We woke up this morning to 50 degrees and sunny, with no wind. Since we had no plans for the day, and only about a month until our start, we decided it would be a good day for what will possibly be our last training hike. Casey just got a new pack this past week, so we thought it would be a good chance to fill up our packs just like they’ll be on the trail. We packed up everything from our sleeping bags and extra clothes, to cooking stuff and full water pouches. We wanted to be as close as we could to trail weight.
We headed down to Copake Falls, to hike up Bash Bish Mountain. This was a fitting hike, as it was one of the first hikes we did when we moved to the area almost 6 years ago. It was also a good training hike, because right off the bat, we were heading straight up a steep trail. Legs were burning almost immediately, but it felt good to have the packs on again.
After about 40 minutes of climbing and following the white trail markers(good practice!), we reached an intersection with a blue blazed trail.
We got our first views out to the west, towards the Catskills, another area where we’ve spent quite a bit of time in our 5 and a half years in the Hudson valley. Last time we were up here, we remembered following the blue blaze trail back down the ridge to Bash Bish falls, but it seems as though the blue blazes haven’t been kept up, as there was a hint of a trail, that got lost as we headed down a ridge. Not wanting to get lost, we decided to head back up to the white blaze trail, which headed up the mountain.
Again, this part was steep as soon as we left the intersection with the blue blazes. Eventually we reached the top of the ridge, and followed it for about another mile or so until we reached a relatively open patch where we had views of the Catskills to the west, and the rest of the taconic range to the east and south.
What’s pretty cool, is we weren’t too far from the Appalachian Trail up there. Just a few miles to the east is where we’ll be later this summer. It’s pretty crazy to think that next time we hike through this area, we’ll be on our way to Maine.
After sitting for a bit and debating on eating some food, we decided to just head back down to the car. It’s amazing… you’d think that the uphill hiking would be the more difficult part, but hiking downhill with a full pack is no picnic. This is when my knees always begin hurting, and when hiking poles really come in handy.
On the way back down, we began chatting about how this would probably be our last hike until we hit the trail in late March. We’ve got the next couple weekends booked pretty solid with packing, and seeing people before we leave, but this realization kind of hit home. The adventure we’ve been planning for almost a year… It’s only a month away. Once we head out and leave this area we’ve lived for almost 6 years, we won’t see again until we come through as hikers, and then we have no idea if or when we’ll ever be back.
As I said before, this was a fitting final prep hike. We got to come back to one of the first trails we hiked in the area, we got some nice views of the Hudson valley, our home for the past few years, AND we got a great leg conditioning workout so we won’t be too surprised in March! We’ll miss this area, but we’re getting excited to start this adventure.
