Besides suggesting someplace interesting to go, the secondary point of this presentation was to help the older venture crew understand that what we were collectively after was something very special. That when we did events, knowing that time was valuable, we really spent time considering and planning what were were going to do and what we wanted to accomplish.
If you like the idea of this hike and want to go, let me mention just a few more things – when you drive up Rt.23A, you’ll know you’ve reached the trailhead when you do a sharp hairpin turn right at a beautiful waterfall (Bastion Falls). Park up the road a bit, there is a small parking lot on the right. You’ll have to be extremely careful walking down the road. When you walk up the trail after the first waterfall, don’t stop at the next one you see and think you’ve reached it. Keep going. The high falls are spectacular. If you feel so inclined, hike up the left side of the falls. If you look carefully, you’ll find some engravings chiseled in the wall. One is to Vite the wonder dog who tragically jumped to his death back in the 1800′s. At the top, there are hundreds of names and dates chiseled into the stone. No such thing as leave no trace back then, but you know what, it is really kind of cool to see.
A good book telling the story of the area is “The Catskill Mountain House” by Roland VanZandt.
