Episode 153 - 2024 Recap

[00:00:29] The bushwhacks were some of the worst days I've ever had in the mountains, or life really.

[00:00:36] Whereas Pantsy Mountain is totally opposite, it's a mountain on top of a crater.

[00:00:41] I think the weather challenges on this incident were particularly difficult.

[00:00:47] It improves the development of New York State. Catskills will respond to it.

[00:00:52] Passing into Inside The Line, the Catskill Mountains Podcast.

[00:01:08] Let's just roll. Let's start off the new year with a great episode.

[00:01:13] Let's roll into the new year, man. So Merry Christmas.

[00:01:16] You know, we skipped a week. Sorry about that. I'm back to sounding like normal.

[00:01:21] Not the cringe that Ted said I did.

[00:01:24] Yeah, as long as you remember to record this episode.

[00:01:28] Oh, God. That hasn't happened yet with you and I. So that's good.

[00:01:33] It's been a while since you've done this. So I hope you're using like your checklist, you know, flaps down, motors on, right?

[00:01:43] Passengers aboard, right? Ready for takeoff.

[00:01:47] Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Happy New Year as well.

[00:01:51] So, Ted, we're recording in 2025 right now. So it was actually, you know, we'll chat about late or 2024, but it was a great year.

[00:02:00] So glad you could join us. You joined pretty early in the year and it's been a very successful year.

[00:02:07] Yeah. I'd say what was it? Maybe like April sometime in April.

[00:02:12] Seems right.

[00:02:14] 37 episodes, right?

[00:02:16] Yeah. I'm like, I'm not counting. I'm not keeping track of that. I don't want to, I don't want to have somebody tally how many words I've said on the podcast.

[00:02:25] The us, they don't care about that. They care about the, uh, uh,

[00:02:30] I'll get, uh, back to you on, uh, that.

[00:02:34] Yeah.

[00:02:35] Yeah. I'm a little rusty. Cause we haven't done this in so long. I had to like dust off the equipment here, you know, figure out what chords went with what I think I've got it down though.

[00:02:43] I think I'm ready to rock and roll.

[00:02:45] To be honest, I think this is the first time we took a break since you started.

[00:02:52] You took a break. I was ready to go, right? I'm like a union guy every Tuesday, 7 PM. I'm locked and loaded.

[00:03:01] Nice. Nice. So yeah, I mean, it was, it was a much needed break. We both were occupied doing stuff with new year and Christmas. So I had a great time with my family.

[00:03:11] You probably did too. All your, uh, your daughters were home, correct?

[00:03:15] Yeah. It was the first time we had a full house, uh, for quite some time. And it is always a pleasure to have, to have my daughters here. We had a good time.

[00:03:28] Nice. Do you guys reminisce of what you did in the year and stuff like that? How crazy your one daughter is?

[00:03:34] Uh, well, they're both crazy. I mean, you know, the younger one just graduated from nursing school in May, started a job in August and she, now she's on the overnight shift and she'll come back in the morning and she'll tell you the stuff that went down overnight.

[00:03:50] And like, how she'll be in somebody's room for half an hour, 45 minutes, just like, you know, in that chronic crisis, um, battling whatever's going on and like injecting and putting this in. It's, it's not just to think that she's only been out of school a while, a little while, but that's, she, she took her schooling seriously.

[00:04:13] She went to a good school and now she's out there doing it and having exceptional time. And then the older one was home for about a week. I dropped her off at JFK on Saturday night.

[00:04:26] And on the way down on the way back, I was reminded of our hikers who drive up from long Island, the boroughs or even New Jersey and how that drive is just hell. I mean, it's just, you, you really have to want to get out of the city bad to go through that. I mean, and these, these folks leave like at 3 AM 4 AM, maybe the traffic's not so bad, but it's just a long haul.

[00:04:54] So at any rate, uh, the older one is she's climbing in the Virgin river gorge right now, sport climbing. If you know anything about climbing, she's got a project down there. She's working on. So.

[00:05:13] Virgin river is that, uh, I mean, it's Arizona.

[00:05:19] Oh wow.

[00:05:20] Yeah.

[00:05:20] It's Southwestern.

[00:05:21] So it's, it's warm enough there that she's able to camp out overnight outside.

[00:05:29] So I used to live down there.

[00:05:30] And, uh, I remember down in Phoenix, it would be 60 seventies, but then up in Sedona, which is, you know, 60, 70 miles away would be snow covered.

[00:05:41] Yeah.

[00:05:42] And, but the awesome, awesome.

[00:05:43] That's, that's fantastic.

[00:05:44] Good.

[00:05:45] Good for you.

[00:05:46] You must be proud.

[00:05:47] Yeah.

[00:05:47] I'm proud of both of them.

[00:05:48] They're good kids.

[00:05:49] Good young adults.

[00:05:50] I should say.

[00:05:52] Good, good.

[00:05:53] Congratulations.

[00:05:53] Yeah.

[00:05:54] Um, yeah.

[00:05:55] My, my family just came, uh, my brother came up or came over from Massachusetts and we just had a good old family Christmas and stuff like that.

[00:06:06] New Year's.

[00:06:07] We really didn't do that much for new year's.

[00:06:10] I mean, well, we'll talk about it later.

[00:06:11] Went to Bramley mountain and then we went rollerblading.

[00:06:14] We did some rollerblading and it was fun.

[00:06:18] Indoors.

[00:06:19] Yeah.

[00:06:19] Indoors.

[00:06:20] Of course.

[00:06:21] Especially with the crazy weather we've had up here.

[00:06:24] It's just indoors.

[00:06:26] Indoors.

[00:06:26] So we talk about 2025.

[00:06:28] We're in 2025 now.

[00:06:30] Do you have any goals, Ted?

[00:06:32] Uh, goals for 2025 or resolutions for 2025?

[00:06:40] Either or.

[00:06:41] Either or.

[00:06:42] Okay.

[00:06:42] Goals.

[00:06:43] Let me, let me, let me tell what is goal for 2025.

[00:06:45] 2025, the mere fact that I'm thinking about what my goal is for 2025 means I have no fucking goal for 2025.

[00:06:56] Okay.

[00:06:57] Putting that out there.

[00:06:58] I'm just, you know, going to get through another year, have as much fun as I can and do, do good or do right by others and, uh, just have fun.

[00:07:10] What is, what is my, you want to hear my resolution or you want to do what your hiking goals are for 2025?

[00:07:15] No, go with your resolution.

[00:07:17] We'll go with full on Tad right now.

[00:07:19] Yeah.

[00:07:19] I'm, I'm hogging the mic.

[00:07:20] That's one of my goals for 2025 is to hog the mic every Tuesday night.

[00:07:25] Okay.

[00:07:25] So I'm putting that out there.

[00:07:27] So my resolution for 2025, I, I have been doing some research on energy products, you know, trail food like cliff bars, uh, that come in packaging.

[00:07:41] That is biodegradable.

[00:07:45] Because most of this stuff comes in these mylar or foil packages, which really aren't recycled.

[00:07:54] And so I want to get away from using that.

[00:07:57] So I'm researching that, but my, my real resolution for 2025, I want you to make sure you're, you're firmly seated.

[00:08:05] Both feet are planted to the ground, your seatbelts on.

[00:08:08] Uh, what is my goal for 2025?

[00:08:12] You're ready.

[00:08:13] Stosh.

[00:08:13] Definitely.

[00:08:14] Okay.

[00:08:15] So you heard of occupy wall street.

[00:08:18] I have.

[00:08:20] 10 years ago.

[00:08:21] Yeah.

[00:08:22] Occupy Seattle.

[00:08:23] Remember that?

[00:08:24] I remember.

[00:08:25] Yep.

[00:08:25] Okay.

[00:08:26] So I am, I figure I'm going to do this starting on the summer solstice to get some, you know, a head of steam going to get some people behind me.

[00:08:36] I am going to do an occupy project in 2025.

[00:08:42] Are you ready?

[00:08:44] Are you ready?

[00:08:44] Are you ready for my occupy project in 2025?

[00:08:47] Yes, you are ready.

[00:08:49] 2025.

[00:08:50] Starting on the summer solstice.

[00:08:52] I want to get as many Catskill hikers and leftover hippies from the Woodstock festival as I can to occupy.

[00:09:04] Double top.

[00:09:06] I was, I was, I was seriously going to be saying Graham and Darwith Hopper.

[00:09:10] Yeah.

[00:09:10] Yeah.

[00:09:11] Graham, Graham would be too easy for, you know, uh, the authorities to come there and try to haul us off.

[00:09:16] But I think definitely we should reclaim, you know, like that kid's game, you know, was it King of the Mountain?

[00:09:23] We should reclaim double top in 2025.

[00:09:27] So I'm throwing that out there as my new year's resolution.

[00:09:31] Occupy double top.

[00:09:33] O D T.

[00:09:36] Yeah.

[00:09:37] I like it.

[00:09:38] Yeah.

[00:09:38] I think we should get some t-shirts, some hats, maybe like get a couple of tattoo parlors, uh, to, you know, come up with some tattoos.

[00:09:46] People can get, you know, whether it's t-shirt or other swag tattoos, whatnot, and meet me on the mountain.

[00:09:54] You know, I've, I've been reading some crazy stories about the Goulds.

[00:09:59] Oh yeah.

[00:10:00] With my new books that I've had.

[00:10:01] So it's a, it's pretty interesting stuff.

[00:10:04] All right.

[00:10:05] Yes.

[00:10:05] Are you going to bring back the history segment?

[00:10:07] Are we going to sprinkle?

[00:10:09] I do have a lot of history.

[00:10:11] So we, we might tonight, tonight I'm, I'm thinking about bringing back in the history because I've been reading the book.

[00:10:15] Okay.

[00:10:16] That my mother got me.

[00:10:17] So.

[00:10:18] Excellent.

[00:10:19] Sorry.

[00:10:20] And maybe a future generation of inside the line podcasters, 10, 15, 20 years from now can, uh, during their history segment, talk about how in 2025.

[00:10:36] Inside the line retook double top.

[00:10:39] He took double top.

[00:10:41] Yeah.

[00:10:41] I don't know about that, but you know.

[00:10:45] All right.

[00:10:45] So let's hear your goals and resolutions for the new year.

[00:10:49] Goals.

[00:10:50] Goals.

[00:10:50] Um, I just want to like, like you said, have fun, be like jolly and Mary and just pass out that positive vibe.

[00:10:59] But also I'm looking to go back up to like new Hampshire and Vermont and complete some high peaks and stuff like that.

[00:11:05] Finish my 3,500 winter.

[00:11:08] Cause I haven't done that yet.

[00:11:09] I have the, the long hikes like left for winter, like, you know, big Indian for North dome, Cheryl, uh, lone Rocky, Cornell, Wittenberg, stuff like that.

[00:11:22] Or core, which is Wittenberg.

[00:11:23] I can't believe I haven't, it's just, just weird stuff that I have left.

[00:11:27] I just want to get out more and hike more.

[00:11:31] Uh, and you know, we, we have a lot of, uh, decent plans for 2025 so far.

[00:11:37] I mean, even just for the month of January, but you know, we, the, hopefully get the podcast a little bit more out there.

[00:11:45] Even though I, I think we're, we're, we're doing really well, uh, for the area, you know, for the Catskills considering.

[00:11:53] We're up to five listeners now.

[00:11:55] Yeah.

[00:11:55] At least.

[00:11:57] Yeah.

[00:11:57] Cool.

[00:11:58] So, I mean, that's, that's good.

[00:12:00] So I, my, my goals are just to keep kind of like flowing and have a good time.

[00:12:06] Like always.

[00:12:07] And you know, no personal resolutions.

[00:12:10] Like you're not going to give up, uh, listening to Barry Manilow or something like that.

[00:12:15] Now go more in the, in the death metal.

[00:12:18] Yeah.

[00:12:18] But you're, but, but you're still going to listen to Barry Manilow.

[00:12:21] I don't even, I don't even remember who that is.

[00:12:24] It's like, Oh my God.

[00:12:26] It's like, I'm going to do a post.

[00:12:27] I'm going to pull up a picture of you and post it to some Barry Manilow song.

[00:12:33] Isn't he some like, like 40 fifties guys, New York city stuff?

[00:12:37] Oh, he's, I think he was popular in the late seventies or early eighties.

[00:12:42] Yeah.

[00:12:42] I'm going to call it glam rock.

[00:12:46] Barry Manilow.

[00:12:47] Early glam rock.

[00:12:49] Yes.

[00:12:50] I think he was the pioneer of glam rock.

[00:12:52] Nice.

[00:12:53] I mean, we're going to break.

[00:12:54] If he's still alive, I'm going to have him do a special on double top.

[00:12:59] He'll be one of our performers.

[00:13:01] So.

[00:13:02] Sounds good.

[00:13:03] Sounds good.

[00:13:04] So Ted, did you have any, well, I'm going to go off with this one because I had some good times.

[00:13:10] So favorite hikes of 2024, you know, it's tough.

[00:13:14] It's very tough, but you know, I got to admit my presidential hike, my hike at the presidential traverse was absolutely just mind blowing.

[00:13:26] Beautiful weather.

[00:13:27] The peaks, people were great.

[00:13:29] Just everything flowed so perfectly.

[00:13:32] And I couldn't, I couldn't top that off as that was my number one.

[00:13:37] And unfortunately it's not on the Catskills, but, and even my number two wasn't in the Catskills.

[00:13:42] That was Mount Mansfield and, and Vermont just.

[00:13:44] Oh yeah.

[00:13:45] Yeah.

[00:13:45] It was just so cool to be up on, on the peak with 50 mile an hour winds and just being on top of, of, you know, the highest mountain in Vermont and just getting that above tree above tree land, something else.

[00:13:59] But I just, I just, I just, those two were my top two.

[00:14:02] My, my third one is my, one of my recent hike that we're going to talk about tonight was up on Rusk and East Rusk.

[00:14:08] Just the solitude, the, the pureness of winter and just that feeling of being alone out there and that you could survive in these types of conditions.

[00:14:21] Just, I don't know.

[00:14:23] It just, it kind of like totally gives you a full reset.

[00:14:26] It's just like, God damn, this is magical.

[00:14:30] And those are my, my top three, uh, top five.

[00:14:34] I wouldn't, I wouldn't know.

[00:14:36] I'd have to say my next one would be Wittenberg Wittenberg.

[00:14:39] I did.

[00:14:40] And I had the, the whole viewpoint to myself for like 40 minutes, which is very, very rare on a Sunday on a fricking Sunday.

[00:14:48] Wow.

[00:14:48] And then, you know, I wouldn't, I wouldn't know my, my other one.

[00:14:53] I hiked Bramley like six or seven times and just seeing the progress of that fire tower being restored.

[00:14:59] And then we did it, uh, a couple of days ago, just seeing that popped up and ready to go and having one final thing to get going is just really cool.

[00:15:10] It's really, really cool to see.

[00:15:11] And a really good feeling to see that the community has come together to bring this, uh, forward and stuff like that.

[00:15:18] So, you know, those are my, my top five.

[00:15:21] Sorry that the first top two weren't in the Catskills.

[00:15:23] I feel, I feel bad.

[00:15:24] Yeah.

[00:15:25] But those, you know, the, the Pemi loop and, uh, hiking up Mount Mansfield in those brutal conditions, those are notable hikes.

[00:15:33] Um, and you, you point out what it was like up on Rusk, uh, when you hiked it, I think I was on it the day before you were there.

[00:15:41] Yeah.

[00:15:42] I, I hiked what I call the Hunter loop, Southwest Hunter, Hunter East Rusk, Rusk.

[00:15:48] And it was a divine up there.

[00:15:52] I mean, there was plenty of snow.

[00:15:53] I actually, uh, had snow shoes on most of the day.

[00:15:58] I think from like, you know, 2,800 feet and above, I had the shoes on maybe 2,600.

[00:16:04] It was a good day.

[00:16:05] It was cold.

[00:16:06] Enjoyed it.

[00:16:07] Yeah.

[00:16:07] So what about you?

[00:16:08] Your top, your top hikes?

[00:16:10] Oh, I, you know, I just, I, I did look and see that I had 49 days of Catskill hiking last year.

[00:16:18] Wow.

[00:16:18] And if you were to ask me to pick a top five, I could not do it.

[00:16:25] I might be hard pressed to populate a list of the five worst hikes I had in the Catskills last year.

[00:16:32] No, I had a lot of great hikes.

[00:16:33] I was, uh, on Panther yesterday looking over to Plateau and more specifically in the Warner Creek relief that goes up Plateau.

[00:16:48] And reflecting on Danny Davis and I, the day we hiked up that this past fall, that was an epic hike.

[00:16:56] Uh, we went from there over to Older Bark, Little Rocky, and back to our start point.

[00:17:03] It was just a fantastic day, but that's just one of several ultimate or great hikes I had with him.

[00:17:09] I hiked a couple times with my daughter last year.

[00:17:12] Those were all fantastic.

[00:17:14] Uh, I will say that I did two outings with Mike Kudish.

[00:17:20] One was the one you were on.

[00:17:22] Yeah.

[00:17:22] And we, we crossed that bog.

[00:17:24] I don't know how far across it was.

[00:17:26] If it was 150 yards, 200 yards.

[00:17:30] But this 81 year old guy going through the thickest brush you can imagine.

[00:17:36] I mean, it was taller than him.

[00:17:37] He's wearing a yellow rain jacket.

[00:17:39] You can't see him.

[00:17:41] And remember how we were wearing those, you know, um, uh, waiter styled boots that like go up to your knees and they would sink down into the muck.

[00:17:50] And when you went to pull your foot up, your boot would almost like get pulled off because it was sucked into the mud like that.

[00:17:57] And here's this 81 year old guy slowly making his way across.

[00:18:02] Right.

[00:18:03] Having a good time.

[00:18:04] I thought that was a fun hike and that I did, um, bear pen with him.

[00:18:08] So any outing with Mike Kudish, I think is, uh, got to be a favorite hike, whether you do one a year or 10 a year, they're worthwhile.

[00:18:17] I'll also say, uh, I did hook up that one time with Matt Smith.

[00:18:21] It wasn't a hike.

[00:18:22] We did trail maintenance.

[00:18:24] Yep.

[00:18:25] I think we covered four or five miles that day.

[00:18:29] And it had me feeling good for quite a while after that hike about, you know, giving back to the Catskill hiking community.

[00:18:36] So I had a lot of good, a lot of good outings this past year looking for more in 2025.

[00:18:43] Although probably in June and July, I'll be stationed on double top.

[00:18:49] The, for the, the, um, the sit in on double top.

[00:18:53] And then I don't know how long after that, my incarceration will be in sing sing for, you know, the, uh, what do they call those criminals?

[00:19:02] Like the serious offenders.

[00:19:03] That's probably where they'll lock me up with the murderers.

[00:19:07] True.

[00:19:08] The rapists, the stranglers.

[00:19:10] So.

[00:19:10] I kind of remember in June, we, we are occupied in June, in the middle of June.

[00:19:14] So.

[00:19:15] What's that for the Catskill center?

[00:19:17] No.

[00:19:18] The live show up at the mountaintop.

[00:19:20] Asteroid Society.

[00:19:21] Oh, okay.

[00:19:21] Yeah.

[00:19:22] So that'll have to be before the 21st when we start the Occupy double top.

[00:19:28] ODT.

[00:19:29] ODT.

[00:19:29] And we'll get that, that, uh, what's that company that's flying in people from Wyndham?

[00:19:35] Well, or from New York City to Wyndham.

[00:19:36] We'll get them to fly them off the top.

[00:19:38] I've already, I've already spoken to them.

[00:19:39] Sweet.

[00:19:40] Yeah.

[00:19:40] We're going to have two pads, two heli pads.

[00:19:43] So as one's taking off, the other can be landing.

[00:19:46] Nice.

[00:19:46] The logistics are down.

[00:19:47] I've got that pretty much nailed in.

[00:19:50] We've been working on it for some time.

[00:19:52] Frankly.

[00:19:53] You guys in Wyndham are, are, are snatched together, man.

[00:19:56] Nice.

[00:19:56] Yeah.

[00:19:57] Glad that's working out.

[00:19:58] So good.

[00:19:58] Awesome.

[00:19:59] Yeah.

[00:19:59] It's, it's, you know, you've had, you know, I, I saw your stats and I was kind of jealous.

[00:20:04] So I was like, oh, I'll see how many miles I did.

[00:20:09] How many, you said you had like 49, uh, hikes and like how many miles, like over 400 miles.

[00:20:15] Right.

[00:20:15] I, I had four 54.

[00:20:17] Now that's only in the Catskills.

[00:20:18] I did hike a few other places, like in my backyard in the gunks.

[00:20:21] I had some mileage there.

[00:20:23] I had 21 point X up in the Taconic Ridge trail.

[00:20:28] Wow.

[00:20:29] Yeah.

[00:20:30] So I, I was, you know, over 500 for the year, but just in the Catskills, I did four 54.

[00:20:38] And, you know, like I said, I, you know, even hiking Panther yesterday that stayed on the

[00:20:46] trail the whole way.

[00:20:47] It was a fun hike.

[00:20:48] I liked it.

[00:20:49] Nice.

[00:20:50] So maybe, and maybe hikes like that are good because they bring back memories of those times

[00:20:54] you hiked them before when it was like, wow, that was an epic hike.

[00:20:59] So as I'm going to Panther yesterday, I'm thinking, wow, I remember the time I, you know,

[00:21:03] came, came out of the woods and stepped onto the trail here.

[00:21:06] So, yeah.

[00:21:08] Wow.

[00:21:08] Nice.

[00:21:09] So yeah.

[00:21:11] Well, awesome times that we've, we've had in the Catskills.

[00:21:13] We'll talk about that a little bit later as well.

[00:21:16] So do you have suggestions?

[00:21:18] You know what I mean?

[00:21:19] We have top five hikes and then you have top five suggestions for the listeners.

[00:21:23] Yeah.

[00:21:23] So I came up with the list for those of you who are still trying to make a resolution or

[00:21:29] goal for 2025.

[00:21:31] 2025, I came up with a list of five things to consider.

[00:21:37] Number five on my list, take five on every hike.

[00:21:42] Yesterday on Panther, because there was virtually no snow, I saw a lot of trash.

[00:21:47] I easily collected 10 items going up and coming down, hauled them off.

[00:21:52] So take five on every hike.

[00:21:55] That's number five.

[00:21:56] Number four, take a friend or a family member on their first Catskill hike.

[00:22:03] I think that's a good goal to have for 2025.

[00:22:07] Number three, volunteer a day for trail maintenance with Matt Smith and the Catskill trail crew

[00:22:16] or anyone else with the, that's doing trail maintenance in the Catskills or elsewhere.

[00:22:23] It'll leave you with a really good vibe.

[00:22:26] Number two, closing in on number one, but number two is buy us 2025 hard ciders.

[00:22:37] Jesus.

[00:22:39] That's a little bit extreme.

[00:22:41] Oh, come on.

[00:22:42] And if you can't do 2025 hard ciders, we'll take 25.

[00:22:46] Okay.

[00:22:47] 25.

[00:22:48] Let's go up to 26, one every other week.

[00:22:52] That's not bad.

[00:22:53] Okay.

[00:22:53] And remember that, that stuff goes back into the Catskills.

[00:22:56] If it doesn't go into the show, it goes in the Catskills.

[00:22:59] Yep.

[00:22:59] Stosh takes all those hard ciders, throws them into his backpack, goes out on the trail,

[00:23:04] cracks them open and pours them out back into the Catskills.

[00:23:08] That's what we're talking about.

[00:23:10] One for my homies.

[00:23:12] And number one on your list of goals for the year 2025, listen to the show, rate the show,

[00:23:25] tag the show.

[00:23:26] Listen, rate, and tag.

[00:23:29] Yeah.

[00:23:30] Share the show.

[00:23:31] It doesn't matter.

[00:23:33] I am where, you know, those are great suggestions, Ted.

[00:23:37] Thank you.

[00:23:38] And, you know, once again, everybody, thank you for listening to the show in 2024.

[00:23:43] It was a great year.

[00:23:43] And we'll bring some of that stuff back in a little bit when we do the topic of the night.

[00:23:51] So I wanted to get a little news in here as well.

[00:23:57] So Governor Kathy Hulchul announced that extensive construction project on Route 17,

[00:24:04] so anybody that comes west into the Catskills,

[00:24:07] that many of the bungalow collies in the Camp of Catskill Mountains,

[00:24:10] the project will add lanes and improve congestion.

[00:24:14] So the governor announced that the scoping report on Route 17 has been completed,

[00:24:18] and they now have to go ahead to continue with the construction project

[00:24:21] that will cover the area from Interstate 87 Orange County to exit 113 Route 209 in Sullivan Townie.

[00:24:30] So I don't travel much on 17 unless I go to, like, Red Hill, Picamoose area or more town in the Goshen area.

[00:24:42] So I didn't think there was much congestion until you get more to the Monticello area,

[00:24:49] and then it kind of tapers off.

[00:24:51] So where is 113?

[00:24:54] Exit 113.

[00:24:55] Well, that's for Wartsboro.

[00:24:57] Okay, so, like, is that past Monticello?

[00:25:01] No, right?

[00:25:02] No, no, that's east of Monticello.

[00:25:05] It's basically once you cross the heading west, you go over the gunks,

[00:25:09] you come down into the Basher Kill, and that's where Exit 113 is.

[00:25:15] Oh, I see it now that I'm looking at it.

[00:25:17] So it's more the hardcore southern Catskills, not even.

[00:25:21] Yeah, it's just, well, but the hill from the Basher Kill, the hill going up to the west is already three lanes going uphill.

[00:25:31] That was done, like, 30-some years ago.

[00:25:34] But there's a lot of Friday night congestion heading westbound and Sunday night congestion heading eastbound.

[00:25:44] But like you said, seldom, I think, do people actually use that route.

[00:25:50] Maybe some people will take 17 up to Route 42 to get up to Gramsville, Denning, Frost Valley, those areas.

[00:26:00] Or, you know, maybe over to Livingston Manor.

[00:26:05] Or Resorts World.

[00:26:07] Yeah, Resorts World.

[00:26:08] Yeah, Tesla charging stations.

[00:26:11] They don't have those there.

[00:26:13] No, they don't.

[00:26:14] No, no.

[00:26:15] Yeah.

[00:26:15] It's outside of Monticello.

[00:26:17] Not in the rich people of the resort Catskills.

[00:26:22] Yeah.

[00:26:22] But this is something the state of New York is going to throw a ton of money into, adding that third lane in each direction.

[00:26:29] What do you think of that?

[00:26:32] I mean, we're not frequent travelers on there, but I mean, do you think it's like we should throw some money somewhere else?

[00:26:39] Or do you think that's actually a good idea?

[00:26:41] I think what they need to do is throw their money into mass transit.

[00:26:44] Yeah.

[00:26:45] And it seems like they have been improving Route 17 beyond, kind of like you said, the Gransville area.

[00:26:54] Beyond that has been improved ever since frickin' the 90s.

[00:26:59] You know, anything beyond going west towards that is absolute shit.

[00:27:03] Like the stuff, but Monticello Liberty area has always been three lanes, congested two, three, two.

[00:27:11] It goes back and forth, back and forth.

[00:27:13] You can fly along that area.

[00:27:16] Yeah.

[00:27:17] Yeah.

[00:27:17] You know, when I moved out to the Hudson Valley and I would drive 17 back to Chautauqua Lake in the summers, going through the Parksville area, it was a two-lane road in each direction, but there wasn't restricted access.

[00:27:35] There was no on or off ramps through that segment.

[00:27:38] And you actually had a couple of traffic lights along the way.

[00:27:43] And slowly but surely, the state has been eliminating those non-conforming areas to bring the 17 up to the New York or to the international or federal, not international, the federal interstate standards.

[00:27:57] But this isn't part of that, adding the third lanes and the eastern part.

[00:28:03] But it'll arguably help out some people who come up from Jersey or New York that are hiking in the southern or western cats.

[00:28:13] So you're checking out some of this recent stuff I added to the list?

[00:28:16] I do.

[00:28:17] Like, you added this, and I was like, what the?

[00:28:20] Like, I don't remember this.

[00:28:21] That's why, like, did you see my face?

[00:28:23] Yeah.

[00:28:24] Yeah.

[00:28:24] Okay, okay, okay.

[00:28:25] So recent rescues and stuff like that, Ted entered this, and I don't remember seeing this.

[00:28:32] So on December 24th, 6.45 p.m., Ray Book, just scratch, of course, received a call from a mother concerned about her son not hearing from him from days.

[00:28:41] Seven forest rainers responded to a coordinate search effort to the Washington County Sheriff's Department.

[00:28:46] Family indicated they often hike Sugarloaf Mountain together, so search efforts focused on the area.

[00:28:52] Now, this is not the Sugarloaf Mountain that we know, of course, in the Sullivan County, Green County area.

[00:28:58] 10.20 p.m., Rangers found a 20-year-old from Whitehall deceased at the bottom of a cliff.

[00:29:04] Rangers conducted a carryout operation back to the trailhead to turn the subject over to the county corner.

[00:29:10] The Washington County Sheriff's Department is working with the DEC Law Enforcement Bureau of Environmental Crime Investigators to investigate the incident.

[00:29:20] Wow, I don't remember hearing about that.

[00:29:22] I must have skimmed over that.

[00:29:23] Wow, that's scary.

[00:29:25] That's crazy.

[00:29:25] You know, the kid's missing.

[00:29:27] Kid, 20-year-old man, missing for three days.

[00:29:30] Mom, I don't know if he's living at home or not, but after she hasn't heard from her son for three days, she calls.

[00:29:38] DEC goes out and finds him at the bottom of a cliff.

[00:29:43] Sugarloaf Mountain up in Washington County.

[00:29:47] The southern Adirondacks, correct?

[00:29:50] Yes.

[00:29:51] Okay.

[00:29:51] Yeah, not one of the high peaks, though.

[00:29:55] It must have been something with, you know, traction or something like that and slipped.

[00:29:59] Could be, could be, you know, who knows what it was.

[00:30:02] I mean, it could have been a number of factors.

[00:30:05] They don't know, but that's sad right before Christmas, your son passes.

[00:30:08] Yeah, and I haven't heard anything about it since, so.

[00:30:11] Yeah.

[00:30:12] That's crazy.

[00:30:13] So, another incident up in, of course, the Adirondacks, Asset County, December 26th, so the day after Christmas, Ray Book Dispratch received a call from a hiker at Marcy Dam who advised their feet were frozen and they could not continue hiking.

[00:30:30] So, a ranger, Sekiro and Rooney located two 18-year-olds from New Jersey, probably parked in a shitty way.

[00:30:41] One of them was barefoot not to judge anybody.

[00:30:45] Sasha, you got to be more humble with this new year.

[00:30:47] Sorry.

[00:30:48] 2025 resolution.

[00:30:50] Don't pick on people from Jersey.

[00:30:52] So, the hiker's boots and socks were frozen.

[00:30:56] Rangers treated both subject for mild hypothermia, provided extra layers of clothes and transported the bareback to the trailhead.

[00:31:03] Resources were cleared by 4 p.m.

[00:31:05] So, Tad, you have hiked this area before, I believe, right?

[00:31:08] You've hiked up to Marcy?

[00:31:09] Oh, yeah.

[00:31:11] In the 70s.

[00:31:12] I was up there.

[00:31:13] Yeah.

[00:31:14] But you would say that the hike from the lodge to the Marcy Dam is two miles of beauty, nothing but flatness.

[00:31:22] Mm-hmm.

[00:31:23] So, you got to wonder, what were they?

[00:31:25] They said their boots?

[00:31:28] Yeah.

[00:31:28] I don't think their boots, they were probably Nikes.

[00:31:30] Yeah.

[00:31:31] Could have been Nikes or Keds, which you apparently don't remember or don't know of.

[00:31:36] But, yeah, I'm thinking this person didn't have gaiters, right?

[00:31:40] That's how their socks get frozen.

[00:31:42] Yep.

[00:31:43] Who knows what type of footwear they otherwise were wearing, but it seems to be two 18-year-olds came up to the Catskills not knowing what they were going to get themselves into when they got here.

[00:32:00] And look what they saw.

[00:32:01] Who needs the Catskills Adirondacks?

[00:32:03] Yeah.

[00:32:03] Good thing they had cell service and were able to make that call.

[00:32:07] Yeah.

[00:32:08] And, yeah.

[00:32:10] So, good job, other Rangers, once again.

[00:32:12] I also find it interesting that that's got to be an area with a lot of traffic going through it.

[00:32:20] Absolutely insane amount of traffic.

[00:32:22] Yeah.

[00:32:22] And probably with a lot of experienced backcountry hikers go through there.

[00:32:29] And there was nobody there to help them out beforehand.

[00:32:32] I know I give out hand warmers all the time to people on the trail and other things.

[00:32:38] So, yeah.

[00:32:40] I'm just a little surprised that there wasn't other help available.

[00:32:44] Yeah.

[00:32:45] It's a very popular area, especially nowadays with social media.

[00:32:50] It gets so much flow.

[00:32:53] But, you know, I understand because you get to the Marcy Dam, you get beautiful views of Algonquin and Iroquois and stuff like that.

[00:33:00] And it's just, it's a fabulous area.

[00:33:03] But winter, it's a whole different beast and a whole different story.

[00:33:08] And I don't know why.

[00:33:09] I see Instagram posts and, you know, I know I'm fully equipped to get to there.

[00:33:15] But would these people are just like, yeah, my Ugg boots will survive.

[00:33:18] No.

[00:33:20] Not in 15 minutes of wet snow will they survive.

[00:33:25] But you keep going.

[00:33:26] I don't understand.

[00:33:28] But, I mean, at least this next story is kind of like a professional person, of course, in the Catskills.

[00:33:37] So, we have a little incident in the Catskills.

[00:33:39] Climber rescued, ice climber rescued after fallen Catterskill area.

[00:33:44] So, the Catterskill clothed.

[00:33:46] An ice climber, 62-year-old man was taken to Albany Met after rangers and firefighted him, pulled him from safety on Friday.

[00:33:52] So, the climber fell a 30 to 40-foot cliff, kind of like a cliff area with the ice off of 23A.

[00:34:02] The rangers worked with Twin Clove's technical rescue team, awesome team down in the Clove area, of course.

[00:34:10] Platt Clove, Catterskill Clove.

[00:34:12] They work along the escarpment and stuff.

[00:34:14] I tried to get them on here.

[00:34:15] I've tried to contact them, but they're not contacting me.

[00:34:19] So, 10.30 a.m., they were treated, the 62-year-old man who fell, it says, a deep gorge near the parking lot used by ice climbers.

[00:34:29] So, that's the ice climbers came.

[00:34:31] That's the lower area.

[00:34:32] I thought that was closed off.

[00:34:35] I don't know.

[00:34:36] Don't know.

[00:34:37] Okay.

[00:34:38] Oh.

[00:34:38] So, they used tactical ropes and rescue equipment and extracted the man.

[00:34:42] He was flown to Albany Met.

[00:34:45] He seems to be in good health right now.

[00:34:47] I haven't heard of anything else of his injuries that have happened, but I could only suspect a 30 to 40-foot fall off of ice would be a crazy impact.

[00:34:58] Yeah.

[00:34:58] Well, they took him to Albany.

[00:35:00] They didn't take him to Kingston or Poughkeepsie.

[00:35:03] So, that's good.

[00:35:04] Well, they took him to a trauma center.

[00:35:08] So, it would seem that they had a level of concern that he needed that type of treatment, that type of care, as opposed to something at a local facility.

[00:35:19] The other thing I saw was, you know, they said he fell 30 to 40 feet.

[00:35:23] That's a pretty significant fall.

[00:35:24] Usually, they have gear placed every 8 to 12 feet.

[00:35:29] So, it sounds like some of his gear pulled out.

[00:35:33] Yeah.

[00:35:33] Either that or he was solo.

[00:35:35] It didn't sound like he was at any other people with him.

[00:35:37] Yeah.

[00:35:38] Well, if he was solo, then, you know, did he make the call for help or not?

[00:35:42] Mm-hmm.

[00:35:43] Now, look, I have a friend that climbs in the gunks and he goes out solo and he has, you know, the equipment to self-belay and things like that.

[00:35:52] But it's, you know, you talk about risky.

[00:35:54] You know, when something bad happens, chances are you can't make the call.

[00:36:00] Yeah.

[00:36:00] You have somebody there.

[00:36:02] Do you see the picture of his, like, Ike's axis still on the ice?

[00:36:08] No, I didn't see that.

[00:36:09] Yeah.

[00:36:10] That's telling.

[00:36:11] They have a picture of, you can see the two Ike's axes up and kind of like three-quarters of the way up the place he was climbing.

[00:36:19] Yeah.

[00:36:20] So what does that tell us?

[00:36:23] Number one, I mean, I'm not from experience, but Joe Galvin said that he probably didn't have a good ice screw in.

[00:36:30] And he didn't have his, like, I would say his crampons deep into the ice that he...

[00:36:37] Yeah.

[00:36:37] And or the ice that he was pinned to with his crampons gave way.

[00:36:43] It broke.

[00:36:43] Oh, yeah.

[00:36:44] And, you know, when he couldn't hold on with his hands and probably his gear was screwed in and part of the ice that either broke when his feet came out or when he fell and, you know, put the load on his gear, pulled out on him.

[00:37:00] So a lot of things can happen, man.

[00:37:01] Ice climbing is probably more...

[00:37:04] Well, you know, it's got certain elements of danger that you don't have in sport or trad climbing, but it's something you need to know what you're doing and you should definitely be out there with somebody when you do go out.

[00:37:20] Exactly.

[00:37:20] Exactly.

[00:37:21] And we talked...

[00:37:22] Well, I talked with Joe a while back.

[00:37:25] I think he was like episode 101 or 102 like Joe was.

[00:37:28] And he, you know, said that experience is what you need out there.

[00:37:33] You need to go out with a guide at first and then at second, at third, at fourth, at fifth.

[00:37:38] Just like, you know, keep going out there with friends that know what they're doing just because it's such a risky sport because, you know, you fall, you know, not even like 10 feet could be a crazy impact on your health.

[00:37:52] Just you hit your back and you get knocked unconscious.

[00:37:55] Yeah.

[00:37:57] So crazy.

[00:37:59] Good job by the twin clothes, probably the firefighters and the rangers as well.

[00:38:03] So hopefully I've been talking with the rangers when I get some on here.

[00:38:07] So I've heard some, some ranger activity.

[00:38:11] They said they would like to be on the show, which I was...

[00:38:14] Well, it's the place to be.

[00:38:16] I know.

[00:38:16] Right.

[00:38:17] Right.

[00:38:17] Yeah.

[00:38:18] So speaking of winter conditions, so hypothermic hiker rescued by helicopter in New Hampshire's White Mountains.

[00:38:27] So we hear this all the time.

[00:38:29] So temperatures up on this mountain were in the 20s.

[00:38:33] Winds were blowing above 30 miles an hour.

[00:38:35] So that's below zero.

[00:38:37] We're talking about clouds from in the middle of the skulls, snow squalls.

[00:38:40] So he had to be rescued at 8.15 a.m. on Thursday.

[00:38:45] It looks like December 20th.

[00:38:48] On Little Haystack Mountain in a Franconia Ridge.

[00:38:51] A hiker called 9-1-Rundon Port of Lead.

[00:38:54] His limbs were frozen, and he was hypothermic, could no longer move to the several feet of snow.

[00:39:00] Coordinates placed the hiker at about 1,000 feet off trail and about 4,300 feet in elevation.

[00:39:09] Fishing game conservation officers and volunteers with the Pemi Valley Search and Rescue Team responded

[00:39:16] and began climbing the Falling Waters trails from the north at about 10 a.m.

[00:39:21] The call was also made to the National Army Guard in hopes that they could airlift,

[00:39:29] that it could be formed.

[00:39:30] The weather was good enough, but when they arrived at the air at 10.45 a.m.,

[00:39:33] the cloud cursor only allowed them to get within a quarter of a mile of the hiker before they had to turn back.

[00:39:40] It landed them at Cannon Mountain Ski Area for a safer window.

[00:39:43] Now, later on, the rescuers took an hour to cover the 1,000 feet of bushwhacking from Fallen Water Trails

[00:39:51] where the hiker was located, and they finally reached him at about 1 p.m.

[00:39:56] So, just think of that right there, that the guy made the call at 8 o'clock.

[00:40:04] They arrived around the area at 10.45, but they couldn't find him until 1 p.m.

[00:40:10] So, that is five hours right there that you have to be alone in the backcountry.

[00:40:19] And this is up in New Hampshire.

[00:40:21] So, let me ask you, do you think he had a whistle?

[00:40:25] No.

[00:40:26] Unless it was built in on this pack, no.

[00:40:29] Yeah.

[00:40:29] And that really can't qualify as a whistle because those ones aren't all that great.

[00:40:34] Yeah.

[00:40:35] I carry like a 50-cent whistle with me, no matter where I'm hiking, as domesticated as it might be.

[00:40:45] And it's a great way to allow somebody to pinpoint where you are when they're in your vicinity.

[00:40:53] You should just blow the whistle.

[00:40:54] And it would seem that this guy didn't have a whistle.

[00:40:58] He also started his hike the night before.

[00:41:01] He was going up to catch the sunrise.

[00:41:05] And it seems like he didn't check the weather that well.

[00:41:10] Because that wasn't the right night to go out to catch a sunrise the next morning with 30-mile-an-hour winds.

[00:41:18] Yeah.

[00:41:20] Kudos to the rescue people for getting them out.

[00:41:23] Yeah, yeah.

[00:41:24] They said they found them.

[00:41:25] They reached them at 1 p.m., of course, extremely hypothermic.

[00:41:30] And they gave him warm clothing, fluids, and placed an emergency sleeping bag around him.

[00:41:36] So that warmed them up.

[00:41:37] Around 3 p.m., the clouds had lifted.

[00:41:39] The National Guard got to the area at 3.15.

[00:41:41] They had airlifted around the helicopter and transported it to Littleton Regional Healthcare before 3.30.

[00:41:47] So very good on him of calling.

[00:41:53] I would say during the normal day hours instead of night where it kind of would have extended the search by hours and hours.

[00:42:01] He probably would have, I don't know, passed away probably.

[00:42:06] Yeah.

[00:42:07] And, you know, he pushed it out.

[00:42:10] And they said his name, but I'm not going to say his name.

[00:42:16] So it's pretty funny.

[00:42:17] Fish and Game always exploits these people.

[00:42:21] They always are like, hey, this is the guy's name.

[00:42:24] And I'm like, damn, that's a little hardcore.

[00:42:26] Yeah.

[00:42:28] Maybe that's a New Hampshire thing where they like to shame people.

[00:42:31] I would think so, to be like, hey, listen, if you're going to screw up, we're going to frickin' publicly shame you.

[00:42:38] And I'm like, hey, you know, you deserve it.

[00:42:41] But, you know, Lafayette, you know, I could speak from experience being there in the summer,

[00:42:47] that going between Lafayette, little haystack, haystack, stuff like that, Lincoln is not the easiest.

[00:42:56] You're above treeland the whole frickin' time.

[00:42:59] So who knows what you're going to get.

[00:43:01] Yeah.

[00:43:01] My daughter and I did that in October 2023.

[00:43:07] And I was impressed.

[00:43:09] We walked right by this area, the Falling Waters drainage.

[00:43:14] It's really steep.

[00:43:16] And the other thing I noticed when we did that hike in October, it was cold.

[00:43:22] It was windy.

[00:43:23] There was little to no snow on the trail itself.

[00:43:27] But I've never, and it was very busy.

[00:43:30] I've never seen as many people hiking on a trail wearing sweatpants and hoodies.

[00:43:40] Yeah, it sounds like a Walmart frickin'.

[00:43:42] Yeah.

[00:43:43] Well, I'm not going to say they weren't Walmart because it was like university of this, college of that.

[00:43:48] It was like that New England college belt crowd.

[00:43:51] Wow.

[00:43:52] Yeah.

[00:43:53] We're up there and they all, not all of them, but I mean just tons of groups of young people

[00:43:59] with sneakers, sweatpants, and hoodies.

[00:44:02] And when they would walk by you, they would have the bright red hands.

[00:44:07] They weren't wearing gloves.

[00:44:09] Their hands were like bright red because they were so cold.

[00:44:12] Yeah.

[00:44:13] It was, you know, some of them were holding their polar spring water bottle.

[00:44:17] So, Ted, do you want to go back?

[00:44:20] We're up there.

[00:44:20] Yeah, it was actually today.

[00:44:21] I was actually looking at and thinking what the logistics would be to knock off some hikes in the whites.

[00:44:31] Let's do it.

[00:44:31] Yeah.

[00:44:32] I got another week-long project I'm trying to do, actually, two of them this year.

[00:44:39] But I would definitely be into going up to the whites and doing some of those.

[00:44:44] Absolutely.

[00:44:45] Up there.

[00:44:45] I got to knock off a lot of those.

[00:44:47] So, let's talk about it.

[00:44:48] So, what was this little thing that you sent me?

[00:44:54] I wouldn't say last second, but Sasquatch?

[00:44:58] Yeah.

[00:45:00] Two men found dead after searching for Sasquatch in Oregon.

[00:45:07] Apparently, after their, what was it, after their Christmas dinner?

[00:45:12] No, their Christmas Eve dinner, could have been a father and son, headed out into the wilderness to find Sasquatch when they did not get home later that morning.

[00:45:29] Somebody made the phone call.

[00:45:31] The authorities went out to search for them, and both were found dead.

[00:45:40] What do you think?

[00:45:41] Yeah, so the article says, as of now, the deaths of the two men are considered accidental, though an investigation into the specifics of the case is ongoing.

[00:45:52] Now, I found in another article the following.

[00:45:58] While Bigfoot sightings are frequently reporting, concrete evidence remains elusive.

[00:46:07] Right?

[00:46:08] They don't say that there is no concrete evidence.

[00:46:12] They say the evidence that there is, is a concrete, but elusive.

[00:46:18] And then, this is in Skamania County, even has a law protecting Sasquatch.

[00:46:29] You see that?

[00:46:30] I'm not making this up.

[00:46:31] No, no.

[00:46:32] Skamania County even has a law protecting Sasquatch, penalizing harm to the creature with fines and possible jail time.

[00:46:43] Wow.

[00:46:45] This is Oregon, right?

[00:46:46] Yeah.

[00:46:46] Can you imagine that the local county legislative branch went through all that's required to enact a penal provision to fine and or imprison somebody who harms Sasquatch?

[00:47:05] So now, the question is, what is harm to Sasquatch?

[00:47:09] Maybe denying his existence should be considered harm.

[00:47:13] Right?

[00:47:14] That's certainly hurtful.

[00:47:16] Wouldn't it be hurtful if a friend of yours said, oh, Stash?

[00:47:21] Stash, he doesn't exist.

[00:47:23] Stash is gone.

[00:47:24] Right?

[00:47:24] That's harmful, hurtful to you.

[00:47:26] Right?

[00:47:27] So, Sasquatch, if you deny his existence, is that harming?

[00:47:32] Should you be fined or imprisoned?

[00:47:34] I don't know.

[00:47:34] But these two guys went out.

[00:47:36] They didn't go out looking for Santa.

[00:47:39] They went out looking for Sasquatch.

[00:47:41] Apparently froze to death or something else.

[00:47:45] And they didn't come home.

[00:47:47] Interesting.

[00:47:48] Yeah.

[00:47:49] Massive three-day search.

[00:47:50] 60 volunteers, canine units, drones, ground searchers, Coast Guard.

[00:47:57] So, it looks like one of those crazy rescues.

[00:48:01] And I saw that they were crossing a little tiny stream with a steel ladder.

[00:48:08] Oh, yeah.

[00:48:09] Yeah.

[00:48:09] I was just like, those are rookie streams.

[00:48:12] Like, come on.

[00:48:13] Yeah.

[00:48:14] Have they ever been in the Adirondacks or the Catskills during high flow season?

[00:48:18] Like, this is nothing.

[00:48:18] Yeah.

[00:48:19] But, you know, we don't even have a ladder over the west branch of the Nubbersink.

[00:48:24] Which is high boots, high water.

[00:48:26] So, it's just like.

[00:48:28] Yeah.

[00:48:28] But, you know, it sucks.

[00:48:30] Once again, we'll, it's the Gifford-Pinoise National Forest, 150 miles northeast of Portland.

[00:48:38] It looks like they had even helicopters flying over top and such.

[00:48:43] So, once again, accidental investigations are ongoing.

[00:48:50] They say, well, so, so, when they, now that I'm thinking about it, they say accidental.

[00:48:54] Then, obviously, it wasn't hypothermia.

[00:48:56] Because then they would just say that one day.

[00:48:58] Good point.

[00:48:59] Right?

[00:48:59] Now that I'm really processing this.

[00:49:03] Accidental.

[00:49:04] Accidental sounds like, sounds like it could have been an attack.

[00:49:07] An attack or a fall or a fall and an attack.

[00:49:12] If it was a fall.

[00:49:13] But then they would have said a fall, wouldn't they?

[00:49:15] Like, we have this, this guy on Sugarloaf, the 20-year-old.

[00:49:19] He fell from a cliff.

[00:49:21] Yeah.

[00:49:22] He's dead.

[00:49:22] But they were able to figure it out.

[00:49:24] He fell from a cliff because he had those types of injuries from falling off a cliff.

[00:49:31] Right?

[00:49:31] We have the fellow who fell hiking or climbing the ice in Catterskill.

[00:49:37] He had the type, he had the type of injuries that were consistent with the fall.

[00:49:43] Ted, here are we going.

[00:49:44] But here, I'm not, I just, you really, you got my mind, right?

[00:49:48] Really percolating here.

[00:49:51] Accidental.

[00:49:53] Evidence.

[00:49:54] Elusive.

[00:49:56] Accidental.

[00:49:57] Investigation.

[00:49:58] They have a law protecting Sasquatch.

[00:50:02] Holy shit.

[00:50:03] Yeah.

[00:50:04] Uh-huh.

[00:50:04] This is, we gotta find some Sasquatch podcast, because I know there's like 200 out there.

[00:50:10] Oh, yeah.

[00:50:10] Yeah.

[00:50:11] Yeah.

[00:50:11] I mean, we have Mountain Lion podcast, so.

[00:50:15] Because we have Mountain Lions.

[00:50:17] I mean, we do.

[00:50:18] Yeah.

[00:50:19] So.

[00:50:21] Accidental.

[00:50:22] Hmm.

[00:50:23] Hmm.

[00:50:24] That's very, yeah.

[00:50:25] Wow.

[00:50:26] That's crazy.

[00:50:27] We're gonna have to like, you know, pencil in like a follow up three, four months from now.

[00:50:32] I'm putting a post-it of that.

[00:50:34] Uh.

[00:50:34] Yeah.

[00:50:35] So Sasquatch.

[00:50:37] I have like a.

[00:50:38] Yeah.

[00:50:40] Skamania County.

[00:50:42] So I have like a, right above me, as you see when I'm putting this up, I have like a desktop that I put little things where it reminds me to look into that.

[00:50:52] So that is definitely one accidental.

[00:50:56] So.

[00:50:57] Yeah.

[00:50:57] So you're, you're telling us of the inner workings of the organization of the podcast.

[00:51:03] Do you have a post-it note about that doll, that voodoo doll?

[00:51:08] I, I sent you that.

[00:51:09] Not yet.

[00:51:10] Yeah.

[00:51:11] It's just been that one article.

[00:51:12] Yeah.

[00:51:13] But you, you want to follow up with those people?

[00:51:15] You want me to follow up with them?

[00:51:17] I mean, I think, I think that's, would be a great show.

[00:51:21] We will.

[00:51:22] Uh, what's.

[00:51:23] Okay.

[00:51:24] Yeah.

[00:51:24] And maybe line them up for October.

[00:51:26] We'll do like a Halloween episode with those guys.

[00:51:29] Yeah.

[00:51:30] All right.

[00:51:30] I will put that on there.

[00:51:32] You're lucky.

[00:51:33] Lucky I do this show.

[00:51:35] Tad my dedication.

[00:51:36] All right.

[00:51:37] You see that?

[00:51:37] All right.

[00:51:38] That's almost front center.

[00:51:39] Yeah.

[00:51:40] All right.

[00:51:41] So thank you once again to the monthly supporters, Chris Garby and Jeff Jotz, Darren White, Vicky

[00:51:47] Ferraro, Mike Sawatowski, John Comiskey, Summit Seekers, Betsy A., Denise W., Tom H., Vanessa,

[00:51:54] Peggy, Jim C., Michael, and Derek.

[00:51:57] Wow.

[00:51:58] That is just an awesome support from the Catskill community.

[00:52:01] Thank you guys so much.

[00:52:03] Once again, thank you for supporting us.

[00:52:05] Really appreciate it.

[00:52:07] Also, thank you to the sponsors of the show.

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[00:53:02] Wonders of the Great Outdoors.

[00:53:03] They teach so much stuff.

[00:53:06] Wilderness first aid, wilderness first responder, bushwhacking skills, anything.

[00:53:12] Check them out.

[00:53:12] They are totally worth it.

[00:53:14] Scott and Joe are amazing people, amazing people who respect nature.

[00:53:19] And Joe and Scott were on a couple episodes, actually.

[00:53:22] So, check them out.

[00:53:24] So, once again, Hard Siders mentions.

[00:53:27] Mention the podcast on one of your hikes through social media, and we'll chat about it on the show and buy us a Hard Sider to support the show and support the podcast and support the Catskills.

[00:53:36] So, all that was mentioned in this past week was Tom.

[00:53:42] Who's outdoors?

[00:53:44] Tom was up on Vlai Mountain.

[00:53:46] So, pretty good hike.

[00:53:48] I know that there are some nice areas to the south that you can get a good view of the southern part.

[00:53:57] But I'm not going to say where, of course.

[00:54:00] You've got to find that for yourself.

[00:54:02] Do it yourself.

[00:54:03] But, Tom, thank you for being out at Vlai.

[00:54:06] He said something about he didn't go over to Bear Pen because it was nasty conditions, and he didn't want to participate anymore.

[00:54:14] And I understand that.

[00:54:15] Yeah.

[00:54:16] I think of the two, Bear Pen, putting aside the snow cover, Bear Pen's the easier to get up and down.

[00:54:27] Of course.

[00:54:28] Yeah.

[00:54:28] And I heard there's fresh snow over on Bear Pen today.

[00:54:33] I would think so.

[00:54:34] So, you know, to be honest, you know, I sent you a picture of a freaking snowing here in Oneonta.

[00:54:40] We're at 1,200 feet.

[00:54:41] So, I was totally unaware that we were supposed to get snow.

[00:54:47] It was just supposed to be raining and all of a sudden it's snowing.

[00:54:49] Upstate New York.

[00:54:51] Yeah, that's what it's known for.

[00:54:54] Indeed.

[00:54:54] Indeed.

[00:54:55] So, Tom, glad to be outdoors.

[00:54:56] Anybody who wants to tag the show?

[00:54:58] Tag the show.

[00:54:59] Besides me and Ted, we always tag the show.

[00:55:02] So, also, rate the show.

[00:55:04] Yeah.

[00:55:05] You know, once again, I'd have to say we're a pretty decent show.

[00:55:10] Yeah.

[00:55:11] We're doing this all around.

[00:55:12] You say that, so I won't call it out, but I was on my way back from the hike yesterday.

[00:55:17] I was listening to another Northeastern hiking podcast.

[00:55:25] Not Slasher, but another one.

[00:55:27] And I got to say, wow, pretty boring.

[00:55:31] Pretty boring.

[00:55:33] I'll have to get in some inside info after this.

[00:55:36] Yeah.

[00:55:37] You know, I got to admit, we're fun.

[00:55:39] We're fun.

[00:55:40] We have a good time.

[00:55:42] Yeah, yeah.

[00:55:42] We flow all over the place.

[00:55:44] Yeah.

[00:55:45] That's why it's two plus hours.

[00:55:47] We're all over the place.

[00:55:48] I know.

[00:55:49] We're already.

[00:55:50] We're like diarrhea.

[00:55:51] We just go everywhere.

[00:55:52] Oh, Jesus.

[00:55:54] That's a little bit too far, bro.

[00:55:56] Speaking of what is this No Brew Tuesday thing?

[00:55:59] Oh, I mentioned that the last time.

[00:56:01] Oh, yes.

[00:56:02] Yes, you're right.

[00:56:03] So even though we're not recording on a Tuesday, because it's the first of the year and a lot

[00:56:10] of people make New Year's resolutions pertaining to giving up bad habits, so I thought I would

[00:56:15] be in solidarity with those people and not drink alcohol today.

[00:56:21] Good for you.

[00:56:22] So No Brew Tuesday.

[00:56:24] Okay.

[00:56:25] First Tuesday of the month for me will be No Brew Tuesday.

[00:56:29] Okay.

[00:56:30] Okay.

[00:56:30] And the other ones, you're okay with that?

[00:56:33] Yeah, it all depends, you know.

[00:56:35] Okay.

[00:56:35] But I'm just, you know, because I, you know, look, I get it.

[00:56:37] Some people, it's, you know, recovery is a big step for them, and it's hard to stay,

[00:56:45] you know, on the wagon, and they deserve support.

[00:56:52] So I feel that it's important to support those people.

[00:56:55] Good coffee.

[00:56:58] I'm sorry to say I'm not doing No Brew Tuesday.

[00:57:03] That's all right.

[00:57:04] That's all right.

[00:57:04] So Nine Pin Cider, which is from Albany.

[00:57:09] Absolutely fantastic ginger cider.

[00:57:11] First time ever trying Nine Pin from Albany.

[00:57:14] Oh, yeah.

[00:57:14] So it's really good.

[00:57:15] Yeah.

[00:57:15] I almost was going to pick up some cider today when my wife and I were out shopping,

[00:57:19] and then I reminded myself that I committed myself to No Brew Tuesday,

[00:57:25] and I'm sticking to it.

[00:57:27] First Tuesday.

[00:57:28] Yeah.

[00:57:28] I'm sticking to it first Tuesday of the month for me.

[00:57:31] Thank you for sticking to it.

[00:57:32] Yeah.

[00:57:33] So previous hikes, Ted, I got to go with mine first.

[00:57:36] I'm sorry.

[00:57:37] All right.

[00:57:38] Do it.

[00:57:38] So I previously went like two weeks ago, East Rusk to Rusk, uh, absolutely phenomenal day

[00:57:49] of started out with zero degrees at Spruce and Trailhead.

[00:57:54] I was the only car parked there.

[00:57:56] I was very surprised.

[00:57:57] It was 930.

[00:57:58] I arrived at 930.

[00:57:59] That's a little late for me.

[00:58:01] And I was the only one there and absolutely phenomenal.

[00:58:06] Bear booted it up to the junction.

[00:58:08] And then from the junction, bushwhacking over to East Rusk to Rusk, use snowshoes.

[00:58:13] Because I barely, I saw a faint trail going with snowshoes.

[00:58:18] So I was like, you know what?

[00:58:20] Got to put them on.

[00:58:21] You know, don't want to be that asshole.

[00:58:23] And it was a great idea.

[00:58:24] And it was just one of those days of where everything was clinging to the trees.

[00:58:30] There was rime ice above, like I would say, probably like 2,800 feet.

[00:58:36] And the skies were pristine blue.

[00:58:40] Probably did not reach above zero degrees when I got at the trail junction and was hitting as what I heard negative 18 when I was at the canister with wind chill.

[00:58:54] And I got to admit that hike, somebody previously broke trail, but they went around the peak of East Rusk.

[00:59:03] So I went up to Rusk and I summited because it was just, you know, 35 feet away from where they were.

[00:59:09] And then I was like that kind of person who kind of veered a little bit off course going down Rusk.

[00:59:16] Because I was like, because, you know, Rusk, East Rusk kind of has like that flat plateau where you can go kind of to the north.

[00:59:25] And then all of a sudden you're like, oh crap, I'm a little bit off trail.

[00:59:28] I'm a little bit off the call area.

[00:59:31] And I did that.

[00:59:32] And I caught back up with their line.

[00:59:35] And then all of a sudden it was just smooth flowing from there.

[00:59:38] And it was just one of those days where you're just, like I said before, it was just a total reset, a total mind blowing experience that you're humble.

[00:59:49] You're glad you can do this stuff.

[00:59:51] And it's just phenomenal.

[00:59:54] The only time that I kind of had a little bit of a difficult time where I thought it was cold when I was at the Canisker, I was signing in and my warm tea fell over.

[01:00:09] And I actually lost like half of it.

[01:00:11] And I picked it up in the snow with my hands.

[01:00:13] And I was like, shit, like I'm cold.

[01:00:16] Like my hands are cold right now.

[01:00:17] I drank the tea.

[01:00:19] I like guzzled the tea down.

[01:00:20] I put my glove backs on and I was trying to get my hands all back warm.

[01:00:23] You know, when you stick it back into your gloves and you kind of cuddle your hands into your palms and you try to get them warm.

[01:00:33] Without putting your fingers into the ends of the gloves itself.

[01:00:38] Yep.

[01:00:38] Yeah.

[01:00:39] And I have some cool gloves that I use for that.

[01:00:44] And it was just that time of where I met no one until I was like almost right up to the horseshoe section.

[01:00:52] And then there was two people coming up and I was just like, hey, how's it going?

[01:00:55] It was pretty cool to see them.

[01:00:58] And they were just like, how's the trails?

[01:01:00] They had snowshoes on them and they were ready to go.

[01:01:02] They had spikes on.

[01:01:03] And I had just taken my snowshoes off probably like 100 feet before them because, dude, I got to admit when you're coming down, you know, you have all that confidence of snowshoes.

[01:01:13] But you're catching on everything and you're falling over.

[01:01:16] And that makes me think that because of my balance, because I didn't fall over and like take so many diggers that I would be an excellent skier.

[01:01:26] Maybe.

[01:01:27] Hey, man.

[01:01:28] Snowshoeing downhill is like telemark skiing.

[01:01:31] The steeper it is, the deeper the snow it is, it becomes more and more like teleskiing.

[01:01:36] Okay.

[01:01:37] Cool.

[01:01:38] Yeah.

[01:01:38] I had a phenomenal time, you know, and I know, weren't you, you were the previous day up at Hockett, right?

[01:01:45] Westkill.

[01:01:46] Yeah.

[01:01:46] The day before that, I ran into Mike Schuette on my way down Westkill.

[01:01:52] Mike was on his way up doing trail maintenance.

[01:01:54] Mike is the new co-canister chair.

[01:02:01] So I hung out with Mike a while.

[01:02:03] Mike is a really cool guy.

[01:02:04] We should get Mike on the show.

[01:02:07] And, but yeah, yeah, no, I talked to him and, you know, it's that on trail personal approach.

[01:02:13] I got Jim Booten to agree to be on the show.

[01:02:16] Now, Mike, maybe we'll do both of them together because they're co-canister guys.

[01:02:20] Um, yeah, but you, you had the colder temperature Saturday was a little bit warmer.

[01:02:26] Uh, one thing I noticed on Saturday is on my way down Westkill.

[01:02:31] I had snowshoes on, you know, after the, uh, one significant rock out crapping, you hit on the trail going up.

[01:02:43] Shortly after that, I threw my shoes on.

[01:02:45] Um, not 100% needed, but was a good idea.

[01:02:50] And on my way back down, I'm still wearing the shoes, but a lot of the tracks I made were already drifting in.

[01:02:57] Oh, wow.

[01:02:57] Um, yeah.

[01:02:58] And then I cruised over Hawkett.

[01:03:00] Um, the only person I saw on Westkill was Mike Schuette.

[01:03:05] Didn't really see anybody on the road, uh, leading out to Diamond Notch.

[01:03:10] Um, but I got over to Hawkett and it was, you know, around one o'clock noon, one o'clock.

[01:03:16] And I saw some guys in the parking lot, saw a bunch of people coming down on my way up.

[01:03:22] Uh, it was seemed colder over there.

[01:03:26] There seemed to be more snow and the trench.

[01:03:30] And I stayed in the trench the whole way up and down.

[01:03:34] Um, but the, the last people I ran into on my way up were coming down and they were using those little glissading sleds, right?

[01:03:44] A little plastic disc.

[01:03:46] Uh, it's maybe 20, 24 inches across as a plastic handle.

[01:03:52] You put the handle, uh, between your legs, the disc under your butt.

[01:03:58] You sit down, you go downhill.

[01:04:00] And the benefit of somebody doing that before you hike up the trail is it gets packed down so hard.

[01:04:09] Um, but on my way up pocket, I could have used spikes all the way up, but I put my shoes on just for the fact that I was able to use those televators that caught some of the grade out on the way up.

[01:04:20] And then on the way down, it was so firm.

[01:04:22] I just threw on a pair of spikes and I was really skating on the way down.

[01:04:27] I mean, I was sliding almost with every step.

[01:04:30] I think one time I probably on with one of my feet, like a teleskier with one foot forward, the other one back.

[01:04:37] I probably went 20 feet and a slide.

[01:04:40] It's just, it was so packed down and so steep.

[01:04:43] And that, that was fun.

[01:04:45] Uh, it was a really good hike and, uh, enjoyed it.

[01:04:49] But then since then I did, uh, last Friday, I did mountain beacon with my one daughter up to the, uh, old rail station and then over to the fire tower.

[01:05:03] Uh, it was an interesting hike.

[01:05:05] You run into a very, very different crowd over there.

[01:05:10] Yeah.

[01:05:11] Yeah.

[01:05:12] And then, uh, yesterday got up early and, uh, needed to check Panther off the list.

[01:05:19] So I got to Panther.

[01:05:21] I, you know, I had spikes with me, but you, you didn't need them.

[01:05:25] There was no snow, no ice really to speak of.

[01:05:30] Yeah.

[01:05:30] Other than the section, um, west, northwest of giant ledge heading over to Panther.

[01:05:40] Um, that's gets a lot of shade.

[01:05:43] So there was still snow, uh, post holes were frozen in, but it was snow hadn't converted into ice.

[01:05:51] So I was able to get through there, bare booted the whole way up there, booted the whole way down, ran into a bunch of hikers on the way, uh, on my way out, uh, that were heading in.

[01:06:02] But, you know, uh, Panthers was the same as it always is.

[01:06:07] It's, it's a nice hike on trail or off trail.

[01:06:11] So magical.

[01:06:13] So, but let's double back, uh, going over East Rusk.

[01:06:17] Did you hit the, uh, spruce traps?

[01:06:20] No, no.

[01:06:22] Huh.

[01:06:22] That's interesting.

[01:06:23] You're lucky man.

[01:06:23] I, I seem, I seem to hit them in the winter with snow.

[01:06:26] I seem to hit them every time.

[01:06:29] Are you talking about like when you're going heading west over to Rusk from East Rusk?

[01:06:34] I gotta admit there was some deep snow over there.

[01:06:37] That's when I broke trail from somebody.

[01:06:39] Yeah.

[01:06:40] Just on the east side of the little summit of East Rusk, there's a couple patches of young spruce.

[01:06:47] Oh, okay.

[01:06:48] Yeah.

[01:06:48] Yeah.

[01:06:48] I know what you're talking about.

[01:06:49] Yeah.

[01:06:50] I always, you know, no matter what, no matter what I do.

[01:06:53] I would say two feet.

[01:06:54] Yeah.

[01:06:55] So it's not like you're going to hit any significant spruce traps, but.

[01:06:59] Yeah.

[01:07:00] They're, they're passable, but it's, it's an annoyance, whether it's spring, summer, winter, fall.

[01:07:06] I gotta admit one thing that sucked that day was my, my shell, my Heli Hansen shell.

[01:07:14] Uh, I got a little stick caught in and it ripped a fricking nice three by three inch hole into it.

[01:07:21] So you're gonna have to tape it.

[01:07:23] I'm going to probably either tape it or get a whole new one.

[01:07:26] I'm going to tape it with some duct tape probably first.

[01:07:29] Yeah.

[01:07:30] That's, that's why I, when I'm bushwhacking, I, I'm not going to say it's cheap.

[01:07:35] It's like a hundred dollar Patagonia shell, but if you're bushwhacking, you know, you're in cover and this thing is thin, it's got a hood on it.

[01:07:47] And.

[01:07:48] You know, after a couple of years, if I have to throw it away, it's not so bad.

[01:07:52] It's not like I have hundreds of dollars invested in it.

[01:07:54] So, but you did say, you did say you had tea on rust.

[01:07:57] You drink hot tea in the winter.

[01:07:59] I do.

[01:07:59] I try, I try that hour and a half drive, uh, really lowers the T amount, but, uh, like the temperature.

[01:08:08] But, uh, towards the top, I got, I got some nice warm tea that warmed me up a little bit.

[01:08:14] And it's, you know, a lot of people wonder with that temperatures, you know, zero at the trailhead, you get higher up, it gets colder.

[01:08:23] What war are we wearing?

[01:08:25] And, you know, I gotta admit it's, it's simple.

[01:08:29] It really is.

[01:08:30] Like I had my wool socks with my waterproof boots, my marils.

[01:08:37] I had a thermal, uh, like pair underneath of pant legs that were just basically like a Reeboks, I would say.

[01:08:47] And then my, my nice kind of windbreaking pair of pants.

[01:08:53] Uh, they were, uh, fall Raven pants.

[01:08:57] Uh, and that was, you know, the only thing that I would say that got cold during the whole time was my, my hips, my front hips that were hitting the wind the most time.

[01:09:04] Uh, underneath my, my chest, I had a wool, a Mariana wool shirt.

[01:09:12] Uh, I had my, uh, I would say it's, it's, uh, a sort of wool sweater.

[01:09:22] And then my, my, uh, shell up top, my Heli Hansen shell, and then that's it.

[01:09:28] And then gloves and stuff.

[01:09:30] Like I never threw on two pairs of gloves or stuff like that.

[01:09:32] Like hardcore.

[01:09:33] It was just that you kept moving and you kept kind of staying warm.

[01:09:37] You kept that thermal regulation.

[01:09:39] Yeah.

[01:09:39] So in terms of your base layer up top, you said it was wool.

[01:09:45] What was it like a hundred weight or something thinner than that?

[01:09:48] A hundred weight.

[01:09:49] I would say, yeah, it's, it's a thicker stuff.

[01:09:51] Okay.

[01:09:52] And then the, the wool layer over that was even thicker.

[01:09:56] Uh, I wouldn't say that's fitter.

[01:09:58] It's a Bergeron.

[01:09:59] It's from New Hampshire.

[01:10:00] Um, it's, it's just kind of, it says it's like a summit, a summit sweater.

[01:10:06] I would say, so I just kept that on.

[01:10:09] Yeah.

[01:10:10] And then I would never have to even my Heli Hansen, my, my, my outdoor shell kind of blocked everything.

[01:10:18] I would say.

[01:10:19] And the only time I got really cold was when I was up at the top of Rusk signing into Rusk.

[01:10:25] And you know, it was windy up there.

[01:10:28] It got windy as heck.

[01:10:29] And, uh, I just, my hands started getting a little cold from signing in and I seriously didn't, I usually do a ridiculous quote, but I was less like, no, I'm, I'm a little cold.

[01:10:40] I got to start getting down.

[01:10:42] And then my thermos fell and I was just like, what the, I headed down.

[01:10:46] Yeah.

[01:10:47] So I, um, so that hike, I had a thermos of hot cocoa.

[01:10:55] Have you ever brought hot, hot cocoa on a hike?

[01:10:58] I should start doing that instead of tea.

[01:11:00] I should do hot cocoa.

[01:11:01] Yeah.

[01:11:01] I, I, I have forever been bringing tea on winter hikes, hot tea.

[01:11:07] Okay.

[01:11:08] And some, sometimes it's like in the afternoon, it's barely lukewarm, but at least it's not frozen, but it's giving you no caloric value unless you're putting honey in it, sugar in it, or something else with calories.

[01:11:21] If it's just tea, there's no calories in there.

[01:11:25] So I decided actually, I got the box in the, Oh, I actually put it away, but I bought, I bought a box of, um, like Swiss mist, just a cheap bulk box of hot cocoa.

[01:11:39] And I'm putting it in my thermos and I'm telling you, it's divine, man.

[01:11:43] When you, when you drink this stuff, you feel like a little kid.

[01:11:46] Remember when your mother would make you hot cocoa in the winter?

[01:11:50] It's the best man.

[01:11:51] So yeah, my message to you stosh and all winter hikers bring hot cocoa.

[01:11:58] It'll, it'll put a smile on your face.

[01:12:00] No matter how down you're feeling on the trail, it's good stuff.

[01:12:04] So even with that, you know, Alex, uh, buddy I've had on the show, he, you know, disturbed, get up, can I'll get down with the sickness, get up, come on, get down with the sickness.

[01:12:18] Yes.

[01:12:18] You ever heard that song?

[01:12:20] Instead, instead he says, get up, come on, get down with the Swiss miss.

[01:12:24] And he buys us Swiss miss for Christmas.

[01:12:26] Oh, did he?

[01:12:27] Well, that's nice.

[01:12:28] So now you have some, bring it out on the trail.

[01:12:30] And I'm telling you it's, it's a life changer.

[01:12:33] Oh yeah.

[01:12:34] It's divine.

[01:12:34] It's, you know, it's great.

[01:12:36] And recently Jessica and I went up, uh, Bramley mountain, uh, two days ago, a day ago, uh, on December 21st.

[01:12:44] And it was fricking 50 degrees.

[01:12:47] Beautiful.

[01:12:47] No snow, no ice, nothing.

[01:12:49] I was just like, I was blown away just by how insane a difference it is.

[01:12:55] And today I can, I can look outside my window and I see snow on the ground right now.

[01:13:00] Yeah.

[01:13:00] That's right.

[01:13:01] And Dan, the problem is, you know, I pulled a bunch of gear out of my pack for beacon.

[01:13:07] Actually brought a different pack of beacon.

[01:13:09] There was no point bringing my, my full winter kit.

[01:13:12] And then, so yesterday I was doing Panther.

[01:13:14] I, I pulled the stuff out, a lot of stuff out of it because I just wanted a quick hike.

[01:13:19] And now you got to remember to put all that stuff back in when you go out.

[01:13:23] Cause exactly.

[01:13:24] This, this weekend is going to be.

[01:13:26] Yeah.

[01:13:26] And if, look, if you want, I'd be down.

[01:13:28] If you want to do the six on Sunday, I'd be down for doing the six.

[01:13:32] I don't know about the six dude.

[01:13:34] Come on.

[01:13:34] I don't even have to do that.

[01:13:36] I'm a, I'm a, so you need, do you need Friday balsam or just need the loan and Rocky

[01:13:42] loan and Rocky, but, but I'm telling you, you might as well do the four.

[01:13:48] Or the six.

[01:13:49] I mean, it's just to go out to do loan and Rocky going out the fishermen's path to get

[01:13:54] the loan.

[01:13:55] You might as well package in a bunch of other mountains.

[01:13:57] Cause it's not that much longer and it's more fun.

[01:14:00] True.

[01:14:01] So you, you look, you think about it, but I'm, I was going to reach out to Davis and see what

[01:14:06] his plans were.

[01:14:07] But if, but if I'm, I, this is in my view, depending on how much snow they get, this

[01:14:12] is a perfect weekend to do the six.

[01:14:14] We'll have to see.

[01:14:16] Yeah.

[01:14:17] So cool.

[01:14:17] Glad we both got out, got out to the Catskills.

[01:14:21] Once again, volunteer 3,500 club, Catskill trail clue, Catskill mountains club visitors

[01:14:25] center, jelly rovers, true clue, bro mountain fire tower, uh, volunteer where we can.

[01:14:31] There are probably making up their schedules as of now.

[01:14:35] Uh, they're not doing anything yet.

[01:14:37] So get together soon.

[01:14:40] Trying to lower this.

[01:14:42] So weather forecast.

[01:14:44] We've got a little crazy weather coming on here.

[01:14:48] Like last time.

[01:14:49] So we have some snow coming on tonight, which is recording on Wednesday, uh, January 1st.

[01:14:55] And then, uh, looks like Friday and Thursday and Friday, we'll be getting into the absolute

[01:15:02] colder temperatures.

[01:15:04] 14 degrees high on Friday with a low of negative 15 into the night.

[01:15:09] Saturday and our Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

[01:15:12] It looks like the high will be 12 degrees with a low on Sunday, Saturday night of 22 degrees

[01:15:19] below zero.

[01:15:20] So this is the time to bring your extra gear and to check it out.

[01:15:26] So I'm going to be crazy out there.

[01:15:30] Yeah.

[01:15:30] As you, as you give this forecast, I'm looking at the Bel Air mountain cam and it's snowing

[01:15:36] there now.

[01:15:37] Although.

[01:15:38] Nice.

[01:15:39] Yeah.

[01:15:40] Nice.

[01:15:44] All right.

[01:15:44] So we'll do the last set of sponsors, you know, Ted, I'm sorry.

[01:15:48] Catskill mountain history.

[01:15:49] We'll do next time.

[01:15:50] Next time.

[01:15:51] It won't change.

[01:15:53] Well, actually next, next week actually will be, uh, with what I want to do with Catskill

[01:15:58] mountain history, because of what I've been reading.

[01:16:00] So I've gotten a book about the Fenwick lumber company.

[01:16:06] Wow.

[01:16:06] Dude, the shit they did over a hundred years ago blows my fricking mind.

[01:16:13] Have you ever read about that?

[01:16:15] No, but you're going to tell us all about it.

[01:16:17] Do I, do I need to get the book between now and then and read it?

[01:16:20] Is that what I need?

[01:16:21] Dude, if you want to, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, Alaini Warfield.

[01:16:25] Yeah.

[01:16:26] I'm pretty sure it is.

[01:16:27] She does Fenwick lumber company.

[01:16:28] I have it around the next week episode.

[01:16:30] Yeah.

[01:16:31] Oh, Alaini Warfield, uh, has a book about the Fenwick lumber company that existed 1907 to 19,

[01:16:39] 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19.

[01:16:41] I see that.

[01:16:43] Uh, absolutely phenomenal history of basically how Hunter mountain and Southwest Hunter mountain

[01:16:49] were completely taken away of their lumber.

[01:16:53] Yeah.

[01:16:54] And made it to this.

[01:16:55] Yeah.

[01:16:55] Yeah.

[01:16:55] But when you, you read my Kudish's book, he brings up that there's a, uh, track of land,

[01:17:02] uh, on Hunter Eastern side of Hunter that Fenwick didn't have the rights to log.

[01:17:10] Right.

[01:17:10] So they actually didn't have the rights to log a lot of places, especially with their lower

[01:17:15] areas that they had the mills at.

[01:17:20] They had certain tracks and they filed the law, which was absolutely phenomenal.

[01:17:23] Um, I will give a little bit away right now that they purchase 2000 acres of land for $1.

[01:17:33] Unbelievable that they did that.

[01:17:35] And they made hundreds of thousands of dollars at that time in the 1900s for $1.

[01:17:42] Well, you know, was that just the deed part of the transaction and there was money that

[01:17:48] came another way to avoid taxes.

[01:17:52] You know, there there's fancy ways of structuring those relationships.

[01:17:57] Maybe there was back taxes that they had to pay off.

[01:18:00] I mean, who knows?

[01:18:02] So Eleni will tell us.

[01:18:03] Yeah, I'm not, I'm not protecting Fenwick and well, they're no longer in business.

[01:18:07] I do note that when I Googled Fenwick lumber company, the first thing that came up on Google

[01:18:15] was this book that you mentioned and what was number two?

[01:18:20] Dr. Kudish's probably episode.

[01:18:22] No.

[01:18:22] Oh, yes.

[01:18:23] Episode 46 with Dr. Kudish.

[01:18:25] No shit.

[01:18:26] No way.

[01:18:26] Yeah.

[01:18:27] Yeah.

[01:18:27] Yeah.

[01:18:28] He was, he was, he was different at that time because, uh, he, he hadn't had a nap.

[01:18:34] So he was kind of flustered with everything.

[01:18:37] So, uh, and I don't think I was at his house doing this.

[01:18:41] I did the interview at his house.

[01:18:43] This is actually, oh, excuse me.

[01:18:45] After a, like a flood event happened, we couldn't hike.

[01:18:49] So it was phenomenal.

[01:18:51] But dude, just reading of what they did with their lines and stuff like that blows my mind

[01:18:59] away of how, like, you know, we hike up devil's path and these guys were bringing fricking 20

[01:19:06] logs, hauling them up a wine, a winch going up by hydraulic steam up to 3,500 feet at the

[01:19:15] devil's acres lean to like, could you imagine that of all of it being clear cut and people

[01:19:22] living up there?

[01:19:23] Wow.

[01:19:23] Yeah.

[01:19:24] So there's a pretty cool picture.

[01:19:26] It's a article, uh, written by Elaine Warfield, the person who wrote the book, but there's a,

[01:19:34] I imagine you have the same photo in your book, uh, but it shows a stony cove notch without a road,

[01:19:40] just the railroad tracks going through it.

[01:19:43] Yep.

[01:19:44] That's very cool.

[01:19:45] Yep.

[01:19:45] It's, you know, and, uh, I'm hoping to get a future hike of us like you, me, and maybe some

[01:19:53] people who are enthusiastic about this and going up Myrtlebrook.

[01:19:57] Yeah.

[01:19:58] And doing the whole kind of like way, cause there's foundations still there.

[01:20:02] There's the line that's still there.

[01:20:04] There's, uh, a bunch of concrete set stone of where the, the railways used to be.

[01:20:11] So I gotta admit that'll be an epic hike.

[01:20:14] And, uh, I think the first part of it has to start on the private property.

[01:20:18] So I'll get permission.

[01:20:19] So that would be great, man.

[01:20:21] It's on my list to hit that.

[01:20:24] Danny be in.

[01:20:25] And yeah, I'm sure he would.

[01:20:27] But you know, no surprise.

[01:20:29] He's been up there before.

[01:20:31] Ah, yeah.

[01:20:32] Yeah.

[01:20:32] It follows a stream bed.

[01:20:34] Yeah.

[01:20:35] Well, stony, stony cove is his territory.

[01:20:39] Oh, nice.

[01:20:40] Yeah.

[01:20:40] So he, he, that's where he spends his work week is in the office or in stony cove.

[01:20:46] Okay.

[01:20:46] So he'll be up there and he'll be lecturing us on that stuff.

[01:20:50] Yeah.

[01:20:51] So gotten a bunch of books over Christmas about, uh, the family lumber company.

[01:20:56] Um, two books about Jay Gould.

[01:20:58] Uh, two books about how he was, uh, a crazy person on wall street and how he manipulated a

[01:21:05] lot of people.

[01:21:06] I can't wait to get dig into those books.

[01:21:09] Hopefully we'll get.

[01:21:09] He's, he's a real shyster.

[01:21:12] Yeah.

[01:21:13] It's, it's crazy.

[01:21:14] I've, I've gotten like 30 pages into when I'm like, Jesus, like he was 15 years old and he was already a, uh, a surveyor.

[01:21:24] Yeah.

[01:21:24] We're freaking like Brad spill and Roxbury and stuff.

[01:21:27] Like, wow.

[01:21:29] Yeah.

[01:21:30] Yeah.

[01:21:30] Send me those titles too.

[01:21:31] I, I'll read those.

[01:21:32] I'll get, I'll get up to speed on that Intel and we'll have a fun show.

[01:21:35] And in the meantime, I'll, I'll order, uh, the Fenwick lumber book.

[01:21:40] And I wonder if it's printed on pages that were made from logs that the Fenwick company

[01:21:45] lumbered dude, order it straight from our website.

[01:21:49] Uh, I gotta admit that that's, it's, it's a little, uh, better than order from Amazon.

[01:21:54] So she gets it to you within four days.

[01:21:56] Like I got it within four days.

[01:21:58] All right.

[01:21:59] So there's less than four days between now and the show, but that's all right.

[01:22:02] I can do it.

[01:22:04] Uh, or you can go up to East, do it and get it.

[01:22:07] All right.

[01:22:08] Maybe I'll do that.

[01:22:09] Maybe you'll do that.

[01:22:10] So last set of sponsors and we'll go on the topic of the night.

[01:22:13] Uh, yeah.

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[01:23:42] I don't know.

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[01:24:19] All right, Tad.

[01:24:20] So let's finally get on to the topic of the night.

[01:24:24] Let's go.

[01:24:27] 2024 recap.

[01:24:28] Great year.

[01:24:29] Glad you can join us, by the way.

[01:24:31] Thank you.

[01:24:31] Thank you.

[01:24:32] You know, I asked you for how long?

[01:24:35] A couple months before that to join me and you were like, ah, yeah.

[01:24:39] A couple months.

[01:24:40] It seemed like you were asking me before you even started recording this podcast, but no,

[01:24:44] I'm just kidding.

[01:24:45] God damn nagging me.

[01:24:47] This guy keeps nagging me.

[01:24:48] I got to do this stuff before he shuts up.

[01:24:50] You know, it did take my people a long time to hook up with your people and put the contracts

[01:24:54] together, the exclusive rights, you know, copyright infringement, indemnification clauses,

[01:25:01] wraparound agreements, you know, all that technical podcast stuff.

[01:25:04] But once we got those particulars nailed down, yeah, it's been fun.

[01:25:10] It's been a great time, you know, and like I said that with you joining a case takes a little

[01:25:17] bit more of the load off of my shoulders and, you know, we can go back and forth with, with

[01:25:23] topics.

[01:25:24] Of course, you are very knowledgeable in the Catskills here.

[01:25:28] I wouldn't say, I would say a smarter person than me.

[01:25:31] I'm a goofy person.

[01:25:32] I'm the fun guy.

[01:25:33] You're the smarter guy.

[01:25:34] So it goes, it flows back and forth.

[01:25:36] It's perfect flow.

[01:25:37] I got to admit.

[01:25:38] Yeah.

[01:25:39] Yeah.

[01:25:39] Well, I'm going to play that back to you when I come in and ask for my raise.

[01:25:44] So just be prepared to eat those words, my friend.

[01:25:48] Talk to Sarah Bacon about that.

[01:25:51] Okay.

[01:25:51] Sarah, I want to raise.

[01:25:53] She'll give you a mountain lion costume.

[01:25:55] Well, okay.

[01:25:57] Yes.

[01:25:57] I'll do that.

[01:25:58] Why not?

[01:25:59] So, so 2024, we had a pretty good year with, you know, with events in New York state, pretty

[01:26:07] crazy events, you know, climate change, of course is happening.

[01:26:12] We can tell that snow is less and such.

[01:26:16] And there have been crazy instances.

[01:26:19] We had a crazy Aurora that happened with all throughout New York state that everybody saw

[01:26:26] a tad, I know you weren't awake at that time, but I went out and I saw that it was phenomenal.

[01:26:32] Beautiful time.

[01:26:33] There was an earthquake.

[01:26:34] Did you feel that again?

[01:26:35] Did we, we talked about that?

[01:26:37] Yeah.

[01:26:37] I remember that.

[01:26:38] Uh, I was sitting at home working when that happened and then we talked about it on the

[01:26:43] show.

[01:26:43] Well, Joel, and you're like, what the hell was that?

[01:26:47] Yeah.

[01:26:47] It was my, it was my second time on the East coast feeling, uh, an earthquake.

[01:26:52] Wow.

[01:26:52] It's just, it's, it's great.

[01:26:54] When was the last time you felt that?

[01:26:55] Can you reminisce about that?

[01:26:57] Uh, I forget the year, uh, it was maybe 2016, 2017, something like that.

[01:27:04] Um, the funny part about it is I was sitting in a conference room having a conference that

[01:27:14] was somewhat adversarial and the people on the other side of the table, uh, had presented

[01:27:25] presented a, a point in the negotiations.

[01:27:28] And I was a little upset with that.

[01:27:31] And I said something that was rather brash and crude and designed to upset these people.

[01:27:39] And I kid you not, no sooner had I finished saying that this guy starts to stand up and

[01:27:44] the whole room starts to shake.

[01:27:45] And I thought, this is how pissed off this guy is at me.

[01:27:49] It's like shaking the table.

[01:27:51] Turns out it was just an earthquake.

[01:27:54] Just an earthquake.

[01:27:55] Yeah.

[01:27:55] Wow.

[01:27:56] It was very wild.

[01:27:57] And then, and then we had the solar eclipse, you know, I went all the way up North.

[01:28:02] I went up the Finger Lakes to do the full solar eclipse.

[01:28:06] And unfortunately I got clouds cover, but you know, I enjoyed that with Darren and his son,

[01:28:13] Alex, and a bunch of our other friends.

[01:28:16] And we got to enjoy that as well.

[01:28:18] I don't know, Tad, did you do anything for the solar eclipse?

[01:28:21] Yes.

[01:28:21] Mrs. B and I hung out in the backyard and watched it.

[01:28:28] And we reminisced back to when we saw the eclipse in what was it?

[01:28:34] 2017.

[01:28:35] We were out in Oregon dropping our oldest off as a freshman in college.

[01:28:40] And so here we were X number of years later and our youngest was graduating from college

[01:28:46] and it was kind of like a big section or chapter of our lives was coming to an end.

[01:28:55] So it was very cool.

[01:28:56] And Sunil, what can we take from these experiences that we had in 2024?

[01:29:02] What can you say, Tad?

[01:29:04] I know what I'm going to say, but what can you say?

[01:29:06] What about what my solar eclipse experience or.

[01:29:09] All the experiences, they know the crazy experiences that you have.

[01:29:13] I'm going to say that in 2024, the significant milestone for me, like I just said, was my youngest

[01:29:22] daughter graduating from college as a nurse.

[01:29:25] It was very hard work for her.

[01:29:28] She took it very seriously and it was like for my wife and I, it was the, you know, very

[01:29:36] satisfying.

[01:29:36] And so I've got this great photo of my wife and I that, um, uh, my wife's sister took at

[01:29:43] the graduation of my wife and I, and you can, from this photo, you can just see like the,

[01:29:50] the jubilation, the joy in our faces.

[01:29:54] So that was 2024 as I'll remember it.

[01:29:57] You know, it's kind of a great feeling as a parent, you get both of your kids set up

[01:30:01] to do what they want.

[01:30:03] They don't have any debt.

[01:30:04] They both have college degrees.

[01:30:06] You know, the one's off rock climbing and the other's off nursing and they're both very

[01:30:10] happy.

[01:30:10] And so it makes me happy.

[01:30:12] Nice.

[01:30:13] Nice.

[01:30:14] You know what I can say is that I would say, take that time off to do the things that you

[01:30:22] want to do.

[01:30:23] Do not give that time back to your company that you work for, have those experiences and

[01:30:31] do those experiences because you will remember that time that you did the solar eclipse or you

[01:30:39] watched the Aurora and you will not remember those times that you were back in your freaking

[01:30:45] company working your hours.

[01:30:48] So, yeah.

[01:30:48] Yeah.

[01:30:49] So we know Jack, uh, curerack has something he says about that, but I was, uh, listened

[01:30:54] to a podcast on that long and lonesome drive back from JFK Saturday night.

[01:31:00] Uh, they were interviewing the fellow that wrote this book called dying with zero.

[01:31:06] Have you heard of the book?

[01:31:07] I will not, I have not, but I will write that down to get it.

[01:31:11] Yeah.

[01:31:11] So I'll send you a link to the podcast and his whole thing is, is that people go through

[01:31:17] their life, accumulating wealth, accumulating wealth, accumulating wealth, and not necessarily

[01:31:22] accumulating experiences.

[01:31:24] And so when you die, you die with all this wealth, but it ain't worth nothing to you because

[01:31:30] you're dead.

[01:31:31] Right?

[01:31:32] Okay.

[01:31:32] So his point is that you need to design your life around, or at least this is my take on

[01:31:41] it, design your life around accumulating these experiences.

[01:31:46] And your plan should be to die with a zero.

[01:31:50] Like don't leave an estate that gives away millions of dollars to your heirs.

[01:31:56] Um, take them on a vacation now.

[01:31:59] Like I look back by my family and I, we went to Ireland a couple of years ago, man, was

[01:32:06] that money well spent?

[01:32:07] You know?

[01:32:08] Right.

[01:32:08] So what, what would be better?

[01:32:09] Me keeping that money in the bank until I die.

[01:32:13] And then two checks are written to my daughters, you know, half to each of them for, you know,

[01:32:19] what we spent on that trip or going on trips like that during our lifetime.

[01:32:23] So this is where I'm, you know, I back up my daughters and what they want to do so they

[01:32:28] can have quality experiences.

[01:32:29] And, and I'm at a point in my career where I have the luxury for the most part of deciding

[01:32:37] when I want to work and where I want to work.

[01:32:40] So yesterday I had a very intense work day on the 31st, but I was able to package all

[01:32:47] of that in from like two o'clock to six 30.

[01:32:51] And I, in the morning I took off from the house, went up and banged out giant legend

[01:32:56] Panther.

[01:32:57] So nice.

[01:32:58] So yeah, you got to live your life that way.

[01:33:00] I mean, you know, the, the office will be there.

[01:33:02] Another job will be there.

[01:33:03] Um, if I was in my forties and I didn't have children, I would quit my job, sell

[01:33:09] everything by, by, by a van.

[01:33:12] And I would live, I do the van.

[01:33:14] Look at my daughter.

[01:33:15] I mean, she was home for a week and a lot of our, uh, parent friends have a hard time

[01:33:21] processing the fact that our daughter will say with a straight face, she lives out of

[01:33:27] her car.

[01:33:28] Okay.

[01:33:29] That's a lot easier when you're 20 years old.

[01:33:31] Oh yeah.

[01:33:32] Yeah.

[01:33:32] 40.

[01:33:33] But, but so now you, I mean, you look at the undertaking it would be for you to sell

[01:33:40] everything and live out of the back of your car or a van for two or three years doing what

[01:33:47] you love, what you have a passion for.

[01:33:49] My daughter has a passion for rock climbing and this is the point in time in her life to,

[01:33:55] to do it, to follow that.

[01:33:57] I, I went to college and then to graduate school back to back.

[01:34:00] I worked for a year and then I quit working because I realized that was the best opportunity

[01:34:04] I had in my life was to defer my student loans at that time.

[01:34:08] And I took a year off and did whatever I wanted to do from whitewater rafting to backpacking

[01:34:17] to sailing, skiing, you know, I squeezed out every, you know, experience I could during that

[01:34:26] year.

[01:34:27] And then at the end of the year, the bell struck, I had to go back to work to pay off

[01:34:31] those loans.

[01:34:32] So stay away, stay away from debt, sell everything, go traveling.

[01:34:38] The only thing that you need to do that's somewhat associated with the work routine is

[01:34:43] every Friday morning, queue up inside the line where we give the best life advice.

[01:34:48] The best life advice is found here for free.

[01:34:51] Right.

[01:34:51] So like I said, I learned from this, this year to, to use up that PTO, to take that time,

[01:35:00] to have those experiences.

[01:35:02] So you can remember that because you won't remember sitting on the fricking desktop doing

[01:35:07] nothing.

[01:35:08] So that's what I remember.

[01:35:10] But, you know, from the podcast perspective, this year was, I would have to say our reservoir

[01:35:16] year.

[01:35:17] Like we had a lot of stuff about to do with the reservoir.

[01:35:20] It was an absolute phenomenal year.

[01:35:24] I don't know.

[01:35:24] I think I was that I was, I was into the couple of books and it just got me connected and I

[01:35:30] researched people.

[01:35:32] I booked people and I was just like, let's get people on about the reservoir.

[01:35:36] Cause I gotta admit, that is a huge thing about the Catskills history and the Catskills

[01:35:42] now.

[01:35:42] And of course, you know what it's been and stuff like that.

[01:35:46] So we had one 21 with Toby Carey, who was a fun dude.

[01:35:50] He was, he loved our shooting the shit section.

[01:35:54] Yeah.

[01:35:54] Yeah.

[01:35:55] I love that part.

[01:35:56] That's one part.

[01:35:57] I reminisce about our podcast.

[01:36:00] The most is he was just like thankful that he got to participate in that.

[01:36:04] Um, one 23 Diane Galusha did stuff about the, the ghost towns of the reservoirs and, and,

[01:36:13] uh, the areas, uh, the ghost towns, the, the, the history of the reservoirs.

[01:36:17] April Besaw did stuff about the Gilboa reservoir, uh, fossils areas up towards more towards, uh,

[01:36:26] Gilboa.

[01:36:27] Um, and one 40 Tony Bonavist did stuff about fly fishing and of, of more of the fly fishing

[01:36:36] aspect of the reservoirs that was done.

[01:36:39] So we did a lot of reservoir stuff in 2024.

[01:36:43] Yeah.

[01:36:44] Well, you, as you pointed out, the entire Catskill region inside the line, if you will,

[01:36:52] would be markedly different if it wasn't for the fact that it's a drainage area, a controlled

[01:37:00] stormwater drainage area for the city of New York's water supply.

[01:37:04] Yeah.

[01:37:05] And because of that, the city has bought up hundreds of thousands of acres.

[01:37:09] Um, there's restrictions on development and that's why when you're standing on giant ledge

[01:37:14] and you're looking out over Woodland Valley or when you're standing up on Wittenberg and

[01:37:19] looking over the Ashokan reservoir, you don't see many houses.

[01:37:24] Yeah.

[01:37:25] And in large part, that's because the city of New York, um, has made this the birthplace

[01:37:31] of their drinking water.

[01:37:33] Yeah.

[01:37:34] And that we had also, uh, what's her name for the Catskill Watershed Corporation talking

[01:37:41] about that, you know, big influence on the area.

[01:37:44] And, you know, I've, I've tried to get ahold of several people, of course, on that, uh,

[01:37:50] with the reservoir, how big of an impact it has on this area.

[01:37:54] Yeah.

[01:37:54] And it has a big impact.

[01:37:57] Of course, you know, we, we all take that beautiful view from, uh, Wittenberg look over

[01:38:04] the Ashokan reservoir.

[01:38:05] Would that, I mean, it would still be a pretty epic view without that there, but you gotta

[01:38:11] admit that that reservoir really throws that into.

[01:38:13] Yeah.

[01:38:14] And like I say, you don't have condos, townhouses or McMansions populating that area.

[01:38:22] Uh, it's for how close we are to New York city.

[01:38:27] It's still preserved in more of a natural state.

[01:38:31] So that's great.

[01:38:32] But if you're a local in the Catskills and you want economic development opportunities,

[01:38:38] the city of New York has snatched those up and taken them away from you.

[01:38:43] So we have some pretty crazy people up here that are fighting against that.

[01:38:48] You know, we talk about that Woodstock development that's going on.

[01:38:53] They're doing pretty good against that.

[01:38:55] Yeah.

[01:38:56] Well, you, you know, uh, those things are inevitable, but that's really not helping.

[01:39:01] Anybody who's local at development, the money for a project like that doesn't spring out

[01:39:07] of Woodstock.

[01:39:08] It's money that's coming in from Connecticut, New Jersey, wall street.

[01:39:12] That's, you know, a multi multimillion dollar project.

[01:39:15] They're hard to fund.

[01:39:16] So it's not like a couple of hippies and leave on helm studio or, you know, uh, cashing

[01:39:24] in some royalty checks and, and building a big development over there.

[01:39:29] And when, you know, be honest, when these projects get built, a lot of the contractors that come

[01:39:35] in are from outside the area.

[01:39:37] So it, it, you know, it, it best it generates some tax ratables, but, uh, in my view, these

[01:39:46] projects don't do a lot of good for the local economy.

[01:39:50] What, what really is better for the local economy is, is keeping your small businesses in your

[01:39:57] local community, whether it's retail services, food, things like that, supporting them when

[01:40:04] you're up here, uh, going to your local shops.

[01:40:07] I mean, that's really the core of your local economy is the local businesses, not development.

[01:40:14] Correct.

[01:40:14] Correct.

[01:40:16] That's depressing.

[01:40:18] All right.

[01:40:18] Let's move on to an awesome milestone.

[01:40:21] Fastest known time set on the long path by Chris LeBlanc, who, uh, what's chicken foot?

[01:40:28] What's his name?

[01:40:30] Chicken fat.

[01:40:31] Chicken fat.

[01:40:31] Yeah.

[01:40:32] So he, one 42, uh, he set the fastest known time from, uh, North to South and he destroyed

[01:40:41] it while sleeping in Porter jobs.

[01:40:43] Oh yeah.

[01:40:44] He, he actually didn't sleep in a Porter John, but he really wished that he did.

[01:40:51] That was my, my takeaway, but Chris, Chris is a cool guy.

[01:40:54] He's a high school teacher.

[01:40:55] Uh, I, since that episode follow him on Instagram and message with him from time to time.

[01:41:01] And who knows what he's got planned for 2025, but, uh, I hope he's successful.

[01:41:08] Yeah.

[01:41:09] And once again, that was a phenomenal episode episode one 42.

[01:41:13] That was a good one.

[01:41:14] Uh, so let's talk about some of the regional aspects of the area of the Catskill.

[01:41:20] So this was a very crazy season, of course, uh, in the summer with wildfires.

[01:41:27] Now it was a very dry season.

[01:41:30] We saw all the reservoirs drained out to the lowest of the lows.

[01:41:35] And then we had fires started.

[01:41:38] Of course.

[01:41:39] Now we had the biggest one was the Sterling forest, AKA Jenning Creek fire, which burned

[01:41:44] over 5,000 acres.

[01:41:45] Uh, unfortunately one person died, which was a, uh, a forest ranger force helper over in

[01:41:52] the, the area.

[01:41:53] And then we had the Peekamoose fire, which was over White House area, uh, 600 acres of land

[01:41:59] right across from the Peekamoose, uh, blue hole area.

[01:42:03] Once again, stuff that we can't even think of that has happened in the past, you know,

[01:42:10] I don't know how 10, 20 years that, I mean, we have little fires of course over in the

[01:42:16] gunks happen within then.

[01:42:18] And I've had a little fire over here, over toward the north, but 5,000 acres.

[01:42:24] So how that went two, three weeks.

[01:42:27] Yeah.

[01:42:28] That's, that's remarkable, particularly that it's right along Greenwood Lake.

[01:42:32] They had an unlimited supply of water to haul out of there with the helicopters drop on the

[01:42:40] fire, but that fire just kept going, going and going.

[01:42:45] And, you know, it was a dry summer and that's, you know, these things happen and it's, you

[01:42:50] know, I'm sure a forester would tell us the, the benefits of, you know, periodic fires

[01:42:56] and wooded areas like this.

[01:42:59] Uh, and I know in the, uh, the gunks every few years they do controlled burns there to

[01:43:06] get rid of the underbrush.

[01:43:08] So, uh, there is a benefit to, uh, small forest fires, but it was what you experienced was

[01:43:18] remarkable being able to walk out.

[01:43:19] What was it?

[01:43:20] The Cannonsville reservoir.

[01:43:21] Yeah.

[01:43:22] Yeah.

[01:43:22] To be able to walk out into it and to see these old foundations.

[01:43:25] I mean, that goes right to the heart of the city of New York, taking people's homes away

[01:43:31] from them.

[01:43:32] You were like the first person to walk in that backyard and.

[01:43:35] Okay.

[01:43:36] And the rest is yeah.

[01:43:37] 75, 80 years, whatever it was.

[01:43:40] No, I mean, you know, with the droughts and stuff like that, you know, I hopefully

[01:43:44] will be getting ahold of some forest rangers that were involved in that we can get their firsthand

[01:43:49] perspective of, of that kind of impact that they had.

[01:43:54] I know they battled the Jenning Creek and of course the white house area.

[01:43:58] And that was a phenomenal effort, mostly by volunteers, you know, was absolutely phenomenal

[01:44:05] that I've seen.

[01:44:06] I saw over 200, 300 people, volunteer firefighters coming out from all areas from where I lived,

[01:44:13] you know, 100, over a little hundred miles away coming down to help out battle those areas.

[01:44:20] And of course contain that with no structures damage, which is very, very good with only one

[01:44:28] death.

[01:44:28] Unfortunately, that was a volunteer or not a volunteer, but a paid person of these area

[01:44:35] down in the Jenning Creek fire, which unfortunately had a tree fall on them, which is one of the

[01:44:43] devastating impacts that you have with, with these forest fires.

[01:44:47] And what's, what's crazy is I saw more of this forest fire area was more of the underbrush was burned

[01:44:55] and not the trees.

[01:44:56] So I'm thinking that the trees are okay.

[01:44:58] The underbrush was completely scorched.

[01:45:01] So we'll have to see what happens in the coming time of when spring happens and such.

[01:45:08] Yeah.

[01:45:08] So one of the things I think of when I think of these regional fires and the sense of awe

[01:45:16] and wow, that there was a 5,000 acre forest fire in the Hudson Valley this past year.

[01:45:25] And at, uh, you know, basically one entire yet smaller mountain in the Catskills, uh, had

[01:45:32] been, uh, was engulfed in a fire out West, those would be nothing.

[01:45:38] Oh, that's not to be like peace stains.

[01:45:40] Yeah.

[01:45:41] Yeah.

[01:45:41] So, you know, they have just these raging massive fires out there week after week, month out

[01:45:50] of month after month that they literally, they have, you know, a, a staff of an army of paid

[01:45:58] professional firefighters that that's what they do is fight forest fires.

[01:46:02] Around here.

[01:46:03] We don't have people.

[01:46:04] I mean, we have your local firemen, your local volunteer, and then the Rangers.

[01:46:08] We don't have a team of, you know, dedicated forest fighter fighters, whether this is a thing

[01:46:18] that's going to be more and more frequent.

[01:46:20] And we end up having a team of forest fighters.

[01:46:23] We don't know, but who wants to get used to that?

[01:46:27] Yeah.

[01:46:28] Maybe they'll get trained a little bit more often about these, these controlled burns

[01:46:33] and stuff like that, that they'll battle a little bit more often.

[01:46:36] But yeah, once again, it's one of these crazy instances that happens.

[01:46:42] Who knows every 10 years, you know, that I mean, but the last time we heard this within

[01:46:48] 20, 30 years, I remember them saying.

[01:46:50] Yeah.

[01:46:51] I, it's before my time of frequently hiking in the cats.

[01:46:54] I mean, I don't even go back 10 years yet, but this is the first time.

[01:46:59] Wow.

[01:47:00] For me.

[01:47:01] Yeah.

[01:47:02] So, uh, once again, give thanks to the, the local forest fire or the local volunteers,

[01:47:10] uh, forest Rangers and stuff like that.

[01:47:12] Hopefully we'll be getting them on the show soon.

[01:47:15] Uh, I've, I've contacted my friend Jeff from the DEC and he has agreed to, to let me chat

[01:47:24] with them.

[01:47:24] I don't think he listens to the show because I don't know.

[01:47:28] I, I support the DEC.

[01:47:30] I don't support New York state though.

[01:47:32] Let's forget about that.

[01:47:33] Forget about that.

[01:47:34] Uh, let's go on.

[01:47:35] So, uh, another big incident of course, uh, unfortunately was a plane crash on Wyndham

[01:47:42] high peak.

[01:47:43] So, um, one man and a dog passed away while a guy was transporting adopted animals from

[01:47:50] West Virginia.

[01:47:51] Uh, two dogs were rescued alive.

[01:47:53] And, uh, as of this recording of January 1st, 20, 40, the trail is still closed going from

[01:48:03] the pack hollow lean to area all the way up to the high peak of, of, uh, Wyndham high peak.

[01:48:09] So crazy incident, you know, tad, you and I have been both watching this closely to see

[01:48:18] what has, uh, the investigation brought forward.

[01:48:22] And, uh, you know, not much, you know, you have some pretty good information about this.

[01:48:28] So why don't you bring about your information?

[01:48:32] Uh, gee, I guess I should have read up on.

[01:48:35] Oh no, no.

[01:48:36] Do you want me to, I, I know all.

[01:48:38] Yeah.

[01:48:38] So you, you dive into it.

[01:48:40] I read into this a few weeks ago and I, I just passed on.

[01:48:43] So Ted passed along with some information.

[01:48:46] So the, the guy who was traveling with there was traveling about 6,000 feet when he started

[01:48:52] to hit more of the Southern Azirondacks has had some turbulence dropped down to 4,800 feet.

[01:48:59] Now we all know once you hit the Southern part of the Adirondacks slide mountains stands

[01:49:04] at 4,200 feet or roughly, and then maybe like he hit Hunter that's 4,100 feet.

[01:49:12] And then you'll get below 3,900 feet.

[01:49:14] We'll hit the blackheads and stuff.

[01:49:16] So he dropped down to 4,200 feet, which is 300 feet right above black dome.

[01:49:23] So that's cutting it close.

[01:49:25] That is very close said.

[01:49:27] He was okay with the turbulence turbulence fine.

[01:49:29] And then that was the last thing they heard.

[01:49:31] I don't know where that exactly was, but unfortunately he crashed right in between like the call of,

[01:49:40] there's no call, but it was, uh, right in the middle of between Wyndham high peak and the

[01:49:47] pack hollow lean to area.

[01:49:50] And unfortunately that's around 34, 33, 300, 3,400 feet.

[01:49:57] And, you know, there was no communication from 40, you know, 4,600 feet to that, that amount of time, which is a good, you know, I can't say how many minutes, but it's, it's a pretty significant amount of time to lose elevation.

[01:50:17] Uh, especially not hitting, you know, 3,900 feet.

[01:50:21] Yeah.

[01:50:22] I think we're going to find out that, um, this guy wasn't, apparently he wasn't flying, uh, via instruments.

[01:50:32] He was flying more on a visual and it was whether you want to call it fog or low lying clouds.

[01:50:40] Yep.

[01:50:41] But he, he didn't have great visibility.

[01:50:43] So he necessarily would have had to been relying on an altimeter reading and it was cold out, icy, potentially higher up at those elevations.

[01:50:56] And maybe the, uh, sensor that, uh, his altimeter goes by malfunctioned because of ice.

[01:51:05] Yeah.

[01:51:07] Yeah.

[01:51:07] Something like that.

[01:51:08] I just, I think he, he didn't realize what elevation he was at number one and number two, he might not have fully appreciated that he was flying over mountains that were as high as they were.

[01:51:21] Yeah.

[01:51:23] And, you know, with previous, you know, experiences with plank crashes and stuff in the Catskills of researching as me and my friend Joe Ferry has, have done, you know, a lot of people don't realize that these mountains, you know, are, you know, 4,200 feet.

[01:51:40] And, you know, they rise and up and rise and, and go up and down, up and down.

[01:51:45] And, you know, they might be like, ah, you know, I'm at 4,100 feet, you know, but all of a sudden, you know, a down drift goes happens and you're down 600 feet and you're hitting.

[01:51:56] And when I'm high peak or black dome, black head mountain, you know, I'm very surprised.

[01:52:01] He didn't hit black dome right there.

[01:52:04] Yeah, presumably he was dropping in elevation. He might've also had a problem with getting ice on the leading edge of his wing. That's often a factor in these planes. But I just wonder why he was flying over the Catskills in the first place and why he didn't head towards the Hudson River where you can fly very low or head further to the west.

[01:52:34] I mean, the guy was going to Albany and Albany's on the Hudson River. So you get a good visual going up the river. If you were over it, there's, you know, there are other than once you get through the Plum Point area, Storm Key Mountain, et cetera, down by West Point, there's no mountains along the Hudson.

[01:52:54] Yeah.

[01:52:55] So.

[01:52:56] It's tough.

[01:52:57] Very sad. And let's not forget, it's not on the list, but let's not forget that family of four and their grandfather that were leaving the baseball game in Cooperstown.

[01:53:07] Yeah.

[01:53:07] And had that plane wreck out in the western edge of the Catskills.

[01:53:12] Yeah.

[01:53:12] In July, I think it was.

[01:53:14] Yeah, 15 miles of where I live.

[01:53:16] Yeah.

[01:53:17] That was crazy.

[01:53:19] It's a crazy year, but, you know.

[01:53:21] Yeah.

[01:53:22] So we had drought, dried up reservoirs, forest fires, and plane wrecks in 2024.

[01:53:29] Jesus.

[01:53:30] Let's, let's, can we get off a little bit better note?

[01:53:34] Let's have a positive note now.

[01:53:35] So, once again, the Catskills Center's stewards engage over 150,000 visitors in the 2024 season.

[01:53:46] So they, of course, are placed out of very good popular areas, Peacomus, Blue Hole, Catterskill Falls, Devil's Path, a bunch of areas that are engaging with the customer or the customers, the people that visit the Catskill area.

[01:54:04] They, their highlights are that they collected 440 bags of trash, helped visitors avoid 348 parking by citations, address economical damage by dismantling rock dams, a.k.a. rock karens.

[01:54:22] Frickin' hate rock karens.

[01:54:24] Removing rock stacks, rehabilitating user-created trails, and their enhanced visitor experience throughout the Catskills.

[01:54:33] So, Jeff Centerman, who's previously been on the show, said, every interaction our stewards have with visitor is an opportunity to cultivate a deeper appreciation for the Catskills' natural beauty and ecological significance.

[01:54:47] And their education has been phenomenal through the Catskills' natural beauty and such.

[01:54:52] And, you know, I appreciate the Catskills' stewards.

[01:54:56] I appreciate the New York, New Jersey Trail Conference' stewards.

[01:54:59] I appreciate everybody who volunteers for this area because, you know, this is not just happening in the Catskills.

[01:55:08] This is happening everywhere.

[01:55:10] We're hiking.

[01:55:11] Hiking is getting more and more popular.

[01:55:13] And education is key.

[01:55:16] And this is the way we should do it, you know.

[01:55:19] Either paying people or asking people to volunteer.

[01:55:23] That is the definitely way to do it.

[01:55:26] Pat's got nothing.

[01:55:27] He's just like, hell yeah.

[01:55:28] Yeah, well, yeah.

[01:55:28] You know, look, I support the Catskill Center.

[01:55:31] I send them a couple checks during the year because, as I've said before, they are your main lobbying effort in Albany to, you know, highlight the needs of the Catskill region.

[01:55:48] As well as lobby for money, laws, regulations, help support grants, you name it.

[01:55:57] If it's good for the Catskills, the Catskill Center is, you know, out there advocating for it.

[01:56:03] And then, you know, having boots on the ground and educating hikers, that's very important because a lot of times when hikers do damage, whether intentionally or unintentionally, you know, it takes a long, long time.

[01:56:17] For nature or the wilderness to recover from that.

[01:56:21] So you have the Catskill Center and its stewards out there educating people to curb, minimize or prevent that damage.

[01:56:29] It's a good thing.

[01:56:30] Yeah.

[01:56:31] Yeah.

[01:56:32] New York to Jersey Trail Conference is doing that as well on the Summit Stewards where they're on Slide, Peekamoose, North Mountain, other places like Overlook, stuff like that.

[01:56:45] We have a bunch of absolutely phenomenal volunteers here in the Catskills.

[01:56:50] And the work that we do together only creates a better community and a better hiking experience for you, especially if you stay away from the popular areas during those popular seasons.

[01:57:06] Right.

[01:57:06] Right.

[01:57:06] Yeah.

[01:57:07] Right.

[01:57:08] I mean, I don't, I, this was one of the bigger stories in 2024 and it's not to do with the Catskills, but I hate to bring this up, but the new, sure, new hike, New Hampshire hiker dies from exposure in the White Mountains.

[01:57:26] So Christopher Roma died, tried to complete the very insanely difficult Pemi Loop in New Hampshire, but stuck through a snowstorm halfway through it and didn't make it out.

[01:57:39] 37 years old, two-year-old son, wife.

[01:57:43] This guy was a phenomenal athlete.

[01:57:47] Did the triple crown.

[01:57:48] He was a hiking guide and unfortunately the elements didn't let him complete the hike.

[01:57:58] So we, we take from this that it's not always worth it, that check the forecast.

[01:58:05] You might have a shitty forecast.

[01:58:07] The summit is not always worth it.

[01:58:10] And turn around when you have that gut instinct that, you know, you know, it sucks that he didn't live through.

[01:58:18] He went through this to, to tell his experience of like, Hey, you know, I was on Mount Lafayette and I felt this sort of experience of maybe that I shouldn't do this.

[01:58:30] But he went on through it.

[01:58:31] And unfortunately he got caught in between Mount Guiat and, uh, non bond, which is a crazy place to get caught.

[01:58:43] And it took a couple of days to get this.

[01:58:45] And, uh, it's fortunate one of the bigger.

[01:58:50] Incidences that happened across the United States.

[01:58:53] Uh, again, New Hampshire is just notorious for this kind of situation.

[01:58:59] And the East coast is once again, uh, kind of like, I wouldn't say unregistered, but, you know, non-forgiving when we're just like, we're not the Rockies or stuff like that.

[01:59:12] But once again, we have these mountains that are unforgiving that could just take you out.

[01:59:20] Um, yeah, well, here's a guy who ostensibly was as equipped as capable and as prepared is anyone could be for doing that.

[01:59:35] Mm-hmm .

[01:59:36] And it was the wrong decision.

[01:59:39] Yeah.

[01:59:40] So it just goes to show you, um, a lot of it boils down to common sense and good judgment and luck at the end of the day.

[01:59:50] And he, that wasn't his lucky day.

[01:59:52] Yeah.

[01:59:53] Yeah.

[01:59:53] And, you know, you know, I, I always kind of look at the weather forecast.

[01:59:59] It's clear skies.

[02:00:00] You know, I, even if with the negative temperatures that's coming on this weekend, I might take on that, that challenge.

[02:00:06] But if it's not clear skies, if it's fricking snow, such like that with rain and wind and stuff, 40, 30 degrees, I will not take on that, that, that challenge.

[02:00:20] And just be like, you know what, maybe I'll sit this one out.

[02:00:24] And, you know, I just, you know, from all these, these, these situations that have come up, it makes me how to say, you know, being 42 years old, kind of like being even more scared to, to do this stuff, to be like, Hey, you know, I want to make that experience, but you know, I don't want to fucking die at 42 years old.

[02:00:47] Like, like that's halfway through my life.

[02:00:51] Yeah.

[02:00:52] So, uh, you know, obviously it was the weather, right?

[02:00:58] He, you know, he knew he was going out in winter.

[02:01:00] He knew there was going to be snow, how extreme it was going to be, uh, and whether he was aware of it fully or not aware.

[02:01:10] I mean, we, that we necessarily don't know, but you just, uh, there's a certain point where you shouldn't push past that point because you don't get a timeout.

[02:01:24] It's not like you can, you know, signal for a timeout and, and, and get an hour break to like, you know, build a shelter, change your clothes, do this and do that.

[02:01:35] No, the weather just keeps coming and sometimes it just keeps getting worse.

[02:01:40] Yeah.

[02:01:41] So that's, that's why, you know, the, the night before the morning of double check the forecast.

[02:01:48] I look at color radar to see if there's any storm activity moving in.

[02:01:53] And sometimes you'll often see in the Catskills that notwithstanding it's, uh, uh, an acceptable forecast in general, you'll see some storm activity, particularly in the summer.

[02:02:04] When you have, uh, thunderstorms popping up in the area that you're going to hike.

[02:02:10] And I know I've been out there several times where, you know, they're just a mile or two away from where I am and I'm, I'm watching where they're going.

[02:02:18] Um, because you, like I said, you just, you don't get a timeout.

[02:02:23] So you've got to be prepared.

[02:02:27] Be prepared.

[02:02:28] Once again, 10 essentials.

[02:02:31] Exactly.

[02:02:32] Uh, you know, and then God, once again, the man, what is with the horrible stories, you know, uh, the missing Adirondack hiker that the search was called off six days after searching, uh, over 60 Rangers covered over 400 miles to search for Leo the four from, uh, Canada.

[02:02:52] And unfortunately, uh, he hasn't been found to this day.

[02:02:55] And that was called off two weeks ago.

[02:03:00] We talk about two weeks ago.

[02:03:01] Yeah.

[02:03:02] I mean, that's, that's pretty rough for the parents that, you know, there's no longer an active search for your son.

[02:03:10] Yeah.

[02:03:11] And it's just, once again, it shows you that winter is a beast and is not forgiven.

[02:03:18] And we, we, you know, from this podcast of searches of every, even in the Catskills that it is not forgiving.

[02:03:29] It doesn't give a shit about you and the mountains, you know, it doesn't matter if you summit today or tomorrow.

[02:03:36] You know, there are times of when you should, once again, Ted said, check the radar, check the weather forecast.

[02:03:45] You know, if it's not your day, if it's not like it's going to be a nice, decent day, don't do it.

[02:03:52] Go for a local hike, do something shorter.

[02:03:56] Do not participate and do not be this next person that's on this podcast or on Slasher podcast or on any other podcast that talks about horrible experiences that you've had in the mountains.

[02:04:09] Just wait.

[02:04:11] The freaking mountains will be there another day.

[02:04:15] So unfortunate instances that we've had in the Northeast within the previous year.

[02:04:25] And only my heart goes out to the parents, the family members, the sons, you know, the wives, you know, it's just, it's crazy.

[02:04:39] Once again, I will not do this shit.

[02:04:42] Even if somebody challenges me to for fricking naked and afraid.

[02:04:49] No way.

[02:04:51] So Ted, you want to go on with your, uh, the red squirrel stuff.

[02:04:57] And this is not, this is not, uh, the RIP, uh, for what's his name?

[02:05:03] Oh yeah.

[02:05:04] Yeah.

[02:05:05] Um, or you're talking about peanut or you want to talk about the guy that was spray painting squirrels.

[02:05:10] The guy that was spray painting.

[02:05:11] Yeah.

[02:05:12] So I don't know if we, we covered this when, uh, it came out.

[02:05:16] Maybe I wasn't around then.

[02:05:18] The DEC is most read story of the year was from the town of Patterson where there was reports of red squirrels.

[02:05:31] And when I say red squirrels, I'm talking about bright red squirrel squirrels as if their fur had been dyed.

[02:05:39] But apparently upon investigation, the DEC somehow traced the origin of the red squirrels to a fellow who lived nearby the park where the red squirrels were seen.

[02:05:55] And this fellow was spray painting, spray painting with red spray paint, the squirrels.

[02:06:05] So Stosh, why, why the fuck was this guy painting squirrels with?

[02:06:12] Dude, not even that.

[02:06:13] How the fuck was he catching these squirrels?

[02:06:17] Well, you know, I mean, there's a variety of means, you know, whether he was like, you know, baiting them with, with nuts or other food and then netting them where he had traps set out or whatever.

[02:06:28] But so he, he somehow was holding captive a squirrel long enough to spray paint it with red paint.

[02:06:38] Imagine, imagine that.

[02:06:40] And then he would let them loose.

[02:06:42] And why was he doing this Stosh?

[02:06:44] Why was he painting squirrels with red spray paint?

[02:06:47] I, I, you know, I remember maybe he was shooting them or something or?

[02:06:53] No, no.

[02:06:55] So it says here, uh, the detectives interviewed him who admitted to trapping the squirrels and painting them red in order to keep track of those returning to his yards, yard, his yard and causing his dog to bark.

[02:07:11] Okay.

[02:07:11] So, so, so if this guy is concerned about his dog barking because he's there's squirrels running around, why didn't he just, when he trapped them instead of releasing them in the town park nearby, why don't you just take them a really, really far ways away and releasing them?

[02:07:31] Um, and even if, even if he did that, he still would have realized in a day or two, I mean, I would realize this without capturing any squirrels.

[02:07:42] You would never, ever be able to capture all of the squirrels that would come into your yard, right?

[02:07:49] You, it can't be done.

[02:07:51] So, yeah.

[02:07:53] So this, this fellow, the squirrel spray painter was, was doing this hard to really explain or understand his motives, but this was the most widely read story, uh, that the DEC had for 2024 in part maybe because it was in January.

[02:08:14] So it was out there all year, unlike peanut peanut was what August, September.

[02:08:20] Yeah.

[02:08:21] August.

[02:08:21] The DEC oft peanut.

[02:08:27] Jesus Christ.

[02:08:29] That's great.

[02:08:32] Yeah.

[02:08:33] Yeah.

[02:08:34] So, um, so this fellow in Patterson, New York, right?

[02:08:38] Spray painting squirrels red.

[02:08:40] So he could track those that had been in his yard before and not, I mean, and his barking dogs.

[02:08:46] I don't know.

[02:08:47] Maybe his dogs were barking because the guy was just an idiot and not taking care of them.

[02:08:51] I don't know.

[02:08:53] Um, did they kill squirrels because they were spray painted?

[02:08:56] No, they let them live, but they'd kill another guy.

[02:08:59] But they killed.

[02:08:59] Yeah.

[02:09:00] So how is it, how is it that this guy who's.

[02:09:04] Presumably untrained in the capture apprehension, spray painting and release of squirrels.

[02:09:11] How is it?

[02:09:12] He could do this without getting bitten by a squirrel, but the DEC goes in to get peanut.

[02:09:19] Somebody gets bit.

[02:09:21] They off peanut.

[02:09:23] Right.

[02:09:23] How is it the DEC who are presumably trained in apprehending animals?

[02:09:30] They can't, they can't do peanut, but this guy is painting so many squirrels red.

[02:09:36] He's probably all boozed up when he's doing it too.

[02:09:39] Right.

[02:09:40] And he can do this.

[02:09:42] He doesn't have any problem.

[02:09:43] Maybe they should have sent him to get peanut.

[02:09:45] Right.

[02:09:46] Maybe they should say, look, buddy, we got a problem with you painting all these squirrels

[02:09:49] red, but instead of sending you to prison for life, we're going to send you to upstate

[02:09:55] New York.

[02:09:55] You need to capture this peanut, right?

[02:09:58] Spray paint them and release them.

[02:10:00] Okay.

[02:10:01] But instead, but instead the DEC.

[02:10:05] Here's a fine.

[02:10:06] Yeah.

[02:10:07] Yeah.

[02:10:07] They find him and they killed, they murdered peanut.

[02:10:11] They killed peanut.

[02:10:12] And he wasn't spray painting anybody.

[02:10:15] And apparently peanut wasn't making any dogs bark.

[02:10:17] Peanut is the innocent bystander here.

[02:10:21] So.

[02:10:22] Wow.

[02:10:23] Wow.

[02:10:23] It's the insanity of 2024.

[02:10:25] Right.

[02:10:26] 2024.

[02:10:27] Yeah.

[02:10:28] Yeah.

[02:10:28] I mean, the one last thing we'll talk about is, you know, I don't really remember reading

[02:10:34] about this, but apparently it was pretty big as it was a Catskill man ticketed after killing

[02:10:42] rattlesnake with BB guns, skidding it and eating it.

[02:10:45] Do you remember hearing about this?

[02:10:46] Yeah.

[02:10:48] Exactly.

[02:10:49] Yeah.

[02:10:49] I thought we were on top of these stories, but this one slipped through the cracks and.

[02:10:54] Yeah.

[02:10:55] So July 7th, DEC ticketed a Hancock man who killed skin and ate a timber rattlesnake, which

[02:11:02] I know they're notorious over there in the, they're, they're starting to actually gain

[02:11:06] a little bit more in the Western Catskills.

[02:11:08] Hancock water.

[02:11:11] Oh my God.

[02:11:12] Walton and stuff like that.

[02:11:13] So they said, uh, they could, uh, have received an anonymous tip on July 4th that a man in

[02:11:20] Hancock intentionally killed a timber rattlesnake.

[02:11:24] The investigation revealed the man had also skin butchered the snake with intention of eating

[02:11:29] it.

[02:11:30] So they interviewed the man, recovered the remains of the three foot timber rattlesnake killed

[02:11:35] by a BB gun.

[02:11:36] Now, uh, they confiscated the snake's remains and ticketed the man for unlawfully killing

[02:11:43] and protecting wildlife.

[02:11:44] So, uh, yeah.

[02:11:48] Yeah.

[02:11:48] So, um, they had another incident, uh, in July 2, 2019 involving men in the same area who

[02:11:56] ran over a timber rattlesnake with this truck, skinned it, and then planned to eat it as well.

[02:12:01] It's not the same man, but they, uh, said that they are venomous and they, uh, were just a

[02:12:08] very, very odd instance that this guy wanted to skin it and then eat it.

[02:12:13] So good for the people on tattletailing them specifically.

[02:12:19] Well, that area, they're very rare.

[02:12:21] So, you know, you, you say good for these people.

[02:12:24] I'm telling you, man, if, if I had a neighbor that was shooting rattlesnakes and eating them,

[02:12:30] I wouldn't fucking tell on him.

[02:12:32] He's not the type of guy I'd want to be on the bad side of, okay, he's got more than

[02:12:37] a BB gun in his house.

[02:12:38] He's probably got a couple of AR assault weapons and, you know, other things.

[02:12:42] This is not somebody who I'm going to go, you know, for a, a rattlesnake.

[02:12:49] I'm going to tattletale on him.

[02:12:53] So that's slipped on our radar.

[02:12:55] He should have gone in to get peanut.

[02:12:57] I know.

[02:12:57] Right.

[02:12:58] They're like, Hey guy, you know, you did this on goddamn send up to Patterson.

[02:13:03] I don't remember hearing about that.

[02:13:05] So that's, that's really Western Catskill.

[02:13:08] So maybe in 2025, no stories will slip through the cracks here.

[02:13:14] Okay.

[02:13:14] So we'll, we'll, we'll keep on it.

[02:13:16] So, you know, that's, uh, I would say our, our recap of 2024.

[02:13:22] That was absolutely fantastic.

[02:13:24] We had a great year.

[02:13:25] So, uh, we'll, we'll, we'll continue with the post-hike Brews and Bites, but, you know,

[02:13:30] Tad, we're going to have a live episode in June.

[02:13:33] I think it's June 14th with the Mountaintop Historical Society.

[02:13:38] So I want everybody to put that on their radar to come on and join us at the Mountaintop

[02:13:45] Historical Society on June 14th.

[02:13:47] That's what it's so far.

[02:13:48] I will keep you up to date.

[02:13:50] June 14th.

[02:13:51] So that's a Saturday.

[02:13:53] Saturday.

[02:13:54] Yeah.

[02:13:54] Okay.

[02:13:56] So we'll be with, uh, the Mountaintop Historical Society.

[02:14:00] I know Johanna and Robert Titus will be joining us.

[02:14:04] Talk about the Caterhouska clove area.

[02:14:06] I'm hoping to get a ranger or two in there to talk about the, the clove area and, uh,

[02:14:12] you know, their, their work that they've done in there.

[02:14:15] So it's going to be a big event.

[02:14:17] I'm, it's fricking five months away, but I'm nervous as heck.

[02:14:23] So I got to test everything out right now and just, just to be prepared.

[02:14:28] So June 14th, put that on your radar.

[02:14:31] Post-like Bruising Bites.

[02:14:33] What do you got, Tad?

[02:14:33] Okay.

[02:14:34] So when I was out, um, doing the, the West kill Hancock or not Hancock, Hawket hike on

[02:14:44] my way through, uh, Boyceville, I stopped in local goods, which is just down the road

[02:14:50] from bread alone.

[02:14:52] I mean, we all know where bread alone is along route 28.

[02:14:55] As you pull in to go to bread alone, instead of going to the right, go to the left, you'll

[02:15:00] hit this little place called local goods.

[02:15:02] It's a very interesting shop.

[02:15:04] So I swung by there a while ago and spoke to the proprietor, a fellow named Matt.

[02:15:11] He really knows his products.

[02:15:12] He's got fresh, fresh, very fresh local beer.

[02:15:18] The, the, I picked up a Pilsner from him that was, I was there in December.

[02:15:25] This was canned in, I think it was canned two weeks before I was there.

[02:15:31] So yeah, I mean, it was brewery fresh stuff.

[02:15:35] He knows what he's selling.

[02:15:36] I got, uh, a six pack of wheat beer from him cause my one daughter's into wheat beer.

[02:15:41] So I wanted to have something in the house when she came home.

[02:15:43] So he hooked me up with some wheat beer and she was mightily impressed with.

[02:15:48] Nice.

[02:15:48] Yeah.

[02:15:48] She enjoyed it tremendously.

[02:15:50] So he's got a great selection.

[02:15:52] He's knowledgeable about what he has inside and he's a local business owner worthy of support.

[02:16:00] So stop by local goods.

[02:16:01] Oh, and let me hold on.

[02:16:03] Hold on.

[02:16:05] I've got it.

[02:16:07] And he's got some great swag that he gives away.

[02:16:10] Look up stuff.

[02:16:11] Oh, nice.

[02:16:12] That's a, that's a nice patch.

[02:16:13] Yeah.

[02:16:14] Well, he's got the stickers that are just like this as well as this is a coaster.

[02:16:19] So he's got a ton of goods.

[02:16:22] Yeah.

[02:16:22] He's got a ton of cool stuff.

[02:16:24] So his, uh, Insta handle is local goods, cat skills, local goods, cat skills.

[02:16:30] I will tag that in the show.

[02:16:32] Yeah.

[02:16:33] Stop it.

[02:16:33] Yeah.

[02:16:35] I stopped at Van Dusen's on the way back from, uh, Rusk.

[02:16:39] Okay.

[02:16:40] And got some, uh, some nice hard ciders from the nine pin and, uh, some Catskill brewing.

[02:16:47] I, I'm not a big Catskill brewing fit, like fan because I'm not the IPA type, but I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm willing to try it.

[02:16:54] Yeah.

[02:16:55] Well, I tried their, uh, devil's path IPA, which apparently is a Julie McGuire's favorite.

[02:17:03] She still hasn't tagged us.

[02:17:05] Yeah.

[02:17:05] Well, shame on her, but yeah, but at any rate, I'm not a big IPA fan, but the, uh, devil's path from Catskill brewery was good.

[02:17:16] I got it.

[02:17:17] Yeah.

[02:17:17] And you can also get that at local goods.

[02:17:19] Yes.

[02:17:20] Yes.

[02:17:21] Yeah.

[02:17:21] Yeah.

[02:17:21] Right.

[02:17:22] So, uh, why don't you top it off with your 2025?

[02:17:27] Yeah.

[02:17:28] So I'm sure we're going to talk this up, uh, later on, but on January 21st, continuing for weeks after that, there's going to be this planetary parade.

[02:17:38] I'm sure most of you have heard about it, but there's going to be six planets visible from planet earth, including Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus.

[02:17:49] Yes.

[02:17:50] The six planets will be visible the days leading up to the 21st.

[02:17:53] And for about four weeks afterwards, you'll need a high powered viewing device, like a telescope to spot, uh, some of them, but it should be interesting.

[02:18:03] So last year we had some eclipse activity and this year we have a planetary parade and maybe you can hang out and watch it with some brews or cider from local goods.

[02:18:19] Nice.

[02:18:20] Nice.

[02:18:20] Nice.

[02:18:20] So fantastic.

[02:18:22] Awesome.

[02:18:23] Uh, I will be looking forward to that because, uh, I have a 10 inch frigging, uh, telescope that I've, I bought years upon years ago that I haven't used in a while.

[02:18:34] So it'd be great to check out Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, uh, all at one time, especially that would be absolutely phenomenal.

[02:18:44] So January 21st and four weeks afterwards, we'll be talking about this within our next episodes.

[02:18:50] I'll put it in every notes.

[02:18:51] So once again, thank you to the monthly supporters and monthly sponsors for us really appreciate it.

[02:19:00] Keep us flowing.

[02:19:01] Uh, thank you to everyone who is still listening to the show.

[02:19:05] Great year.

[02:19:06] 2024 was a phenomenal year for us.

[02:19:08] Let's hope 2045 is a better year.

[02:19:11] We'll cook up with more people.

[02:19:13] We have great January booked ahead of us.

[02:19:16] And February we'll start booking ahead.

[02:19:19] And, uh, I just, I have, I have a great, great feeling about 2025.

[02:19:25] Awesome.

[02:19:26] Sounds good, brother.

[02:19:27] Tad, once again, thanks you for joining us for 2024.

[02:19:31] It's been a great experience and I've had nothing but good times, uh, with you joining us on the show.

[02:19:38] Yeah.

[02:19:38] Well, let's, let's get out there and do some hiking now.

[02:19:41] Let's finish off your winner list.

[02:19:43] I wrote them down.

[02:19:44] I'm down for doing all these with you.

[02:19:46] Oh yeah.

[02:19:47] So, oh yeah.

[02:19:48] So happy new year.

[02:19:49] Happy new year, bro.

[02:19:51] Excellent.

[02:19:51] Thank you for joining us and, uh, have a good night, everybody.

[02:19:54] Yep.

[02:19:59] Hi everyone.

[02:20:00] I just want to thank you for listening to the show.

[02:20:03] If you enjoyed the show, subscribe and throw down a smooth review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any podcast platform that you use.

[02:20:13] You can also check daily updates of the podcast, hikes, hiking news, and local news on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and the official website of the show.

[02:20:26] Remember this.

[02:20:28] You gotta just keep on living in the cat skills, man.

[02:20:33] L-I-V-I-N.

[02:20:36] Wicked.

[02:20:37] Wicked.

[02:20:37] Wicked.

[02:20:38] Wicked.

[02:20:39] Wicked.

[02:20:39] Wicked.

[02:20:40] Wicked.