2023 Catskill Fire Tower Challenge

Took my time leaving the hotel.  No big rush.  No matter how late I leave, it will still be earlier in the day my drive north.  And I only have 5 remaining counties to find geocaches in. Weather forecast is severe thunderstorms all day long.  At least in Ulster County, NY.  Had 2 very short storms on the drive home.  No big deal.  Didn't stop me from getting my counties, so now I have a contiguous set of counties from Pascagoula, MS through AL, FL, AL, GA, TN, VA, MD, DE, NJ, ending in Saratoga NY. Submitted my info to NYS DEC.  Sent the horrible Hunter Mountain selfie where I'm soaked with a combination of rain and sweat, but smiling because I did it. As a reminder: https://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/76620.html

Tremper Mountain Looking out the window at 5:30 in the morning gave me some hope.  It was hazy, but there was blue above the haze.  I checked the weather forecast again, and it had gotten much better.  Partly cloudy until about 2:00PM, then chance of showers.  No threat of thunderstorms until 7:00PM. The trail to the Tremper Mountain Fire Tower probably rivals the Appalachian Trail in our area for rockiness.  For much of the hike, you have to constantly look down and watch ever foot placement.  And that's for over 6 miles up and back down.  (Note:  6.41 miles total with a 2,044 foot elevation gain).  I was expecting my hips, knees, and ankles to feel some strain, but what I wasn't counting on was the shoulder pain that I think came from looking down at my feet for hours. But put that all aside.  The view from the top of the fire tower was absolutely spectacular.  Really makes me wish that I had gotten a bit luckier with the weather ...

 As near as I could figure going into this, Hunter Mountain was probably the hardest hike.  At 7.11 miles with a 1925 foot elevation gain, definitely more difficult than both of yesterday's.  For that reason, I paired it with the Upper Esopus Fire Tower, which is located at the Catskills Visitor Center, and can be reached on a hike with 0 feet elevation gain. Weather was still saying on and off showers in the morning with high likelihood of scattered thunderstorms starting around noon.  I got out of the hotel early because Hunter Mountain is also the farthest drive, and I wanted to be able to get the summit and then to the top of the fire tower before the storms came.  (Note:  I never saw a thunderstorm today) Hunter Mountain The hike was something else.  The rain rotated around between drizzle, sprinkle, and no rain all the way from the parking to the tower.  Nothing terrible, just annoying.  The trail started off fairly gently sloped, then ...

Woke up expecting gray skies, maybe rain.  Instead, there was a pretty pink sunrise.  Weather forecast backed off a little and said showers in the afternoon and evening.  I had already broken up the 6 fire towers in 3 groups of 2 based on estimated hike distances and Google Map driving times.  Since today looked like the best weather day, I decided to do the longest day. Balsam Lake Mountain I don't know what Waze was thinking.  When I originally did some estimated drive times, the time from the hotel to here was 1:45.  In the hotel parking lot, Waze said 2:20.  I don't know - traffic?  Back there?  Waze stood firm on my arrival time, even saying it was 40 minutes to go the last 8 miles.  That's 12 mph.  Sure, it's 8 miles of a dirt road, but it's flat and wide.  Then, Waze said 30 minutes for the last 7 miles, and 20 for the last 5, until we ended up arriving after a 1 hour 47 minute drive, which is fine. Want to point out tha...

Left work, went to the beer store to fill up the cooler with ice (surprised?), and headed north. Picked up 5 counties in New Jersey.  It wasn't exactly the list of counties I was hoping for.  I wanted to stop in the James Fenimore Cooper Rest Area in Burlington County, but it was closed.  Maybe just the building is closed and the parking is open?  No.  Closed.  Ramp barricaded.  I'm sure the new rest area will be just lovely when it reopens, but all I wanted was the cache in the back. Picked up 2 counties in New York.  Again, not the ones I was hoping for.  The cache in Rockland County I picked as a park-and-grab close to the highway was on a road blocked by about 237 police cars.  OK, 3 police cars.  But definitely blocked.  Fire trucks and ambulances, too.  Probably an accident.  Hope everybody is OK, but geez, people, I needed that cache! As I got further north into New Jersey and then into southern New York, the r...

Just trying to get stuff organized today.  I want to post day by day when I'm traveling.  Also set up a Google Photo Album.  Plan is to send the best to Instagram, and everything to the album.  Have to remember to share that. At each fire tower: Photo of something that identifies the location. Start Strava Whatever photos make sense on the way up. The tower. View from the tower if it's open. Whatever photos make sense on the way down. Photo of something that identifies the location to close out that part of the trip. Close Strava