Go for Hike, Find a Hidden Waterfall.
Posted: July 6, 2009 Filed under: General | Tags: hike, Shawangunk Mountain Ridge, The Gunks, waterfall 6 Comments »A while back I read a post on Jay Gaulard’s blog about a hidden waterfall somewhere near the Shawangunk Mountain Ridge (The ‘Gunks).You can read all about his experience by clicking here . If you read his post, you’ll notice he did not give the location. I emailed him and politely asked for more specific details . Luckily, he provided me with more detailed directions provided I promised to send him a check for 100 bucks. The check is in the mail buddy. Promise.
We decided that today we would go for hike. Originally, we were going to go to Sam’s Point to visit the ice caves. Been there, done that. Twice. Have the T-shirt and hat. Than I remembered the email Jay Gaulard sent to me a long time ago and suggested to Laurie that we go looking for a hidden waterfall.
We packed the backpack with sandwhiches, chips, water, some more water, a couple of towels and some matches-you never know. All the survival shows I watch all do the same thing-start a fire. So we loaded up the car and went over the mountain, into Ellenville, than right onto 209. I will spare you the details of where we parked and just say it is off the beaten path. We parked the car right in front of the gate. Actually off to the side as not to block the gate, I obey bright red signs.
Wait for me!!
Umm..no woods. No water. Where are you taking us Fatty?
As we walked down the path, we spotted a construction site. To me, it looks like New York State caught on to the fact people have been hiking through here for a while. Looks like they are building a parking lot for people to park their cars….there is even a little guard shack or toll both looking thing.
Paved paradise and put up a parking lot...
Two pipes in the middle of the lot- think they are part of the Catskill Aquadect System.
ok enough of the soon to be parking lot- if that what it even is.
On with the show.
Please stop taking pictures of the parking lot...lets keep going.
Ok ok just one more..
Helipad next to the parking lot!
OK, on through the giant clearing…
Onward!
….and into the woods
Here we go!
Oh a word about videos. When you click on the video the first time, it will skip and pause alot. When you play the video a second time the picture will be nice and steady.
As you see in the video, the terrain was very rocky and hilly. Tough going for a 3 year old and one wearing flip flops. Maddie did very well on the rocks and even found her own private beach!
My own beach!
After Maddie splashed around a bit, we traveled upstream to the falls.
As we got closer, we could hear the falls get louder until finally I spotted them through trees and took a very quick video. Why so quick? We were balancing on rocks…
We climbed a little higher so I could get this video:
A closer look
We decided that this was a pretty good place to sit and have some lunch. But where to sit? How about a rock in the middle of the pool at the botom of this cavern? Ok!
Good sandwhich eating spot for 3
We settled in on the rock above and I shot this video
We ate our lunch, re packed the backpack and made our way back out to the car. On the way home we spotted some hanggliders over the ridge in Ellenville. But that is another post.
Hiking on the O&W
Posted: June 29, 2009 Filed under: General | Tags: hike, O&W Railroad, VFW Wurtsboro, Wurtsboro Leave a comment »For the first time in nearly a decade the sun decided to come out. Laurie thought it would be a good idea to go hiking along the old O&W railroad. Over in Wurtsboro, you can follow the track right of way from the VFW hall to the abdandon tunnel. My guess is the tunnel is about a 2 mile hike.
That’s easy!
Is it? Try it with 3 year old after 2 weeks of rain wearing flip flops. No one said we were smart. Everytime we go on a hike, we say the same thing:” Next time, were gonna wear the proper clothing and have a backpack!” Never happens.
We arrived at the VFW hall in Wurtsboro and walked in the opposite direction of the tunnel first. Why? At first, we had no intention of going to the tunnel, than about halfway to nowhere, we figured what the hell and turned around. Maddie ran back first:
Uhhh..tunnel is this way. Morons.
Grandpa J is gonna get me!!! AHHH!!
The picture above was taken right after we turned around and headed back toward the VFW hall which can be seen in the background (along with our car).
Sorry..I couldn't hold it.
Anyone see a tunnel around here??
Seriously. Tunnel. Now. We will leave you out here fat man.
Is that the...tunnel? Could it be?
It is the tunnel! Or the entrance to Mordor?
Frodo! Throw the ring in!
So, the Fellowship of the Tunnel made it! It was a fun hike. Next time I am wearing sneakers.
Hike Behind Our House
Posted: March 23, 2009 Filed under: Good Times, Madaghan | Tags: behind the house, brook, hike Leave a comment »After the sandbox was completed, we decided to go for a walk behind our house. We treked down the ravene to the stream.
Looking up from the brook
In the stream looking up
Exploring
Climbed out of the ravene, turned around and snapped this picture.
And people ask me why I commute 70 miles one way…..
Take a Hike, Find a Body.
Posted: March 15, 2009 Filed under: Good Times, Madaghan | Tags: body, hike, Madaghan, park 8 Comments »Laurie had a thought. She turned to me and said:” If I was going to hide a body, it would be in Bloomingburg Park.” Awesome. My immediate thought was she is actually thinking about where to ditch my body when she eventually kills me. Turns out, she heard on the news that a reward of 14K has been offered up to whoever finds the body of the missing young lady. Laurie wanted to go for a hike in Bloomingburg park to look for the missing girl. Laurie was serious. She sermised that the suspect dropped the body off in Bloomingburg park. Actually, her theory was not such a far-fetched one. A rug that matches the suspect’s apartment rug was found not to far from the park plus, his vechicle was seen in the village of Bloomingburg. Me, it was a good enough reason to go traipsing through the woods. That’s right I said traipsing. Laurie was morbidly serious about finding the body and collecting the reward. In fact, unbeknownst to me, she even loaded the car with a shovel and a pair of my working gloves. Here I thought we were going for a nice leisurely hike.
At Start of the hike
Distracted by falling water
The Keebler Elevs' Hood.
Sorry to report, we did not find anything. Would have been nice to give the family some closure and my account more money.[Sentence added at the behest and good natured ribbing in the comments section of two faithful readers, Jay Gaulard and Eugene L. Yours truly forgot to report on the status of the hike. ]
When we made it back to the park, Maddie ran to the playground.
Me likes the park.
Daddy! When did you learn to fly?
Maddie....Hello?...Maddie?
A Walk in the Woods
Posted: October 26, 2008 Filed under: Madaghan | Tags: hike, woods 1 Comment »
We crossed this stream
On top of the hill, stream in the background, far down below.
View from top of the hill looking down onto the stream
Maddie did a good job walking up the hill and through woods.Her little legs carried up and over boulders and logs. She loved it and did not want to leave. We should done this a long time ago as it is peaceful and the scenery is nice. We even joked about building a picnic table on top of the hill and having lunch back there every so often. But that bring unwanted attention from our very large furry brown bear friends, so that was scratched off the to-do list.
Maddie taking in the view
