"Today was forecasted to be a nice sunny day though a bit cooler to start with. I needed Panther for the month of April of my fifth grid and I needed a 4K peak for the 4K/day challenge of the northeast. So I decided to make a day of hiking Panther in the morning from Rt 47 then Hunter in the afternoon via the Becker Hollow trail off Rt 214. Still getting used to the idea of leaving the TH without clipping on micro spikes to the pack and wearing tall gaiters over big boots. A spirited stroll up to and over Giant ledge encountering only one couple with a dog within the first 15 minutes. Beyond Giant Ledge it was just me and my thoughts. On my way out I encountered a single woman, we had a nice chat for awhile, then went our separate ways. Back to the car I began ingesting my sandwich as I drove over to Rt 214 for an ascent of Hunter. I always look forward to using the Becker Hollow trail as it’s a nice change of pace from the other routes. But today for some reason the ascent kicked my butt and took longer than I expected. Upon walking into the summit clearing, from the shortcut trail, I see a woman I know then two more friends up on the tower. We engaged in some lively chit chat re..." — Nimblefoot • Apr 16, 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

"Easy hiking day visiting some fire towers and a single peak for my grid. Very warm day(70’s) so I was glad I wore shorts. After tagging Roundtop from Gillespie road I headed down to Phoenicia to climb Tremper, my #4 out of 6 for the ‘24 DEC Fire Tower Challenge. A quick stop in Phoenicia to pickup some fluids then out to the Catskill Visitor Center for an easy stroll to the Upper Esopus fire tower,#5 of 6. Continued on to Woodstock to drive up to the Meads TH for the final climb of the day, Overlook. On my descent I ran into two friends who had driven down from ADK Loj in Lake Placid after Mondays eclipse viewing. We finalized a hike for the next day which is unfortunately forecasted to be cooler and a bit wet with showers(ugh). Overlook completed my fire tower challenge now it’s time to report to the DEC and get my patch." — Nimblefoot • Apr 9, 2024

"Easy hiking day visiting some fire towers and a single peak for my grid. Very warm day(70’s) so I was glad I wore shorts. After tagging Roundtop from Gillespie road I headed down to Phoenicia to climb Tremper, my #4 out of 6 for the ‘24 DEC Fire Tower Challenge. A quick stop in Phoenicia to pickup some fluids then out to the Catskill Visitor Center for an easy stroll to the Upper Esopus fire tower,#5 of 6. Continued on to Woodstock to drive up to the Meads TH for the final climb of the day, Overlook. On my descent I ran into two friends who had driven down from ADK Loj in Lake Placid after Mondays eclipse viewing. We finalized a hike for the next day which is unfortunately forecasted to be cooler and a bit wet with showers(ugh). Overlook completed my fire tower challenge now it’s time to report to the DEC and get my patch." — Nimblefoot • Apr 9, 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