Giant Ledge or bust

The other day Tammy and I drove to the end of Woodland Valley Rd for a hike up to Giant Ledge. The sky had started to turn muddy with clouds but it wasn't supposed to start raining until that night. We strapped on our studs and started to climb out of the parking lot. I say climb because if you have ever hiked in the Catskills you know what I mean. Many of the trails date back to the Civilian Conservation Corps created during the depression to provide jobs. I don't know, maybe malnutrition from being broke made these guys evil or they decided to exact revenge on overfed, over privileged Americans for generations to come. They don't start you off easy. Hey guys, how about a few hundred yards of flat trail to gain your stride? Perhaps a switchback or two just to help get you out of the parking lot?

In fact, there are hardly any switchbacks in the entire NY state trail system. The west might have the altitude but we have the steeps. You know those little stars on the NY-NJ Trail Conference maps? They stand for viewpoints. They are located at the top of various trail sections with names like "Almost Vertical" or "The Precipice". The agony is made even greater by the fact that the trail crew has usually forgotten to remove the rocks from the path. Colorado might have the Fourteeners, but the trail to the summit is usually a dirt rut through a gently sloping alpine meadow, with a switchback every 50 yards. The trails are so clear cut, they don't even need little round blazes every 20 feet. In the Catskills or Adirondacks, you could be 100 yards from the parking lot and be totally lost due to the trees and boulders. I am not making this up; I have never seen a blaze nailed to a tree west of the Mississippi, yet, I have rarely been confused about which way to go. On just one hike in Harriman Park I get confused at least 9 times. If you are not constantly on the lookout for those little colored tin can tops, you most assuredly will get confused, if not totally lost.

Anyway, I digress. We never made it to Giant Ledge. The trail was straight up. There was freezing rain. My glasses were fogging like crazy, so it was as if I was hiking with cataracts in both eyes. And Tammy was 50 yards ahead of me the whole time and that really pissed me off.
I had a good mind to pull a Blair Witch Project on her. I don't know what that means exactly, but I am sure it would have frightened her and made me feel empowered. We were probably 50 feet from our goal when we turned around. But like I said, who ever knows where the hell you are when hiking in these woods.