"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

"A 3-Peaker of Vly and Bearpen then Richard, Johnny and I finished our day on Balsam Lake mountain. Cloudy on V/BP with water and ice pellets dropping out of the trees at the higher elevations. Blue sky over on BLM where watched ice falling off the fire tower with the warmer temps and sun making it a bit unsafe to climb the tower." — Nimblefoot • Oct 23, 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

"Mimi, Peter, Miyon and I met at LaCabana restaurant parking lot in Fleishmans then shuttled over to Johnson Hollow in Peter’s subie thus leaving room for other hikers. Both peaks were broken out by a gentleman who arrived right after us but was a bit more speedy so he leapfrogged ahead of us. He tended to deviate from the normal herd path so we corrected this on our ascent and again on our descent. It was a nice change to play in the fluff wearing snowshoes rather than walking in spikes all day. I didn’t realize these two peaks were so popular until we returned to the car to find the side of the road parking overflowing. To finish our day Mimi and I headed to Mill Brook road to slowly make our way to the fire tower atop Balsam Lake mountain. We wore our snowshoes for better grip and to not mess up the nicely packed trail. Those that chose not to use snowshoes were making divots in the track rather than post holing so it wasn’t a serious offense especially at this end of the season." — Nimblefoot • Mar 5, 2023

"A cloudy morning clearing to a sunny blue sky afternoon with temps rising toward the 40’s. Panther from the hairpin turn on Rt 47 then Balsam Lake from Mill Brook road. Packed crusty snow on both trails with some icy spots on the P-E trail heading toward to the Panther/Giant Ledge trail. Micro spikes all day. To avoid tedium and have some fun I took my usual short cut from the spring sign on the GL trail bushwhacking straight down to the TH completely avoiding the P-E trail. I got carried away with moving fast and not navigating so I ended up popping up to the road right across from the parking lot instead of hitting the trail by the bridge or register box…oops." — Nimblefoot • Feb 8, 2023

"Wacky twosome of Balsam Lake and Windham HP for the grid. Some icy spots in areas where the snowmelt/rain collected but otherwise an easy stroll to the tower. WHP had its usual wet/icy section a few minutes in from the Peck road then the remainder was bare. Just under an hour drive time between THs making for a 1:1 ratio of driving to hiking overall….not good!" — Nimblefoot • Jan 9, 2023

"Another day of repeat peaks but for a different month. BLM and Panther bring my total grid count up to 413 out of 420. The unusually warm weather continues making one forget it’s actually Fall. " — Nimblefoot • Nov 3, 2022

"Getting the South Peak of Doubletop and Balsam Lake mountain to close out the month of October for the 4th time. These two peaks puts me at 1668 out of 1680 for the 4th Catskill 420 grid. Did the harder peak, S-DT, first by taking the Neversink-Hardenburgh trail out to just past the stream crossing and wilderness boundary line then whacked up to the summit. First up to the col between it and High Falls Ridge then straight up the ridge. The last pitch was steep but short and I found a herd path heading right to the top. Then dropped down to the property line to find the wilderness boundary sign but someone has either stolen it or threw it somewhere. Back to the car to grab a fresh bottle of water then it was a slow grind up to the fire tower on BLM. As I expected the summit area was a ghost town when I reached it at 4:20 pm. A quick peek at the three bench marks before returning to the car." — Nimblefoot • Oct 30, 2022

"Got to the Millbrook road TH late, after 10am, to find the parking lot almost full on a Thursday. A quick scoot up and down BLM then drove over to Rt 47 to the Giant Ledge TH on the hairpin curve only to find that lot full. Parked off the side of the road above the TH and had a quick lunch. A quick out and back to Panther hitting Giant Ledge on the way. Panther completes my 52nd round of the Cat 35." — Nimblefoot • Sep 29, 2022

"Mid morning start for BLM out of the Mill Brook rd PA running into my friend Yong Ae descending near the summit. Followed by a loop of Balsam with an out and back to the canister on Eagle. Noticed numerous blowdowns, some of which have been down for years, have been cut out but unfortunately new branches or trees have fallen again in the same spot." — Nimblefoot • Aug 8, 2022