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- Apr 1, 2009
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The weather has been frighteningly good in the northeast as of late (read-hot as hell all winter!!), so last weekend Son of Beanbag and I decided to head for the hills. West Mountain in Harriman State Park, NY to be precise. There is a great shelter with nice views right on top of the mountain, and we got lucky and had it to ourselves for the night.
In addition to all our gear and supplies, we had to bring a lot of water because of the heat and no available water source near the shelter. Though it was only a two hour hike, the trail is very rugged and our packs were heavy, so it was a tough hike, but hey, that's how we roll.
The trail starts off climbing up to a ridge, then along it until you get to West Mountain.
My Son The Thinker:
Thinking about more climbing I presume....
Gear adjustment:
First views:
Popolopen Torne:
Our route joined the Appalachian Trail and its famous white blazes for a while:
Here's a view over the Hudson River to one of our favorite hikes, Anthony's Nose:
Here's another view further along the ridge where you get a glimpse of the east tower of the Bear Mountain Bridge:
Here is an extreme close-up of the Bear Mountain Tower. On a clear day you can see NYC from there, 50 miles to the south.
After some more hiking, our route left the AT and we were almost there.
After two hours and lot of climbing, we made it to the West Mt. Shelter:
After we unpacked, Son of Beanbag relaxed with the third book of "The Hunger Games" before we gathered some firewood and made dinner. I'm not complaining, but you can not separate that kid from his books.
Here's the view from the shelter. It was too hazy to see NYC. The rise across the way is where I took the second picture below of the shelter last fall:
After our firewood run we made dinner away from the shelter so as not to be bothered by critters or even bears during the night.
Sunset:
We didn't do much bushcrafting this trip, but we did make a fire and some S'mores.
These are the only two bladed tools we used, but this is a heavily used area and firewood was scarce, so having that saw was huge.
Son of Beanbag's signature dish- plank roasted graham crackers with melted dark chocolate:
After a long night's sleep, we awoke to a foggy view from the shelter:
A groggy 12 year-old boy:
We had oatmeal for breakfast, then I packed up while Son read some more. We also got a visit from a ranger who checked to make sure our fire was fully extinguished, then hit the trail:
Birch trees repopulating a forest fire area. This one's for you Bryan B.- more trees in that picture than all of Nebraska.
Yours truly scrambling up some rocks:
Squeezing through a tight spot on the trail:
One last scramble for Son of Beanbag, a cliff view, and we headed back down to the car, done!
Thanks for looking folks,
Baenbag and Son
In addition to all our gear and supplies, we had to bring a lot of water because of the heat and no available water source near the shelter. Though it was only a two hour hike, the trail is very rugged and our packs were heavy, so it was a tough hike, but hey, that's how we roll.
The trail starts off climbing up to a ridge, then along it until you get to West Mountain.
My Son The Thinker:
Thinking about more climbing I presume....
Gear adjustment:
First views:
Popolopen Torne:
Our route joined the Appalachian Trail and its famous white blazes for a while:
Here's a view over the Hudson River to one of our favorite hikes, Anthony's Nose:
Here's another view further along the ridge where you get a glimpse of the east tower of the Bear Mountain Bridge:
Here is an extreme close-up of the Bear Mountain Tower. On a clear day you can see NYC from there, 50 miles to the south.
After some more hiking, our route left the AT and we were almost there.
After two hours and lot of climbing, we made it to the West Mt. Shelter:
After we unpacked, Son of Beanbag relaxed with the third book of "The Hunger Games" before we gathered some firewood and made dinner. I'm not complaining, but you can not separate that kid from his books.
Here's the view from the shelter. It was too hazy to see NYC. The rise across the way is where I took the second picture below of the shelter last fall:
After our firewood run we made dinner away from the shelter so as not to be bothered by critters or even bears during the night.
Sunset:
We didn't do much bushcrafting this trip, but we did make a fire and some S'mores.
These are the only two bladed tools we used, but this is a heavily used area and firewood was scarce, so having that saw was huge.
Son of Beanbag's signature dish- plank roasted graham crackers with melted dark chocolate:
After a long night's sleep, we awoke to a foggy view from the shelter:
A groggy 12 year-old boy:
We had oatmeal for breakfast, then I packed up while Son read some more. We also got a visit from a ranger who checked to make sure our fire was fully extinguished, then hit the trail:
Birch trees repopulating a forest fire area. This one's for you Bryan B.- more trees in that picture than all of Nebraska.
Yours truly scrambling up some rocks:
Squeezing through a tight spot on the trail:
One last scramble for Son of Beanbag, a cliff view, and we headed back down to the car, done!
Thanks for looking folks,
Baenbag and Son
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