Table, Peekamoose, Lone, and Rocky

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Table, Peekamoose, Lone, and Rocky


This was a reconnaissance mission to strategize the best way to ski two Catskills high peaks that I'm a little nervous about: Lone and Rocky. They are in a desolate part of the Catskills with no cell service. Although I have a Garmin for emergencies, it still adds an extra layer of stress. They are also mostly bushwacks that pack a decent amount of mileage (at least 12 miles, but probably more depending on route). I've hiked these peaks before, but it's been a while and I needed to mark some key waypoints on my map before I ski them. 


The weather prediction was totally off. It was supposed to be sunny to partly cloudy. When I left, the sun was shining and it looked like it was going to be a magical day hiking with a friend. By the time I arrived, there was a foreboding cloud of doom right over my target peaks that provided on and off light rain and then a downpour during the last quarter of the hike. It was still a magical day with a friend, though. 


We took the Peekamoose Table trail to Table, entered the woods at the summit, and quickly found a herd path that wavered from as distinct as a maintained trail to occasionally imperceptible. However, the walk to Rocky went by faster than expected. 


At the summit of Rocky there seemed to be a lot of dead trees. We signed the book in the canister and saw that Sarah Zheng had preceded us on her way to do the 9. She left a colorful detailed cartoon, which left me astounded because not only does she do marathon hikes on a weekly basis, but she has time to draw at every canister along the way. 



We took the same route back, which was tiring, and made a detour to nab Peekamoose. I think my best bet when I ski Lone and Rocky will be to descend to the Neversink once I've summited and follow the river back. This way, I don't have to climb all that vert again. 



I’m grateful for the quality of people the universe is bringing into my life through my love of the outdoors. It's things like that which make me believe the universe is actually listening.


IPA of the day was the last of my Heady Topper stash from Vermont. 10/10 for nostalgia alone. 



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