I kindly allowed Quinn to sleep in until 6am. One of the carrots on my "let's go hiking" stick is stopping at McDonald's for breakfast. We ordered his Big Breakfast and a couple of sandwiches for me, then we were on our way.
We stopped at the Biscuit Brook Trailhead along the way to see if I could find my trekking poles from the last hike. My trekking poles were gone. Fortunately, I'd had the foresight to pack us each a hiking stick. On this hike Quinn used the one my buddy, John, had gifted me and I was using one Quinn's Grandpa had given me.
Quinn was grateful for this quick stop because he was a bit carsick from the drive.
We were at the trailhead and ready to hike by 9:30. The conditions were cloudy, breezy and 32F with on-and-off snow flurries. These conditions would not change until the hike had nearly concluded. Note that, for hikes with conditions like this, sometimes I'll adjust the brightness and saturation a little bit on my photos in order for them to look more like what your eyes would see were you there in person.
The trail started off with some rock stairs and there would be lots of these throughout the hike. Sunny was eager to pull but I was very cautious of bears and the very close private property near this trailhead. He stayed leashed for a while.
Today was the first hike with Quinn's new pack. As with much of our gear, this was gifted to us by Jay. Actually, this pack was originally his son's. After tightening all the straps, it fit just about perfectly. It was a big improvement over what he was using previously.
The trail soon flattened out a bit. During this trip, Quinn wanted to play a new game called "Hiking Guys". In this game, we had to pretend to be the hiking guys from YouTube and we were recording a show. Like the Adventure Archives show, we had to explain the features, flora, and fauna of the hike along the way. Quinn really likes that show; if I ever have a different hiking channel on and he enters the room, he asks if we can watch the real hiking guys instead.
After the short initial up, the first one and a half miles and about 800' of elevation is all easy switchback hiking. It is beautiful, hardened, and well-maintained trail. Do not be enticed by the shorter path on the other side of the mountain because this trail is absolutely amazing.
Every major ledge on the way up has been redesigned to include limestone stairs. The rock formations are gorgeous here as well. There's always something to look at on this hike.
Some call me... Quinn.
As with many Catskills hikes, this one features several flat areas between "steps". It was on the first or second of these that Sunny was finally set free. He joyously dashed back and forth along the trail. Quinn said, "Sunny is just living his best life!"
Quinn was entranced with all the awesome rock formations on this hike. When he found a little rock shelter where you could see through to the other side, I was required to take a photo of him inside it.
The mosses, lichen, dead fungus, and liverworts made the otherwise brown and gray landscape far more interesting to look at. It was honestly a beautiful day in the woods despite the weather.
Quinn wasn't the only one taken with the shattered landscape. I have to admit (albeit a bit grudgingly) that, although Catskills summits are quite often nothing to write home about, the hikes themselves are intriguing as hell. I'll reiterate what I said in the last article, the adventures in the Catskills are more about the journey than the destination. I'm growing to love it.
We made it to the first junction at 10:40am. The left branch of the trail apparently leads to a water source called the "Derpy Brook" and a bunch of woods roads. We took a right.
The hike got a bit steeper here and the steps disappeared. There really wasn't any need for more stairs here, though, because there were very few ledges to navigate and the flat limestone and shale, as usual, made for lovely hardened trail surfaces.
This trail is extremely well-maintained. Someone really loves this trail.
About a quarter mile and 200' up from the junction is another junction pointing to a spring. Quinn asked what a spring is and he wanted to see it after I explained it. A short tenth of a mile horizontal jaunt brought us to the spring which was (unsurprisingly) really moving today. Quinn decided he wanted try drinking directly from the pipe, but in the end cooler heads prevailed.
After we were done enjoying the spring, Quinn said something like, "Dad, I think we can just climb right to the top from here instead of going back." I am loving his instincts are just as problematic as mine. I checked the map and saw that, indeed, we could bushwhack a bit back to the trail before the final ascent. I agreed and let him climb up the steep rocks above the spring until we got into the woods where I took point.
We quickly found the trail and began the final ascent. It was at this point that Quinn was really uncomfortable from the wind in his face. I was really regretting leaving his Grogu hat (which can be pulled down over the face without losing his vision) in the car. I'm very glad I put several layers on him, but we were definitely missing Grogu.
We came out of the woods into the clearing at the top of the hill at 11:20.
Obligatory checking out of the house potty.
After sloughing our gear, I donned Quinn with my puffy to keep him warm. He made a bee-line for the fire tower. I quickly got Sunny tethered to a tree before following Quinn up. Sunny, as usual, had a separation anxiety fit as we climbed.
Sadly, the tower cabin was locked, but we had great views from the top riser. As usual, I was quite nervous, but Quinn was not.
The views were hazy with snow flurries, but it was still pretty to look at.
The road down the South side of the mountain seems to be in great condition.
We were done enjoying the fire tower very quickly due to the wind. After that, we sat in the shelter of the porch and ate our snacks. It was quite pleasant to sit out of the wind and relax. It was at this point when the sun did start peeking out here and there.
While Quinn continued his break, I explored the summit a bit more. There were several picnic tables here and a fire pit. However, next to the fire pit there's a "no fires" disc, so that's confusing. Are they keeping the fire pit there for sentimental reasons? Do they just mean no fires anywhere else but the fire pit? Not sure.
We descended from the summit at around noon.
Quinn had to get another picture at the rock shelter, this time with Sunny.
Once again, Quinn initiated a conversation about maybe doing some more bushwhacking. I wouldn't risk it in the Catskills in the warmer months because of the prevalence of rattlesnakes. However, this time of year they're still brominating and the undergrowth is quite clear. With all the switchbacks on this trail, it wasn't hard to give the idea the thumbs up.
Quinn had a great time tromping through the brush. I would have cracked out the map and compass for a bit of a simple lesson, but visions of warm car were dancing in our heads. I was careful to have Sunny leashed by the time we came to our last bushwhack because we were skirting private property for that one.
Of course, as we approached the trailhead, the sun really started coming out. We made it to the car before 1pm, having descended the mountain in less than an hour. We quickly removed our less comfortable layers, piled into the car, cracked a window, and cranked the heat.
Normally when I'm hiking in a strange place, I download the route home to my phone. I'd forgotten to do this today, so I tried following the map as best I could, but I made a few bad decisions. I eventually found service near some open farmland and wealthy homes on the North side of Red Hill and got us on the right track.
The drive home was quite long, but took us through the Peekamoose Valley which was a very pretty drive. I'm looking forward to coming here for some more hikes in the near future.
It was a great day in the woods and I think we'll be back to the Catskills soon. I think this hike is great for kids his age. It's 1200' of gain over 2 miles up, then 2 miles down with no PUDs along the way. It's also got a lot of fun stuff to look at and explore. I definitely recommend this for your little folks in 1st and 2nd grade.
This makes eight fire towers for Quinn and seventeen for Sunny and me. This wraps up the five Catskills towers Sunny and I need for the ADK's Fire Tower challenge. I think, technically, we only need six more Adirondack fire towers to earn the patch, but we're probably going to go for all sixteen remaining.
Quinn did let me know that "the drive was a little rough" and "sometimes I like hikes that are closer to home". He genuinely enjoyed the hike, but the long drive with no cell service was brutal. He was able to look through his Zamboni book a bit, but that's no so great when you're carsick either. I told him we could go to Moreau on our next hike.
