I was over in the states recently (we had an empty-nester road trip, very fine it was too). And as part of that we spent some time with old friends Richard, Gina and kids. Richard knows I like a good walk (he can’t not, based on my endless Facebook updates) and he had kindly planned a trip out for the two of us old mates to catchup, chew the fat (and burgers .. later on) and get some views. He lives in upstate New York and the Catskill Mountains are a short drive away, so off we headed on a sunny morning.
Time was against us though and we couldn’t do a big walk. So when Richard had shown me the planned route a little bit of me was thinking, ‘shame it’s *only* a six mile round trip’. Which was true enough and I would have loved to have added on more trail time and checked out some of the Catskills peaks. But it was still packed with great sights. And the company was the thing on this one.
The difficulty of walking up a steep trail in high humidity shouldn’t be underestimated (as it was by me), Richard said it can get even stickier in high summer and the flies are a real nuisance later in the season. I got to see two great waterfalls: Ashley Falls on the trail itself and nearby and more impressive (and very high) Kaaterskill Falls. And the Eagle / Buzzard (still not quite sure which) circling around us as we stood on the 3000ft level rock escarpment of North Point was just brilliant.
The thing of joy for me though was to spend some time with a seldom-seen good friend, who I’ve known since our early teens (100 years ago). Catching up on families, music and life in general: as seen from the viewpoint of Middle-Age Mountain.
