My brother and I took a trip up to the Catskills last weekend. We hiked from the Peck Road trailhead to the Escarpment Trail to Blackhead, then west over the Black Dome Range and back to our cars. 
The weather forecast was for a dusting of snow and strong winds of ~ 45mph, but on the night time drive to the trailhead, there was a weird, heavy burst of snow, making the drive on the winding roads a white knuckled experience. We walked up to the Elm Ridge Shelter, where two guys had set up a blazing fire. They asked us if we belonged to the large pile of packs,1lb propane tanks, and various sundry that had been left piled in the shelter. We said no, and went to set up camp a distance away from the shelter, then came back to chat. Eventually the eight guys who did belong to the gear showed up, and we chatted for a bit before going to bed. Apparently those 8 stayed up to about 5am, which I don’t think the first two in the shelter appreciated. I’m not sure how fast the winds were blowing that night, but they definitely tested my newly made tarp. I woke up a couple of times thinking my brother was shaking snow off my tent, but it was the wind. 
Saturday’s walking was pretty easy, although the views were clouded over and I felt we spent most of the time under canopy. We camped near the Batavia Kills shelter and were asleep by 6. Hiker midnight comes early when the sun sets at 5 I guess. Sunday started with the climb up Blackhead, which was the steepest part of the trail, with no shortage of ice on the rock scrambles. The views were better on Sunday as the clouds broke. The rest of the hike flew by. What didn’t fly by was the 3.5 miles roadwalk back to the car, especially the part where we were stopped by two very angry and territorial pit bulls. After about 10 minutes of reassuring them that they were “good girls” and trying to get them to sit and fetch, they let us pass. The Barnum trailhead “parking” was a snowplow turnaround with a big sign marked No Parking. Be warned. 
Overall I was a little underwhelmed with the trip. I was hoping for lots of scenery and scrambles, and I think this hike was a bit lacking in both. It was a nice hike, but I think I enjoy my time hiking Harriman more, although to be fair I have hiked much more of Harriman than this little bit. Also I was looking for that White Mountain 4k footer experience, and hoped that the Catskills could provide it at less than half the distance traveled. Gear obsessions: I took my newly finished xenon sil tarp (made five yards to SUL style), a 5oz and a 2.5oz climashield quilt, along with m65 pants liners and my TNF supernatural down jacket. This kept me plenty warm with the wind chill in the single digits at night. My homemade bivy was too small for the loft of the quilts and my newly acquired synmat, so I need to make a larger, non mummy cut bivy for winter use. I took my adobo can stove (holds like 2oz of alcohol), which is fine when I’m solo, but I feel a little stupid when my brother is done with his food and I’m still waiting for mine to boil. Ultralight existential question: Those 8 guys were really friendly and shared a bunch of their moonshine by the fire. In typical gram weenie fashion, all I had was 8oz of Schnapps in a small Poland Springs Bottle. I need to think about bringing good (light) karma provisions for sharing with new friends. Any ideas? I guess the ultralight approach is to not talk to strangers, but what’s the fun in that?
