"Eagle and Balsam on an out and back hike from Rider Hollow PA with Tom2, Susan and Tony. Susan and Tony couldn’t maintain the same pace as Tom and I plus the fact we were doing Balsam Lake afterwards they suggested we split into two groups. We would meet them on our return from each peak before dropping down to the PA. Short drive from Rider Hollow to Mill Brook road PA where we found an unplowed lot and about six cars parking the wrong way. These folks foolishly parked parallel to the road rather than perpendicular which allows at least twice as many cars to park. Fortunately they left within a short period of time so we could park and meet up with our good friend Rebecca. She is returning from a month off from a sprained ankle and did Halcott beforehand. She is 70 yrs young with the drive and energy of a 30 yr old, very inspiring. The road/trail is great for a chat filled hike to the tower. After a climb up the frost covered stairs and railing to get some photo ops we headed back anxious to start the weekend and rest up for a big hike on Monday. Spikes all day with snowshoes carried on the E and B hike but not on the BL hike. On BL would have been nice just for efficiency ..." — Nimblefoot • Jan 17, 2025

"Dean and I parked at the Mill Brook Road trailhead and took the longer, more gradual old supply road to the tower. 2" of fresh snow covered every branch. 32° at the bottom and 11° at the summit. Zero view from the tower due to low cloud cover. Micros door to door. This completes my Catskill tower challenge and my Adk/Catskill Tower Challenge. GPS mileage showed 7.04 miles rt, not the posted 5.5 miles." — garyogden • Dec 19, 2024

"Back to Vly and Bearpen for the Fall season then a quick saunter up to the tower on Balsam Lake mountain, also for Fall, on my way to Red Hill fire tower. Took the newer and longer trail to Red Hill as the trailhead came up first and it is a more pleasant hike than coming up from Dinch road. On the final ascent I met a gentleman descending from the tower that looked familiar. As we neared each other he “asked if I was on Balsam Lake today”? Yup and so was he but with a different shirt on. Turns out he is working on the ADK Fire Tower challenge and spending a few days getting the five in the Catskills. Red Hill completes round #12 of the Catskill FT challenge and I “needed” for the month of September. Still need the months of October and December. A three hike/three shirt day with two towers and one canister only seeing a few others on BLM and Red Hill. Enjoying the fine Fall weather, leaves are already falling and occasionally slippery." — Nimblefoot • Sep 30, 2024

"Easy sauntering day with Tom M. Day 3 of 7 straight days he’s hiking to complete a round of the Catskill 35 and finishing his 7th 420 Grid( 2940 35Rs)on the 7th day. Friggin showoff(!), though it helps to actually live in the Catskills rather than be 2 hrs away. I got day #351 out of 366 of our 35R Everyday challenge, still 9 days behind Tom(#360/366). After meeting Tom in downtown Fleischmans he drove us up to the Hunters cabin between Vly and BP in his plug-in Subie. One other hiker was out doing the peaks, that we know, but we never crossed paths. I’m sure he had a time jump on us as we didn’t started until 8:45 as this was a semi- rest day for Tom. Up to the canister on Vly via the usual herd path then over to BP summit via the road with the herd path shortcut in between. Two and a half hours later we were back to the Subie, for a second time, and off to Mill Brook road PA for our final peak of the day. At the small lot on Mill Brook road there was one car in the lot that was actually parked the wrong way, parallel will the road rather than more perpendicular which makes better use of the space. We commenced on a saunter up the road/trail to the tower shortly after 12 noo..." — Nimblefoot • Sep 3, 2024

"Tom R., Rebecca, Tom M. and I did a buffet of four peaks starting with Vly/Bearpen out of Johnson Hollow followed by BLM from Mill Brook rd and finishing with Halcott from Rt 42. A bit of a sweat-fest bookended with peaks having canisters. Tom M. graciously drove us up to the hunters cabin in his Subie saving us the road walk twice. Recent rains really did a number on the road, less packed down than usual. The shade near the tower on BLM offered a nice respite for an early lunch break, though it didn’t seem early when one has breakfast at 4:30 in the AM. Little Halcott was the toughest climb right in the brunt of the mid-afternoon heat and bright sun. Thanks to Rebecca we devoured a large bowl of chilled watermelon cut up in bite-size pieces right before our final climb. Got to get your liquids any way you can." — Nimblefoot • Jul 8, 2024

"Tony invited the four of us to join him in a hike of Bearpen and Vly in order to complete his single season Spring round of the Cat 35. Besides the Spring triangle patch he also earned his Four in a Row patch(Summer’23 to Spring’24) from Hikers Anonymous. Fortunately Tom was willing to drive us up the road to the Hunters cabin. After a short chat we headed up to the Bearpen summit then onto the furthest view looking west. Back to the cabin for another chat then onto the canister on Vly where Tom presented Tony with his patches and a Four in a Row t-shirt both of which were a total surprise. Tony surprised us with homemade cookies and brownies from his wife…yummy! Back to our cars, seeing very few other hikers, to eat our lunch while drive up to the Mill Brook road TH. Here we expected meet two more hikers, Marguerite ( aka Itty Bitty ) and her friend Doug from NH who was visiting for a few days. We were early so we headed and hung out on the fire tower to get in the cooling wind and out of the black flies. Tony surprised with another container of the same treats keeping us fed as we waited. Upon their arrival and climb of the tower we took more group photos then headed back t..." — Nimblefoot • May 21, 2024

"Ran into friends Lorraine and Ed yesterday while descending Overlook mountain so we hatched a plan to do Mill Brook Ridge and Balsam Lake mountain today. Lorraine eventually backed out do to recent knee surgery and was concerned with testing the knee on a bushwhack. Ed and I dropped off one car at the BLM TH then drove down to the first Kelly Hollow TH to begin our easy stroll up the big loop trail. At the stream crossing we began our short whack up to the Mill Brook Ridge trail then reach the unmarked, other than a dinky cairn, summit after a little more ellie gain. So far we have only experienced very short periods of sprinkles but at the summit Ed informs me of more serious rain coming in few hours so we hot foot it over to the summit tower on BLM clearing the trail of fallen branches. Now we are eating a quick snack in low clouds and mist. Once we felt chilly enough in the damp weather we began a hasty descent down to the first car hoping to avoid some of the incoming rain. But right out of the gate we hit lingering ice with water on top….uh oh! I didn’t pack micro spikes and he was too lazy to put his on so we were like two geriatrics doing a slow steady shuffle down unti..." — Nimblefoot • Apr 10, 2024

"Eighteen us convened on the summit of BLM to celebrate Richard’s(Easy Way) Catskill 420 Grid. After Richard’s celebratory saunter under an arch of trekking poles we proceeded to gorge on a variety of cookies, muffins, banana bread, baklava, cheese/salami/crackers, YooHoo etc. Some folks headed home with just a onesie, some headed on to Mill Brook Ridge, a small group filled the remainder of the day with a climb of Windham HP. I headed out solo to climb Red Hill to complete my 11 round of the Catskill 5 Fire Towers and get my 3rd tower towards the 2024 DEC Fire Tower challenge. Striped down to a smaller pack and less layers as the day warmed up nicely with the bright sunshine. Still used micro spikes do to ice in the more shady areas and slippery crust patches on the climbs." — Nimblefoot • Mar 24, 2024

"Bearpen and Vly in the AM then BLM in the afternoon to finish the day. All day alternated between full overcast with snow showers and blue sky with bright sun. Windy most of the day. Only spikes today snowshoes stayed in the car." — Nimblefoot • Jan 14, 2024

"Rebecca and I joined Mimi for her final three peaks needed to complete her single season Fall round. Vly and Bearpen in the morning followed an ascent of BLM in the afternoon where Tom joined us. On the summit of BLM Rebecca presented Mimi with her Fall triangle patch from Hikers Anonymous(Ha!). Only micro spikes were carried, leaving the snowshoes in the car, and used only by two of us on BLM for better grip." — Nimblefoot • Dec 16, 2023