Panty Raid

The mini-trip was a success. I departed from Queens immediately after BarBri class ended at 12:40. Over the Throggs Neck, down the Cross Bronx in some light traffic, over the GWB lower level, north on the Palisades Parkway to I-87 north and I was in Phoenicia in 2 1/2 hours. I stopped in the "Phoenicia Supermarket" for some firewood and some Velveeta shells & cheese to make for dinner. After getting slightly lost trying to find Woodland Valley Road due to some construction detours, I made it to Woodland Valley State Campground just before 4PM. I picked a nice tent site on the banks of Woodland Creek. The water in the creek (and in all the other creeks and rivers in the area) was rushing hard and was the color of chocolate milk from all the sediment turned up by the recent rains upstate. It took me about an hour to unpack my gear, pitch my tent, and get settled.


The weather was great, I just sat at my site and studied ConLaw for about an hour and a half before making dinner. I was glad I decided to make just mac and cheese and didn't get a steak. The ranger told me they have had bears in the campground every night since the 4th of July when some genius campers left their cooler out all day. After cleaning up, I lit a fire and basically stared at it for 2 hours.

While staring at the fire, and not studying, I had a thought of driving back into Phoenica, picking up a 6 pack and drinking myself to sleep. Surely, had Asswrangler been accompanying me on this trip we would have been drunk already. After thinking about this for two minutes, I realized I was too lazy to make the 15 minute drive. Then I remembered the Yankees-Red Sux game. I was able to listen to the last three innings on the radio in the car. While doing this and wishing I had brought a radio so I could listen to the game while staring at the campfire, I thought maybe XM satellite radio would be a worthwhile investment for the upcoming trip. Supposedly they carry all baseball games nationwide, and the unit is detachable from your car and insertable into a portable boom box type of thing. Asswrangler and I could surely use this on our 10 day long trip as it would avoid us having to pass the time by talking to each other. After Mo struck out the side in the ninth, I jumped in the tent and went to bed (and slept surprisingly well given the bear watch).

Up at 6:15 (an usually early start for a Goodfella), packed up, washed up and was on the road by 7. I stopped at the white shack on the corner of Rt. 28 an 47 for breakfast sandwich. While waiting for the toothless wench to fry my bacon, egg and cheese, I made an interesting observation: bolted to the front of the counter was a plaque, from the town of Shandaken, recognizing the white hick shack deli as a former site of the underground railroad. History in Shandaken!

From there I made it to the Slide Mt. parking area and was on the trail by 8AM.

The 2.75 miles to the summit were ugly. Despite the fact that Slide Mt. is the highest in the Catskills, it supposedly one of the easier hikes. I nearly had an aneurysm on the way up. Since the unfortunate demise of my Mt. Rainier training program in mid-April, the most athletic thing I've done since then involved lugging my BarBri books back to my car. It was especially frustrating when I realized in late March I would have skipped up this trail.

After hitting 3500 feet in elevation, the exploding sensation in my skull subsided a bit as the trail took a more gradual pace. Then I saw a pair of women's black lace panties hanging from a branch on the trail. Of course I had to stop and take several photos of them. As I continued to hike, I hope to find the woman who they belonged too as well. No such luck.

Finally, I passed over the base of the old fire tower that marks the summit. I made note of some nice campsites just off the trail that would be great during the winter.

The weather was sunny, but unfortunately the summit was socked in with clouds when I got to the open ledge that looks towards the Ashokan reservoir. I rested on the summit ledge for about 10 minutes, snapped a pick of the Burroughs Plaque and then headed back to the car.
After a few stops, I was back in my apartment by 3. No rain to test the tent, and the new boots worked well. They were bit slippery on wet rocks, but I'm not sure if that was due to the boot, or my wobbly legs. That's it for now...Nipplehonker signing off.