31F at 8.30 with hazy sunshine, rising to 43F by 3pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 12.50pm
Daily Catskills: 02/07/16
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Tag Archives: Upstate New York
Catskill Mountain Vodka: Union Grove Distillery
© J.N. Urbanski The Bar
It’s no secret that your humble correspondent is a big fan of both vodka and shopping locally. After much anticipation, Union Grove Distillery in Arkville, New York is up and running, producing vodka made from apple cider and wheat. Apples for the vodka were bought in Schoharie Valley at Terrace Mountain Orchards in Middleburgh. Vodka is, by definition in the United States, a spirit (made from a grain, fruit or any source) that has been distilled to 190 proof until it’s been thoroughly purified of all the remnants of the fermentation process. Distilled water is then added back in to dilute the liquid to a lower alcohol volume.
Daily Catskills: 02/06/16
22F at 8.30am with a layer of frost sparkling under a hazy sunrise.
© J.N. Urbanski 9am
Daily Catskills: 02/05/16
32F by 11am, with shimmering cloud and a bone-chilling, gusty wind, warming up to 36F by 1pm and more sunny. Update: 36F with clear skies by 3pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 3.30pm
© J.N. Urbanski 3.40pm
Daily Catskills: 02/04/16
39F at 8.30am and mostly cloudy with some sun expected later.
© Jeff Vincent of Catskill Mountain Wild 8.45am
Daily Catskills: 02/03/16
37F at 8.30am, overcast and raining.
© Jeff Vincent of Catskill Mountain Wild 9am
The Catskill 35 (W): Wittenberg
© J.N. Urbanski
A couple of accidents on the peaks – Kaaterskill and Sherrill – this past week remind us how treacherous winter hiking can be. It’s not only the cold, icy terrain that’s a threat; if you’re tired or hungry, circumstances can quickly go from uncomfortable to dangerous. Once fatigue sets in, an ordinarily innocent stumble on a boulder can easily turn into a fall or disable a knee or ankle. In addition, if your under layers are soaked in sweat a rest break could allow them to freeze. These are potentially fatal conditions. Listen to your instinct when it says you’re really too tired to attempt to climb up that 50-feet-high vertical pile of jagged rocks. Except, I didn’t.
Daily Catskills: 02/02/16
37F at 10am and mostly sunny.
© Jeff Vincent of Catskill Mountain Wild 10am
Daily Catskills: 02/01/16
48F at 8.30am, overcast and gloomy with most of the snow and ice melted. Muddy.
© J.N. Urbanski 10.30am
Daily Catskills: 01/31/16
28F at 8.30am, rising to 45F by mid-afternoon. Ice and snow melting quickly off the peaks and 53F reported in some areas.
© J.N. Urbanski 1.50pm
The Catskill 35 (W): Westkill
© Urbanski
Westkill is not one of the peaks you are required to ascend in winter, but it is one of the most beautiful during this time. Diamond Notch Falls’ rumbling cascade is a gorgeous place to sit and meditate in the summer. Go here to read our account of Westkill during the summer. It’s a difficult hike, with two miles that are a challenging, thigh-busting uphill battle, but the views from the summit make it all worthwhile. Yesterday’s light was utterly extraordinary. Plus, the drive on Spruceton Road, on which you’ll find a motel, farms and a church with a small graveyard, is just as beautiful as the hike up the mountain itself. At about 3pm, the sun came out, which pleased the horse (pictured bottom) no end.
Daily Catskills: 01/30/16
32F by 11am and overcast with periods of brightness. 40F by 2.30pm with snow rapidly melting on the peaks.
© J.N. Urbanski
Daily Catskills: 01/29/16
28F at 10am with light but persistent snow throughout the morning: a white out on the peaks. 34F by 2pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 1.40pm
Catskills Weekend: Friday’s Events at the Winter Hoot
A few days ago, I wrote about this weekend’s festivities at the Ashokan Center in Olivebridge called The Hoot. It’s the 4th Annual Winter Hoot this weekend from January 29 to January 31, 2016. The Hoot “welcomes the community, one and all, for a spirit-raising good time in mid-winter” being three festive days of music, dancing, food, film, art and nature activities for all ages. Here’s tonight’s schedule of events:
EVENT SCHEDULE
Friday
Daily Catskills: 01/28/16
32F at 8.30am with clear skies: bright and sunny. 35F by 3pm and densely overcast.
© J.N. Urbanski 12.20pm
Daily Catskills: 01/27/16
35F at 8.30am and overcast with a chilly wind blowing the odd snowflake. Scattered snowstorms by mid-afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 11.30am
Catskills Weekend: The Hoot in Olivebridge
© Tom Eberhardt-Smith
It’s about time for the 4th Annual Winter Hoot at the Ashokan Center in Olivebridge this weekend from January 29 to January 31, 2016. The Hoot “welcomes the community, one and all, for a spirit-raising good time in mid-winter” being three festive days of music, dancing, food, film, art and nature activities for all ages,
The Winter Hoot is always a “pay what you can” event. The suggested donation is $30 to $60 per adult for the weekend. The Winter Hoot is an indoor event and space is limited. Advance tickets offer guaranteed admission and may be purchased online or at the Woodstock Music Shop.
Daily Catskills: 01/26/16
36F at 8.30am, calm, humid and overcast rising to 46F by 2pm with high winds.
© J.N. Urbanski 2.20pm
The Catskill 35: Slide Mountain
© J.N. Urbanski
A return to the stunning Slide Mountain for the second time this year, ascending into the seductive clutches of a dense forest of snow-laden conifers, with a copy of John Burroughs’ In The Catskills. A commemorative plaque to Burroughs is affixed to a large rock at the summit under which the writer frequently camped. Slide is so named because of a landslide that occurred in the early nineteenth century on its north face where the scar is still apparent after having been refreshed by another landslide in 1992 and the entire area was thoroughly traversed by the writer.
Daily Catskills: 01/25/16
20F at 8.30am with hazy sunshine, rising to 30F by 11am.
© J.N. Urbanski 10.20am
Daily Catskills: 01/24/16
A hair under 16F at 8.30am. Clear and sunny, rising to 28F by 2pm. Thick snow on the peaks.
© J.N. Urbanski Noon
The Catskill 35: Big Indian
© J.N. Urbanski
Winter hiking in the Catskills is mostly magical, tranquil beauty but uncomfortable if you’re ill prepared and occasionally terrifying. I’ve been conveying my winter hiking experiences here under the Outdoors section on Upstate Dispatch. Or, rather, I’ve been writing about what could possibly go wrong should you decide to attempt a Catskills high peak when it’s 10˚F and weather conditions are a fickle master. True to my British nature, I seem to have created A Pessimist’s Guide to Winter Hiking or a Pessimist’s Guide to Conquering Winter Summits. Last year, I decided to attempt to hike all 35 Catskills peaks over 3500ft in order to join the Catskills 3500 Club and there are four extra peaks required in the winter. What I discovered after having hiked those four is that you can see a lot more of the landscape when it has lost most of its foliage. You literally get the lay of the land. So I’ve been continuing down the list instead of doing the sensible thing and waiting for the spring thaw. However, winter hiking is not for the uncertain.
Daily Catskills: 01/23/16
18F at 9.30am, as cold as a stone wall and overcast, rising to 27F by noon. Snow remains on the peaks.
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
Daily Catskills: 01/22/16
21F by 11am, with hazy sunshine, shimmering cloud cover and snow remaining on the peaks.
© Urbanski 3pm
Daily Catskills: 01/21/16
21F at 9am and mostly sunny.
© Niva Dorell 10am
Daily Catskills: 01/20/16
25F by 10am with a mixture of sun and clouds.
© Niva Dorell 10.30am
Daily Catskills: 01/19/16
10F at 9am with a mix of bright sun and clouds.
© Niva Dorell 9.30am
Daily Catskills: 01/18/16
16F at 9am with shimmering blue-white cloud and a thick layer of snow rising to 18F with cloudless, hazy skies.
© J.N. Urbanski 8.30am
Daily Catskills: 01/16/16
38F at 9.30am and foggy with 2 inches of powder dripping off trees loudly onto the forest floor.
© J.N. Urbanski 9.50am
© J.N. Urbanski 10am
Daily Catskills: 01/15/16
30F by 10am and partly cloudy and sunny, rising to 38F and overcast by 4.30pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 4.30pm
Daily Catskills: 01/14/16
14F at 8.30am with still air, shimmering sky and with the barest of flurries.
© J.N. Urbanski 8.30am
Daily Catskills: 01/13/16
16F at 9.30am with shimmering clouds and a layer of powdery snow on the ground. 19F with drive-by clouds at 3pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 3pm
Daily Catskills: 01/12/16
19F at 9.30am, overcast and lightly snowing.
© J.N. Urbanski 11am
Daily Catskills: 01/11/16
20F at 8.30am and lightly snowing with isolated snow flurries moving across the landscape.
© J.N. Urbanski 10.30am
Daily Catskills: 1/10/16
45F by noon with fog, mist and rain. Continual rain with a brief gap in the clouds at 2pm and then Winter Storm Hera at about 2.30pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
The Catskills 35 (W): Blackhead Mountain
© J.N. Urbanski
There’s a part of the final metres of the ascent to Blackhead Mountain that is a vertical climb and one from which you should not look back down if you suffer the slightest vertigo or you will invite a case of the wobblies. It’s even worse now that it’s entombed in ice. My husband and dog hopped up it like mountain goats and I was left in the metaphorical dust, grappling with uncertainty, stabbing my spikes into the ice and, finally, hoisting myself up over the rocks with the roots of an aging birch tree. As I finally managed to haul myself over the top, I wondered if there was such a thing as hand crampons attached to a set of gloves because they would have made the job much easier.
Daily Catskills: 01/09/16
34F by 10am and overcast with fog and mist, rising to 37F mid-afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 2.50pm
Daily Catskills: 01/08/16
25F at 8.30am and still wiith marbled skies and a hazy horizon.
© J.N. Urbanski 12.45pm
Daily Catskills: 01/07/16
20F at 8.30am with hazy cloud cover fading with the dawn.
© J.N. Urbanski 8am
Daily Catskills: 01/06/16
18F by 8.30am, with clear skies and frosty air, rising to 28F by 11am.
© J.N. Urbanski 9.30am
Daily Catskills: 01/05/16
0F at 7.30am and still, with some areas reporting as low as -11F at dawn. Clear skies to the horizon, rising to 15F by noon.
© J.N. Urbanski 11am
The Catskill 35 (W): Slide Mountain
© J.N. Urbanski The summit of Slide Mountain with zero visibility over the edge
Hillsound sent me two pairs of crampons – or “spikes” – to try out and my life hasn’t been so thoroughly changed for the better since I got my juicer. They must have taken pity on me because they read that I’m hiking the Catskills 35 in a pair of fifteen-year-old snowboarding boots that I bought in an emergency, during a torrential downpour on 14th Street in New York City, when I was on my way to meet a client.
Daily Catskills: 01/04/16
A hair over 10F at 7.30am and still with clear skies. Not much warmer by noon.
© J.N. Urbanski 7.45am
© J.N. Urbanski Noon
Daily Catskills: 01/02/16
25F at 8.30am, cold and enigmatically overcast with snow on the higher peaks. 30F by mid-afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 11am
The Catskills 35 (W): Balsam Mountain
© J.N. Urbanski
Winter hiking can get dangerous pretty quickly. One minute you could be trotting along atop a magical winter wonderland and then the next minute, you might take your gloves off to take a picture and be left wondering if you’ll ever feel your hands again. Your water might freeze in your backpack at the summit of a mountain and if you’ve layered with cotton and start sweating on your ascent, you’ll stay wet for the duration of the hike. Winter hiking in the Catskills is only for the experienced or very prepared. At the very least, take spare socks, t-shirt, food and don’t wear cotton under- or base garments. Drink a liter of water before you set out and eat a hearty breakfast. Take a lighter, some pocket hand warmers and a gadget that turns snow into water. Or wait until Spring. Just stay at home and read, catch up on correspondence or binge watch quaint BBC period dramas because if I haven’t mentioned it, winter hiking in the Catskills can get serious suddenly and without warning.
Daily Catskills: 12/29/15
31F by 10.30am and overcast with a thin blanket of overnight snow settling only on paths and roads.
© J.N. Urbanski 10.30am
Daily Catskills: 12/28/15
30F at 10am and for most of the day, dropping to 28F by 3pm with some cloud and hazy sunshine. A dusting of snow on the peaks that melted slowly throughout the day.
© J.N. Urbanski 12.30pm
© J.N. Urbanski 12.30pm
Country Life: The Observer Observed
Nothing beats getting stared down by a deer. “Whatcha doing?”
© J.N. Urbanski
Daily Catskills: 12/27/15
52F by noon, overcast, raining and miserable rising to 54F.
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
The Catskill 35: Indian Head Mountain
© J.N. Urbanski
It’s difficult to decide what was more remarkable about a hike up Indian Head Mountain during hunting season. Would it be the periodic burst of gunfire from the local sportsman’s club every few hundred yards of my 13th peak over 3500 feet, like distant, anonymous cheerleaders? Perhaps it was the burly, camouflaged hunters strolling nonchalantly around the parking area, with loaded weapons over their shoulders, incongruously set against our hippy neighbors in their tie-dye. Possibly it was the roadside pile of dead deer we passed on the journey, but I think it was actually the unseasonal weather: t-shirt warm and humid at 55F by 10am on December 13th. I had no mobile phone service at lunchtime, so I could not tell what exactly the temperature was, but it felt like at least 60F. We’ve had a smattering of snow this year, but thus far that has been all. Last year was a strikingly different story as you can see here from our Daily Catskills picture of the same day. The lower parts of the trail to the summit and back down were wet and there were frequent stream crossings, but they were very low.
Spring Shoots Update
Green shoots are emerging from the raspberry sticks; the beetroot is flourishing; the cauliflower is shooting; the asparagus is prolific, as is the rhubarb; the hops are hopping, but the spuds and blackberries have yet to emerge. The dog is already too hot and has dug a mud hole under some equipment. His home for the summer.
© J.N. Urbanski 5/11/15