Fall Hike into the Shawangunks

I know.. I know .. I owed you this post quite a while back. Back in October, when it was still Fall and the trees were abundantly decorated with vibrantly colored leaves, we made plans with friends to drive up North into the country and catch a glimpse of the ethereal Autumn beauty. And, while we were at it, we thought we should extract as much of our time, with Mother Nature, as possible by hiking up an interesting peak. Oh! And.. and, while we were at it, since it was the squash and apple season, we thought we must make a pit stop at a local farm and pick our own fruits (I was really looking forward to that part, as you can imagine....).

And it all worked fine, just according to the plan.. ok, well, kinda! :)

We had initially planned the day out on a Saturday with a couple of friends who were driving in from outside NY. But, as it would happen, Saturday was predicted to be a wash out and so well, the friends couldn't make it. Determined to still get our dose of Fall, Mr.FSK and I, decided to head out on Sunday, even, if it meant waking up early on the last weekend day.


We planned to drive to the Minnewaska State Park, two hours North of the city and just South of the lovely Catskills region, and hike up Gertrude's Nose, which, was expected to be a moderately strenuous hike timed at six hours. The driving route happens to be dotted with many apple farms, which, suited me just fine as I had the plans all down pat for that apple picking!

So, Sunday opened bright, sunny and gorgeous! Plus, we woke up later than planned, so it looked stupendous to our well-rested eyes :). We eventually made our way out of the city about 11. The day was bit chilly but not too much, so we could still ride with the top down. But, an hour and a half into the drive, I was well into the frozen land and desperately in need of thaw time.

Happily, that coincided with the drive by the farms. One of them the Wright's Apple Farm had a store that looked just too inviting to ignore. So, guess what! I walked in, reluctantly followed by the hub :). I figured, since anyway we were late, we weren't going to get much time for 'picking' after the hike. So, warmed up by some wonderful, fresh apple cider, I walked slowly wowing at the lovely, fresh apples and pumpkins. Finally, we picked up a nice big bucket of ginger apples and a pretty pumpkin (that went into making this pumpkin risotto).

After that, we happily set off to the park and the hike, which, really was the object of the drive :). As we entered the park, we realised that we weren't the only ones who thought this the perfect day for nature watch. The park was over-flowing and bursting at the seams; parking lots (3 of them) were full and there were long lines outside to park and the police were actually shoo-ing them away. I have never seen a park so full!



So, another change of plan. The approach lot for the hike was, you guessed it, full. More so, because, it was by the Minnewaska Lake; so, obviously, everyone was there. So, we drove to the Peter's Kill area, where, we did find parking and decided to hike the High Peter's Kill trail; a 3.5 mile hike each way.

It was a wonderful hike! We did the whole stretch one way, passing along a couple of high view points, overlooking the stunning moutain side and valley just glowing in bright yellows and oranges and brilliant reds! The first viewpoint was pretty close to the starting point. It was the perfect spot to have our lunch, pesto sandwiches and Ritz crackers, just getting lost in the peace and loveliness of the place.



Most of the trail was along the cliff-edge which offered a continued spectacular view of the ranges. Ironically, the trail ended at the parking lot for the lake. So, we detoured on the way back to the lake and then took another connecting route back to our starting point.On the way back, we walked for quite a while along the Awosting river and passed the Awosting falls, which was LOUD; not a tall fall but it definitely made up for it in volume!

Our route (meandering as it was) was 7 miles total and we completed that in three and a half hours. It was a moderate climb with quite a few ascents at good angle and a few steep descents. What struck us most were the views it offered. It would be a good hike even when the leaves are green and full of life.


We are definitely going back there in Spring; to summit the Nose!

On another note, Deeba and Jamie, two of my favorite bloggers, have started a new blog dedicated to the love of Macarons. The idea is to have a monthly challenge to create macs and share our stories and accomplishments with each other. Mac Attack II is now happening. For more details, check out the MACTWEETS blog.