57F by 9am, with hazy sunshine, rising to 66F by 2pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
Daily Catskills: 05/18/16
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Tag Archives: Mountain Life
Pizza Night at Lazy Crazy Acres Farm in Arkville
© J.N. Urbanski
We’ve waited all winter for a lot of things and Pizza Night at Lazy Crazy Acres Farm in Arkville is one of them. You can’t spit in the Catskills without hitting good pizza and Lazy Crazy Acres’ delicious pies are up there with the best, hand made right in front of you in their outdoor oven. Lazy Crazy Acres is a picturesque, rural homestead nestled in Rider Hollow by a roaring brook, with chickens, kittens, a barn, maple syrup for sale ($10 a pint), a kids’ play area, a rhubarb patch and hay rides up to their ridge above the farm that boasts stunning 360-degree views of the Catskill Mountains.
Daily Catskills: 05/17/16
55F at 9am and overcast rising to 61F by mid-afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 7pm
Daily Catskills: 05/16/16
36F at 7am, clear skies and cold with blustery winds. Blossoms still hanging in there despite the cold snap. 54F by 1pm and windy.
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
Farm to Belly: Rhubarb
© J.N. Urbanski
If you let your rhubarb go to seed every year for two or three years without harvesting, it’ll become so strong and well established that you’ll end up with robo-barb: a fat, thigh-high bush with stalks as thick as broomsticks. It will be worth the wait to eat rhubarb from a three year old plant. I’ve tucked a little one-ounce shot glass from Amsterdam to help with the comparison here (pictured above). Pick stalks that are ten inches long at least. The shorter one here pictured above was taken by accident. Take only half the plant, as you need your rhubarb plant to go to seed before the winter. The best thing about rhubarb is that the animals hate it more than the asparagus, so it goes untouched year after year. Its season varies from April to June and although it’s considered a vegetable, it’s used like a fruit. It can go to seed as early as a month after the first harvest. Some brave souls eat the stalks raw. However, the leaves are poisonous, containing oxalate, so cut them off with at least an inch of the stalk and discard immediately.
Daily Catskills: 05/15/16
45F at 9am with a morning mixture of cloud and snow and brief dashes of sun.
© J.N. Urbanski 11.30am
© J.N. Urbanski 7.30pm
Daily Catskills: 05/13/16
63F at 8am, humid and misty with light rain. Rain for most of the day.
© J.N. Urbanski
Daily Catskills: 05/12/16
54F at 7.30am rising to 81F by 2pm. Clear, warm and sunny.
© J.N. Urbanski 2.20pm
Artist’s Reception in Hunter, Alix Hallman Travis
Travis, A.H., Winter Apples with Turkeys, o/c, 30×30 in.
An artist’s reception this weekend for “Catskill Mountain Life; a celebration of community”, paintings by Alix Hallman Travis at THE CATSKILL MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION’S KAATERSKILL FINE ARTS & CRAFTS GALLERY, Hunter Village Square, Hunter, New York, from 1pm to 3pm.
Exhibition hours: Friday & Saturday 10am to 4pm, Sunday 10am to 3pm or by appointment.
Catskills Sandwich: Breadfellows Bread and Homegrown Zucchini
© J.N. Urbanski
Homemade Catskills sandwich: Breadfellows‘ delicious semolina bread, lightly toasted with boiled eggs and last year’s home grown (frozen) zucchini sauteed in butter. Tasty.
Daily Catskills: 05/11/16
A whopping 75F by noon, clear skies and hot on the peaks.
© J.N. Urbanski 10am
Daily Catskills: 05/10/16
61F by the afternoon and bright with wispy cloud cover.
© J.N. Urbanski 5pm
Daily Catskills: 05/09/16
47F at 8am rising to 62F by 2pm. Clear and sunny all day with a light breeze.
© J.N. Urbanski 2,.30pm
Daily Catskills: 05/06/16
46F at 9am, heavily raining and misty.
© J.N. Urbanski 8.45am
Daily Catskills: 05/02/16
42F at 8am with heavy rain all morning, and rising to 52F by mid-afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 3pm
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 04/30/15
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 04/28/15
© J.N. Urbanski 1.20pm
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 04/27/15
© J.N. Urbanski Noon
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 04/26/15
© J.N. Urbanski 04/26/15 Noon
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 05/06/15
© J.N. Urbanski Noon
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 3/11/16
© J.N. Urbanski 1.20pm
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 9/18/14
© J.N. Urbanski 7.45am
Catskills Sandwich: Bread Alone’s Pastrami Reuben
© J.N. Urbanski
Bread Alone’s Reuben with gruyere cheese, Russian dressing, coleslaw and pastrami on organic sourdough rye is much less greasy than it looks and remarkably juicy. The coleslaw is quite mild in this sandwich, complementing the flavor of the pastrami, which is not overly salty. The last spectacular sandwich I recommended from Bread Alone disappeared off the Winter 2015 menu just as my review in the Catskills Food Guide went to press and was replaced with something similar. Plus, the Boiceville location where I got the Avocado & Arugula on April 4th has had the arugula removed for the spring menu. All these additions and subtractions keeps us food reviewers on our toes. Grab the Reuben while you can, as menus change frequently.
© J.N. Urbanski
The Catskill 35: Doubletop
© J.N. Urbanski
At 3860 feet high, Doubletop is the 9th highest peak in the Catskills and it’s a Catskills Camel, a double-humped peak and those humps are capped with dense thickets of fragrant evergreens. Once again, there’s a magical, mossy wonderland at the summit, and some ice and snow, but it’s doubly hard work getting up there.
According to the bylaws of the Catskill 3500 Club “there must be at least a 250 drop between the peak and any other peak on the list, or the peak must be at least half a mile from any other peak on the list”. So Doubletop’s two peaks are therefore combined.
It’s also a bushwhack with no trail, but it’s accessible from a number of directions. Experienced hikers approach Doubletop from nearby Graham Mountain, the Hardenburgh trail, Big Indian or Fir. The hike is mostly on private land, so you must obtain permission to hike this peak and you can find the details for that at the Catskills 3500 Club here.
There’s not much in the way of online information about the hike to Doubletop, so one must rely on a map and compass, or a guide. In a mostly southerly direction from the Seager Trail, it is straight up literally being almost horizontal in the beginning. Leaving the Seager Trail is always a miserable affair because it has everything you want in a trail: waterfalls, flat areas for picnics and a refreshing swimming hole. Leaving it to hike south towards Doubletop is even more painful because of its immediate upward trajectory: a thigh-buster from the beginning and troublesome because of its lack of trail.
Daily Catskills: 04/17/16
© J.N. Urbanski 4.30pm
The Seager Trail, Arkville
© J.N. Urbanski
The Seager trail starts at the parking area at the end of Dry Brook Road, just past the covered bridge, in Arkville and it’s two miles of probably the most picturesque valley that I’ve ever hiked in the Catskills. New to both hiking and the countryside in general, I was introduced to the Seager Trail back in 2007. It was my maiden hike, if you like, and one of the most beautiful introductions I’ve ever experienced.
It’s an easy hike alongside a very wide brook with large stones of various shades of grey, with the faintest hints of pink and purple. A short distance from the parking area, the trail opens up into a wide open expanse that is a carpet of smooth rocks at a confluence of two waterways. Yesterday it was covered in a multitude of yellow coltsfoot and a magical sight to behold when emerging from the dark trail into the sunlight. A large downed tree has completely changed this part of the trail, having created a reasonably sized swimming hole that’s very attractive to furry, black Labradors. Further along, there’s a waterfall that fills a deep watering hole that’s about five to six feet deep, and bone-numbingly cold even in the summer, into which you can flop after a hot day’s worth of hiking.
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 4/17/15
© J.N. Urbanski 4/17/15 Noon
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 04/13/15
Sculpture at the Maurice D. Hinchey Interpretive Center.
© J.N. Urbanski 4/13/15 10.30am
Daily Catskills Lightbox: Country Dog
© J.N. Urbanski
Alfie, the black lab/shepherd mix, was found in the Kingston ASPCA and is not only gorgeous, but the most charismatic, noble, extraverted, well-mannered and strong dog I have ever known. He was picked up as a stray puppy in Louisiana and I can imagine him now, having decided to break for freedom as early as possible, quickly making his escape and never looking back. He was driven north with a car full of other dogs to the Catskills by animal rescuers. He’s the best model a photographer ever had and is extraordinarily protective, but is slightly bossy and master of a very effective side-eye. When we left him in the shelter to wait for our references to be checked, I could hear him barking at us from the front door. Showing hardly any signs of shelter anxiety common in other rescued dogs, he bounced back like the trouper he is and has doubled in size in the two years we have had him. We rescued a 38lb puppy and now we have a 80lb bruiser. He’s now a card-carrying country dog.
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 05/28/15
A gorgeous glimpse of weather to come… fingers crossed.
© J.N. Urbanski 5/28/15 7.30am
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 05/25/15
Hand picking worms off the organic apple trees in a young orchard. Last year was a banner year for apples in the Catskills.
© J.N. Urbanski 5/25/15 1.30pm
Catskills Sandwich: Roast Beef
© J.N. Urbanski 3/10/16
The Phoenicia Diner revamped its roast beef sandwich this year. They toasted the bread, added melted brie to the juicy grass-fed beef making this classic sandwich much more delicious. Moreover, it’s a reasonable size for a sandwich, not a gigantic doorstop that’s a whole day’s worth of calories and enough meat to clog your colon for weeks.
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 04/06/15
On this day last year…
© J.N. Urbanski 4/6/15 8am
Daily Catskills: 04/03/16
27F at noon with 6 inches of overnight snow and high winds causing snowdrifts. More afternoon snow.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm
© J.N. Urbanski 1.10pm
Catskills Cocktails: Local Blueberry Infused Vodka
© J.N. Urbanski
We’ve taken one of the last batches of our 2015 organic blueberry and golden raspberry crops out of the freezer, have thawed them out, and now soaking them in Union Grove Distillery’s local Vly Creek Vodka to make a fruity, alcoholic mixer. See you in six weeks.
Daily Catskills Goes to Print
© J.N. Urbanski
Upstate Dispatch’s Daily Catskills Project goes to print next week and an edited selection of photographic works by J.N. Urbanski will be shown in a spring exhibition at a location to be determined in the next few weeks. Watch this space for details.
At least 50 images picked from Urbanski’s contributions to Daily Catskills will be available for sale, framed and unframed.
It’s been a long, demanding project. With the help of contributing photographers Chase Kruppo, Erik Johanson, Fernando Delgado, Melissa Zeligman, Margaret Helthaler, Lydia Brunt, Gavin DuBois, Lori Robin, Jeff Vincent, Niva Dorell-Smith and Mountain Girl Photography & Design, Upstate Dispatch posted an image a day, shot on the day it was published, every day for 18 months. Special thanks go to Margaret Helthaler for her help over the past year.
After a short break in April, the project will resume online again. In April, we’ll begin Daily Catskills Lightbox, a selection of photographic work that did not make the cut on the day.
Stay tuned!
Daily Catskills: 03/31/16
52F by 8.30am with a veil of hazy cloud. 63F and humid by noon.
© J.N. Urbanski 9.30am
The Catskill 35: Fir Mountain
© J.N. Urbanski
There are a handful of naturally made trails on and near the summit of Fir Mountain, which oddly make you feel like you’re back in civilization once you’ve reached the summit, a feeling that’s short-lived. Fir was our first bushwhack and it’s less of a bushwhack than a sapling-whack and they’re not being whacked, you are. At this time of the year, the saplings are bare but you have to push on through them and continually get whipped in the face. Catskills bushwhacks are climbs to the summit that have no trail at all and no signage. The saplings are a reminder of how much work goes into trail maintenance of all the marked trails by volunteers from wonderful organizations like the New York New Jersey Trail Conference.
Daily Catskills: 03/28/16
45F at 11am, overcast and raining. 46F and cloudy by 1pm with intermittent rain and cloud for the rest of the afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 5.30pm
Daily Catskills: 03/27/16
36F at 8.30am, with hazy skies and mist evaporating off the mountains. 57F by 3pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 9.30am
The Catskill 35: Peekamoose/Table
© J.N. Urbanski
Peekamoose is a strenuous, uphill struggle, a relentlessly steep trail with two or three large boulder formations to climb over. One formation has a precipitously positioned boulder that would tumble down the mountain should the tree on which its leaning collapse. After hiking over half the Catskills 35, I’ve never witnessed a tumbling boulder. Another notable distinction of this trail is the appearance of large boulders dashed with multicolored pebbles, making the rocks look spongy. There’s also a streak of pinkish, light purple rock and dirt about halfway up the trail.
More delightful are the manmade accents: doorways and steps carved in enormous, downed trees.
Daily Catskills: 03/26/16
43F by 11am with clear skies and a hazy horizon, rising to 48F by 1pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm
Daily Catskills: 03/22/16
28F at 8.30am with crunchy layer of overnight snow and a mixture of enigmatic clouds. 43F by 1pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 8.30am
Daily Catskills: 03/20/16 Spring Equinox
36F at noon, lightly overcast and chilly. The Spring (Vernal) Equinox is the time when the sun’s rays are perpendicular to the earth, as the earth’s northern hemisphere begins moving towards the sun, making it warmer here throughout the summer.
© J.N. Urbanski 3pm
Daily Catskills: 03/17/16
43F at 8.30am with thick fog rolling off the mountains. Update: 54F by the afternoon with a mixture of cotton wool clouds of various colors. Down to 44F with icy snowy rain by 2.30pm. Back up to 53F by 4pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 8.30am
Daily Catskills: 03/15/16
43F at 8.30am, overcast with morning mist over the mountains. 55F by 2pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
Daily Catskills: 03/14/16
42F at 8.30am and overcast, rising to 39F at 2pm with a biting wind.
© J.N. Urbanski 2.20pm
Daily Catskills: 03/13/16
40F by 8.30am with hazy sunshine, rising to 57F by 3pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 11.41am
© J.N. Urbanski Noon
The Catskill 35 (W): Bearpen
© J.N. Urbanski
The trail to the summit of Bearpen is a long, gradual meander around a mountain, mostly on a part of a snowmobile trail that’s much longer than the walk to the summit and privately maintained. Unlike other trails to Catskills peaks over 3500ft, which are rocky, and perhaps because it’s so further afield than the others, the path is soft and grassy. There’s no tripping over boulders or sliding around on gravel. Most of all, there’s no clambering. If you like hauling yourself up over large boulders, this is not the hike for you. There are short lengths of the trail that are steeper, but they don’t last long. Bearpen is bearish, not bullish, if you like market metaphors. Yesterday, the trail was wet and that made the going very muddy with the boots sinking inches into thick banks of mud in some parts. There were long, round puddles that reflected another gorgeous winter day wearing the mantle of spring. On the ascent there are views through the trees during winter and at the summit, there are many breathtaking views. There’s also a large, rusting contraption that looks like an old ski-lift pulley converted from a car or truck, around which small trees have grown.
Daily Catskills: 03/11/16
43F at 11am with a mix of sun and clouds, breezy and warm. 48F by 2pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 1.15pm
Daily Catskills: 03/08/16
50F at 8.30am, overcast and humid. 61F by 1.30pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm
Hillsound Trail Gear
© J.N. Urbanski
It certainly wasn’t the plan to complete the Catskills Winter 35 (hiking every peak over 3500ft between the dates of December 21st and March 21st). In fact, the plan was to do the four required winter peaks of the regular Catskills 35 and resume in the spring, but like many carefully laid plans, this one failed. Being a city girl, before moving to the Catskills, all my walking was of the pavement persuasion and, truth be told, I only started hiking to wear out my puppy. I am not prepared for spring at all (and never was), but thanks to my friends at Hillsound, I am perfectly winterized with crampons, ultra crampons and gaiters, which are nifty contraptions, like hiker’s leg warmers that don’t wrinkle. Gaitors have stirrups that prevent the gaiter from rising up so that snow does not go up the trouser leg.
Daily Catskills: 03/07/16
30F at 8.30am and overcast. 55F at 1pm, brighter and with less cloud.
© J.N. Urbanski 10.15am
Daily Catskills: 03/06/16
27 at 8.30am with clear skies and warm in the sun, rising to 38F by mid-afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 10am
Daily Catskills: 03/04/16
30F by 10am and cloudy with a slight breeze. 34F by mid-afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm