Episode 227 - Listener Spotlight: Scott Ouimet aka Catskill Mountain Brew

[00:00:29] The bushwhacks were some of the worst days I've ever had in the mountains, or life really. Whereas Pansy Mountain is totally opposite, it's a mountain on top of a crater. I think the weather challenges on this incident were particularly difficult. It is really the development of New York State. Catskills will respond to it.

[00:00:58] Passmenter, Inside The Line, the Catskill Mountains Podcast. Alright Scott, we gonna crack open these after your frickin' 18 day thing? Sure. Go ahead, crack it open. Nice. Nice. Nice. Nice. Nice. And then you go back to auto.

[00:01:26] Yep. Nice. Congratulations man. 16 peaks, right? 16 peaks in how many days? 16 peaks in 5 days, and then I also did 2 LP Niners. Jesus. Oh, so. Scott is here with us tonight. Stosh Q, how do you say it? We-met? We-met. It's actually Scott O. Yeah. Scott O, it's an O-met? Oh wow. So Scott, Stosh We-met is here tonight to chat with us. Catskill Mountain Brew, tags us all the time.

[00:01:55] I don't know why he listens to this horrible podcast, but he participates in it. He's definitely the one man that you basically will hear every weekend. If Scott's not hiking on the weekend, he doesn't tag the podcast, something is wrong with the world, and you need to seek shelter now. So, welcome to the show, Scott. Good to have you on. Good for you to crack open that beer. Thanks.

[00:02:18] Yeah, it's good to have you. Tad won't be joining us. Apparently, I just found out this news. He got attacked by a mountain lion. He's out for good. Got scratches down his back. He tried to go up Graham. Once again, he was an idiot and just tried to go up. And he's like, I'm going to summit this. Got attacked by two or three mountain lions. So we'll hear from him in the future. Yeah, we'll be back soon. Yeah, yeah. He's probably taking a nap or something.

[00:02:44] Ah, so first off, so man rescued after falling into campground toilet. So as I'm talking here from the Thunderbox, our studio, this goes and happens over in California. So officials say a man at Camp Edison near Shaver Lake in California fell into a chemical storage vault beneath a non-flushing toilet after dropping.

[00:03:07] So if anybody's been more of out west or to the like the national parks, they have these vaults that are non-flushable. Either that or you sometimes in the very, very popular places, they have flushable toilets. But once again, they're like your outhouses. They don't have they just drop and it gets like recycled and stuff. So he apparently was doing something, probably wiping his ass or something, and he dropped his sunglasses in. And after trying to reach inside, he fell in.

[00:03:36] He lost his balance, plunged into the underground waste tank and emergency crews, including firefighters and deputies from the Fresno County Sheriff's Office responded to the unusual rescue and pulled him out. Now, I thought this was going to be a little bit more dramatic. He was in there for roughly 10 to 15 minutes. Now, I got to admit, probably being stuck in a toilet vault for 10 to 15 minutes seems like an eternity. I could just not imagine what the fuck that would be like.

[00:04:06] Like, like torture or you're walking across the logs in the Adirondacks. Correct? Yeah, that's true. It would feel like that. Mushy, wet, nasty, five-foot bugs. Right? It just, it gets worse and more. It's like, I could just imagine that could feel so long. And he was decontaminated at the scene. I don't know how they did that. He did not suffer some serious injuries and was able to walk away.

[00:04:34] Uh, and they use a reminder that vault toilets contain hazardous waste and toxic acid making any attempt to retrieve items extremely dangerous. So, you know, as you know, being out west, as I went out west, I saw there's vaults all over the place, which I'm, I love, you know, once again, we talk about doing stuff often here in the Catskills for some reason, but they have them all over the place. And it's very, very helpful.

[00:04:59] But once again, if something gets dropped in there, man, my, especially my sunglasses, maybe my phone, I might go after it. But if I look down. I don't show glasses. I mean, if you couldn't see, I could see needing to try to fetch them. But sunglasses? Yes, correct. You're, you're, it's just not worth it.

[00:05:17] But then this guy thought it was, I was, I was just like, and then the thing is, is I've, you know, been in these vaults, you know, probably the Scott, you've probably seen these vaults before and just different places, but like falling into like those are like small. So he must've had his, like half of his body down in there trying to get it and just flipped right up and went fit. Oh God. Face first. Face.

[00:05:47] Oh man. He hit shit, hit the fan right there. Let's just say that. God damn. That's horrible. But anyway, that's, I had to share that. I mean, once again, How'd you even find that story? Ah, the good old Instagram. I mean, I mean, you say one thing, you know, you say Thunderbox or, or something like that. And all of a sudden you get all these targeted ads or something like that. Maybe it was probably Facebook because, you know, the other day I was looking for a sun shirt.

[00:06:16] Uh, and all of a sudden I get these all every goddamn three things is sun shirt on Facebook. So I'm like, Hmm, nice. I'm like, at least I know I can look for stuff, but thanks Facebook. But, but yeah, I've, you know, I didn't pinpoint where Shaver Lake was. So I'm going to look it up real quick to see. I mean, Fresno is close to, uh, to where I was Shaver Lake looks to be in between that Sierra national forest.

[00:06:43] So it's above it's in between Sequoia and yellow are Yosemite. So, man, that's a long drive. So 10 to 15 minutes. So damn crazy. So, uh, what do you think Scott? What? I mean, once again, you said retrieving sunglasses is a no, no, but what would you ever dive deep into shit to get something? It's probably not. Yeah. Right. Regular glasses.

[00:07:10] Cause I had, you know, maybe if I was mid hike and I needed to see. True. If you're, if you're a vault, like you'll be right near your car, but basically. So. That's true. Yeah. It's the vaults are very rarely known to be like located deep into the woods and stuff. So crazy, crazy. So I've wanted to also bring this up. I was going to bring this up on the, the last part of the last podcast, but I didn't have any time to research.

[00:07:39] So this was a proposal unveiled in Hunter for 114 vacation homes, hotel and restaurant. So this was a little, this was back in June, uh, June 18th.

[00:07:54] So, you know, 12 days back, um, when the builder Eric Vaughn unveiled plans to build 114 homes at Hunter aimed largely at the second hand home or the second home market, along with 45 room hotel and a hundred seat restaurant in the event space. Uh, and where town official would be one of the largest development there in decades. It's supposed to be called four seasons Hunter located off of the main street, close to Shribner's Katzka lodge would include 72 townhouses and 42 detached single family homes.

[00:08:24] According to the Vaughn, uh, whose Wyndham construction firm says it aims to build the personalized home of your dreams. Now we've heard a lot of this. We've seen a lot of this in the past, uh, you know, I would say six years ever since COVID happened of just places popping up all around the casticles.

[00:08:42] You know, I referred to this, uh, you know, the, the COVID boom as the second, like golden age, the gilded age of the Jewish coming up here where people are starting to realize that catskills are a sacred place. They're beautiful. They're going to build. They're going to build. And, you know, a lot of the people up here are older people that are willing to sell their home or sell their property, you know, to retire, to get out of having like a tough life that we are all having right now.

[00:09:10] But so this guy, uh, looks, he would require the village to annex 127 acres of land that he owns in the town of Hunter adjacent to the 14 acres he owns in the village, securing the developments access village to water and sewer systems. Uh, this came light as far as we attended public hearing, uh, Tuesday, of course, Tuesdays ago. Um, it's the first step process of the annex.

[00:09:35] Uh, we, they presented the concept, uh, the plan to the town and they are doing the start, the process. They're starting to review. Now, Sean Mahoney has been on the podcast before center interview after hearing the first heard of the proposed development. We heard that somebody had purchased the parcel and looking to develop it. It's been decades since the size of Philip and the building Hunter. So, uh, let's see. Shribners will open existing hotel. That was a renovated.

[00:10:00] Uh, he can, we can definitely use hotels in our first town and as short as a bed space, which is true Hunter, you know, even though having Hunter mountain, you go by Hunter. There's, there's small motels and hotel, most small motels and then rentals. And those rentals are kind of sky high max of rental prices and stuff. So, uh, Shribners, uh, open 2016 charges a minimum of two 66 per night for hotel rooms.

[00:10:25] God damn include access, uh, to the pool sauna lounge and garden. Uh, a little bit more details. Uh, they'd have to do this village in town would have to supply 180,000 gallons of water per day to the new well on the low side. Um, a lot of people, I haven't heard any like pushback or, you know, thoughts about this. Not a lot of people are saying anything. So we have to dig a little bit deeper and, uh, you know, he's go a little bit, a little bit further.

[00:10:54] Um, Vaughn is a former partner of Windham mountain retreat who has operated construction since there's a 2000, excuse me, 2002. Um, and he's been hill building homes for windows for over 20 years. And he's seen a demand shift over to Hunter, which I gotta admit is true. And, uh, he said, windham's is getting a little bit priced out, which is also true. You gotta pay. So I don't know where I'm at with this.

[00:11:18] Uh, I, I'd have to, I drove by there today to kind of like see what it would be, but you know, it's driving too fast in the Tesla. I was doing probably like one 15 and I passed a couple of cops and they didn't catch me, but, um, um, we'll see what it, what it's supposed to be like. I mean, I looking at the map, I couldn't get a conda, like a view of what, where it's supposed to be and stuff. The map is a little odd. You can't really zoom in.

[00:11:45] You know when you're driving between the village of Tanner'sville and the village of Hunter, and there's that stairwell that leads up to nowhere by like the tombstones up on the right. Yeah. The old church behind that behind the old church. Ooh, Scott. Like nice, nice. Uh, yeah, you could see the road from that, uh, from that, that little proposal site. So you'd have to dig deep to find where it's like tax, taxes and stuff like that log, but that's not that bad. You can easily do that.

[00:12:15] So it's, it's interesting. So we'll see where, where this goes. What do you, I mean, what do you think, Scott? And if two 66 per night for shrippeners is pretty expensive in my place. Like. Yeah. I know that if you talk to green County tourism, they'll tell you, we need more hotel rooms in green County because tourism drives the economy of all the local towns. And I also know Eric, I've worked with Eric for a long time and he's a great guy and he does amazing projects.

[00:12:43] He builds amazing homes in Wyndham. Um, Oh, nice. So you're, you, you know, this guy. Yeah. Oh, awesome. So like, what do you, I mean, is, is it going to be, are we going to be seeing like kind of like new? I wouldn't say new stuff.

[00:12:59] Like, you know, uh, like you like new age, like, like just boxes or is he going to go like nice old, like not old fashioned, but something that'll look at least somewhat decent, but not like this, like new millennium of where it's just boxes, black everything. I think he does a mix because I think he, you know, tells the property of the people and then lets the people build the home that they want.

[00:13:23] But if you look at what he's built in Wyndham, he's done a lot of like the really nice, uh, log cabin homes on, up on the sides of the mountains and stuff. But he's also done some newer modern homes. Cause I just think that's what people want right now. Or so I also think that Hunter has a different vibe than Wyndham where Wyndham's got a lot more modern architecture where Hunter's got a lot more like ski chalet, smaller homes. Yeah. And if you go through, do your Hunter, you can, you gotta admit it's a, it's a little, it's a little town.

[00:13:53] It's smaller than Tannersville. The town is really not as tight as Tannersville. You know, it's a Tanner. So it's got a little bit more development, a little bit more fun and stuff like that offerings when Hunter, you know, you think would be a bullies. It's a booming town because of just the, the ski resort alone, but it's, it's, it's not. So maybe, you know, maybe this will bring some good brewing up to the Hunter that we need.

[00:14:15] The village looks incredible when you drive through it now compared to how it looked just a couple of years ago, you know, especially those rundown buildings right on main street. Yeah. They got rid of those. I was, I was very happy to see that. Yeah. It's just a, right next to those is those, those townhouses. Have you, have you seen the prices where they were, what they were going to sell for those? No. Oh my God. Do you know the ones that the new modern ones that are just boxes? Yeah. 2.5 million. That's insane.

[00:14:44] I think with the podcast, we can all get together and we can, you know, how much, yeah. It ought to be the headquarters. Everybody can sleep there. Um, nobody has to shower, keep everybody away. So we can, we can all have a good kind of like central spot for everybody that participates in the, the podcast. These homes are going to be too far from all the hiking trails. That's true. I mean, the, then we just got to bushwhack everything, I guess.

[00:15:11] They have to, that's like central, you know, like how, how far of a drive would that be hunter for you? It'd be like 45 minutes. Right. Yeah. So yeah. So same, same here. Well, that's a bit of an hour and hour and 10 minutes for me. So, I mean, but still you're, you're still, once again, you're, you're still from the Southern part of the Catskills. You just go to gotta go down to 14. I mean, so everybody donate. I've got to figure out how many sard ciders 2.5 million five. So that would be around 990. No, no, no. Jesus.

[00:15:41] My math is totally off about 500,000 hard ciders, please. Let's get it going. But we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll keep, keep an eye on this. So thank you, Scott, for your input. Uh, you know, uh, let's, let's keep an eye on that and we'll, we'll talk about that. So, uh, I'm glad I let you be an editor on this, Scott. Uh, so Mount Marcy, it's the Marcy death update. What do you, what do you got for us, Scott? Yeah. So you talked about this over the winter.

[00:16:07] Do you remember when there was the lady, I think she was from New Jersey that was hiking Mount Marcy with her dog. And the report came out that she had fallen on Marcy and called for rescue. Yep. Well, I actually heard this from Todd Bold, one of your other listeners that he was hiking in to an Adirondack hike and happened to bump into one of the Rangers and was talking about this.

[00:16:29] And what he found out was that she hadn't actually fallen and had not fallen into a spruce trap. Like some people thought she just got so cold that she called for rescue too late. And they were telling her that she needed to hike out and keep moving, but she didn't want to move because she was scared to move. And they found her right on the trail. Wow.

[00:16:53] And I just thought that was an important thing to talk about because I think it just proves that sometimes you don't want to wait too long to realize you need help. Yeah. That's so she died of hypothermia, probably. Yeah. Hypothermia right on the trail. They found her sitting right on the trail. Wow. That's and that like, so like they said it was because she fell. And now they did they have, they released it.

[00:17:16] Well, the early news reports that you had read about said that it fallen off the trail, but yeah, there was an update and they released her name and some of the cause of death that it was hypothermia. Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. I mean, what stinks is, you know, some of us are ashamed to, to call out to an SOS or something like that. You know, we don't want to, I am one of them.

[00:17:36] Um, let's like, you know, I'll just die on the trail and say that I tried to get out, but you know, when, when you are in those situations, especially the cold, it is critical that you get yourself moving, you get your blood flowing because like, it's just, once again, your body's going to shut down. It's going to try to fight, but it's not going to win. And it's going to happen quick. You talked about that, the hypothermia comes on quick and you get disoriented and. Yep. It's, it's pretty scary.

[00:18:04] I mean, not say that I've, I've ever had hypothermia, but you know, watching it, uh, happen, you know, like it's just, it's very scary. You know, the people come disoriented, they, you know, think they're hot. They will undress themselves. They will act like they're on cocaine or something like that. And all of a sudden everything just shuts down. So it, it all depends the number one on the person, you know, if they're, if they keep going, you know, it's, it's, it's tough.

[00:18:31] It's so once again, like, just like, uh, you know, Kate that you hiked with, you know, that she got hurt. She knew to hit that. She's like, something's wrong. I gotta, we gotta find a way to get out of here. So they did it right away. They didn't say, ah, let's, let's try to get you down. Nope. It's, you know, good thing they had it. They have good friends and stuff like that. And good thing that this didn't happen. Uh, when you guys were up in the Adirondacks, that would have been something else. Yeah. Scott calls me and he's just like, I can't make it on Tuesday.

[00:19:00] I'm in the hospital because I got a rescue out. My first question would be, did you summit? That's the first question always. But so what's this, uh, Todd been talking to you a little bit too much. I'm guessing. Maybe a little summer party. I don't know if it's a summer party. I mean, I re I really wanted to go up to, uh, Wyndham for, for the two, everybody's throwing a 250, the 250 sales operation.

[00:19:30] So that's, I mean, that's pretty cool. I wish we could, we'll figure something out. I think it was more be a fall party. Okay. Well, I know you mentioned possibly doing something for the 200th episode, but you were going to wait until it was nicer out. I know it's, it's, it's tough to get, uh, it's tough to get everything all situated. It's a lot of places, you know, I'm trying to think of a centralized area in the Catskills to get together for something.

[00:20:00] And, you know, I thought, you know, great place would be Woodstock brewing, you know, the Woodstock brewery perfect spot somewhat. And then I was just like, you know, I know you live up more up north. I'm more over to the Northwest, but like, I was just like, you know, maybe someplace down in, you know, the Hudson Valley right off of the edge of the gunks, you know, and stuff. So I looked at a couple of cideries, but it's, it's tough to pinpoint a place. But then Todd came up with the idea.

[00:20:26] He's like, why don't you just like, you know, rent like a, a, a, a pavilion in a state park or something like that, or, you know, just co-occupy and everybody gets hard ciders and just starts partying and getting naked. And we have a good old 1970s event. I was like, hell yeah. Woodstock 99 all over again. Let's do it. That sounds fun. I'm, I'm looking, I just, you know, Todd's going to help maybe with the planning and stuff. So it'd be, it'll be cool.

[00:20:52] It's just, you know, it's, it's hard for like, once again, I'm, I'm kind of like a one person show, you know, all you guys, this is tags, which is awesome. I love it. I love reading. I love sharing it. I, I got to write them down. I got to write them down to my phone. I got to make sure, you know, some people do stories. So that's what 12 hours, right? Story lasts with 12 hours. So I got to get it done in 12 hours. Hopefully I do it. So, but we'll figure it out. We'll get something going and we'll party hard.

[00:21:21] Not perfectly central, but another good place is Van Dusen's. Yeah. I, you know, I drove by the time of year because you can chill outside. They got the chairs and tables and. Good. That's a great spot. And that, that is right. I wonder, do you think, uh, I'm trying to think of who would, who could we get the sponsor? You think North Hudson North with sponsor maybe that being well, they've been on the show. They have, they have. It's, it's been a good time.

[00:21:49] So anyway, anybody's going out for their July 4th this Saturday, which is tomorrow from this recording, have fun, you know, report back. Uh, I don't know what I'm doing. I would really want to go to Tanner's villain hit up Tanner's though. It looks like they're having a great 250th Scott. You got any plans for the July 4th? Well, just to hike. I got, I knew it. He's going to, are you going to try? Are you going to, are you going to do night hike? Are you going to watch the fireworks from somewhere?

[00:22:17] I don't night hike, but I'll be home trying to keep my dog scum. Oh, does Oro doesn't like it. They don't like the fireworks now. Oh, poor babies. All right. Stop doing fireworks. Screw the fireworks. All right. But all right, cool. Typically I can see the wind and fireworks from my house. Oh, that's nice. The wind them. Yep. Oh, you're right there. Okay. That's not bad. I thought you were more than, where are you again?

[00:22:44] I'm like 20, 25 minutes north of Wyndham, but I can actually like from my house. I can see when it might be. Oh, that is jealous. I'm jealous. Nice. And you don't go to, that's like your least visited peak for some reason. Right. I don't know. I feel like, let me look at the stats. I've only suffered at 25 in the times in the past month. I've done that one five times. Most I've done six, seven or eight times. So, okay. So you're getting there. You're getting there.

[00:23:13] Let's get in there. All right. Well, thanks for shooting the shit. Scott. I greatly appreciate it. I love hearing the input, you know, once again, about, but the, uh, the new proposal that we can, we can hear about. We can follow about it. I'll get your, your input about that. You can have him contact me. Um, big shout out to the monthly supporters, Chris Garripe and Eric Rosario, Oskana Nichols, John Comiskey, Mikey S, Desert City Radio, Henry Burmeister, Vicki Ferrer, Jeff Jott, Betsy A, Denise W. Vanessa and Jim C.

[00:23:43] Thank you guys so much for supporting the show. Greatly appreciate it. Greatly appreciate it. Another big appreciation goes out to our great sponsors of this show, like Outdoor Chronicles Photography. Molly from Outdoor Chronicles Photography specializes in adventure elopement and adventure couple photography in the Catskills, Adirondacks and White Mountains. She's an officiant for getting married, a licensed guide, but most important, she's a story maker. Molly won't just give you photos, she'll give you memories that will last forever.

[00:24:10] Don't hesitate to get a hold of Molly on all platforms. Also, have you ever wanted to learn more about hiking or backpacking or even brush up on some of your old skills in the backcountry? Check out Trailbound Project, a hiking and backpacking school. Scott and Joe from the New Jersey Search and Rescue team have amazing backgrounds of Wilderness First Aid, Wilderness First Responder and the Mountain Rescue Association. And they are there to teach you old and new skills of hiking and backpacking.

[00:24:36] They teach anything from first aid, mapping, consciousness and many other skills that could help you and others while on the trail. Check them out on their website and at all social media platforms. We actually have a story from a guy who helps out Trailbound Project later on, so it's good to hear. So, the big question is, I mean, let's talk about how about we mix things up, Scott. We cracked them open before. What are you drinking tonight, buddy?

[00:25:06] Tonight, I have a few different things, but right now I'm drinking the Founders All Day IPA. Well, a few different. Jesus, nice. What else? I got a Sam Adams Summer Ale because it's that time of year. I got a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. And one more of our glorious. Are you going to be able to finish this interview? I mean, I have my good old rum and coke to finish off right here.

[00:26:02] Nice. I mean, he probably does this. This is what his motivation is when he's hiking like 25 peaks in the goddamn Adirondacks. He's just like, let me finish a beer when I get up top here. Definitely after the last day. Yeah. Well, the next thing we'll have to, I got to cut you out on this. I'm pretty sure I got to cut you out on this tag end if you're really outdoors.

[00:26:24] So, because you're going to be telling your story later on, which is fricking insane, but I will include you just, you know, just for goodness sake. So the big, another question is, are you really outdoors? If you mentioned the podcast and one of your hikes through social media, Scott and I are going to chat about it tonight. Tag us by typing eight ITL Catskill MTM podcast. Now let's give a big shout out to Joe.

[00:26:51] Jacob plow finished his New York downstate 28 or list. Congratulations, Joe. This was a, I think he did this before. I mentioned this before, but I wanted to give a big shout out to him because he's been nailing that. And that's pretty cool. And I know later on in a couple episodes, we're going to have the person who runs that my friend, David Perez on the show. That looks like a fun challenge. I see a lot of people working on that list right now. Yeah, it's, it's, it's looks pretty neat.

[00:27:18] I mean, I'm, I'm jealous as heck that you can see the Manhattan skyline, like from all these places. I think Todd's been doing that and quite a few other people have been working on that list. I think Todd finished it. Did he? Yeah, he got his, he's got his patch. So that's pretty cool. Cool. Uh, challenge, uh, once again, put together by my friend, David Perez, who's going to be coming on the show to talk about that.

[00:27:41] And also about his new, uh, sticker, uh, company that he has that I got to show you these stickers sky. You're going to love them. They are fantastic. They did an amazing job. I was fricking blown away by what they did. So it'd be fun. It'll be fun. So also Sean Long Island hiker was down in front Royal, Virginia, giving out some trail magic to through hikers that are passing through. Once again, the bubble is hitting the Virginia area right now.

[00:28:08] Uh, Shenandoah is usually June to late June is when they're flowing through the Shenandoahs and they're starting to make their way up. Good old Pennsylvania and stuff where everybody hates. So thank you, Sean. I don't know if I saw Rachel Jean. I'm pretty sure I shot, saw her in the video. So shout out to her. Shout out to you, Rachel, if you were there. So trail magic is amazing. I suggest everybody participate sometime. One of the other given out trail magic.

[00:28:35] Um, Vicki hiker goddess adventures went up alone in Rocky and says that nettle season is full swing. She went up to Donovan Brook area and lost the trail a few times due to the big old nettles. She said they're waist high. So it's that time of year. Saw them a lot today when the, with my hike and then not, not Sunday, but, uh, they're getting up there.

[00:28:57] Never think alone in Rocky is having nettles cause I always do it from the top, but to hit them on the way up bushwhacking from the fishermen's path. Yeah. She went up. Once you get to that second stream, Donovan Brooks, and you start heading up the rim of, of, uh, of low of wrote loan, then you hit some shit nettles because it's just all water. That's beaver ponds and stuff down there. And the fishermen pets sucks. Yeah. Yeah. It sucks. And I hate it. Everybody loves it. I hate, I, okay.

[00:29:26] So I hate it as in terms of that it's, it's a path, but it's not anywhere near a path. And you got to cross a couple of times. I've had bad instances there. So that's why I hit it. But it's, it's amazing. It's a never sink. Why do you can't complain about that? So, and then she also went to Pomerantz nature park on, in, uh, in CT in Connecticut with her husband, they had a good outing.

[00:29:49] So next, uh, this dude, uh, this is his first time tagging Scott Catskill mountain. And is it Jew? Oh, brew brew, um, went up at the Adirondacks and did the upper and lower wolf jaw. And then did a lot of stuff that we'll talk about later. Scott, this year, your pictures, your stories and stuff like that is just absolutely insane. It looks like you had a grand old time. It was a fun trip. Fun trip.

[00:30:18] We'll talk about it later. He's, he's like, he's like, I can't wait to quit. So, uh, moving on to next Shayna Shay 315 X, right? I said that, right? I think I typed it wrong in here, right? I said 316 because of probably Austin 316. Shayna, you got to change that. I'm looking, I'm looking it up right now. I might've messed up. It is 315. 315 X. I wrote it down wrong because I'm thinking Austin 316.

[00:30:45] So she did Vander Wacker and Pillsbury in their Adirondacks and then joined Scott and Kate and Todd and Jeff. Uh, and who else? Uh, what was that other guy's name? Eric, Eric, and they cliff for 41 and 42 for her 46ers. So awesome job. Um, doing those. It's great to see everybody out and together. I, it fills my heart when I hear that. And it's Todd was his, um, 44th and 45th.

[00:31:15] He's got one left. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. It's crazy. I, I was talking to him about it today. So that's, that's pretty neat. Um, Lisa chaotic, Cozotic must've done Panther because she saw the book of giants ledger. So she was up on Panther. I love that. As I did that video is all giants ledge and that's giants ledger, which I thought it was awesome. Um, so giant ledge, giant ledge, uh, Danny mildly mischievous, uh, was somewhere birdwatching,

[00:31:43] which I appreciate because I'm in my forties and I love birdwatching now. Uh, off in the woods, Sean, our buddy was up balsam and Cheryl, uh, from a North dome for the DEP balsam unit. So he bushwhacked North dome and Cheryl from the north, right? The balsam unit is the north. So that's, that's a nice little area. Nice little developed, uh, logged area. So he went up a different way. Sean. Awesome. Good to hear that.

[00:32:11] He's taking after you and, uh, tab doing these crazy bushwhacks. I hope so. Like, I mean, I'm not crazy like Tad is, but I'm starting to get there today. I was plotting out play when I was driving down through. I'm just like, Ooh, I'd like to take that up. Rusk. Now I got to find a way to get on that property. You got up. Rusk. So, uh, Jeff Jots was lucky enough to use a thunder box. He was somewhere. Did he use it? He used it. Oh, a Jeff.

[00:32:40] Thank you so much. That's, uh, I I'm pretty sure. Whenever I use the thunder box, it's basically looks like, you know, like heaven, like dogs are running to me and I'm just like floating in midair and I'm like, Oh, and then all of a sudden somebody is like, Hey, I'm like, but good Jeff. I love it. Sorry. Sorry to expose you on this Scott. Like that was as great. He did use it. Everybody's picture and Jeff sitting on the shitter. Nice. I love it.

[00:33:07] Uh, Nicholas golden money cat that a weekend trip up the Lake Placid. I'm pretty sure this, uh, podcast is now going to turn into a 46 or podcast because everybody was up in the Adirondacks. Um, Oscar and a cat skills ever after took a trip to the beautiful spot of Palmer Hill and Andy's beautiful place. Overlook is awesome. And then you have some hiking trails that go off to your left and go up in the little Palmer Hill area unit.

[00:33:32] That's, uh, has a bunch of nice, uh, plants and trees up there that are very, very well brought out for the bees and stuff like that. They've done a great job on that. Is that one of the CMC trails? Yep. Nice. Nice. Good stuff. Uh, Nigel Farrell hollows had the pleasure of working as an assistant guide this weekend for patrol bomb project on an advanced backpacking course.

[00:33:58] So it was cool to see that because he was out with, uh, Brad, one of my former or my SAR members that I was with, uh, he's actually the Lieutenant, I believe, uh, Catskill mountain search and rescue. So Nigel working with Scott and Joe from trail on projects, uh, fills my heart, you know, to hear everybody coming together. So it's really, really cool. And once again, they don't just do like wilderness first aid and stuff. They do, you know, advanced backpacking courses, which is pretty neat to do. They did three days.

[00:34:27] I think three days, two nights, uh, course of bushwhacking and stuff, uh, location. I, I saw one of his pictures that I shared. It kind of looked like they went over like the Hunter. I would say Hunter Westkill area. That's where it felt like. So I'd have to ask him. So it was pretty cool. So Brad Labradante went up Indian head twin from Plat Clove. On his post, he says he's lived in the area for such a long time.

[00:34:55] That's it was his first time going up Indian head and twin. So that's, that's tough because twin, uh, offers one of my most favorite, my most favorite view on the Catskills. So to say it's the best. And then Todd T-Bold outdoors did cliff and red field, which leaves only one left for his 46 or patch.

[00:35:17] And we talked about this today that hopefully we, uh, if he plans this, I'll try to get a Saturday off and Sunday or Saturday and Sunday off. I do have Sunday and we'll all do this together. So it's a weird one. Sky, he probably told you skylight. That's pretty weird. Yeah. Well, it's out of the way. Well, it's on your, your way. If you do like Marcy gray and skylight, right? Yeah. You loop back around. Yep. So compared to just doing Marcy alone, how many miles is that total?

[00:35:46] Do you remember to get to it? You have to either go over Marcy or all the way around over the floating logs and up the backside. And even then they say, even if you do that, you're still better going over Marcy to get out. Well, you can go some upper works and you go way past where we were this weekend doing cliff and red field to get to skylight. We're probably only about two miles away, but cliff and red was a long enough day. I was going to say two miles equals four miles.

[00:36:15] So like, that's just, it's like, I've, I went up to Marcy. I did Marcy on my 40th birthday, three years ago, and I did only Phelps and Marcy, you know, I should have done tabletop. I might've, you know, then taken the next day off and done gray and skylight, but I just, I just didn't have it. So looking forward to, to maybe joining them, him in the future. And did you, did you, have you done those two yet? I did those this past week. I thought so. I thought so. Jesus. Freaking crazy.

[00:36:44] Uh, so yeah. So Todd, uh, one more left buddy and he'll be a 46 or, and then he'll be listening to the 46 out of 46. Instead of this podcast, he's just like, I'm done with the cat skills. He's like, but cool, cool. And then last but not least, Kate, uh, Henderson hikes. Um, we want to say, uh, it's been a great year for her. Uh, last year. She had her injury. Approximately almost like a total year ago on dry brick Ridge.

[00:37:14] She talked about it on the show. And after that, she's banging out saw teeth, pyramid piece, goths, and Armstrong saying the views that were so good that you could believe that'll make you believe in God and terrain. And so gnarly. They'll make you curse the devil. Then did red field and cliff and said, eat your veggies and tackled the end of her high peaks in Vermont at Killington. So it's been one year and she is crushing it. So good to hear about that. Yeah.

[00:37:44] So awesome. Thank you, uh, everybody for tagging the show. Greatly appreciate it. Scott. Thank you for tagging the show. He'll be on later about that. So previous hikes, Scott, you know, you're going to be talking about that in a second. So what about your last hike in the cat skills? What was that? You did the nine. No. Uh, well, I did that two weeks ago on Saturday. I wasn't going up the Adirondacks till Sunday. So on Saturday I took Zorro and we did plateau because I had only ever hiked up to the peak and then back down.

[00:38:13] And I never actually spent time at the summit and actually walked the whole summit. So Zorro and I went up there this last Saturday. Nice. So you did the summit to Danny's lookout all the way at the end. Yeah. What are your thoughts on that? It's gorgeous up there. Isn't it? Yeah. Two miles of pristine, you know, balsams. And you're just in and out. Nice flat walk of just. Oh, yeah. And I probably passed like eight people that were working on their devil in a day. Oh, nice.

[00:38:43] Oh, wow. That's pretty crazy. And I think as I was coming down, I saw them setting up for the food aid station for Manitou's. Yeah, that's crazy. Imagine seeing. And volunteers bringing in tables and gallons and gallons of water and food. And that's pretty wild. Imagine seeing that like in the plateau. Where's the tail end of that? That ends the set down and down in Phoenicia, right? Because they go.

[00:39:13] Plateau and then they go Warner Creek up trimper. Then they ended down in Phoenicia. I think I think that's where they ended, but I know they ended on the Phoenicia each brand. So that might be it. So but just imagine, you know, you're you're on plateau and like they all you hear is to your left. And all of a sudden a guy runs past you like, who the hell is that? And you're like, holy shit. That's frickin a guy that's doing the Manitou's Revenge of 53 mile frickin brutal hike. And you're and he did it.

[00:39:42] And the guy who finished top was 19 hours. Like, Jesus Christ. You say I'm crazy. They are crazy. Yeah, I, you know, today for my hike, I packed like I was going up frickin the nine. And I did a two mile hike along a frickin Creek. And these guys have two water bottles and electrolyte tablets, and they're doing 53 miles. Like they just have electrolyte stuff that they're thrown in there. It's it's crazy. So.

[00:40:12] So on Sunday, I went to good old Catterskill Falls. So. Yeah, it was it was all right. It was it was I had a Guardian Revival another summit. I had like a little event of where they got together and they had people hike down to the base of Catterskill Falls and back up. So this would be my third time with Guardian Revival another summit so that I could lead hikes now for them.

[00:40:39] So they do stuff for veterans and first responders for free. So I've been a former search and rescue person. I qualify for that. So now I can lead hikes for people. And I was just like, you know what? Why not? Like when I'm doing something Tuesday, why not post what I'm doing? And then, you know, somebody wants to join if they join. Cool. They don't. I'll just do it solo again. So that that was cool.

[00:41:04] I've met a lot of great people and met my good old friend, Bill urban, who was on with me with the with the Pemi loop and the Prezi Traverse. So he all we talked about was the good old Pemi loop and how there was two straight days of pouring rain and how we were miserable. And like out of the 10 of us, you know, four or five of us were going to bail. I guess it was just one of those times. But we didn't. We didn't. It was crazy. And I, you know what?

[00:41:32] I can't say that I regret it, but I, I, it was horrible. So, and he was talking about going back up because I need to get West Bond over there. I missed it two times. So, but that was a great time. The waterfall was flowing. One of the guys from the group took a dip in the, in the middle pool, said it was super cool. Um, but it was beautiful light flow up at the top. There's probably like five or 10 people down at the bottom.

[00:42:00] There was probably like six right after that. We go down to the bottom. We have a time of like, you know, just sitting there watching the waterfall. Then the crowds come in like that. We're talking like 11 o'clock. They start pouring in. It's crazy. Now I'm not for permit system, but there is a time when like, like the people started coming in and I was like, I gotta get the fuck out of here.

[00:42:25] Like it was, it was just like, all right, I can't, I can't take this anymore. But you know, there was really cool. Like there was a person standing like on the edge of the falls. I haven't posted the picture. I should have posted where you see the perspective of the person. That's a little dot compared to the massive false. And, and, you know, you've probably, you've been around the escarpment and stuff. You stop there. Beautiful place when it's flowing.

[00:42:54] It's it's, it's one of those places that's unforgettable. But like, once again, they asked that question at the clove thing of like, how many people would you see in the pool? Like, would you be okay with being down there again? And then answering that question. I think I answered like maybe 20 to 40 or something like that. 20 is the absolute max limit. Like I was in there with like 10 people. I'm like, this is tight. Like we're, we're getting a little tight here.

[00:43:21] And then I was just like, man, I answered those questions wrong now. Like, but I would never go on a weekend. You know, I don't think we need permits. I think if you just don't like the crowds, don't go on those days, you know, there's, I've only gone on a weekday. I won't go on a weekend. Right. And what was your experience? You loved it, right? Yeah, I was there. There's, I mean, it was a Friday, but there was still probably 20 people there. But it wasn't bad. Yeah.

[00:43:49] I'm not going to go on a Saturday or Sunday. Yeah. It was, it was a little rough, but it was a great experience with guardian revival and other summit, you know, the talking, you know, previous experiences, what they, you know, been through that these people are joining together, you know, for, for relaxation, for comfort, for new education. And I'm just very grateful that, you know, that organization and guardian revival is supporting their show because I fully support that. They are awesome.

[00:44:16] Did you do any of the escarpment while you guys were there or just the false? No, we just did the false. So we, we did the falls and I had plans right up afterwards to go to twin. Like I was like, I'll just go shoot up right between. That's an easy hike. Nice, fast. Right. And yeah, it's right there. And I just seriously, they, they were like, Oh, let's go out to mom was boys burgers. And I was like, yeah, it'd be great. You know, just to catch up and stuff and meet new people. And I, who was that Zora? Yeah. That's Zora.

[00:44:46] Same. Oh, I haven't seen him in so long. He's probably, he probably doesn't know my voice, but, but he's super cool. So, uh, but yeah. And then today, so Jessica asked me Sunday, she's just like, Hey, uh, what are you doing Tuesday? And I thought I was hiking with, with one of a friends, Chris Garbian. Uh, but I had my dates wrong. So I'm like, I have Tuesday off. What do you want to do? And she's like, I would like to really see some waterfalls. So she's a, I forgot what she said. It I'm a freak for a Creek.

[00:45:17] That's what she said. And I took her, I took her. Yeah. I took her to the best Creek in the Catskills. Um, I'm not going to say where because it's, it's tough. It's fun. Um, oh, hi Zoro. Hi V. Oh, look at that cutie. He's like, Oh, let's go hiking. Let's go hiking. Yes. So, uh, the, the Creek was amazing.

[00:45:45] Beautiful, pristine, clear waters. Got to jump in off of a 15, 20 foot cliff. Got to go in these. Probably the, one of the guys says he thinks that around 55 degree. Water. Um, but it was just. Relaxation. Like, once again, I packed excessively for no reason at all. Like it was phenomenal. It was a good time. Jessica had a good time. That was all about. It's one of my favorite places in the Catskills.

[00:46:12] So one of the places that it doesn't feel like the Catskills, it feels tropical. That's what I can say about it. So I'll tell you in a second about that. Where I was, you probably do you have a thought? Probably. Okay. Okay. Okay. A lot of people would probably know. So from the thing, but if you go there, leave no trace. Number one, number two, if you know what I'm talking about, parking could be tough, especially if you want to access the lower area.

[00:46:41] It's very, very difficult to find a parking spot. And you gotta, I thought we got to get there early, but luckily we got there on a Tuesday and we found a good parking spot. And then when we found a parking spot, we met two cool dudes named Tristan and Jake. So we were walking up and like, Hey, you guys going on to this, this area? And they're like, yeah, we're going fishing. We're going to do a little fly fishing. I'm like, Oh, cool. Um, that's a, that's amazing. And the guy has a hat that says mountain King brewing. I was like, Oh, cool, dude. I know that guy that owns mountain King. I actually hiked with him.

[00:47:11] And, uh, you know, he supported the show for a little bit. He's like, no way. What show? And I go inside the line. He's like, you're Stash. I fucking knew your voice, man. He was like, Oh, cool. So Tristan, it was good to, uh, to meet you and Jake. It was good to meet you as well. Tristan's a cool dude who loves fly fishing and he's been living in Wyndham for most of his, not all of his life. So he knows the secret spots and he was at the secret spot, uh, doing some brook trout fishing, but he, once again, the streams are low.

[00:47:39] So the waters are a little bit warm. So he said it wasn't the greatest, but he, he was definitely doing some good, good work down there. So, and that's it. Like, it was just, it was a great ride home. Once again, I got, I got a view of those telling Jessica, I'm like, Ooh, that rim right there. That's what I want to go to. I'm like, but I think it's private property. Maybe I got to ask the person. And there was one rim that I want to hike up through a Hunter that I talked about at the last show from the Hunter resort just goes right up to the fire tower. And I was just like, that'd be cool rim to explore.

[00:48:08] So I know that part of it has to do with, uh, the old zip lining. So the potential that's potential. So. Did you guys get any post hike bruising bites? We didn't. We had pre hike bruising bites really at a place of my local place. We, we brought subs down to the thing. So we just, we got home at like four o'clock, took the dog for a walk. And then all of a sudden it starts thunder and we get massive downpours, hail and everything.

[00:48:36] We got nailed by a severe thunderstorm. It was great. One of the, one of those freak, you know, 10 minute thunderstorms that drops so much water that it's flooding on the streets. And then it's done and it's clear blue skies, beautiful thunderstorm. Awesome. All right. So once again, if we would do previous hikes, but you're going to talk about your previous hike. So let's move on to Catskill news volunteer 3500 cup Catskill trail crew is doing some stuff.

[00:49:04] Uh, Catskill mountains club visitors center, jelly rovers trail crew, any fire tower. Uh, you can anywhere you can do any kind of, uh, volunteering and stuff. Please do it. You know, one day a year will help anybody out anything. Scott, you volunteer, don't you? Yeah. What's your trail? Uh, the trail from the junction up to black dome. Awesome. Like, uh, what the junction of Lockwood gap. Yep. So the neutral.

[00:49:34] No black. Don't. Oh, black dome. Sorry. Sorry. Yep. The other way. Cool. That's, that's a fun one. Yeah. I love that section of trail. Nice. Last time I went up there, there was a lot of bear shit. So you need to get a shovel and scoop that stuff off. I get yelled. I get yelled at for my trail with when people are, the ferns are touching their legs and I'm just like, there's more bear shit on the trail. Like don't you want people to get rid of that first, but. Hey, that's cool. I mean, I'm right next to you.

[00:50:03] So maybe we'll, we'll do a traverse of like, uh, like a traverse of, of trail maintaining. We also find who does in between black dome and Thomas Cole. I thought that was, uh, my friend Maria. I'll have to check in with her. So that'll be nice. Yeah. Cool. Uh, also if you need stickers, I just resupplied camp catskill with stickers. So camp catskill has free stickers. Go there. I left a shitload on a Tristan's car today. So that was pretty fun.

[00:50:33] I was going to, I was going to write something, but I had no pen who the hell doesn't have a pen in their car. We're ridiculous. So I guess that that means I'm just going to not sign anything from the cops if they pull me over. So boom, silence. There we go. All right. So how about we break into the weather forecast? Here is your weekend weather forecast brought to you by, well, not really brought to you

[00:50:59] by, I wanted to give a big shout out to my friend, David Perez and his new company called far and high outdoor company. His company now has amazing catskill stickers of 3,500 foot elevation sign catskill canister catskill foot trail stuff. It's awesome. So once again, check out far and high outdoor co on Etsy to get awesome stickers for anything. Good luck, David.

[00:51:24] On Friday, July 3rd, expect hot and humid conditions across the catskill high peaks with a mix of sun and clouds during the morning. Scattered thunderstorms are expected to develop during the afternoon with potential heavy rain, gusty winds and frequent lightning. Summit temperatures will range from 78 to 82 degrees with humidity pushing it into the low 80s. On Saturday, July 4th, warm and humid weather conditions continue with intervals of clouds and sunshine.

[00:51:53] Afternoon thunderstorms are likely and some storms may produce downpours, hail and strong winds. Summit temperatures will range from 72 to 76 degrees with the humidity pushing it into the low 80s. On Sunday, July 5th, cooler and noticeably less humid conditions arrive behind a cold front and expect partly sunny skies with only a slight chance of isolated afternoon shower and improving visitability throughout the day as the humidity decreases.

[00:52:21] Summit temperatures will range from 68 to 72 degrees. Looks to be a weekend of heat and humidity, so don't forget to bring your electrolytes water and massive amounts of replenishment. While you're out there, also don't forget to be safe, be prepared and don't become tomorrow's rescue story. Back to you, Scott and Stash. Alright, Scott, so let's get on to the last set of sponsors and then we'll get on to you, the main person of this podcast.

[00:52:51] So, is it time for new gear or hiking in the Catskills? Say no more. Camp Catskill in Tannersville has all your hiking needs. Footwear socks, moisture wicking shirts, freeze dried meals, Catskill merchandise and more. They have all the essentials for your hiking needs located in Tannersville and they have stuff online. Check out Camp Catskill. If you want free stickers, stop there. Also, check out another summit, a non-profit program that leads outdoor adventure activities for veterans and first responders for free.

[00:53:21] Outdoor adventures like walking, hiking, paddling and even backpacking. We welcome guardians of all ages and ability levels including those with accessibility needs. Our adventures are located throughout New York and the Northeast and we organize transit accessible adventures throughout the Hudson Valley in the New York City area. Apply today on another summit dot org. All right. So, let's get on to the guest of the night. Let's go. Tonight, Scott O.

[00:53:48] We met, joins us, Catskill Mountain Brew to chat about his crazy adventures in the Adirondacks, his epic adventures in the Catskills as well. But, I mean, this is more, this is a Catskill podcast, but I want to hear about his epic adventure in the Adirondacks. That just sounds amazing. I mean, we'll talk about stats later, but what was the stats of that Adirondack trip again?

[00:54:13] 16 peaks, 94 miles, 27,800 feet elevation in a week. Wow. No shit. Unbelievable. Would you say this has been the toughest week of your life in hiking? No, actually, I really enjoyed it. I didn't actually think it was so bad. All right. All right. So, the Adirondacks are not that bad.

[00:54:37] So, let's just say, we'll talk about his crazy experiences up there, his thoughts about what's the best, what's the worst, you know, what to avoid, what not to avoid and stuff. But first, Scott, a little bit of background about yourself. How, you know, where you got like into hiking, stuff like that, more like when you were a kid. I like to hear a lot of stuff when you were a kid, because all of us, you know, we were, as kids, we explored. I'm guessing you did the same thing as well. Yeah.

[00:55:04] So, I grew up in Dutchess County down in Pleasant Valley, New York. I was always playing in the backyard, biking with my cousins. I'm an Eagle Scout. So, once a month, I was going camping with the Scouts and going on hikes. And my family also loved to camp and hike. We would come up and camp in the Catskills at least once a month, every summer.

[00:55:31] So, from the time, as early as I can remember, we were doing it. I remember waking up in the middle of the night with rain, with them trying to dig trenches around the tents. I know we would go to North South Lake a lot. The first time I hiked the Catskills, one of the things that was the coolest for me was just walking up to a certain spot on a trail, like especially the Devil's Path and just knowing that I was there before. Like, I just remember some of the scrambles and that was really cool. And we would camp all over the place.

[00:56:00] And every year we'd go up out by Oneonta to the campground out by you. And yeah, I just love being outside. I'm also a civil engineer. Work for Catter School Associates here in the Catskills. So, I love maps and topo. And I've also done surveying. So, I love seeing those survey discs on the top of the mountains and, you know, just planning trips and planning hikes. I can do it for days.

[00:56:25] I mean, with what we've seen with Catskills Mountain Brew, your Instagram, you do plan stuff for days. And with the kind of contacting me once in a while, you're like, hey, what are you doing this weekend? You already know what you're doing. So, I'm like, you rip it up. Like, it's just insane. You have like a vision and you go and you knock this out in crazy fashion. Yeah. Well, you know, I know you're not a list person, but I am definitely a list person. I love my lists.

[00:56:55] I love my patches. I love my stickers. And, you know, Lori Beer, I don't know if you've ever hiked with her. She's, she hikes in the Catskills a lot. She's like, don't just get stuck to your list. Just make another list. You know, don't let people say, you know, people ask me to hike all the time and they're like, well, I need this peak or that peak or I'm not going. And it's like, just start another list and then you can do the peaks again.

[00:57:20] So, you know, I'm always a hike and I always, yeah, I always try to get out because I really enjoy it. And I take Zorro and or go with friends and it's a lot of fun. So you're a list guy. Are you also like a view viewpoint kind of guy like me? I am. I love the views. I love the waterfalls. I, I'm not a big stopper. That's part of the why I like to go hiking with other people because, you know, they will, you know, kind of offset some of my trends.

[00:57:49] I'll keep people going in the hard times talking and moving and going and other people are like, okay, let's stop and take a break. Need a snack and look at the views. So I'm just like snap a couple pictures and keep moving. Right. Well, that's good. That's good. I mean, once again, going for the list, do you have something to do? You have an accomplishment, but you know, you also, you, you hike solo, but you also hike with a lot of people. Like it's great that you're getting together with these people and stuff like that.

[00:58:15] Like, like you explore the Catskills when you're young, you can remember these certain places. Have you seen like any crazy changes from them when you were young? And like how, I hate to ask, how old are you? I'm 43. 43. You're same age as me. So with your transition of being a young kid to being in the Catskills compared to now, like I saw changes within 10 years. Can you tell me like something you remember that you're just like, holy shit, this is crazy different.

[00:58:44] I can't say that I can because when I was hiking, you know, like I said, I couldn't tell you the peak I was on as a kid or, you know, that, that was the goal. I just loved hiking. And every time we'd come up and camp, we'd go camping and you know, North South Lake has definitely changed. When I went there as a kid, I remember that being small and quiet and not very busy. And now you go through there on a weekend and it's just insane. It's like they tripled the size of the place.

[00:59:14] And I remember when I only had one beach and now it's got two in there. So I think that's the thing that I noticed the difference the most. It was got more popular. But like, I don't think we did any bushwhacks or anything like that. Yeah. I mean, like what about like camping when you were a kid camping, you're a kid. Did you have these like normal locations of when you're camping as a scout and stuff and this kid? Or did you like, did you know of the secret spots that now are open and known to people?

[00:59:45] We didn't go to a lot of secret spots. We would mostly hike and camp with the scouts down in Dutchess County, but I did do a couple of backtrack trips up here when I was a kid. We did one in particular that I remember where we were the first time I ever went backpacking. We did a slide mountain. And when we left Dutchess County, we were all in shorts and t-shirts and we got up to the parking lot and there was two feet of snow. Whoa. No shit.

[01:00:15] So did the elevation change difference? Some of us were prepared because we had gone to the meeting the week before and they told us to bring your gloves and your boots. And there was other people. One of my friends, they had to drive home because they had not brought their hiking boots because they were sneakers. Yeah, that was a fun trip. I keep trying to find that lean-to that we went to and I can't.

[01:00:36] At the winter weekend, I was talking to some of the people that have hiked in the Catskills for a long time and they think it might have been a lean-to that used to be out by the start going up table. Because on the way out to the lean-to, I know that we walked a long way and we crossed the stream to get to the lean-to and the only way across the stream was two logs. Oh.

[01:01:02] And it was really icy so they didn't want us to do that and risk falling into the stream so we just forwarded the stream. Nice. How old were you? I was probably like 12 at the time. So, it's funny how at that time you don't care but nowadays we're just like, God, I want to stay as dry as possible. I don't want to afford this shit.

[01:01:24] The leaders were like, don't worry, we'll help you dry your boots on the other side, but we don't want you to fall in and get your whole body wet because that could be a lot worse. And yeah, that was a cold one. That's fantastic though. Those are good troop leaders right there. None of us had snowshoes and I was, I'm always in the front when I hike.

[01:01:47] So, I did a lot of braking and you know, it's funny when you're that age because you're like bragging about who has the heaviest pack, right? And you don't realize how stupid that is until you're hiking out and you're just sore and tired and miserable and then you realize you should have been bragging about having the lightest pack, not the heaviest one. 100% correct. 100% correct.

[01:02:08] I mean, I was when the did the PEMI I had the heaviest and then my chest strap broke and then I had also the broken back and I was just depressed as frickin hell. Stupid to me. Well, that's, that's great. You know, once again, you're a kid, you experienced that stuff. So, you're kind of well into hiking. And now, when, what later on, how later on did you get into your life before you started to discover like, you know, maybe the 3500 club, the grid and stuff like that?

[01:02:37] So, when I got out of college, I started to hike again because I wanted something to keep me in shape and get outdoors and I always loved it. It was hard to find people to hike with at the time. My friends wanted to go to bars and I wanted to be, you know, hiking up the side of the mountain. They thought I was kind of crazy. And I did become aware of the list then. And my husband and I, we came up and we hiked slide mountain. And then we drove back.

[01:03:05] We thought about doing the whole loop of slide Cornell Wittenberg, but we just did slide because it was a wet day and the stairs were slippery. So that's kind of where we turned around. And by the time we drove home, we're like, yeah, that's too far to drive when you're tired. So we stuck to doing a lot more hikes in like Harriman and Bear Mountain and Schwangunks. And we actually did 200 mile section hike of the AT. Oh, no shit.

[01:03:35] From Vermont, Massachusetts border all the way down to Bear Mountain. Wow. We did that for like a nine day period. And that was awesome. We probably would have kept back packing a lot more. But at that time we moved to Germany. And we were in Germany for five years. And right when COVID hit, we decided to move back to the States. And we were talking about all the different places where we would consider living.

[01:04:03] And it was kind of limited in where our jobs could be and where we actually wanted to live and be close to family. And just out of luck, I happened to find the job that I did. And it's in the Catskills, which is on my list of places I love to live. So we moved back here right in the middle of COVID in December 2020. That's when I started my job. We moved back in April.

[01:04:29] And I did not immediately start hiking in the Catskills because I had heard lots of horror stories about the hiking during COVID and all the trash and all the people. So I actually started hiking just in like Southwest Albany County and hike preserve and some of the other kind of more quiet, secluded places people didn't know about.

[01:04:52] And the 2024, March 2024, I decided I wanted to hike and I was tired of doing kind of the same places I had been going. And Sam was like, why don't you do Wyndham High Peak? You always talk about doing the Catskills. Yeah. And I did. I went and I hiked up Wyndham High Peak and it started to snow. And it was just stunning and beautiful.

[01:05:17] And as you always talk about with that trail, you go through so many different types of forests on the way up. And then I was just hooked. And, again, I had known about the 3500 and I immediately started looking up the peaks and looking up the trails and researching. And I think it was two weeks later, I was out on fly and bear pant. Wow. Just got hooked right away.

[01:05:43] And that, well, you got hooked, kind of reignited the flame back when you got up in Wyndham. And then all of a sudden now you're, you're crazy doing these lists and you complete it and fucking, I mean, I mean, 2020, you know, you had a little bit of time, but then wouldn't it matter of whatever you do? You do four seasons. Yeah. Stuff like that. I love it. Like, holy crap. Like, how, how do you do this?

[01:06:10] So 2024, I did in the spring and summer, I did the first round of the 35s. And then that winter I planned to do the four winter hikes. And my job got very stressful at that time with one of the big projects I had going on. And I didn't do any hiking that winter. So then the next year, I like forced myself to get back out in the spring because I something that I really enjoyed.

[01:06:37] And that's when I actually met the guy that I hike with a lot, Eric. And he had just posted on one of the trail conditions pages saying he was looking for somebody that wanted to hike. And he's kind of a faster paced hiker, which I liked. So we met up and we just started hiking. And at that time he was working on his first round of the 35s. And we hiked every weekend. And then I looked down and I realized that I was only like three or four hikes away from a single season.

[01:07:07] And I don't know when I had found out about the single season challenges, but I was at least aware of it at the time. And I said, that sounds doable. And that was last summer that I finished a single season. And on the finish hike for him, I finished on Round Top. And then the next weekend I hiked with him so that he could finish his single season.

[01:07:31] And I was on table and I set a goal to finish 10 challenges in a year. So I wanted to do the single seasons, the four in a row and finish my Catskill 3500 by doing the four winter peaks. And by doing the single season winner, I'd get my winner 3500 and the four seasons challenge them in. There's just so many challenges.

[01:07:56] Well, yeah, I mean, Jesus, I mean, this, as you can see, you can you've definitely put some thought into that. Is that is that requires the most you just you put the thought of kind of like what you're doing next? Or do you just you just go out and you're like, hey, this seems like a good weekend to do like with it. Like you said, bear pen and fly. Yeah, I mean, I don't plan every hike ahead and I'm not so crazy that I won't do it if I've already done it that month. I just like doing them.

[01:08:22] And so and I'm always open, especially since the winter. So I was hiking with Eric in the summer and in the fall he stopped hiking once it got cold out. He's not a cold weather hiker. And that's when I started taking Zorro a lot more. And it's mostly just Zorro and I. And then when winter hit, that's when I started hiking with Sean and Steve, who you've met and hiked with. And that's when I started hiking with Joe and Jen. And that's when I started looking at some of the challenges.

[01:08:52] One of the things that pushed me to reach out to more people is things like Lone and Rocky, like to get to those peaks in the winter is a challenge by yourself. And you kind of need to have people to hike with. So I know Joanne does the six every month. So I started talking to her and I tagged along one of her sixes with Mimi and Susan and Tom Martone and a bunch of awesome hikers.

[01:09:19] And then a couple of weeks later, I did my finish in my winter. And that's when I met Danny, mildly mischievous or mighty mischievous, depending on the week. Yeah, depending on the week. Yeah. That was a good hike, by the way. That was it was a rough one going between like giant legend. Good old Panther with the post holes. Yeah, that was a fun hike. And yeah, I liked the fun challenge of like finishing a couple challenges on the same hike.

[01:09:48] So as you know, I finished my Catskill 35, my winter and my single season winter on the same hike. And then two months later, I finished my spring single season and my four seasons and my four in a row on the same hike. So that was kind of cool, too. So you have like eight Excel spreadsheets of what you're doing. You're just like, all right, everything's a different color. And you're like, all right. All right.

[01:10:15] Yeah, I have things color coded by year and broken down to add up how many hikes I've done each month. That's awesome. And like I said, I have multiple lists. So I already have around two of my grid. That's not very filled out yet, but it started. And then I have a grid for my dog. Zorro. Yeah, Zorro. Zorro is awesome. I hiked with Zorro on, you know, I saw him on Southwest Hunter that first time when I was with Sean.

[01:10:44] And I was just like, oh, my God, it's fucking Scott. No way. And it was just it was crazy to see you. And then and then we went up the hike up Balsam and Eagle. And that was fun. Zorro was with us. And it was beautiful. It was magical. I didn't take him on the Panther winter finish because I was afraid of the post holes and the ice. He doesn't like the ice, but he's a fun hiker. The only time I got to be careful with him is he pulls a lot because he's just a go, go, go. So, like, I can't take him on the devil's path when it's wet. Yeah.

[01:11:15] He almost pulled me off once. And you have the the waist row or the waist thing. Yeah. I got the waist belt after listening to one of your episodes. It's yeah, you had one of the dog hikers that wasn't Orla. Wasn't Jeff and Orla. No, it was Darren. Okay. Darren White. He had the ad of Phineas. And he has he has like a hip belt hip leash. Who has Roxy Roxy?

[01:11:44] Oh, that's a Danielle. Nature addict lady. Yeah. I might have been that episode that they talked about the difference between the two and I got the belt. That's awesome. I like the belt because then I can use the sticks. And honestly, I would have gotten pulled off that ledge on the side of Sugarloaf had I not had the sticks to keep me anchored when he pulled. Crazy. He jumped and I was looking the other way and trying to get him to come back to me.

[01:12:15] And yeah, he pulled them. So I'm guessing that's a crazy experience. He had what was what was the most craziest. Probably the craziest experiences when I did the winter hike of the Burroughs range. That was over the winter weekend. Okay. That was kind of the first time. That I had to snowshoe and break trail for like a full 12 mile hike like that.

[01:12:43] It was Sean, Steve and I. And we started. We dropped the cars at Woodland Valley and it was already like six inches of snow on the ground. And by the time we drove over to the other side, there was another two inches and it just kept snowing the whole day. And that was the day that Tom who's finished his winter hike. So there's a big group that had gone out, but they went up the Curtis Olmosby trail. And we had to went up the other way because we didn't know that.

[01:13:12] And we actually got to the summit before they did. And yeah, when we were going down, I mean, there was lots of butt sliding that day. And when we got to that spot on the bottom of slide where you have to kind of shimmy across the crack, the crack completely filled with ice. And Sean went to try to like get his crampon into the ice and he was holding onto a tree. And the next thing I know, he was down at the bottom of a ledge.

[01:13:39] So he lost his grip and fell, but thankfully he fell into like a four foot cloud of snow and he was fine. And the rest of the day we took all the side trails. Yeah. Right. And he took all the precautions. Yeah. And that was actually the first hike where I met Ted. Oh, nice. Nice. I remember. I remember you talking about that. Cool.

[01:14:02] Now, also, so what, with all these hikes that you've done and stuff like that, can you have a specific like hike trail mountain? Like, is it different? Like, what do you, what do you have? That's your favorite in the Catskills. I have a favorite hike, a favorite trail and a favorite summit. Oh, nice. Go ahead. My favorite hike is the nine. I absolutely love hiking the Catskill nine. I don't know what it is about it.

[01:14:30] Uh, you know, Joanne will tell you how much she loves the six just because there's so many viewpoints and such amazing peaks. But yeah, I love the nine. Um, and I've done that three times now. I'm just can't wait to do it again. My favorite summit is black dome. I see. Absolutely. Love it up there. Um, I mean, they might not have the best views in the Catskills, but it has amazing views.

[01:14:57] And there's something about once you get up to the top of that peak, just the smell of the forest up there. It's like the strongest in the Catskills. And then probably my favorite trail is the trail that goes, um, past Dibbler's Quarry, the Picoi Notch Trail. Nice. That's big. The quarry is amazing.

[01:15:22] You go past this beautiful stream and then you just get to this opening where the beaver pond used to be. And you see the two peaks in the background. I just love that. But after that, it sucks. Cause then it's just loose rock and you gotta battle your way up to the notch. I hear you. I think that side of twin is fun. You talk about doing that side of twin a lot. Yes. Yes.

[01:15:49] Going up just the, so the west side of twin, right? Yeah. That's where the good old, uh, uh, what's it called? Used to be the, where they drilled the, the handholds up there. Yeah. That's a fun spot. I missed that. I started hiking in the Catskills a little after that all happened. But that was the biggest drama in the Catskills that I've ever seen. It was fantastic. That's why I love social media. I was just like, this is going to be a good day.

[01:16:16] But anyway, anyway, so let's get onto your, your amazing Adirondack trip. So let's see it out of the Catskills. I don't want to, but we're going to have to, because this hike, this trip was, was amazing. So now we went over the stats before, but please go over the get again, because I still can't believe this. Yeah. Yeah. So whenever I go on like a week long journey, this is my second time going up to the Adirondacks for a week.

[01:16:45] And I always look ahead and try to plan, like if everything goes perfect, this is what I want to do. And then I always have like a high range and a low range. And like, if there's bad weather, you know, there's bad weather. But this trip, I started out by saying, I want to do like at least 11 peaks. And if I have everything perfect, I want to do 16. But I never really actually thought I'd do 16. It's just sometimes you just have to have a goal.

[01:17:11] And part of the thing, I mean, it's the same in the Catskills, but it's more so a thing in the Adirondacks where you start looking at the map and the topo and the stats of each hike. And you go, okay, I can do these three peaks and 12 miles and 4,000 feet of elevation. And I can do this peak and that piece is going to be another 12 miles and 3,000 feet of elevation.

[01:17:38] Or if I just do them all in one hike, it's like 2,000 feet less elevation and six less miles because you're already kind of out there. So I kept doing that. And, you know, I reshuffled this hike so many times because I also have some other trips coming up later in the summer. So I kind of like planned out how I could get to my 46. And I had the peaks here and the peaks there and it's like shuffling them around. And I just love doing that. And I can, like I said, I can look at the maps and the trails for days.

[01:18:09] So my first day was the perfect example of what I was saying. I had originally planned to do the MSG hike, which is Gray, Skylight and Marcy. And then on a separate hike, I was going to do Colden. And I decided to just do them all as one big hike. So that was day one. It was four peaks. It was 20.6 miles, 6,340 feet of elevation. Wow. And how many, what was time?

[01:18:39] 10 hours. 10 hours. Wow. Yeah, I was moving. So part of it is that first four miles is pretty flat because you're just getting out there from the trailhead like you talk about. And, you know, the Marcy Trail. So, yeah, I was able to do a pretty good pace out. And then I started climbing and, you know, I just loved it. And that was a great day. It was a little wet. My feet were wet about halfway through.

[01:19:09] But Gray is kind of a bushwhack. But I actually really loved it. Something about it kind of reminded me of the Catskills with some of the scrambles. And Marcy Sky and Colden also. They're just amazing views, amazing peaks, open summits. Yeah, that's the one thing that you can't say that it's the open summits are something else. Yeah. It's something else. You feel more, you know, I love hiking in the Catskills with the winter and stuff. But on the open summits, you feel more alive.

[01:19:38] You're just like, God damn. You feel the weather. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Changing in an instant. And it's like, so like, you went, did you do it clockwise or counterclockwise? It's a loop, right? It is a loop. I went counterclockwise. You went up Marcy first? No, that would have been clockwise. I went clockwise. Oh, yeah. Sorry, sorry. Yeah. Okay, cool, cool. Yeah.

[01:20:05] So I went up Colden first because I've kind of known myself. I figured I wouldn't do it later in a hike. I'll do it on the way out and then I have to kind of finish the loop. Yeah. So I kind of got that one out of the way first. And then I went through the floating logs, which is a famous part of the kills on the way out to the backside of Marcy. And then I did gray and then skylight and then finished on Marcy. Wow.

[01:20:35] And then the long trip back to the lodge, right? Yeah. That's just, it's just down, down, down. And then you got that flat walk out of depression. It's just like, Jesus, when does this end? Yeah. But I was alone that day. And one of the tips I had heard was just to put in some music, like put in one earbud and just helps you go. True. True. So when did you start, when did you start the hike for that? Like what time in the morning?

[01:21:04] I started around 530. Okay. Where did you stay overnight somewhere? Did you camp? Did you, did you lodge somewhere? So for this trip, I got a cabin. Nice. And then day hikes. So I got a cabin that had its own shower and kitchenette. So I could cook and recover. Yeah. Is that at the lodge or just some, some place like, like of Airbnb? I stayed at it's Draper's acres campground, which is right across from the cascade trail hood.

[01:21:33] Oh, nice stretch between Keene and Lake Placid. Okay. It's like a drive to the lodge. It's a great place. Nice. So that kind of helps you out with, uh, you know, your, your accessibility to the other trail heads and stuff. Yeah. And getting there early when you need to, and just having a place to like I said, shower, sleep comfortably. I mean, this was, so this was what day did you start this? This, this hike was at a Monday. That was a Monday. Yep.

[01:22:02] So I drove up Sunday night so that I was there early. So to any, any, like problem. I mean, of course, no problem with parking on a Monday. Was it still, was it crazy packed when you came back? When I started the day at five o'clock on a Monday, there was probably only 10 cars in the parking lot. And when I got back, there was a lot more on the way out. I didn't see that many people. I saw like five people coming up cold in as I was going down it.

[01:22:28] And then the whole way when I was out to gray and skylight, I didn't see anybody. And when I got to the top of Marcy, the only person on the summit of Marcy was the trail steward. Wow. Just me and her on the entire summit. When I started to go down, there was like three or four younger kids coming up. And then as I was hiking out, I was passing all the people that had just done Marcy for the day. So, uh, wow. That's a, what an experience. When I got back to the trail head, there was a lot more cars.

[01:22:58] Cause it was like three o'clock. Yeah. Cool. That's awesome. So now you're, you've done these, these four. Now you're onto day two. What was day two? Day two. Uh, I was debating whether it should be a rest day and I didn't want to just sit in the cabin. So that was the day that I decided to do two of the Lake Placid Niners. So they're kind of easier, shorter hikes.

[01:23:24] And I did Van Hovenberg, which is right from the Olympic bobsled, uh, venue. Have you done that one? Oh yeah. That view is fantastic. 3.8 miles, 990 feet in elevation and just amazing views. And after that I did Cobble Hill, which is the trail right in Lake Placid. That one's even shorter.

[01:23:52] It was 1.7 miles and 470 feet in elevation. Oh wow. And again, nice views, um, down looking out at the Lake Placid and the town. Nice. And main reason I took it easy that day was cause the next day was going to be another long. So now that you're, you're Lake Placid Niner. That's, that's, that's a bad, I've heard that's a really big challenge.

[01:24:20] Like a lot of people love doing that because once again, it's not that crazy difficult. And they're also like fun viewpoints that offer a lot of like awesome, like feeling of just like, wow, you're, you're almost up at the high peaks of the summits, but not quite. Yeah. So I, these were my first two doing that, but again, it's just kind of one of those fun challenges that's on the list to do.

[01:24:47] And yeah, if you want a nice hike there, they're all amazing. Like you said it right. They have amazing views. The trails also after being so wet the day before I specifically did these cause I knew they'd be drier. They're very well maintained. The Van Haufenburg trail. Like you're talking stone steps and gravel paths and just meticulous, you know, no mud. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah.

[01:25:16] We, we went there. God, I don't even remember. We went there 2015 and they were just starting to put that stuff in. And it was, it was great. And I remember when I was up there, they had like bags, the helicopter had brought down bags of materials and stuff. I forgot what it was for. I think it was for the hike, the, that they put stone down and stuff like that. It was crazy.

[01:25:42] It was, there was like 12 bags brought in by helicopter up top on there. It was cool. Have you ever hiked bear mountain? In, uh, down in the Hudson Valley. Yeah. No, no, I haven't. It reminds me of that because like that trail crew did like an amazing job building steps and you know, you had them on the Jolly Rovers. Yeah. And you know, like a lot of people don't appreciate, like, they're just like, oh, this isn't hiking.

[01:26:11] I feel more like in the, in this urban area and stuff like that. But you gotta admit, like sometimes this number one is a, is a crowded area. So it helps and it gets, you know, people up there that would never like be able to see this shit. Like there were so many people on that trail and seniors. And you know, it was really, really nice. That's awesome.

[01:26:36] I, I, and I, I, I love that once again, Catter School Falls, people will be like, you know, it's too crowded and stuff, but you know, some persons say that in their lifetime, their greatest thing that they saw was a 250 foot waterfall in the Catskills. I will be like, that's awesome. Glad you got to enjoy it. So let's, let's move on. Now you're on to day three. This is the big day. So why is this the big day? It's one of the big days. I mean, yeah, you fucking had like five big days.

[01:27:06] Jesus. So Tuesday night, Eric was able to join me. He drove up that day after work and Wednesday we tackled Kabasa, which is haystack facing and saddlebag. And a lot of people have probably heard about this. I thought it was the most fun. I haven't had it. It's, it's 18.3 miles, 5,574 feet in elevation.

[01:27:36] This hike took us nine and a half hours. So it took you, it took you shorter to do Habasa than it did Marcy skylight gray and cold. Yeah. Cause it was a two and a half miles less. Yeah. But still like, uh, it's, it's how much feet of it is like 2000 more feet of elevation gain though. No, this one was, uh, 800 feet less. Oh, okay. 800. Sorry. Sorry. Wow. But still I've heard horror stories about Habasa. Yeah.

[01:28:04] So haystack is the first one everybody does because it's just the furthest away. And then you're kind of walking back to the car and that is, it's incredible. Uh, it's kind of got a false summit. It's little haystack and then haystack. Yeah. It's a little haystack. It's open summit. It's one of the peaks you can see from Marcy. And it was just beautiful up there. And it's kind of fun scrambles. Nothing super challenging. Thankfully the rocks were dry.

[01:28:34] The trail was wet the whole way getting up. Um, Eric, unfortunately got soaked feet before we were three miles in and his feet were soaked. So that kind of sucked, but, um, it got pretty windy up there, but that's the first peak and it was stunning. Then you go down into snowbird campground and up into basin and basin is another beautiful peak. It's not as open at the summit.

[01:29:04] I actually found this to be the most challenging peak of the day because the backside, when you start to descend, uh, it just had more shade. So the stone was still wet. I just posted a video today of one of the sections where I had the butt slide a little bit. I saw that. I was questioning. And I was wondering when that was that looked, that looked fucking scary. Like that looked a little crazy. Yeah. I mean, the top, you had something to hold on to. And the nice thing about the Adirondacks is the rock is very grippy.

[01:29:34] I think you described this when you did your trip on the Pemi loop that there's kind of texture to the rock. It's not as smooth. So, you know, thankfully it wasn't that slick and I was able to just get down low enough and then just take that last hop down. And then you get to the part that is the most famous, which is the Saddleback Cliffs. There's a lot of people that read about it and you see videos about it and it seems really scary, but I, you know, I'm not a heights guy.

[01:30:03] Uh, I don't climb fire towers, for example. I hate them. I could, I'll go about three platforms for me, but Saddleback, I just, it was like a playground for me. I loved it. The first two kind of climbs, you know, scramble that you have some footholds, but you also kind of need to pull your feet. Pull yourself up. So you always hear like, it's hard for short people or be easier if you were longer.

[01:30:29] But once you get a good grip and pull yourself up, it's not that bad. And part of it's just like looking and taking your time to where to put your foot, where to wedge your foot kind of reminds you to like the Cornell crack. It kind of looks worse than it is. I zip up that and you don't realize that when you're down at the bottom looking up. Uh, and part of it, I think because the two most challenging spots was so low, like you were just starting out and kind of had a flat landing at the bottom.

[01:30:57] So if you slipped, you weren't going to slip that far. And once you get past those two, then it's more of like a, a ramp and there's a crack and you, yeah, I just sailed the rest of the way up. The one regret I have is I took, I went too fast and didn't get enough photos. Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's a common mistake that everybody does. They want to, you know, so, and you know, they, I don't know.

[01:31:23] I I'm, I'm one that's, that's why, you know, I kind of, I don't have a fear for the Adirondacks, but I want, I want to enjoy the summits as long as I can. Like I, when I did Phelps and Marcy, I did Phelps and I was up there for the sunset for probably like two, three hours. And I'm like, fuck, I got to get back down in the dark now to my campsite. And then tomorrow morning I had to do Marcy, but then I was like, ah, I could be at Marcy forever, but I didn't have any views.

[01:31:51] So I didn't get to stay up there, but with me, you know, I'm a view guy. Like, yeah, I want to stay up there and just gaze forever. So I could be, once again, you, you, you talk about Haystack and being like an open summit. I would love to just be up there forever, but it sounds like you cannot do that just because of the long way out that you have to take. Yeah. I mean, we could have probably spent longer on Haystack.

[01:32:16] It did get windy and we were like, do we put on our jacket and stay here a little longer or do we get going? And we decided to get going mostly because we knew the hike that we had ahead of us. I think we could have gone slower and enjoyed ourselves a little bit longer looking back, but you know, part of it, you get wet feet, you want to move. And yeah, you know, you also, you start thinking about that cheeseburger or that slice of pizza at Stewart's after the hike.

[01:32:44] And then that motivates you to that said no beer. Catskill mountain brew doesn't think about a beer when he's on the summit. I did, but I say that, like I said, to lap to the last hike. So now what was how once you go back down? So you, you got off Saddleback. How's the hike out from Saddleback down from Saddleback was really cool.

[01:33:07] You go down a slide, which I had not realized when I first looked at the hike, but they, they have a staircase. Oh, nice. It's not like the staircases on the backside of slide. It's like the steps are half that distance. So you're just kind of stepping down and it's just a safe way to get down that slide and amazing views.

[01:33:33] And then when you get back to where like the JBL lodges, then it's just starts the March out. And Eric and I had met a guy, Johnny, who was up doing the same hike. And we just kept, uh, hopping each other. Cause like he'd hop ahead and then he'd take a rest and then we'd hike past and then we'd take a snack and then he'd hike it. And by the time we got to that point, we just started hiking out together and talking about food and stuff. So that was kind of nice. So what is the March out? How long was that?

[01:34:02] The is this my kind of think of like, you know, three to four miles of just flat shit. See that's, I don't want to deal with that. It's four miles. It did suck. It was the death March. We were just talking to like, so we talked about food the whole way. You feel like zombies. Yeah. I mean, it wasn't that bad. Uh, we were kind of reminiscing about the hike and talking about other things.

[01:34:26] And it was nice having somebody there to talk about, uh, the next day and what we wanted to do and what other peaks Johnny had done and you know where he was and lots of talking about food. But yeah, when you get to the car, you're excited to see the car. Yeah. Now, uh, after that, you know, what do you, what do you, we did, we should have talked about this earlier, but, uh, we'll talk about it afterwards. So now they were on day four, right?

[01:34:56] Yeah. That was a three day for we had on the schedule, a rest day or possibly a hike if we were feeling really good. And I think Eric wishes we took a rest day here. But when I asked him about it at breakfast, he said, I don't want to sit in the cabin all day. I want some peaks. So we looked at the list of what he had and what I had, and we decided to go and do lower wolf jaw and upper wolf jaw.

[01:35:23] Uh, the positive of that is that it was a little bit shorter. This was 13.2 miles and only 3,948 feet in elevation. This one took us seven hours. The downside is to get to the start of the climb and the end of the climb was the same trail we had done the day before. Oh, whoa. Yeah.

[01:35:48] And, um, these were very, these reminded me of, uh, the Catskill hikes. You don't have the open summits. You kind of have really cool scrambles. Uh, the hike up was beautiful because you're kind of going up the side of the trail. It was this beautiful stream, but yeah, I think Eric was disappointed that on a rest day, he chose to do two peaks that didn't have amazing views.

[01:36:16] Did you, was this, uh, the day that you had like, uh, fog and stuff like that or? No, that was the next day. Oh, that was the next day. Oh man. That's like, you kind of hope for that when you do, you don't have amazing views, you get one of those days. Yeah. We actually talked about, we wished we had flipped these two. Uh, cause the next day we did the Dick's range and that was, uh, an amazing hike. Uh, have you ever hiked the six?

[01:36:46] Have you done the six? Yes. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. It reminds you of that. The first hike is kind of similar. I actually think it's harder going up Friday than going up Macomb. Um, but it's 15.7 miles, 5,000, six, uh, 5,900 feet in elevation. This hike took us nine and a half hours. So the same as Habasa, uh, we were a little slower this day because it was wet, but Macomb, you actually hike up a slide.

[01:37:17] Which is really fun. Yeah. Um, this was not a scary, like not just a rocks slide. It had, um, or not a rock slab. It had a bunch of loose rock and kind of sand in the slide. So it was actually not that slick. They warn you that you kind of got to be careful that you're not just looking down at your feet. Cause somebody might send the rock down tumbling after you. But when we went up it, we were completely alone.

[01:37:45] Um, and then you do South Dix, Grace, Ho and Dix. And it's kind of like, I say, it's like the six because you get up and then you're hopping. You do that kind of sawtooth up and back and up and back. Um, but this day was the day that unfortunately was cloudy because I heard that there are some amazing views, but we got to see some of the cool rocks and the cool features, but we didn't have any views that day. Um, and it was very wet.

[01:38:14] It had rained. Thankfully the thunderstorm stayed away. But if you're, I mean, there, a lot of it is bushwhack, which it's even more herd pathy up there than in the Catskills. But this was kind of more of an overgrown path and you have a lot of mud when you're on the ridge.

[01:38:33] So if you're hopping from side to side of the trail, just to stay out of the, the pond and you kind of hop in the edges, then you're brushing against all the vegetation. So you're wetter and wetter. Yeah. Yeah. Your shoes were soggy. Yeah. I don't think the, you're kind of influencing me not to go up there, man, unless it's 100% beautiful weather.

[01:38:59] I mean, I'll still like not beautiful either, but I will redo this. Like, I can't wait to redo this. Like Joanne needs to do this. Like, okay. Like I can't, I'll do it with you. Let me know. Let me, let me know. And I will, I will find a place to stay with you up there. I will, I will not do these, what these, these crazy people do down in New York city is drive five and a half hours in the morning and start the day of the hike they drove. That's insane. I want a good night's sleep.

[01:39:27] I want a good breakfast and then I'll start the hike. We did this on Friday and there was actually only two other groups of two out on the trail the whole day. And normally this one's a hard one to do just because you got to get to the parking lot. So there's only like 10 spaces in this parking lot. Oh no shit. Yeah. That's tough. There was only four cars. So what a lot of people actually do is they'll go Friday just to get a, just to get a parking spot and they'll go in and they'll camp in.

[01:39:55] So then you don't have to do the whole 15.7 miles in one day, but it, you know, just a beautiful hike, some amazing trails. And yeah, I can't wait to do it again. Cool. I'm looking forward to it. So now we're on to day five and this is the hike of all the, the famous people from Instagram. Yeah. So day five, we did cliff and Redfield.

[01:40:24] That hike was 20.4 miles, 4,540 feet of elevation and took us 13.5. Wow. So when we were planning this trip, I knew I was going up and I told a couple people, one of the people I told was Joanne. And Joanne had told me that there was a plan.

[01:40:48] And her, Sean, total catskill and Shayna, Shay three, one, five. We're planning to hike cliff and red. And it's a bushwhack, no herd path. There's some muddy bogs kind of famous for being one of the harder Adirondack hikes. And I said, well, I'll be up there and I'll be happy to join you.

[01:41:15] And Sean and Joanne didn't make it just other things. Um, but other people did. So I got to hike and meet Todd bold and Katie Henderson hikes and Jeff Johnson orla. Wow. So this fills my heart. Like, like, like, would you say this was brought together by the podcast or no?

[01:41:39] I, I was saying that I think I definitely met all these people and learned about them on Instagram, partly from the show. And just the tags. Um, and the actual meeting on the hike was part just knowing and wanting to hike with these people and part Joanne, you know, sweet. But yeah, we talked about it when I, when we got all together, like, we all got to tag the show. And we're like, yeah, we do. And I felt about how I do.

[01:42:08] I it's, it's the community. Like once again, like, like, you know, five or six of you people are going up to the fricking Adirondacks and hiking together that tag the show. Like that just, it just fills my heart. And you guys are all like minded, the same people leave no trace, respect the trails. You know, you're all awesome people. So it's just, it just, once again, I love seeing this and this was like, I was like, oh shit, everybody got together for this hike. This is cool. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:42:36] So the night before Todd and Katie and Jeff had hiked in to one of the lean twos. Nice. Stayed on the stream right near Colden Dam. That's where the Thunderbox was. And me and Eric were obviously hiking the day before. And we met Shana at the trailhead and we hiked into them. And Katie had texted Shana that night saying which lean two they were at.

[01:43:06] So we met him at the lean two. And I mean, it was a stunning spot. Like just like two minutes down from the lean two. It was like you just walk out to this stone beach on the side of the Opalescence River. And they were like sunbathing and chilling on the river. And then, yeah, we did from there. We hiked as the group.

[01:43:32] We decided to do Redfield first because it's the furthest and it's the highest. The way out, you go again past Colden Dam and some amazing waterfalls and swimming holes.

[01:43:48] And then you get to the trailhead and the whole way up, you're kind of hiking on either like a rock trail on the side of the stream or there's parts where the trail kind of goes right in to the stream. And I always joke kind of I think like the trail planners decided that the least erosive trail is to just be in a stream bed where it's already eroded. So there's a lot of hiking Adirondacks where you're just going up stream beds like skylights like that.

[01:44:20] And it was a long ascent. You know, it's just straight up. If you've ever seen the profile, it's just it's like a pin needle. Nice. But that was cool because we were together hanging out, taking lots of photos, chilling with the dog, stopping and taking some water breaks and seeing some cool people like we met a lady that was doing her Adirondack grid.

[01:44:43] I met a trail guide from Onward Guides who does trail hikes in the Adirondacks. And I followed him on Instagram for years. It was kind of cool bumping into him. And there's just spots where you're walking up and all of a sudden you turn around and you just see Colden and the slides on Colden. And then you go up a little bit more and the angles change and you look back through the opening of the river and there's Marcy.

[01:45:11] And, you know, that was kind of cool for me because that was like the last hike of the trip, seeing all the peaks that I had hiked on the first day of my trip. So I was seeing the views off in the distance of Colden, Marcy Gray and Skylight. And from the summit, there's not like an amazing view at the summit itself.

[01:45:32] We go a little bit past and you go through these little bushes and you just walk out and there's this open view to the south and straight ahead of you is Allen. Which Allen is another one of the 46ers and it's one of the most remote mountains. And you can just kind of see it from this trail. So and then, you know, we took our time on the way down, having been tired from the climb. We got back to the junction.

[01:46:00] We actually decided to take a snack, drink a lot of water and leave our packs. This is kind of common thing because the hike up to Cliff is not that long. And this is where you get into the famous bogs. Like the first probably point three miles is not a lot of climb. It's just mud. And there's a thankfully there's a lot of logs and stuff that have been thrown across the mud.

[01:46:29] But you're like balancing on this log and you put your sticks down and you just keep sinking and sinking and sinking. And you realize if you slip off this log, you are going to be going like waist deep into the mud. And then once you get past that, the trail dries out a little bit. And then you start getting into some rock scrambles and some kind of cool cliffs. And, you know, it was just we all had a lot more fun in that section.

[01:46:59] So the scrambles kind of remind me like the Catskills. And everybody kept saying that. I think Jeff said that like three times. Good, good. By the worst part of the hike is that there's a false summit on cliffs. So you think you're done and then you have to start going down again and then go back up again and then get out to the summit just to get to the true summit. And from there, there's no views. But then you turn around and you head back and you get start to get back to the views from some of the cliffs. Wow.

[01:47:27] That sounds I once again, having company is great. And it's and you know, it's not just the conversation you have in your head or the conversation you have in two people, but it's like five, six people. It's great to hear like, oh, yeah, yeah, this and this and then this and then, you know, it goes for so long. And then all of a sudden you're at the summit. You're like, holy shit. That was that like really that much time? Because you're talking. It's great. You know, the groups have been flow.

[01:47:54] Like there was a time when I was in the front with Todd for a bit. And then there was another time where I was able to like, I was like paired up and getting to talk to Katie and she's amazing and Todd's amazing. And the person that was in the front the whole time was Zorla. Of course, of course. And let me tell you that dog can climb cliffs. She's incredible. At seven years old, she was making her way up all the peaks. Oh, she's so cute. I can't wait to meet her.

[01:48:24] Let's hope we can get a whole time of where Orleans or Oaken come together and we can get the famous dogs of Catskills together. So now with all this, this is a lot of a lot of climbing. As you said, a total of what? Ninety four miles. Twenty seven thousand feet of gain. Yep. So what do you. One point five hours. Wow. So you have all this. What is in your pack?

[01:48:51] I should ask this before, but what is in your pack for these trips? So you have full on rain gear, stuff like that. You know, the Adirondacks are way more unpredictable than the Catskills. Yeah. The first day, you know, I was like, oh, my God, it's the Adirondacks. It might be cold. I had two jackets in there. I always have my first aid kit. I had to change the socks. I had for the first day, I had brought like five liters of water, tons and tons of snacks. It's like you never know.

[01:49:21] I mean, it's long. Never know. And I started hurting because my pack was so heavy. Like, so the next day I was like, I don't need all this crap. Like you over plan. Right. I brought just in case I got cold. I even had like a pair of leggings in my pack the first day. And the next day I'm like, yeah, I need the rain jacket in the windshield, but I don't need the extra puff, you know, and I don't need the leggings.

[01:49:53] And, you know, I have my water filter. I didn't need to bring five liters of water, especially with like, I got lucky with the weather. It wasn't that hot. You know, I think the highs were in the seventies. Most of the week. That's not bad. It wasn't too cold at night. The lows were in the fifties. I mean, it was an amazing week. But when, you know, when you're not sweating the whole hike, you don't need five liters of water. I was drinking plenty going to the bathroom plenty.

[01:50:22] So I always had electrolytes, like one liter of electrolytes that I premixed. And then I'd always have like three liters in the back instead of like five. And on some of the shorter hikes, I have a little less in my, I always have a camelback because I just like the convenience of that. And I didn't bring a lot of food.

[01:50:45] For like the last three months, I've been on a keto diet, which they say is actually really helpful for endurance hiking because your body gets all of its energy from the fat that you eat and the fat in the body. So you're not reliant on the spikes of the food that you're putting in. And that really helped me this whole trip. Um, when I first got on the diet, they'll tell you like, you'll get a little bit more muscle fatigue.

[01:51:10] Like when you, after a hike, I'd be fine on the hike, but like the next day I was just sore considering I hike every weekend. But after like a month that kind of went away and you know, I would eat a good breakfast and then I'd have a snack just to have a snack when we were sitting on a summit. But I never felt hungry and I never felt like I needed to keep my energy up. I would just drink when I needed to drink.

[01:51:38] And like I said, have a snack and we were just chilling at a summit. But then I'd get home, we'd finish the hike and then we'd eat. Yeah. Yeah. He'd massive amounts. Yeah. Almost every day we'd go to Stewart's and get some slices of pizza and some cheeseburgers. And also like this was new to this trip. I always had a Red Bull. Oh, well, interesting.

[01:52:02] And that nice treat, something different when you've been drinking water all day is to have a Red Bull. So Eric said he did that. And I was like, that sounds fun. So when we did the nine as a training hike two weeks ago, he had a Red Bull. And I was like, that sounds smart. So I got some Red Bulls. Interesting. I would say like try a bloom. It's a little bit more healthier. Okay.

[01:52:29] I've never had one, but I've heard they're more healthier and they're pretty just as good. I would say just as good as an energy stuff. But so now we talked about them briefly, but it's the most famous thing in the Adirondacks besides the insane amount of mud. And the floating logs, like how like did your feet get wet? Like are you, is it, is it absolutely you're 100% going to get wet?

[01:52:59] So 12 years ago, Sam and I hiked Marcy and Skylight and we went through the famous floating logs. And when we went through, it was awesome. It was these like log beams that just went from kind of pier to pier through this deep, deep, deep water. And every now and then you get on a log and it would sink down a little bit and your boots would get wet. But that was it.

[01:53:28] Last year, when I went through there, you get to where the logs should have been and all the logs have been washed out. So what I did last year, like you see where the ribbons are and where the trail markers are and where you're supposed to go straight through. And no joke, when we were on Cliff and Red, one of the people we ran into was a family that was doing it. And they joked about how the, they had come in the lodge side instead of the upper work side.

[01:53:55] And the mother had fallen off the logs and went shoulder deep. Whoa, shit. With the backpack on and such? Yeah. And she's tall. I'm telling you, this would be over my head, the water. Um, so last year, like you can see where they all washed out to the side. And I like, I didn't know another way around. So I just like literally ran and jumped from one line to the other.

[01:54:21] And I started sinking because it was no longer supported by a pier because it had been washed out. And I went like knee deep. And what I heard is if you stick to the, like this year when I was gone, I heard if you stick to the right side, it's a lot better. So right as if you're going out from the lodge. And that's kind of the side where all the logs wash to. And now they're kind of planted in the mud over on that side.

[01:54:49] So you're able to like just balance on the logs. And there's one or two that like, if you test them with the poles, you'll see that they're not solid. They're still going to sink. But I was actually able to get through there on Monday without sinking into the water. Wow. I've heard unbelievable stories, seen unbelievable videos about that area. Yeah. It's kind of a rite of passage. And like, Shayna said this in our group chat where we were talking about the heights and the planet and the red and cliff. So you got to go through there at some point. You know, it's kind of cool.

[01:55:18] True. It's an experience. Yeah. I wish they'd maintain the logs like they were 12 years ago though. Cause that's, you know, it's just cool to be out in the middle of this. It's almost like a lake. It feels like you're on a big pond or lake and you're just walking across the trail that's maintained through the lake. That's crazy. That's something else. See, it makes me want to go out there, but then I don't want to get my, my boots wet or something like that.

[01:55:47] And just have the rest of the hike. I hate when my, my boots and socks are wet. I definitely think you can get through it now, staying to the right. And some people will just plan to get wet and take their boots off. And again, I think the lady just, she slipped and that's why she got, you know, shoulder high because if she didn't think she was going to slip off that log, she would have been prepared to not, you know, to just catch yourself.

[01:56:15] I think it's, you know, so with the, I mean, that's all it's, what's all about. So speaking of fun at what time in this, this hike during all these hikes, 94 miles, did you get your, your terrain? That's just like gnarly. Like you're like, Holy shit. This is, this is insane. Like the slide you talk about scrambles. Well, what is your spot? Um, my favorite spot on the whole trip was the saddleback cliffs.

[01:56:43] Like I said, they were just so much fun. Again, it's like, it's just like a playground to me. I just love it. But kind of like the gnarliest had to bend the slide. Again, I, I want to go back and see it on an open day. Like I look at my photos. It was so socked in. Like I, you're looking by 20 feet down and you can barely see Eric.

[01:57:05] So you can't really see the, the entire, I couldn't see everything that I was like actually climbing up, you know? Yeah. The openness. Yeah. But I mean, I think it's gotta be like half a mile slide that you're going up if not longer. So like if you can see it all and kind of picture how high you are and how open you are, it's probably a different experience. Yeah.

[01:57:32] Well, those slides on the, on the Adirondacks are a whole different story. Like I've heard, you know, so many people like those slides and they're, they're fun. They're, you know, a lot of them are safe once again, because, you know, they offer different grip and such like that. You know, that you have more of a stability than you do kind of like on your, your spots of like you say, you're hiking up Marcy where it's just kind of flat rock going up and you can slip and fall and like hit your head.

[01:57:59] These are, these are a little bit more grippy and more reliable somewhat. Yeah. I mean, I, I never felt like any of the trails were that dangerous on cliff. There were a couple of spots where it's like these, these rocks are wet. We're tired. It's late in the day.

[01:58:17] This is a little bit sketchy, but think about like the Cornell Wittenberg, you know, the Burroughs range traverse where you always have that option where you can go a little bit to the left or a little bit to the right and get down without going straight through the rock obstacle. And, you know, we did, we were like, you know, we're going to be safe. We're not going to risk it. And you just go like the little side trail and you get down.

[01:58:45] So you don't have to go through, you know, the crazy. True. You know, that part we were talking about earlier on base and where I slid a little bit. We were talking about that hike because Shana is doing that one next. That's when she still needs to do. And we talked about that spot. And Joanne said, if you look around, there is a side trail there that goes without, you know, needing to go through that scramble. So that option always exists just like we have here.

[01:59:16] Nice. That's, I mean, that's always awesome. I mean, that, you know, it's good to have options for the less, like lesser challenging areas. So once again, you don't become injured. You know, come on. Come on. One of those stories. Like they have to hike. How many miles do they have to hike in to get you? Like the other, the Adirondacks. That's one's one of the things that I have to say sucks. It's for rescues because they have brutal terrain to battle. They have the weather and they have distances.

[01:59:45] Like, it's not like somebody gets injured a mile in on a hike up to, you know, devil's path, two miles in. It's always like eight miles in and it's on difficult terrain. So that's what, and that's, and maybe that's my, my one fear of the, the Adirondacks is just to know, like what happens if you're eight miles in and you're, you know, in Habesaw, you're not really on the area of where they can get, you know, like a helicopter, like Lafayette or something like that.

[02:00:14] Like, it's tough. Yeah. So, I mean, what, so how about, well, me being a view guy, where would you say within this 94 miles that you piked where I have to go to get the view? Like stunning, blow your face away. I'd have to say there are a lot of them.

[02:00:39] It's the Adirondacks is why people hike there, but the best view was probably from Haystack. Right. I've heard that several times. Yeah. And like, like Marcy, like, like you're on top of New York state basically. Yeah. So Marcy and Haystack are about the same in elevation. Marcy's obviously a little bit higher. Um, what I liked about Haystack was the two summits and the fact there's a lot less people.

[02:01:09] And in Marcy, you're always going to bump into people. But Haystack's just a little bit more remote. It's a little bit further away. Uh, cause it's on the backside of Marcy. And it's kind of center of the park. Oh, nice. Where Marcy, you can see Algonquin and Iroquois and, uh, cliff and red, and you can see the other way to dial nipple top and all the other mountains. It's just, it's amazing. Nice. No, I have to get up there. Once again, I got to even get up to Marcy again. The last one I got up to Marcy, I was stocked in.

[02:01:38] So I got, I got like a sudden sunrise in the morning when I got above tree line. And then all of a sudden I saw the clouds flow in and I was screwed. I think I'm a couple, my posts. I'm like, stop. When are you going to join me? I got, you might have to carry me out the last four miles. So if you guys are willing to drag me, I'll just be like, ah, right, that's good. Well, that's what's nice. If you're willing to camp, it's really cool how Jeff and Katie did it.

[02:02:05] And Todd, the first night is that you can go in the first five miles, set up your camp. It's pretty flat. Those first five miles. So you're not carrying your tent or if you're going to a shelter, even better, you know, you're not carrying that weight, the whole height. And you just take a day pack and then you can stay there the next night, like Jeff and Katie did. So then, you know, they broke a 20 mile hike up into five, 10 and five. Yeah.

[02:02:34] Makes it a lot easier. And, you know, your legs are refreshed and you're ready to go. Yeah. And that's what I did with Marcy as I hiked in to just below Phelps. I camped, did Phelps, went back to Marcy, packed out, which was awesome. You know, I had a great time. It's just, you know, those once again, like you said, sometimes those marches out for four miles.

[02:02:58] I, I like camping and stuff, but to do it like for days and to not have a juicy double cheeseburger with some hard cider is going to kill me. Like, and that's why I love New Hampshire and stuff. New Hampshire is a replica of the Catskills, but like double with open summits and the Catskills are the Adirondacks. Listen, I had a great time on Phelps and Marcy.

[02:03:25] Phenomenal going up Phelps was crazy because of the goddamn mud. It was insane. But you know, I, I had a phenomenal time and a phenomenal view. I was blown away. So I'm looking to get back up there. It's just, I need to take the time off like you did in like maybe a week and just pound this stuff out. But I don't know if I had the fucking knees that you do. You have some like steel knees. What the hell is wrong with you? I think when like, I've been training for this. I knew it was coming.

[02:03:53] I did some bigger hikes here in the Catskills, like the nine and like the Spruce and straight shot where you go over Westkill, Cheryl North Dome. It's a good place to be able to build up some mileage and some distance and some elevation. And I like going for the week because I like being there in the week and not on the weekends. Like that's the reason I don't like the Adirondacks is the people. Like, I like the Catskills because like we don't have a lot of people.

[02:04:22] I like the Adirondacks when I'm there in the middle of the week where I might see 10 or 15 people instead of hundreds of people. And we got lucky when we hiked Saturday was Cliff and Red, which just aren't very popular. But we saw so many more people on that hike than the whole rest of the week. Wow. It's kind of insane how many people. But that's why I like to do the week trips. But I mean, it's an amazing place and I hope people do as they are this summer.

[02:04:50] It's great seeing how many Catskill hikers are going up there just to spend a weekend or a little longer and getting some of the peaks in. Correct. And don't forget about the podcast of the Catskills. All right. Let's not forget. Once again, keeping everybody keep we all tagged you. I know you were outside the line. But but you know what? I respect. I love that. I love to hear everybody getting together and love to see what people are doing because that's a community. That's what we are here. And that's what I feel the podcast is.

[02:05:20] We are tight fucking community. And I love it. And like you like you, Scott, like you're tagging all the time. You don't you don't have to. It's not like a priority, but you still do. And I appreciate that. And it fills my heart to see Scott was out again. He's going to rip it up like, holy shit. What does he do? That's what I say. I'm like, what the hell did he do today? Oh, I just went to dispercent thing. And then the next day, I banged out the fucking East Path of Devil's Path. Nothing, nothing. You guys are crazy.

[02:05:50] So now, like with this, are you still going to keep going up in the Adirondacks? What's next on the list? Do you have something going on? Yeah. So I, I would skip that question. It's like, when did you start planning this? Oh, yeah, yeah. Sorry. Sorry. Like, like, like, I said, I, I went up to this campground and stayed at the same place last fall. I went up for the first time for the week last October and did something similar, just not

[02:06:18] quite as crazy in that they were all like kind of two peak days. And that's part of how I knew I could do it because I hiked every day that trip. So I knew as long as I didn't overdo it and hurt myself that I could hike every day. And I really liked the place I was at. So I was waiting and Memorial Day, they started opening up for reservations and I booked immediately. And I actually booked three trips.

[02:06:47] I have the week I just did. I have another week in August and a week and a half in September, where I'll be in the Adirondacks. And then July, I'm actually going to the whites for the first time. Wait a minute, July? With when? Um, well, the 19th. So now we're going to go out and move to the Adirondacks and then move to the whites. Now, Scott, we're going to be hearing about him going into different areas. I can't wait to hear about it, man. That's awesome. Yeah.

[02:07:16] So I, I'm still going to keep hiking in the Catskills. I plan to continue to do the single seasons, um, just cause I love it. And I'm working on that grid and I'm looking forward to the whites. I have not hiked. I don't know that I've hiked in the whites, but I don't know that I haven't hiked in the whites. Like I said, maybe it'll be one of those where I will remember. Interesting. I've never heard that. You know, in the past life, I might've hiked in the whites. You sound like somebody in the seventies.

[02:07:45] I was probably high when I did it. I don't remember. I know we've been up there and I know I camped there when I was a kid, whether or not I hiked the high peaks. I don't know. Cool. That's, that's cool to say, dude, come on. Yeah. Yeah. That's fricking wicked to say, I don't know if I've been there, but then sometime you might be going up to Lafayette. You're like, Oh, I remember this when I was a little kid. Yeah. So Lafayette is one of the peaks I'm going to hike. Oh, nice. Nice. What's, so what's your, what's your plan?

[02:08:15] Let's, let's go over the plan. So anybody else that can hear this can join you and we can have a whole inside the line thing. So, well, I will be hiking with one inside the liner. I'll be joined by Joanne. Oh, nice. Some of the hikes. I mean, it's just rough. The only thing that's definitely planned is we're going to do the traverses of the Franconia Ridge. So flume Lafayette Lincoln and Liberty. Okay.

[02:08:44] And then the wildcat Carter. Nice. So that's five peaks, wildcat, a D Carter, Carter dome and middle Carter. Uh, and then I just, I have some tentative, like, this is a longer day. This is an easier day. That's a longer day. This is an easier day. The part of it with the whites is it's weather dependent. And, and, you know, if you have a really clear, nice sunny day, you go to hike with a view.

[02:09:12] If you're socked in, there's a couple up there that have no views. So, you know, it's subject to change, but awesome. Cool. Cool. Well, I look forward to hearing about it. Definitely. So last. Yeah. Yeah. We'll get a tag. We'll get a tag. Who better from Joanne to Joanne. She's going to be tagging more of what the hell's going on. Joanne. I still love you. I still love you. Well, she does stories. So she does. Then I'm, I don't, I try not to miss that. I try not. So, um, last question. Catskills doesn't matter.

[02:09:41] Catskills are not your post hike bruising bites. Scott, what do you got? Uh, you know, my favorite place is West Hill for obvious reasons. They have the best beer, um, and amazing food now, um, for, uh, a new one. I would say to check, check out Haymarket. Ooh. It's a bakery kind of cafe coffee shop that opened up right in Hensonville recently. Okay.

[02:10:11] Nice. Right off the trail from the black head range and like Peck road. If you're doing Wyndham that way, right in Hensonville, it's in an old church. It's beautiful. No shit. All right. I was just there the other like lap puck a week, couple weeks ago. Yeah. All right. I will. That's in the show notes right now. So excellent. Oh, so once again, uh, Scott, thank you for joining us. Uh, big. Thank you for joining.

[02:10:40] Uh, not only just tagging the podcast, not the pack podcast tonight, but doing everything like once again, people like you of tagging the podcast and promoting the catskills, promoting hiking and being like your steward, you volunteer, you, you probably preach no trace when you're out on the trail, teaching other people. Um, you're also being like. Like insanely responsible with sorrow, you know, like teaching other people stuff like that. By example is phenomenal.

[02:11:09] And I appreciate that you listen to podcasts, you follow podcasts and that you're on the podcast tonight. And it's just, it's been a great time. So we'll have you definitely on you again. Thank you for having me and thank you for doing what you do. I think it's incredible. And it unites us all. So that's, that's, that was my whole point. That's, that's what I want to do. I don't, you know, I love my sponsors and stuff like that. The sponsors help us once again, to unite the community and stuff like that.

[02:11:36] It's just, I'm very grateful that, but my, my, my only goal is to make the catskills a stronger place to make us more, you know, just united and stuff. And it, I can see it's done that. So, all right, Scott, thanks for joining us. Hopefully catch you again in the future. We'll, we'll, we'll check up on your tags, man. Let me make sure. All right. Yeah, definitely. Hi everyone. I just want to thank you for listening to the show.

[02:12:03] If you enjoyed the show, subscribe and throw down a smooth review on Spotify, Apple podcasts, or any podcast platform that you use. 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. Remember this, you gotta just keep on living in the catskills, man.

[02:12:33] L-I-V-I-N. Wicked, wicked, wicked, wicked.