December 24th, 2012
On Christmas Eve a good sleep (finally) and the sound of my mother leaving for work helped initiate my early start. I think the earliest start I've had in the Catskills. I heard her leave. My dad opened my door soon after and asked me if I was going. I said I was deciding, but I was really just sleeping. I woke up though and left by 7:(something)am and after stopping for coffee, egg and cheese, and bottled water by Bryant Pond Rd, Taconic exit, I was in East Windham before 10am. My official start time will be 9:45am. I was at junction with the yellow blazed trail, which I bypassed, by 10:13am and on the summit less than an hour later, 11:05am, along with another lady wearing MicroSpikes and swinging some hiking poles. Back in the car at 12:20pm. It was funny because I called my Dad, Peter Ross, to let him know a better sense of my return right when I started around 9:45am. He returned the call a little after 12pm, I was almost in exactly the same spot on the trail. I saw a few people. One lady on top and an Asian couple walking up as I was coming down. There were some bicycle tracks in the snow. I decided the two healthy pine groves draping the ridge were my favorite sections of the trail and guessed them to be at least 80 years old. Their exposed root systems liven foot placement. More than a few times I kicked through the ice shelves frozen between the roots.
1,900' gained, 2 hours and 45 minutes, over 3.3 miles (~6.6 round trip)
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