September 2010 – hikingtales.com

My brother Paul and I decided that we were going to spend a day hiking in the Catskills during my yearly visit to New York. But not merely hiking on a conventional trail – our plan was to summit two (or even three!) of the notorious trail-less “Bushwhack” peaks of the Catskills. I had my outdoor skills, as well as a map and compass, so I wasn’t too worried about getting lost. Of course, I also had a topo- and waypoint-loaded GPS, but let’s not dwell on that…

We drove up on a Thursday night, and parked the van at the Mink Hollow trailhead at the west end of the Devil’s Path on Spruceton Road in West Kill. We slept about six hours and woke up just before dawn; it was going to be a long day, so we needed to hustle. We had some oatmeal for breakfast, got our gear and clothing together, and still didn’t get started until well after 8 AM! But that didn’t bother us, as we were strong hikers; this bushwhacking thing was sure to be a “Walk In The Park!” In fact, when we were finished bagging North Dome and Sherrill we were figuring to still have plenty of time to run up Halcott or Rusk, thereby checking off a third “bushwhack” peak on our scorecard for the day. Like I said, a Walk In The Park.