104-100202 Slippery 'the Situation' Overnight

I was shocked and amazed this past week when none other than Pete walked into my school and announced that he was in NJ for 3 days. He arrived at my school at just the right time after organizing this with Lori--It was absolutely the best gift she ever gave me.

Anyway, standing in the 800 wing of IHHS it was clear that a camping trip was in order. We decided we'd leave the next night, about 30 hours away. Pete had no gear with him, on leave from CA/Oki, so he would scrounge for his brother's left over gear and borrow the rest from me. I quickly analyzed Pete's stats and determined the best new shelter for him to visit would be Stone Memorial. We didn't plan much except to meet at his parents house the next day at 6PM. It was just like the old days--meet at Pete's with no particular plan.

When I arrived, I presented Pete with his Harrimaniacs "WEAK" sweatshirt. Getti and Andrew tagged along to say hi, but they had to return to their working lives. I had called out, knowing I would pay the price in work load for being truant. We grabbed some paella and pasta, then headed out to the supermarket. We arrived at the Sebago Boat Launch Parking area around 7:30PM via Rt. 59 and Seven Lakes. Snow showers were predicted and no sooner did we hit the first hill on Seven Hills than a few flakes started to fall.

To preserve the nostalgic feel of the trip I decided to run the GPS but not consult it for directions. We just used a good old fashion map. A few times we overshot or missed intended turns and we simply kept going and changed our route. We passed Monitor Rock, visited the incinerator, and headed southeast past the lakes to Pine Meadow via Conklin's Crossing. The snow was becoming steady by the time we arrived at the abandoned cabin on Pine Meadow, with temps in the mid-twenties.

As we ascended the final hill to Stone Memorial I got a chance to break out my Kahtoola 'snow chains' on 2 long stretched of ice. They get 2 thumbs up. A thin coating of snow rested on the ground when Pete and I finally arrived at the shelter. We started looking for wood and started a fire. Pete took his obligatory fall of the trip trying to come up the hill from the stream while carrying a ton of wood.

Next we got a message (late) from Rob around 9:45 that he was finally in the parking lot. He was the only one able to squeeze in a random, mid-week trip besides myself. He arrived at the shelter a little before midnight.

The next day we awoke late to about 3/4 to an inch of snow. We departed the shelter at 9:30 to very slippery conditions and by the time we arrived at the Egg I put my spikes back on. Pete and Rob had to fend for themselves. The morning was filled with Fight Club quotes and commentary about the Jersey Shore. We explored Conkin Cemetery and also realized "Poached Egg" is a trail, not a scenic element. We headed South on Poached and then Raccoon Brook.

Back at Pete's house I had suggested we try to head south to the Ramapo Torne for the great view of NJ that Pete had never seen. We intended, however, to be back around lunch so I could finish the inordinate amount of work I had to do. After getting a late start it was apparent we would not be able to do both. Pete and Rob both wanted to try for the Torne and I felt like, "What's 3 hours? I won't see Pete for months. I'll just stay up late and hate myself tomorrow." As expected, we continued South.

We consumed most of a bag of trail mix on the way as we hit a number of trails that none of us had ever hiked. There were many great viewpoints near Pulpit and we had good views of the Russian Bear and the Torne on the way. It was great to have Pete again after being absent for 18 months and 30 trips. Not only that, it was exciting to once again be exploring a new area in Harriman with Pete just like things were when we started all of this years ago. What I like most about camping, especially with Pete and Rob, is the incredibly flexible 'we can do it' attitude that we take on. We miss a trail, take a wrong turn, take too long, encounter a setback? No problem. Whatever comes our way we can and will overcome. To me that's one of the foundational parts of ToD.

We finally arrived at the Torne, freezing from the wind, overheated and sweating, hungry, tired, and feet worn. We stopped for a while to rest and regroup. I changed the batteries in the GPS and dropped my spikes because the final stretch of HTS coming into the Torne was mostly clear of snow. When we finally got going again we had a hard time finding the steep part of HTS that descends the Torne to the west.

Most of the way down the hill we encountered a steep woods road on the shadowed and snow-covered west side of the hill. While trying to 'run it out' I found myself going too fast with too much snow-slip to stop or turn. Eventually my feet found a patch of ice while running nearly full-bore and immediately I came down hard, barely steering myself to the left of a bowling-ball sized rock on the edge of the trail. Rob, doing the same about 20 feet behind me, was not so lucky. The rock stopped his ice-driven, sliding crash. Of course Pete took the oppertunity to take photos of us on the ground.

We traveled through easier terrain now as the snow was just starting to melt a bit. After reaching the visitor's center we headed north and paralleled the stream all the way to the end of Stony Brook Trail. We hiked the final stretch of Seven Lakes Drive and arrived at the parking area at 3:50PM. We made good time, especially considering the type of topography and trail conditions.

There will be more blog entries spurred by this trip. I'm going to need to post something of an expose about the other philosophical and nostalgic aspects of the trip and Pete put me in contact with Brian, a One-Night-Wonder from trip #4 from whom I am seeking an account of that early trip. But for now, let me wrap this one up by saying this was an excellent trip. The scenery was awesome, the weather and snow perfect, the distance (14.5mi) and difficulty were there, and of course having Pete in town is always priceless. This will be without question the highlight of the winter ToD season for me, if not the highlight of the entire year.