I met up with Tracy (TAG) in Saratoga, then we met up with Jim (Woodsman) and Chris (FreezeFrame) in Albany for a trip to the Catskills. I drove us down to the parking area at the end of Moonhaw Rd. We began our bushwack up some old logging roads until we got near a private cabin, where we started the steady climb up the ridge to Friday Mtn. We came upon a tree with this interesting formation along the way...
We continued up the ridge and eventually found a herdpath that led us up through some cliffs...
We were soon in a pine forest and we found the canister on the wooded summit and signed in...
We enjoyed some snacks and a small view through the trees towards Cornell and Wittenberg Mtns...
We descended past the cliffs towards Balsam Cap Mtn...
After a little route-finding we stumbled on herdpath along the ridgline which led us through a nice pine forest...
The path led us to a nice overlook of the Cornell & Wittenberg Mtns and the Ashokan Reservoir...
After climbing trees to get a better view we headed up the trail to the wooded summit of Balsam Cap and signed into the canister...
We headed back down, but instead of going back the way we came we decided to check out a large plane crash on the way back. The route was very steep and rocky down to the crash site but we found it...
It was a WWII B-25 Bomber that crashed here in 1948 taking the lives of the three airmen aboard.
We continued back down the mountain and came out near the private cabin where there was one last view of the Ashokan Reservoir through the trees...
It was near here that we spotted lots of bear scat and tree claws but never saw any bears.
I found some early wildflowers, Yellow Violets along the way back to the car...
We descended back down to the car. Two Catskill bushwacks and a plane wreck, a nice day to be in the mountains. And of course, we hiked Friday on Friday!
Note: Some photos couresy of TAG
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