[at-l] Trip report

[hudsom at us.ibm.com (Mark Hudson)]

Well, my crazy work schedule this week gave me Monday off. Apparently
Monday was the last day of the summer we didn't really have here in the
east. It was supposed to be mostly cloudy and warm, it turned out to be
mostly sunny and VERY warm, somewhere in the mid-70's.
Got another early start, heading for Cornell and Witenberg in the
Catskills, made it to the trailhead at 8:30. Immediately stripped off the
fleece jacket even though I was starting up the shady side of the mountain,
the jacket was nothing more than ballast for the rest of the day.
The last time I was over this trail was sometime in the mid-80's, on a July
4th weekend, with the temps around 90 degrees, and full packs. I marvel at
our insanity!
This time with just a daypack, the trail quite wet - there's no drought in
the Catskills this year - but the rocks and slick roots are still there. I
couldn't believe it when I came to the trail junction to Terrace Lean-to in
an hour, and the sign said 2.6 miles back to the trailhead. That's about my
best pace on easy trail with a full pack, this time I covered it over
fairly rough trail with a good climb, albeit with a daypack...
I would love to check out the lean-to, by it's location on the map one
would expect it to be in a lovely location on the end of a ridge, but that
location is 0.9 miles off of the trail... maybe someday.
At that same trail juction I crested the ridge and caught up with the
mornings sunshine. Beautiful if somewhat wet hiking another 1.3 to the top
of Wittenberg and a gorgeous view off of an open ledge. Too early for
lunch, so I headed over to Cornell, less than a mile. I found the view
there to be through a gap in the trees, with the only spot for lunch on the
summit to be in the shade - without the view. I had toyed with the idea of
bushwhacking to Friday Mt, but discretion can be the better part of
valor... another 2 miles round trip, at least two hours, and I would have
been pushing daylight... so I turned and headed back to have lunch back on
Wittenburg.
I expected to see no one else out, but I had no sooner dropped my pack and
dug out lunch than I heard voices coming up the trail. Turned out to be the
first wave of a group of 53 from a school on Long Island.  I took a nice
long lunch, waiting for most of the group to arrive so I wouldn't have to
deal with traffic on the way down, but still managed to get started before
all my muscles siezed up.
What a day in the mountains! I wish I could describe the light on the
hills... full sunshine above, but just a perfect haze over the hills. Not
the Smokey Mts or Blue Ridge haze, and certainly not pollution... but a
brightly lit mist lending some mystery to the mountains... Words fail me -
you had to be there...

skeeter