Calling Dutch Doctor

Last night me and and an old friend took a hike to Dutch Doctor shelter. We hit the road about 6pm and we're on the trail by 6:45. First off, this was the easiest hike I have ever done to a shelter. We were 2 miles from Dutch Doctor and got there in under 45 minutes. We started at Johnsontown Rd and took the White Bar trail to the shelter. 

Dutch Doctor Shelter

 We arrived at the shelter and no one but us were there. Dutch Doctor is the biggest shelter I have encountered in my hiking tenure. It was huge. The ceiling at it's peak was like 10-12 feet high. The overhang stretched 7 feet over the shelters wooden floor.  After our inspection of the shelter we searched for firewood. Rare indeed. We found a good stash about 300 yards from the shelter beyond a big patch of mountain laurel. When the fire was finally up and going we both set camp about 50 yards ahead of the shelter. My friend Steve pitched a Hammock while I pitched my BA Seedhouse SL2. We drank some beers and bullshitted for a few hours. 1am came and we both called it a night and went to sleep. It was a pretty windy night, strong gusts every now and then.  We woke up around 6am and heard wild turkeys nearby. I fell back asleep and stayed in my tent till 8:30.

We decided to hike to Claudius Smith's Den then onto Almost Perpendicular and back to the car. It was a really nice hike to the Den. Very little in ups and downs and when there was one, it was never too long. I don't think I sweated once on this hike. Hour or so of hiking and we reached Claudius Smith's Den. From the way we came we were on top of Claudius Smith's Den rock and had to descend to get to the actual "den". The views on top were pretty awesome.

 On the way down, there was a small cave I guess you could say that you could squeeze into and it lead to giant crack on the other side, directly above the Den.

 

Claudius Smith Den

When we reached the Den we decided to hangout there and eat some chow. A group of 10 or so hikers passed through while we were there. 45 minutes later we packed up and hit the Blue Disc trail to get us back to Johnsontown Rd. Again, the hike was not strenuous at all. Nice and easy ups and downs through out.

We reached Almost Perpendicular around 11:30am. It was pretty windy up there but the views were pretty good. We just took some photos and continued on the trail.

Views from Almost Perpendicular

Views from Almost Perpendicular.

Another half hour on the trail and we reached the car. It was a really good hike and probably the easiest I have ever done. The weather was great throughout as well as the company. If any of you are looking for a hike that isn't backbreaking, try this one. I think you'll thoroughly enjoy it as well as your knees.

Timp Return

This past Saturday I returned for another night on the Timp. This go-round I took another trail from the southeast & I went with my good friend and I guess you can say hiking mentor, Tribes.  We hiked in on the 1777 trail to Timp Torne trail to reach the summit. Just a really good night to be sleeping on a mountain. As a matter of fact, this was the best sleep I ever had outdoors. Big props to Big Agnes. I love their air core pads. 2.5 inches of awesome comfort. I slept till 8:30am and really didn't want to get out of my bag. We started another fire to warm up around 9:30am and ate some chow.

We decided to hike to West Mtn Shelter, then link up with the Ramapo Dunderberg (Kamikaze) back to the Timp Torne trail. Somewhere around 11am we hit the trail. It was a beautiful day to be hiking. We came to Cat's Elbow on the Kamikaze trail and stopped to enjoy the view and I chowed down some more on my gorp,cheese and pepperoni. 10 minutes later as we were sitting there,  a doe came within 20 feet of us and didn't even see us or care we were there. It was awesome, just watching her act completely normal, relaxed, unstressed. After a few minutes the doe moved on and out of view and then we hit the kamikaze trail again.

Kamikaze Trail

Taking our time and enjoying the scenery we eventually reached our startpoint around 2:30 in the afternoon and headed home. It was a great overnight hike in a park that keeps getting better.

Supermoon & The Timp

Saturday after work a friend & I headed to Harriman State Park for a nice overnight hike to enjoy the largest full moon in 18 years. We both agreed on hiking the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) from Seven Lakes Drive to West Mountain Shelter. We arrived short of 5pm and were on the trail. We hiked for about an hour or so before reaching the shelter and seeing at least 8 tents and what appeared to be a scout troop of kids. After a short discussion we decided to hike on another mile to set camp on Timp Mountain.

Timp Mountain in the distance.

 Another 35 minutes of hiking. We reach the Timp. Unreal. We had this mountain all to ourselves. The choices for setting camp seemed endless and all so close to the summit. Just short of sunfall we had our tents set in this nice nook surrounded by rock walls & boulders which blocked the wind quite nicely for the most part.

Then came the moon. As Charlie Sheen would say "Epic!".  I swear it almost looked like a second Sun for that first hour or so. Glowing bright orange and just looked enormous. We were both in awe and so grateful to be sleeping on a mountain that night. Later on as the Moon rose the shadows of Timp mountain and others were amazing, Moon shadows. Great conversation throughout the night enjoying the views from the summit and also sitting around a nice bonfire where we set camp. Sometime around midnight we went to our tents to get some sleep.

After a a good sleep under the moon & stars I awoke around 8am. Mike was already up and wandering around camp. I just laid in my tent for a little while and enjoyed the cool crisp air while being snug as a bug in a rug.  We decided to hangout on the Timp for awhile and just enjoy the joy. The views from this mountain are amazing, even better then West Mountain.

We hit the trail to head back in the very late morning. We hiked back out the way we came. No matter how many times I hike a trail I always find something new I have not noticed before. Our hike ended in mid afternoon and we headed home. We both agreed that we will be back to the Timp.

Here I Go

I've been inspired to start a blog after going hiking with a friend. I love to share thoughts, stories, photos with people so why not blog about my love for backpacking. I don't yet know exactly what I will write about or the direction this will go but I hope it captures some readers with interest in the outdoors.