From Misery Mountain to Alander Mountain

The Carr parcel somewhere near Cherry Plain NY.

Friday's hike was an RPA Friday Foray up to a new 1300 acre parcel of land acquired by NYS Environmental Conservation Dept. It's an important and exciting parcel as it links two other "forever wild" preserves on the plateau which aligns with the RPA's mission to create a contiguous pathway for wildlife from Florida up to Maine.

Back story: The Alienist author Caleb Carr was the owner of this parcel, but stopped paying taxes a few years ago amidst a rancorous interaction with local authorities.  The NYS DEC stepped in and purchased this foreclosed property to add to its conservation project. 

The hike started out fairly simply by using an existing trail, but at the high point on the NY-MA border, known as Misery Mountain, we were confronted with a 3 mile bushwhack. What an amazing group of retired 60 - 80 yr olds making our way down steep slopes, stream crossings, and rock ledges without the benefit of any trail. 
Into the wood - the start of the bushwhacking.

This ridge looked like an esker.



The last field past the Carr residence.

We all emerged with scratches and bumps, but no broken bones. It was supposed to be a 6 mile hike but most of our devices measured nearly 8 miles. I slept like a rock that night. 

 Saturday I turned down a couple of hiking invitations as I had a cake to make and a dinner to attend. I found a recipe for a tiramisu layer cake and set out at 10 am to make it.  I needed to make two trips to the store as I realized I only had one cake pan (? ) - no idea how this occurred, but I found a new one and 4 hours later made what closely resembled the picture here. Why I did not take a photo of my hard work I'll never know. I did replace the chocolate ganache topping with just a dusting of shaved chocolate. My layering was identical to the photo!

We ate dinner at Tighe's Bistro Americain which was excellent. As with most hospitality venues, they are experiencing staff shortages so dinner was an extended affair, but full of laughter and fun. We went back to George and Janice's for cake and champagne to end a nice day.

 Sunday came into light with a forecast of rain that kept getting worse by the minute. I decided to forge ahead against my instincts and met the group at 7:30 am. The sky was not bad with some blue showing so off we drove off towards Alander Mt. in Sheffield MA. Almost as soon as we got out of the cars, the light rain started and so did we. It was just a light rain for the whole 3.5 hours in the woods and we were soaked but in cheerful moods. The view at the top (there was one!) was completely obscured save for about two minutes when I was able to capture this hint of a view. 
Soggy hiker.


One of many stream crossings.

We stopped at the Chief Martindale Diner for lunch as we dried out and saw the sun break through for the rest of the day. Another good night's sleep after curling up on the couch with a book and a ginger beer.
Today, Monday is a day of rest and yoga and garden cleanup.

Comments

  1. MargaretNovember 7, 2022 at 7:01 PM

    That cake looks and sounds spectacular! I would probably do the ganache and the shavings, lol! The hike sounds strenuous and kind of scary. I would like to do more hiking, but it never seems to happen! There are certainly plenty of gorgeous ones here in WA too.

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