"A twosie of Halcott to close the month of April for my 5th grid and Rusk just to make a fuller day. Four hours of driving and four hours of hiking not something I want to make a regular habit of, prefer a 2:1 of hiking to driving. The forecasted showers never materialized though there was a mix of clouds and blue sky/sun with short periods of total cloud cover. A bit on the humid side but the clouds and slight breeze kept things comfortable. Red trilliums, trout lillies and Dutchman’s breeches are all popping out along with those dreaded black flies." — Nimblefoot • Apr 30, 2024

"A twosie of Halcott in the am and Westkill in the pm with Dr. Smith. Nice to be able eat lunch in the warmth of the car going between THs when the temp is at 12*. Spikes on both peaks though snowshoes would have been a benefit on West Kill where a descending Can Man indicated their need as he grumpily passed us. On Halcott the crusty snow was great for plunge-stepping short cuts." — Nimblefoot • Jan 17, 2024

"Ist solo winter hike - met the Catskills 3500 Club cannister checker - Jim Bouton at the cannister. I hiked down with him and his lovely lady. They both edicated on me about the dying hemlock forests in the catskills (they had been mostly decimated by the tanning induxtry - they felled the tree just for the bark) but a large forest remeined on the way up to Halcott. They are being decimated by aphids and won't be around much longer. The upper altides near the summitt were simply enchanting wiht the snow on the treesw." — HeyJoe • Jan 5, 2024

"Three peaks for the month of November. Chilly morning start of 29* with a dusting of snow on the ground that would disappear as the day warmed up to the low 40’s. A quick stroll up to the tower on BLM first followed by a climb of Rusk and Halcott in the afternoon. Almost decided to pass on Halcott as it was 3:30 when I reached the small PA. Managed to reach the canister, sign in, then leave right at 5:00. Ironically I managed to return to my car right at sundown, 5:51 pm according to my watch. Todays cool temps and frost on my windshield upon leaving home was a good wake up to put scrappers/brushes and micro spikes back in the car in preparation." — Nimblefoot • Nov 2, 2023

"Richard, Pat, Susan and I pushed through the heat and humidity to visit the summit of West Kill in the morning. Fortunately we had a good breeze on the upper part of our climb to ameliorate the sweat fest. Back at the cars Pat treated us to cookies, fruit salad and cheese. Both Susan and Pat headed home to take of family issues while Richard and I head out to Rt 42 to climb Halcott. Our fresh dry T shirts quickly became soaked with the even warmer temps and no breeze. Once back to the cars I decided against heading back to Spruceton road to climb Rusk mtn to finish the day. I had enough heat plus I had things to do on my way home." — Nimblefoot • Sep 6, 2023

"A wet and wild hike of Sherrill and North Dome from Shaft road. The forecasted morning showers were a bit heavy, more like a downpour, but brief after I arrived at the parking lot. Once they stopped I headed up expecting to be wet most of the time on this out and back hike. More light showers came and went on my way up to Sherrill, getting me thoroughly soaked, but then on my way over to North Dome the rain clouds moved on letting the sun shine between the scattered fluffy clouds…yay! On my way back the clouds returned but no serious rain fell. To finish the day I headed up to the deep notch parking lot for quick and dry ascent of Halcott. Two hikes and not a single sole was seen or heard, I guess the less than stellar forecast kept most hikers home." — Nimblefoot • Aug 16, 2023

"Ticking off an odd twosie of Plateau and Halcott for the month of June. The black flies were quite active on the summit of Halcott in the late afternoon making the descent challenging with the bugs getting behind my sunglasses until I got down lower." — Nimblefoot • Jun 1, 2023

"Headed up to Balsam Lake, from Mill Brook road, for a Spring round of the Catskill 35. Upon reaching the fire tower clearing I decided to head over to Mill Brook Ridge just for shitz and giggles as it was nice sunny day to hike on a trail I haven’t been on for years. It’s obviously a trail that doesn’t get a lot of use as it’s not well defined in many spots. I’ve heard there was a sign marking the summit but I only found a small cairn. Cleared numerous limbs and blowdowns off the trail on my way out and back. Finished my day by scooting up Halcott to complete my Spring round and four single seasons in a row for the third time. A fine Spring day, shorts friendly but not too warm. Black flies were my hiking buddies on this hike." — Nimblefoot • May 6, 2023

"Two easy short peaks, Rusk and Halcott, in the morning with Peter, Miyon, Mimi and Barbara. We managed to get up to the canister on Rusk without spikes since the only ice patches were on the last pitch. Most of the way was bare ground. The other four put on spikes for the descent while I just whack around the ice on the herd path. Halcott was similar though we all put on the micros for the slippery frozen leaves as much as the crusty snow while whacking up and down for a direct route avoiding the usual rocky herd path. Mimi and I bid adieu to Peter, Miyon and Barbara, who had enough, before heading to Rt 47 to go tag Panther. We both lucked out and got parking spots in the lot at the hairpin curve with numerous cars parking off both sides of the road. We managed the out and back without spikes being judicious with our foot placements. Most folks that we encountered were heading out so it was no surprise upon returning to the parking lot that there were only two other cars besides our own. Time head home to refuel before going horizontal then return tomorrow so we can play in the mountains again with the early springlike weather." — Nimblefoot • Feb 19, 2023

"Original plan was to do Panther from Rt 47 then head up the road and do Slide. That went out the window when I arrived at 10 am to find the parking completely full and cars starting to park on either side of the road. I head up to the Slide TH to find a similar situation. Onto plan B - Halcott for the AM then early afternoon drive down to Shaft road to stroll out to South Sherrill(Peak 2883) for something new and different. Old woods roads on South Sherrill made the ascent much easier by going right up to the summit plateau leaving only a flat walk to the highest spot. Bare ground to just a dusting of snow down low gradually grew to about 2 inches on the summits. Definitely looking a lot more like winter. " — Nimblefoot • Jan 21, 2023