Sunny 46

  Did I say the next post would be a snowy hike? I'm a liar. I forgot that we had a state holiday coming up and some friends and I decided to do something close to home. Shaine suggested we do a quick hike from Rt 2 to Snow Hole, a 6 mile out-and-back in Rensselaer County. With rain forecast in the afternoon, this seemed like just the right thing. We met at the Petersberg Pass trailhead lot at around 8am. The trail was extremely well-maintained, wide, and clearly marked. I'd be very disappointed in myself if I got lost on this trail. This part of the trail is called White Rocks with a little peak later named White Rock, and I'd suspect they're named after all the Quartz you can find all around the ridge here. It is very pretty to look at and stands in stark contrast to the fallen leaves and remaining greenery. Sunny was very excited to be among so many friends on this hike. Although he did sometimes get annoyed when Korra tried to lead. What a mysogynist. There were som...

  Due to unseasonably warm weather and a strong need to get out in nature with Sunny, I  took Friday off for hiking. Conditions on the peaks promised to be very good and it had been quite dry, so just about any hike on un-hunted land would be great. A buddy needed Pitchoff and Big Crow for his Lake Placid 9er, so we decided to do them together. Pitchoff We got to the Cascade & Pitchoff trailhead on 73 at a leisurely 9:15am and easily found a spot at the first lot. Despite the good weather, it seemed as if the late season and  the fact that it was a weekday kept the hiker density low, especially destination hikes like the high peaks. Some of the little hikes had a decent number of cars parked at them. With lots of the lodging closed and the fact that the temperature on November 4 isn't usually 70 Farenheit, I suspected that many of these hikers were local folks looking for a nice day in the woods. The trail immediately climbed the valley ridge where a Maple Syrup opera...