Last weekend, Rob and I completed Wittenberg and Cornell; followed by Eagle, Big Indian and Fir. We are now 33/35 peaks toward getting our Catskills 3500 winter patch!
What started out as a casual hobby turned into something much more—a love and devotion to nature, getting outdoors as much as possible, and challenging the body and mind to get stronger and better each time.
Saturday was warm and sunny, with panoramic views heading up Wittenberg and Cornell. This is one of my favorite climbs in all of the Catskills.
Cornell is approximately .8 mile further from Wittenberg, with a famous spot called Cornell Crack. it was covered with ice, so we had to climb around the Crack on a trail workaround.
Cornell has decent views from the top, but is mostly wooded. Definitely worth a visit, through!
For dinner we hit up Peekamoose Restaurant, a farm-to-table blend of American food with a hint of Italian inspiration. We loved the ricotta gnocchi as an appetizer and the mushroom risotto as a main—a perfect, satisfying meal after a long day on the trail!
We stayed at a cozy, affordable inn in Pine Hill called The Wheelhouse Inn, a tiny speck of a town that my dad went to as a kid in the 50s with my grandparents who vacationed in the Catskills every summer. It was so nice to come to a place my dad and family had been to so long ago and think about them having fun there.
Sunday morning, we made Keurig coffees to go and set out around 8am to bag the three peaks, starting with Eagle. First it was sunny, then it was overcast, then it was a white-out of snow and hail! As we got to Big Indian and finally Fir, the trail was harder to see and the conditions were difficult.
With our GPS and gear we are pretty much prepared for anything, but it was a grueling and intensive day in the hills. As the sun goes down on another winter season, I’m grateful for all the challenges we faced and opportunities we had to improve this year.
Just two more peaks to go to get our patch—which has more meaning that we ever thought it would.