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A Day in the Dogskills: Tremper Mountain

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  Our second mountain of the day was Tremper Mountain along the "Phonecia Trail". The mountain features a fire tower, two lean-tos and rattlesnakes. I felt it would make life easier to simply bag this mountain as early as possible so Sunny could be on the long leash and do some solo exploring. Trailhead to the Register The Tremper trailhead is a bit narrow with parallel parking. It's important that hikers park on the outer radius and not the inner radius, especially in the Summer, so more cars can fit in the lot. We started hiking around 12:53pm. The trail from the trailhead to the trail register is 10 to 15 minutes with a very steep initial climb and some sturdy bridges over switft water. The trail descends slightly after the inital ascent and this spot had the only real mud we found on the hike. Otherwise, the trails were quite dry. By now the temperatures had increased to 65F. Sunny was panting and I was sweating. I was certainly missing my Duff. There's another tr...
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A Day in the Dogskills: Overlook Mountain

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It's rotten snow and mud season in the Adirondacks, so Sunny and I have set our sights on the Catskills in order to bag the Southern fire towers. This week, we planned to hike Overlook Mountain and Mount Tremper. One of the main reasons I wanted to hike Overlook early on is because the mountain is well-known for Timber Rattlesnakes. Several people, including friends, have said they see at least one every time they hike the mountain. We made the trailhead and signed in at 9:34. The forecast called for rain early with a break mid-day, then more rain starting in the early evening. Knowing this, I finally bought a hiking poncho which advertised a wider back to facilitate up to an 80L pack. It worked as advertised. I was also very excited to put my 3-season boots back on. They aren't more or less comfortable; I was just happy for the change of seasons. Road Walk The hike was an easy road walk the entire way. It's certainly not my favorite way to spend a morning, but it sure beat...
Location: Overlook Mountain, Woodstock, NY 12498, USA
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