:58:36] there's a couple ponds down there now that's beneath the 5372 foot moment when row it's in the call of Monroe and Washington so he was roughly 1.5 miles away from the summit shelter and about the same difference from the safety of the trees below cotton basically a no man's land
[00:58:57] a year later the amc built an emergency shelter in the coal between Monroe and Mount Washington the exact spot that Curtis had perished and it would later become the lake of the clouds which was the place I stayed at during my hike through the presidential reign now
[00:59:13] how this turns combines into the Catskill area once again they Omsbury and Curtis were ones that hiked heavily in the Catskills and they set these blazes for their path up to slide mountain at the time of the early 1900 or before the 1900 so there's already a trail
[00:59:36] going up slide that brought visitors traveler stuff like that to the summit of slide mountain because it was the tallest mountain the Catskills and they decided to take a more
[00:59:45] nature walk path over from to the side than an up to the path up to the summit so once again these these guys were heavily involved in the Appalachia Mountain Club and uh it decided that that they perished that they would decide to tribute part of this trail
[01:00:03] to slide mountain that they love so much to Curtis and Omsbury and crazy stuff though yeah you gotta you can't think of that so uh when you're climbing up there trust
[01:00:16] me I don't want to think of that it's just uh it's crazy to to think that that would happen especially if you're climbing it like I did yeah these guys were what was that June 30th
[01:00:28] it's like halfway you know halfway through the year that's right after the solstice yeah so and to to to be taken over by the elements especially at that time June 30th yeah you know
[01:00:41] it's it's not like you would be anything other than hypothermia right like how else would you die yeah you know but also if even if the winds are that strong it doesn't necessarily have
[01:00:53] to be hypothermia these guys could have just been blown down and slammed into something and you know knocked unconscious or you know who knows what happened I mean back then who knows if they did
[01:01:04] autopsies or things like that but um they could have died nearly instantly or really really suffered over a prolonged period you know we just don't know but that's you know we don't commonly particularly in the Catskills associate hiking in June early July with weather events like that
[01:01:25] not at all yeah and these guys back in 1900 you know they didn't have vortex they didn't have these protective layers you know like we have now I mean they were like yeah they had wool you
[01:01:36] know back then you would boil your wool um I mean but who they I doubt they who knows what they would have thought of hacking when they set out right to hike on June 30th they you know they might
[01:01:47] have thought oh you know it's it could be cold up there but they weren't excited nobody expects 200 plus mile an hour winds yeah exactly yeah even if you're out on you know on the ocean and you
[01:01:59] encounter winds like that it's it's disaster yeah I mean I'm glad that the DEC you know dedicated this I think the DEC dedicated this this trail to them so hopefully you'll learn the
[01:02:12] history of that you'll pay your respects to them because they they love the Catskills they hike the Catskills I don't have much about them hiking oh I know they did a lot of hiking the Catskills
[01:02:22] but there's not much of course it's 1900s not much of history but they like to hike in the Catskills that was kind of like their training grounds for other areas of mountaineering before they went
[01:02:31] to the Adirondacks and stuff so I mean that's the way it is the way it should be like the Catskills are brutal sometimes so all depends on on the weather it's yeah kind of a big factor and
[01:02:44] whether it's going to be fun or a chore yeah so once again thank you for participating in Max Gatzka Mountain history and glad we can bring that back we'll be bringing that back as
[01:02:54] much as I can so sponsors last side of sponsors and we'll get on to the guest slash topic of the night so is it time for some new gear for hiking in the Catskills say no more Camp Catskill in Tannersville
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[01:04:15] another summit so awesome all right so let's get on to the guest of the night just me yeah all right let's do this sounds weird so recently I did a couple weeks ago I did the
[01:04:29] presidential traverse to New Hampshire and well if if somebody doesn't know who the what the presidential traverse is it's actually an amazing through hike over seven peaks in the New Hampshire wilderness area and it encompasses being 75 to 85 percent above tree line so you
[01:04:52] kind of trapped in the elements but you're also trapped in the absolute beauty of views all over the place so do it so that basically I guess let's get on to it so how do I start
[01:05:06] this all right well I hate this all right yeah all right so you went up to the white mountains and you did the presidential traverse you told it seven peaks and what are the seven peaks I'm
[01:05:18] going to quiz you what are the seven peaks you hiked as part of the presidential traverse so uh what we went north to south so was Madison Adams Jefferson Clay Washington Monroe
[01:05:38] and Pierce all right I just want to know what Clay was a president why is he why of all the other presidents why does he get a mountain named after him I don't know why that that's that's
[01:05:48] that was a it's a bump though I don't think it qualifies as a 4800 peak oh yeah okay so that's kind of like a way of dissing him that you know we're going to name this almost a mountain
[01:06:00] but not quite a mountain after you okay correct I got it all right so it's seven peaks the traverse is how many miles uh 20.5 is what I had on my my recording with 9,075 feet a gate
[01:06:19] so to be honest that is shorter than the devil's path but almost as much gain correct well you say so assuming your numbers are correct but yeah but there's no saint
[01:06:33] Anne's peak at the end is there no okay we call that a different name but yeah all right so here you what day did you drive up I drove up Thursday once again once again so this was also I had this vision
[01:06:49] for my birthday to do this on my birthday but uh I hooked up with another summit to do this so another summit hooked us up and decided you know asked me if I would like to take my
[01:07:00] team along the search and rescue team so oh okay so another summit uh once again does stuff for first responders and veterans for free so they decided to help me out and decided to guide us through this
[01:07:16] hike so okay so you and your team drive up on Thursday night do you spend the night like off the mountain on Thursday like at an air yeah here someplace so on Thursday July 18th we stayed
[01:07:28] at an air b&b which was oh it's out right outside of I think it was called Bethlehem I really think it was called Bethlehem New Hampshire okay and it's like 20 minutes from the southern terminus and then 40 minutes from the northern terminus okay and how many members
[01:07:47] are in the team so I mean on the on the specific hike there was seven seven people and um these are all all members of the search and rescue team yeah so I'm assuming they're all
[01:08:00] highly qualified and prepared oh yeah yeah and so you set out on Friday morning and we had we also yeah yeah we also had Henry and Bill from another summit as they were guides Henry is
[01:08:13] been on the show twice because he did the presidential uh or the the Pemi loop with me and he also is a triple crown guy so he's done the PCC the CDT and the AT so he's got a lot of
[01:08:27] miles on his belt okay and so you set out to do the 20.5 miles on Friday and you just do like one night when you're up there on the the mountains you can do kind of like whatever you
[01:08:40] want it's it's up to your qualifications I would say we decided to I wanted to enjoy this hike as much as I could yeah you know you could you can easily do it in a day I mean people do devil's
[01:08:54] path in the day you can do this in a day uh easily but I wanted to enjoy it because of the views because I'm you're above tree line once again 75 to 85 percent of the time so that's views
[01:09:08] yeah in every direction so I I take the views in and I could stand there for hours so sure and and so did did you have the heavy haze or this was before the haze and maybe fours it yeah we had absolute
[01:09:22] beauty through the whole hike yeah so you had miles and miles of views I mean it was just endless oh absolutely endless this was I'd say this is one of the greatest experiences I've
[01:09:33] ever had in my life because I just couldn't stop yeah the only the only thing that would make it better was if the trails didn't have rocks yeah well that's mountain hiking exactly yeah so yeah
[01:09:46] thank you once again another summit was was awesome so they they were fantastic they so they were there we of course we're all qualified as heck because we're search and rescue they were there
[01:09:59] more for like support I would say yeah yeah yeah so did they make the arrangements for the overnight they did yeah and where was it you stayed again so the first night I paid for the the Airbnb up in
[01:10:16] Bethlehem for the whole team there's a very cool place if you want like a reference I'll give you it's cool awesome place if your team ever goes up there or anybody you have a pack going
[01:10:27] up there I know where to go but the first night was at Madison Hut Madison Spring Hut right below the summit of Madison and then the second night was Lake of the Clouds Hut and you guys have to make
[01:10:40] reservations in advance we did we made it we made it like six months in advance wow you can I didn't I know that Madison was lenient and I know that like so all that part of the trail
[01:10:53] is the Appalachian Trail so a lot of the through hikers can make their last second reservations I know they leave like four spots open and then there's also four spots at each hut for
[01:11:10] what is it called uh pokins yeah walk in but it's like duty for stay or something like that you sweep up you wash the dishes or stuff like that and you can sleep out on the
[01:11:22] the floor of the of the eating room and stuff like that so pay for stay that's what it's called I think it's go or work first day does this work first day there you go yeah sorry okay yeah
[01:11:35] now it's making sense yes so what other logistics did um the folks at uh what are they called again another other summit what what other arrangements did did they make the arrangements for the
[01:11:49] overnight's the reservations for you guys or did you do that no they did that okay what else did they coordinate for you guys as part of the trip anything else just general intel yeah general
[01:12:01] intel of uh basically you know what the hike would be um safety procedures they brought a little like we also we all brought our own food but they brought some some more food like Henry is
[01:12:16] ultra it's hilarious the day before because you know we were all going through our packs you know comparing each other's packs see what we could you know take away or what we couldn't take away
[01:12:27] some of us hadn't like I've done through hikes before there was a couple people who hadn't done through hikes and over only overnight so you know if you have if you've done overnight
[01:12:36] you can only carry so much but if you've done a through hike you have three days and you have weather you have such like that you know you have to carry a little bit more so we did a good uh
[01:12:48] shake yeah shake down yeah and Henry is very good at that like the funny thing is he came in I think his pack without food or water was weighing at like 13 pounds wow so you're not you're not
[01:13:01] packing tents no right but maybe a shelter in case you're in the middle of some place and you need to take shelter you might have brought something to pop up or you know make a an
[01:13:11] emergency shelter your did you bring cooking gear no so all your meals were in the the two huts the Madison spring hut and the lake in the clouds hut yep so the the breakfast and the
[01:13:25] dinner the lunches we had to provide ourselves mm-hmm so what'd you guys do for lunches I did bagels and peanut butter aren't you yeah it's very thick peanut butter it's like
[01:13:38] like an inch thick stop yeah stash is showing like a manly inch of thick peanut butter so he was the one during the lunch breaks that wasn't doing any talking because he had all that peanut butter
[01:13:49] bagel in his mouth okay yeah those squeeze packs are phenomenal for through hikes man what to squeeze out the uh peanut butter yeah instead of you know on the once again when I did the
[01:14:01] the pemi loop I learned a lot that number one that the jar of peanut butter sucks when you're trying to put peanut butter on bread or a bagel or something like that because you got to take the
[01:14:15] knife and then put it on there and then clean the knife and then find out where the stash in a knife and stuff so these squeeze packets you just put them on the bread you're
[01:14:22] done yeah and then you can throw it over your shoulder right never the pack right we can just edit that part out okay so you set out the first day you said you went north to south did I get that
[01:14:37] right yep okay and uh how long did you hike the first day first day was our first spot was Madison spring hut which was I think 3 3.7 miles okay so how long did it take you guys to do that 3.7
[01:14:54] well the 3.7 involves 3,300 feet a game yeah so it's not like it's it's flat you're buying a lot of elevation that first day we had ample amount of time so we took our sweet ass time yeah uh we got
[01:15:09] you know junctions there's so many there's so many trails in the in the whites that it's absolutely insane there's junctions every half like half mile going up to Madison hut it was absolutely insane
[01:15:20] just to stop we stopped and you know we had two different parties a faster group a slower group you know we met up we ate we had some stashes group right stashes group yeah that was up at the top
[01:15:33] and came back down uh at times to meet and greet to bring everybody everything so got you um but uh you know once we got up a tree line we stopped and we had something to eat and it was a beautiful day
[01:15:45] so we just sat there for half an hour just bullshitting and enjoying the views talking about you know the different ridge lines what could this be you know uh and it took us you know
[01:15:58] up to get up to Madison spring huts that at our nice little pace of probably I think one to two miles per hour that's you know I mean you can either motor through there and
[01:16:09] you do it in a day and you take in less of the surroundings and maybe absorb less of what's there to be absorbed and then you can take the I'm submersing myself and the all of that and going
[01:16:23] at a more leisurely and enjoyable pace and there's there's you know look pros and cons to either way but I would opt for you know a one day or one overnight or a two overnight would
[01:16:35] make sense so all right so you you get to the Madison spring hut in the afternoon right yep like two o'clock okay so you get there early what do you guys do before dinner when
[01:16:49] you're at the hut we walked around we we talked with people we just aired out our feet because you know they're freaking inflamed like inflamed so crazily set up our stuff at our bunks which
[01:17:02] was really cool we got we it's funny because we had I always take the top bunk and there's usually a set of every every has like three like you have three tiers of bunks I always take the top one because
[01:17:16] hot air rises so it's always warm so less warm they and they at the huts for the beds they have a little mattress there and they have three sets of wool blankets plus a pillow so you bring
[01:17:31] a sleeping bag I did I did okay and mine was like a rated like I think mine was rated 30 degrees it's a Nemo 30 degree sleeping bag I forgot what it's actually called but it's a side sleeper so it's
[01:17:43] a little bit wider yeah I've got I've got a Nemo bag I like it I'm a lot of sleeper yeah um and that that was that was awesome and it's funny because we uh our bunks we got even though
[01:17:57] we got there earlier we were like spread out but there was another group they're called we called the golden girls the golden girls uh-huh they're a little bit a little bit older but like like in
[01:18:09] their 70s 80s and they were no way yeah oh and they were fighting too as hilarious when they fought really so and they had they've been friends for like decades the golden girls you know
[01:18:21] we weren't we didn't establish that uh we know that the southern like four or five of them I think there were seven of them that were with southern from the southern states but they've been hiking
[01:18:31] for a while yeah and I could tell you more about that story when we got lake of the clouds because one of them was a little uh a little bit older and we kind of were thought we'd have to go out
[01:18:43] and and help her and save her oh really yeah because she got like really late like it was like getting dark and we were just like all right I guess we might have to do something tonight
[01:18:53] yeah so but they were search and rescue yeah they were hilarious like they were just they were they were a ball to be at that time but yeah well us old people you know we are fun to hang out with
[01:19:05] so definitely okay so you wake up morning number well so you would you guys have to eat that first night what's the food like at the hut uh so potatoes uh no that's a community
[01:19:18] is a community food like we all eat it off of the like a community table give us the lowdown on the chow at the uh Madison spring hut so the they call them the crew up there see our
[01:19:32] the crew up there are very young kids and they have to haul everything up by themselves I don't know how many days they have to do it every sort of day but they're very young they got to be 25 and
[01:19:44] below and they are physically fit and everything like that so they got to haul everything up I don't know whether it's cans or you know packages or stuff like that but that night we had it was
[01:19:55] called pot pot pie because it wasn't chicken so I think it just had a lot of vegetables and a lot of lima beans and black beans and stuff so it's called pot pot pie uh I think it was mashed potatoes
[01:20:09] hold on let me let me pull this up because it was it was really good there was so like that this is another reason why I like to to stay at a hut everybody's like oh that's not a true wilderness
[01:20:20] experience doesn't matter when you're getting this type of food and you get your belly full so hold on so the dinner menu was minestone soup rustic french bread alpine salad and
[01:20:31] pot pot pie well sounds extravagant it was yeah it definitely was any alcohol at dinner no you guys didn't pack in any alcohol no they brought a bottle no flask no we all we all stayed nice and sober
[01:20:49] with water it was all water well they had they had flavored water I think they had like strawberry lemonade or something okay so that was good so you have your dinner with the golden gals and
[01:21:01] what do you guys do after dinner is it after when you're done eating is it is it still daylight out it was it was like uh I think dinner was at six so we decided as a team that we would go up to the
[01:21:15] top of Madison which is the peak right next to us and watch the sunset not sure and it was one of the greatest sunsets I've ever seen in my life it was Madison is exposed well once
[01:21:27] once you get a the the hut is above tree line so once you're up there just expose there's wind but once you're on Madison it's just wind all over the place and it was one of those times of
[01:21:40] just when you could just sit there and I really did I like closed my eyes for like five ten minutes and just the wind and just the feeling you know and yeah was that before after the gummy bears
[01:21:53] no no gummy bears no damn so it's all nature it's all nature man gotcha getting high on mother earth yeah and since it was getting the the the sun was going down and stuff it's getting a little bit
[01:22:06] colder so we had like our our winter kind of like winter gear on you know our our vest and stuff like that one of my friends had his sleeping bag up there and he just put his sleeping
[01:22:19] bag on and we watched the sunset like that so we all had our shells on our winter coats and stuff like that on because we were exposed now it's pretty cool gotcha all right the internet went down for
[01:22:34] a couple seconds you gotta pay that bill so I know all right so where we left off is you would close your eyes you're on the top of Madison you're taking it all in and at that moment
[01:22:45] the internet went out so let's let's let's pick it up yep you're like you have to hike back down and it's it's and it's not that bad of a hike you know it's I think it's like
[01:22:57] eight miles up to the top not even a mile and it's 500 feet a game so and it's a nice little scramble too it's nice how do you after dark how do you tell her the trail is is more of a beaten
[01:23:08] path in can you see you know like the wear and tear on the rocks from other foot traffic how do you know the route back to the hut without going off what was the trail it's it's all exposed
[01:23:21] anything on Madison was exposed so it's white blazes most marking yeah and so you can see they're like reflective you can see them at night well we had the we had lamps of course
[01:23:33] but at this time it was we didn't we saw the sun like hit the mountains and then we went down so we still had daylight no one had to use their headlamps at the time once again my internet's gone
[01:23:46] happens yeah well I see you guys got a storm going through to the west at you since Sydney right now yeah i'm checking it out right on interesting color radar and now I don't
[01:23:56] have internet on my uh all right let's keep going now this is getting a little all right so we're talking about the the trail blazes on your way down um was it one of these like orange ball
[01:24:12] sunsets oh yeah oh yeah it was absolutely phenomenal and uh you know we all were once again taking it in and just chatting here and there and there was the set of clouds kind of like
[01:24:26] where we're in front of it and of course of course in front of the sun but it was just like there was some in the middle and then some on the bottom so it looked like different colors of the sun
[01:24:35] part part top was dark middle was kind of bright and then the bottom was really bright so it was and made for one of these like oh wow I've never seen this before yeah and again you're telling us
[01:24:45] there was no gummy bears involved in this experience nope okay all right all right so you yeah you head back the eight tenths of a mile back to the hut what are you guys doing you get back
[01:24:58] the hut you uh you call it a night right away or well I I was very excited and I want to stay up and chat we chatted with people we played uh you know we were talking about the route for the next
[01:25:12] two days and weather and stuff and uh I do you know like like eight it's it's quiet time at like nine o'clock I think so everybody usually kind of like disperses in the bed but if you stay
[01:25:26] in the the dining hall you can you can chat but at low low volume and stuff but you know we chatted for a little bit and they were like yeah let's let's just go to bed we can wake up early
[01:25:37] and get going so uh that was fun the bed sleeping there I find it's fun it's awesome even with the snoring so how many people in a room so each hut is different so this kind of kind of had
[01:25:51] like a hallway so it had the really weird thing it's like three bunks and then there was actually a bunk in the middle I think because on the other side you had three bunks and like there was an
[01:26:03] overhang bunk it was really it was really weird so in each little quarter there's probably eight people so were these like pods around the main hut or this is all no no big hut complex
[01:26:17] one big hut gotcha yeah as it's pretty cool and and so there's how many people 20 30 in this one area or in the whole hut it could fit 56 people wow and was it full the first night definitely
[01:26:34] cool they were they had to reject through hikers oh yeah they were did you feel bad did you feel bad just hiking in 3.7 miles to this hut where there's other people that hiked like hundreds maybe you know what they're like 15 1800 2000 miles into the Appalachian Trail or more
[01:26:51] and there you are airing out your feet after 3.7 miles all hiking these people have been out for months yeah they were I'm not sure I think it's like it is like 1500 miles in wow maybe even more than
[01:27:05] that and so where do they go to they have like 10 stations nearby for them like you know platforms for them to put up a tent on or something else they have to hike to the next
[01:27:15] 10 spot which is like over the mountain and then down the other side of the tree line the others really wow yeah I felt bad but I was just like but it's your birthday it is close it's close to
[01:27:28] my birthday did they have a birthday cake for you on on that first night no we didn't say anything we didn't want to cause a scene cause a scene yeah all right so is that it for the first day of your
[01:27:40] presidential traverse experience you got anything else to throw in before we wake up on day two and and head out in the morning no so you wake up you have breakfast at the hut what's that like
[01:27:52] is it like served in bed you get served in your bunk in the morning no you got to go back out and see the crew yeah they do a little performance they do some really cool stuff like
[01:28:02] they they I woke up at really early and they like wake you up with a nice little song oh yeah they come into the hut and sing to everybody yeah they do it actually that's really cool
[01:28:13] interesting I should be sharing this I gotta tell the people got to experience this they so what what's really early for you to wake up four o'clock five o'clock did you see the sunrise
[01:28:24] five thirty was that sunrise time oh it was already it was already up okay I think I think yeah yeah it was already up so what was breakfast like uh what was breakfast I think it was eggs
[01:28:40] pancakes uh oatmeal coffee and coffee of course yeah yeah coffee good coffee yeah it's very good actually all right well maybe I'll do this then yeah I could I could I took this I I'm usually
[01:28:55] not like that kind of guy that drinks the the straight up black coffee but it was pretty good I could take it good all right so every the whole crew was up it's it's nine of you it's the seven
[01:29:06] SAR members and then Henry and who else was with you and Bill so it's the nine of you guys you wake up you have your pancakes your eggs your really really good black coffee
[01:29:22] then what happens you set out we pack up yep we pack up uh you know we get ready fill our waters for the day they have water up there they have spring water natural water so
[01:29:33] you can fill up with anything that's what's great about these huts is they have water they have shelter is that is that water for anybody if I were to just be hiking through can I fill
[01:29:41] up there okay good yep they have water tap outside that you can you can tap into so anybody and everybody plus they have like a place where you can purchase stuff too so if you if you need like if you're rain poncho or something like that rip generator
[01:29:57] yes okay 100% yeah that so it's a really it's a really cool spot in between you know your hikes through hiking stuff like that if you need some gear or something so we did that we we get
[01:30:10] outside we we all get ready we chat about the hike there's a little bit of mist going through so but it was breaking up a lot that we could see the peak above us we could see uh I think it's called
[01:30:23] I think it's called Sam Adams and Adams right across from each other so it was like breaking in and out of the mist and stopping the clouds so it's pretty cool see a head out
[01:30:32] is it now is it more than just your group that's heading out in the morning is there a lot of people all 56 people heading out early in the day is it just oh god yeah it's like a
[01:30:42] traffic jam outside of the hut yes it was definitely uh it was beautiful weather you know you know the trails are going to be busy especially one of the greatest through hikes in the east coast
[01:30:55] so it was it was very busy very busy yeah but you're you're feeling fresh right well you're all fueled up the mist is breaking you guys set out for day two yep day two uh first was how many miles
[01:31:11] did you do on day two day two I recorded it as like 8.6 I believe okay so that's like a full day 8.6 and what mountains did you have on day two Jeffers or Adams Jefferson clay and Washington
[01:31:28] clay the non-mountain and Washington okay all everything right when you start off it's probably not even 300 feet you're above tree line and you're exposed for the rest of the hike all the way to
[01:31:42] Washington all the way to below Jefferson which is another six seven miles away so okay and then in Washington even even at Lake of the clouds hut you're above the tree line yeah is clay then
[01:31:58] below tree line no no okay well so you're hiking along you guys are having fun you're going at a leisurely pace tell us about the trail runners on day two oh so I mean this is this is my
[01:32:12] opinion they if you're a trail runner just skip ahead what 60 seconds to the next question yes non-trail runners can listen to this segment so there was a race going on called seek the peak fundraiser for the mount washington observatory and uh it was just it was congested
[01:32:31] with with different people and stuff like that but the trail runners I don't know if they had to like set a certain time or you know it was just it was non-stop like I had to look over my shoulder
[01:32:44] to see if they were there because they would never say something like you know on your six or hey behind you coming down or something like that it would just basically feel like somebody's
[01:32:52] breathing down your neck and you got to move out of the way and I've never I've and it was it was non-stop it's not like it was like one person or two people this is a whole freaking hike
[01:33:04] and it was annoying a sec but that was mainly day two that would have been saturday yep saturday and it was I think it was all for the fundraiser I understand okay so do I have to wind back up
[01:33:17] to to that point in the conversation internet has been weird yeah yeah stash stash has been on and offline four times now and I'm going to try to back up to the point where I asked him did you trip
[01:33:29] any of the trail runners we'll see if we get the same answer is he gave me when he thought he was recording but wasn't okay no no no no no all right so this time you're changing your answer that's
[01:33:41] fine we're gonna move along just kidding so tell us about your approach to mount washington what was that like to me would be kind of a very I don't know just awe-inspiring thing to just you
[01:33:53] know hike along and yeah just that's it it was cool it was so far away that that you didn't just like it was just like it was there but it was still far away and it just you get closer but
[01:34:06] it's not and then all these once again like people were coming up from the cog railway they have a railway that goes from like halfway up the mountain that you can just hitch a ride all the
[01:34:16] way up to the top and people were hiking from the top of the mountain mount washington down back to the cog railway so they hitch a ride yeah it's just really sucks seeing hundred it's literally I
[01:34:28] forgot it I forgot how many people because there's two rail there's two trains that could take people up but I don't know how many people they can fit so you can either hitch a ride back you can hike
[01:34:38] back and a lot of people were hiking back down because a beautiful day yeah that's I don't know I've had those experiences before in the Catskills where I'm just out solo you know blazing along for a
[01:34:49] few hours then you come to a spot where there's just a ton of people and to me it's just you know shocking to go from the solitude of being out in the mountains by yourself or you know hiking
[01:35:02] along a trail and then you come to this spot where you have all these people that are just like in a different mood character a different vibe um but I like that concept where you
[01:35:12] you can say you hiked mount washington by riding up the railway and then walking down and you can tell all your friends yeah I I hiked mount washington and it's like half the truth
[01:35:23] yeah right exactly that's a thing so what was here you are you're at the this high point in new england known for its extreme weather what was the weather like that day absolutely phenomenal
[01:35:36] yeah what does that mean does that mean it was like in the 40s it was in the 80s there was no wind there was a lot of wind I mean bring us into that what what was did you were re-abundled up and
[01:35:46] you know was the wind blowing hard or is it just a pleasant day the whole day the forecast at highs was they said on the mountain forecast was course like mid to high 50s I would say with wind all
[01:36:01] over so I had a t-shirt and then a long sleep moisture wicking t-shirt like both moisture wicking and uh just in case you know you get up to the summits and you're fully exposed and
[01:36:13] there's wind everywhere every summit had basically the same exact scenario where it would be it'd be very windy but it was still sunshine in and the clouds here and there but you never
[01:36:25] it seriously felt like you never felt the clouds like the sun disappeared in the clouds so sunscreen at every stop basically we had because I mean I got a little burnt here and there and
[01:36:36] I know one of my my my friends that was hiking with us got burnt on the neck because he forgot to do it one time going from like for like two three miles but you're above tree line there's no
[01:36:47] there's no way to escape the sun so little but a hat yeah exactly even that I had I had one of these like trucker hats and I still had you could see the lines on my head on the sunburn it
[01:36:59] was pretty well suntan through the trucker hat yep it was hilarious got the mesh back yeah that's got to look pretty funny it was so stupid jessica's like what what it's oh my god you got to
[01:37:10] be kidding me so I'm like what am I gonna do where's a winter hat should make you go to like a tanning booth when you got home to balance that out no no not no I just swear that had all the time
[01:37:20] it works out but it was like the wind was a little bit chilly so once you get on the summits you gotta one you want to stop and you kind of you know like taking the views you got to
[01:37:30] maybe put your sleeves on and stuff like that but then you get going down and you start sweating again but it's it was one of those days before you didn't need any extra gear
[01:37:41] at all because you were either sweating a little bit and the wind was drying you off here and there you still had a little bit of sweat but uh mont washington got up to the top and it was really
[01:37:53] windy it was probably a good the gusts were probably up to 40 50 miles an hour and it was a constant maybe like 20 to 30 mile an hour wind so it was pretty cool it was a cool feeling
[01:38:04] to have that constantness like we don't we never get in the Catskills because we're not about tree life yeah well so where'd you have lunch that day to like eat on top of mount washington or
[01:38:16] hell yeah dead yeah two hot dogs doritos and cola what from like a food service up there like at the cog railway station or something they have the observatory has like their little
[01:38:29] shop and stuff because you know you can drive up on washington you can catch a railway so it was pretty sweet so you had pot pot pie the night before you wake up to eggs and pancakes
[01:38:41] you get to the summit of mount washington you have hot dogs and doritos you're really roughing it man you're this is this is delicious yeah wow so all right so we're gonna go from the posh life of
[01:38:55] living in these huts and eating at the canteen on the top of mount washington what are you guys doing for you're above treeline what do you do when you have to take a potty break
[01:39:04] we got all these people around there's no trees right what do you do what's the etiquette for relieving yourself above treeline this is something i this is uncharted territory for
[01:39:16] bay this is was my biggest concern of the the the whole hike was not weather but was like i was because henry you had pot you had potty anxiety yeah better better known as pa
[01:39:29] yeah like maybe we'll call it hpa hiking potty anxiety all right tell us about it yeah i just i was i was concerned i'm like what do you do above treeline you know plants are fragile
[01:39:40] you know you can't just go and crazy dig a cat hole above there because yeah once again these it's a fragile surface so what do i do and henry henry's advice you know in my times you got to
[01:39:53] find a place of course off trail like you maybe like skip over rocks and stuff like that and maybe do it like a dog like you pick it up and you take it with you and you pack it out
[01:40:05] and he's like if that's that's what you got to do and i was like huh all right because he's he's got thousands and thousands of miles on him and above treeline over and the pct and cdt and that's
[01:40:16] he's like you know that's that's what you got to do that's what you got to do or you just hold it to the next stop you know whatever you think is the next stop and luckily i did hold it for
[01:40:25] the next stop so no doggie do do for you on the trail side nope just just just pee in good boy stash good boy right and then i then at that time when i had to pee i just rock cop to behind a big huge
[01:40:38] boulder or something and release myself yeah i remember that when i was up with my daughter that was one of my concerns is what just what's the etiquette here and how do you go about doing
[01:40:50] but fortunately for us that day it was we were in the clouds when we were above treeline i mean you couldn't see 20 feet in front of you it was so thick oh that's crazy yeah okay so you here you are
[01:41:05] you're at the end of the day now on day two this is saturday night you make it till like the hut lake in the clouds is that right yep tell us what that was like how was it different from the madison
[01:41:16] spring hut and what was the food like and the vibe at the lake in the clouds hut uh so the lake of the clouds hut is bigger it can hold 92 people wow and it's way more touristy than the madison
[01:41:31] spring it's posh yeah well yeah hops bell hops waiting on you's like the old borsch belt places like touristy as in tourist people not really as in like like you're in a hotel you're like in a
[01:41:44] country club yes well the people from that can go up from the cog railway can hike down to the lake of the springs or like a clouds hut and have like an experience there and then hike back up and take
[01:41:57] the cog back down so i got really like hardcore hikers and through hikers yeah so what's the trail like then down from the summit amount washington to the lake in the clouds is it
[01:42:07] like easier going smoother less rocky terrain is it beaten down more uh it's it's marked better of course um and it's more of course all these all these trails above treeline have massive carons
[01:42:23] marking the way every got 30 to 40 feet basically it was it feels like that's it's that close and then like that was a little bit more towards the bottom it's rocky really towards the top
[01:42:36] of mount washington and then you get to a certain level and it gets more on the nice rock hopping kind of type situation but uh it wasn't you know any different from the other
[01:42:48] other trails that they have up there it's just it's just rocky they're all rocky and exposed and stuff like that yeah so is there more staffing at the lake in the clouds hut
[01:42:57] a little bit more yeah they got it feed more people and there's a bunch of caretakers instead of one caretaker there like uh there's there's two so there was a mother or a mother just
[01:43:09] uh a wife and a husband was there okay so they were cool um but we got there a little bit later like not a later but we got there just before dinner time I think we got there like 5 30 so once
[01:43:21] again we took our sweet time on the trail and we just hit the summits we sat there at the summits looking at everything at the trail junctions you know we just sat there waited and chatted and
[01:43:30] like okay maybe we can get on with the day and and then we were just like okay we're at mount so at washington summit we like okay we have you know 20 minutes to hang out and then we can make
[01:43:41] it there to to dinner and stuff so we took our sweet ass time it was still worth it yeah and I would imagine that they can restock the lake in the clouds hut by just driving provisions up the
[01:43:53] the washington auto road and then the yeah and then the people haul it down there so it's that's why I'm guessing it's bigger and it's that's what I'm guessing it's bigger it's the same it's
[01:44:05] it's like the same vibe but just the people are different the people who are staying there are different yeah and so this is the night that you were mentioning that one of the golden gals
[01:44:16] was a little late and arriving oh yeah so yeah so when we get there we we find our we get our bunks we we are only the art we have like a whole room to ourselves somewhat there's like three or
[01:44:28] four other people um but then like we only see from the golden girls there's only like three or four people so I'm just like all right I'm like yeah we saw them on top of like Jefferson or something
[01:44:39] one of the ladies was having problems with her leg but she was a physical therapist so she was like oh it's a muscle like this I'm just like you know I'm like and we're in search and rescue
[01:44:51] we can help you out and stuff like she's like oh I'm fine I'm fine so we we keep going and then well like we get down we're all chatting and like what are the ladies like oh I need a place for three
[01:45:02] people to save for us and they have a reserved table and I sat at that table because everybody else got spots so uh like we were like waiting we had dinner we were waiting even longer and I'm just like I
[01:45:14] don't I haven't seen these they talked about them and one of the girls was getting concerned and I'm like I go over to Henry and Bill I'm like listen Bill I'm like I heard you know remember
[01:45:22] the golden girls like three of them are still hiking it's gonna get dark we might have to help them and they're like yeah yeah we'll do that and all the team was just like yeah yeah
[01:45:32] absolutely you know we'd need to but they came in I forgot what time we were watching the sunset and they were coming down so like they started out the same time as us and she so that was
[01:45:44] like a 12 13 hour hiking day wow it's pretty long and was it this woman's leg that was acting up that was the delay she said yeah it was her leg and then the the the the crazy thing was is I guess
[01:45:57] they were all getting into fights uh later on that night because oh really well because they had to either think that they're gonna go to the top of mount washington and catch the cog back down
[01:46:07] or through hike down to where their other cars were parked so if they would take the cog they'd have to get a ride from the cog to the uh the other trailhead which is in heart all you need
[01:46:20] is a couple fishing poles a stolen motorcycle and the dc to come along and then you call a rideshare because they show up apparently within minutes when there's some nefarious activity occurring
[01:46:33] so I'm glad we tied that in with the golden girls and getting a rideshare in the middle of nowhere in a matter of minutes um but moving along what so you you said you guys kind of had
[01:46:44] a pseudo private room night two and the lake and the clouds hot what's the snoring like in the room you got your nine people in your crew a couple strangers in there what's it like
[01:46:58] you all do you guys snore in the synchronicity or something else what's going on with that you able to sleep I was I was I actually I I have the earplugs that that I'm uh one of those
[01:47:10] ones that need some white noise so I had like an earplugs that had a sound of a like an air conditioner fan and I could still some at sometimes hear them over so we know so we what what we all
[01:47:24] just heard is stash now is night two of his epic above tree line adventure for his birthday but to get the sleep at night he needs some industrial noise going on in the background
[01:47:37] like an air conditioner or something else right I guess that makes sense because you want to get away from the snoring right well that yeah that and that's just the way I've been brought up
[01:47:47] my whole life so it's kind of like a thing that I need your comfort zone yeah and they and they give away free earplugs there by the way just because they know they know they know
[01:47:57] it's bad yeah that's crazy well yeah so would you get a good night's sleep I got pretty good night sleep that night yeah night two better than night one or the about the same
[01:48:08] yeah yeah you wake you you wake up in the morning you have like the same breakfast routine yeah yeah and and what are the golden girls do you know if they they took the cog railway down
[01:48:20] off to ride back to the car were they able to all leg it out to their original destination what happened or was their murder was their murder in the mountains did it get ugly so
[01:48:33] I'm pretty sure most of them took the cog down oh really found a ride so yeah we didn't see them in the morning much because we were all getting about our ways up you know and you know I forgot
[01:48:46] to tell you they have bathrooms there and running water so I mean you got to pack in and pack out what you can but they have toilet paper and everything so you can go to the bathroom there it's absolutely phenomenal so are these are these flushing toilets chemical
[01:49:00] toilets or something else I don't know I don't know what they did they did they reek did it was like going into a tree no they were it was going on the tool tree but I think they had like
[01:49:13] the processing things before it churns it and stuff and it moves it I don't I don't know I'm pretty sure yeah that there's some sort of way I think they haul it out by helicopter
[01:49:22] something like that there's gotta be and it wasn't in the pancakes no no okay but I just want to point that out it was fantastic yeah but the third the third day uh the the the one thing
[01:49:37] was that we had before we had hints of rain in the morning so once again you're about treeline you know what do you do and they they roll out and they tell you the the weather
[01:49:49] that morning and they said you know if you look outside of course there was mist everywhere you couldn't even see like 30 feet in front of you and they're just like you know it might look horrible
[01:49:58] but you know that's going to be clearing up clouds are going to be uh scurrying and where you're going to have beautiful bright blue skies and we were just like everybody was like all cheering and everything because it looked miserable outside it was just a lot of wind
[01:50:12] a lot of mist and it was crazy so when you're when you're at the huts do you have wi-fi cell service anything like that I had cell service here and there different parts I did have cell
[01:50:25] service yeah because I remember you were doing some posts and messaging in transit up there yeah at times at times I did have really good cell service and then times you know you dip
[01:50:37] below a certain area uh you wouldn't have any so I mean at least I could text here and there I could text Jessica that I was okay and stuff like that so so overall it sounds like a tremendous
[01:50:50] experience one of the greatest experiences of my life that I've I couldn't talk about forever yeah and so if if you're talking to your your fellow cat skill hikers this is it sounds like
[01:51:03] a must-do activity for them absolutely yeah but you know what it costs to stay in the huts per night I think it's it's it feels like a regular kind of hotel room like a regular probably like 120 to the 150 range
[01:51:19] I mean but you get fed and in most hotel rooms you don't even get fed or you get a bagel and a yogurt yeah so if if you were to do it again would you do the huts
[01:51:31] or absolutely you would do the huts again yeah because like tending you have to go I don't even we were looking at places where you have to seek shelter so it's below tree line
[01:51:42] before the hut so that makes the second day the third day traverse longer a lot longer with more elevation gain because you're breaking down each night yeah and who knows if you get a
[01:51:54] spot with the tents spots because you know if it's a nice day out there might be a good amount of people taking up those spots already so it's I think it's a first come first serve thing so with at least
[01:52:07] the reservation if you book ahead of time you have that spot and it's yours in the hut yeah yeah it's kind of a bitch man if you're out hiking you're carrying all your gear to the camp out
[01:52:18] overnight and then you come to a designated camping area and there's no vacancy right yeah and then I'm curious of what you would do especially above there because it's you know if the Catskills maybe you could find a spot but this place seems like it's just where
[01:52:37] where we were it just seemed like the elevation was too steep to pitch a tent or something like that so yeah I don't know I mean you know these tents can go just about anywhere these days it's not
[01:52:50] like a hammocks to well as long as you have trees to tie them up to yeah fantastic experience you get the huts have the water stuff like that you resupply yeah it's just if you can do it do it
[01:53:04] we went north to south from Crawford not Crawford notch Appalachia trailhead down to the Crawford notch the Highland Center 20 miles 9000 feet a game greatest experience of my life cool so now that you you were planning this hike for months in advance major reservations
[01:53:24] hooked up with another summit you had great weather super fun time highly recommend it what are some of the do's and don'ts what did you learn from this trip what's the takeaway
[01:53:34] the do's and don'ts what would you do differently next time and what did you do this time or what did you bring that you wouldn't do or bring next time I gotta admit you know my pack was was it
[01:53:48] was heavy a little bit heavier but I carried more water than than most people because I drink a lot of water um but I think I did everything kind of perfect I had every gear I had a pack cover I
[01:54:00] had a shell I had uh nice comfortable shorts to wear at the the hot nice comfortable t-shirt to wear at the hot I think I packed everything well maybe I would organize my packing a little bit better
[01:54:15] like have a designated sleeping bag designated like extra shirts bag I kind of at the first day I kind of mixed everything together and was just like all right let's let's get this going
[01:54:27] but I would write on it but everything I used I used all my my clothes to seal up and as a block bag because they're airtight and they just seal they they go down to a crisp like a pancake and
[01:54:41] uh to be honest I took a bigger battery pack this time because I know at the the Pemi loop I ran out of battery like recorders the way down the the Pemi loop so I took a
[01:54:53] heavier bigger battery but I'm pretty sure I did everything yeah pretty good you want to change your program at all what about the um beforehand you were telling us you were going out on these
[01:55:05] like training bikes you know putting water in your pack you know getting the weight on the pack so do you feel like that paid off oh yeah yeah yeah my arms weren't weren't feeling bad uh
[01:55:16] you know I took my poles if you don't like poles I gotta admit having a bigger pack and having your your poles helps you balance out the weight of your arms and stuff so you're not shrugging
[01:55:25] over all the time yeah I mean if you feel stupid walking on you know a mile of flat surface with poles it just feels definitely different and it feels better and I gotta I don't think I would
[01:55:38] change anything yeah what about so you filled up with water at the beginning of the day and and hold your water throughout the whole day or were you able to replenish your water during
[01:55:46] the day so there was a water source I think halfway through uh right before clay so I wouldn't say halfway three quarters of the way and they filtered the water and I didn't take any because I had I had more
[01:56:03] than enough but other people did because you know I mean it's a through hike we know where we're going from point A to point B we know where the water fills are so it's not like you need to
[01:56:11] grab eight liters of water just in case there's nothing but you know with the internet there's a lot of sources out there to tell you if a if a supply is dry or not yeah and I forgot there's
[01:56:24] there's a certain app that they were talking about that go-to or something mm-hmm just for the white mountains no no this is for like like everywhere like people will state if there is
[01:56:35] a water supply that's dry or not I forgot I'll have to figure it out to ask Henry but it's like the Appalachian trails through all the through hikers use it and uh it's like just so you know
[01:56:47] like hey I'm at one section maybe down in the Shenandoahs and that's dry so now I gotta go I gotta pace myself for the next 10 miles to get to the next section that is flowing water so
[01:57:00] yeah that's one of the things I remember from my my days of backpacking decades ago was this being able to source water is a big part of the trip um that's scary as heck I could only
[01:57:12] imagine dude yeah that was that was you know pre pre internet you know yeah uh so like the filter any what did you guys use the filter water yeah well you know yeah sometimes it was
[01:57:25] just to calculate you know was you you just do a rough calculation in terms of how many days you were going to be out and if you caught something whether it was going to hit you
[01:57:33] when you were out in the woods or if it you caught something and it hit you you would already be out of the woods and it really wouldn't be such a big deal because you wouldn't be out in the woods
[01:57:41] there's nothing worse than getting sick yeah out on the trail that's when it becomes dangerous but when you're you're out you're on your way home or you're home for a few days then
[01:57:52] it's it's much easier to deal with but also back then one of the things I remember back then is um a lot of these places were so lightly traveled that filtering your water wasn't such
[01:58:03] a big deal as it is now you know now now the human waste element is a component that you need to factor into when it comes to filtering so crazy all right let's um you have anything else to add
[01:58:18] or we will go to I got my last question on the list here no I'm I'm just you're cooked you're done I roasted you on this okay I'm glad you had a great time I'm gonna let me ask you
[01:58:30] about the hike safe card do you know what it is I do I actually do I have search and rescue friends up there yeah so tell us about a hike safe card so I didn't have a safe card but I
[01:58:42] knew it existed so it's something that you have a yearly or is it yearly or life like yearly it's like $15 per year and 15 or $25 per year and if you have an accident on the mountain
[01:58:57] no matter what the cost is it'll be covered it's almost like insurance for the mountain and I've you know a lot of people have it that hike frequently up in the whites I know they do but
[01:59:11] most people that don't like me don't have it I mean it's a good thing to have maybe I don't know what the the whole deal I know only in New York it's like very negligent
[01:59:24] times that they charge you but it's a huge big deal in New Hampshire so yeah I don't know I don't know what the tipping point is in New Hampshire when they bill you for the cost of her rescue
[01:59:37] but when my daughter was doing her 48s up there I got her a hike safe card in part so if something bad happened we wouldn't have to flip the bill number one and number two and I just
[01:59:51] thought it was a good way to support the search and rescue community up there you know with with gear and subsidizing that if everybody you know makes that contribution it makes sense so yeah great great point yeah definitely should have that here for the same reasons yeah
[02:00:10] you know I mean the same reasons yeah I guess this this is a good spot where we can plug the Catskill Center in that fundraising program that they're running now where there's a matching
[02:00:21] contribution program with the Catskill Center now and I know the way I look at it is if I was off skiing in the winter and I was blowing 75 bucks to 150 bucks a day on lift tickets you know
[02:00:35] man if I had to buy a ticket every time I went skiing that would be a lot of money so a little bit yeah yeah so I um you know I make sure that every year a couple times a year I get
[02:00:47] money at the Catskill Center into some other organization and the Catskills because they're they're the ones that are up there doing a lot of stuff for us and also I know with the Catskill
[02:00:57] Center one of the things that I like about them is they're basically our voice in Albany you know lobbying for the Catskill hiking community up in and the New York State legislature lobbying
[02:01:11] for us with the DEC out there basically is our our watchdog and our advocate so that's my plug for the Catskill Center yeah Catskill Center is once again that's had point out they're doing
[02:01:23] like a fundraiser right now where somebody you can they match your contribution right yeah match it up to $3,500 so if you're generous enough and have the means to donate $3,500 to the Catskill Center apparently some other organization is going to equal your match so your 75 or your
[02:01:43] 35 becomes $7,000 nice sorry yeah good time to donate yeah do it all right buddy so look you did your you did your time up in the White Mountains two nights three days what was your post hike brew
[02:02:00] and bite up in New Hampshire did you do anything when you guys got off the mountain okay tell us about it reckless brewing all right is it everything it's cracked up to be it was pretty
[02:02:11] good i got it i'm not a bearder i didn't have any beer i had some soda but it doesn't really count if you go to reckless and you don't drink beer i mean is it are you really there all right tell
[02:02:21] us about the burger burger was absolutely phenomenal yeah perfectly uh the onions were great because there's they had some caramelized onions on it it was really good and had some
[02:02:31] sort of hot sauce that was on it was really good yeah filled me up and took me for the ride home that i belong right home yeah how many times do you have to charge up the Tesla
[02:02:40] for the trip once just once when you're up there in New Hampshire yeah once in Rutland okay in Vermont yeah do you have to spend the night there while the Tesla charged up
[02:02:51] definitely had to set outside of it so i didn't use air condition and so it took less charge that's that's when you pop the tent is when you were waiting for the Tesla to charge up
[02:03:01] you had to actually camp out indeed indeed oh well everybody else was whizzing by you when their diesel powered you know mini vans coming back from coming back from the mountains
[02:03:13] yeah i great well i'm glad you had a good time i i would love to do that trip i'm gonna put it on my bucket list i do i'll do it with you yeah i'd do that before i do uh half dome frankly
[02:03:25] 100% 100% no disrespect to the young lady who lost her life there but yeah all right so thanks tad thanks for joining me tonight really appreciate it hopefully hopefully everybody enjoyed my little adventure hopefully i explained it well and sorry for the breaks and
[02:03:42] the internet but it seems to be going fine now that the storms have passed so once again thank you to the monthly supporters and and the monthly sponsors really appreciate you guys support the show also thank you to everyone who has donated alex thank you for this but
[02:03:55] hard cider thank you everyone who's still listening after 134 episodes really appreciate it and tad thank you for joining me tonight and me planting ranting on about my my hike up in the
[02:04:06] whites hey there was it was great having a front row seat and asking the questions that popped into my head so i would know what it was like and i just in closing i just want to point out that
[02:04:17] it's the bottom of the eighth inning and the yankees are had five to four over the fillies so cool yeah hopefully they can afford air and judge they got they got bigger problems than judge they did that all right all right my friend thank you peace out
[02:04:35] hey everyone i just want to thank you for listening to the show if you enjoyed the show subscribe and throw down a smooth review on spotify apple podcast or any podcast platform you can also check daily updates of the podcast hikes hiking news and local news on facebook
[02:04:58] instagram twitter and the official website of the show remember this you gotta just keep on living the cat skills man and i'd be i wake it wake it wake it