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Hudson Highlands Jaunt


briansnat

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Twas an excellent day. Great hikes, beautiful vistas, fun climbs, great company, interesting conversation, great sandwich wraps, yummy cookies, bad jokes, topped off by hot wings and beer.

 

Thanks to Brian for putting this all together, thanks to JonBoy for giving us a tour of his stomping grounds, and thanks to everyone for coming and making the day so much fun. Was great seeing old friends and meeting new ones.

Edited by HartClimbs
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Hey all,

Just wanted to say that my first geocaching group event, NOT event cache ;), was awesome. Best of all were Planet's wraps. C'est tres bon!

 

Btw, if anyone thinks they're in shape, try following Jonboy up to Where's the trail and Detritus the troll. He's twice my age, carried about ten times what I was carrying in my Camelback in his pack and he still hiked me into the ground.

 

Later,

Batonka

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What a day, what a turn out! Got home about an hour ago. It was great to see everyone. I don't know who is more exhausted me or Bella. I have some amazing pictures and even better memories. Thanks again Brian for setting this up, thanks to Planet for the great wraps and thanks to everyone for the great company. See you all at the next event. (I still say this qualified as one) ;)

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Here's what it says for an Event Cache. . .

 

Event Caches

 

Event caches are gatherings for geocachers by geocachers to discuss geocaching. After the event has passed, the event cache is archived. While a music concert, a garage sale, a ham radio field day or an orienteering event might be of interest to a large percentage of geocachers, such events are not suitable for submission as event caches because the primary focus of these events is not geocaching and the primary attendees are not geocachers. In addition, an event cache should not be set up for the sole purpose of drawing together cachers for an organized hunt of another cache or caches. Such group hunts are best organized using the forums or an email distribution list.

 

For geocaching events that involve several components, such as a day-long group cache hunt that also involves a seminar and dinner, only a single event cache covering all components should be submitted.

 

--------------

 

Seems like we just had ourselves an event cache :-)

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And this Red jeep, NY plates, an obvious cache fanatic, (I could tell by the license plate and "GEO/Euro"), passes me on the way home.

 

LOL

Me? I must have been sleeping. Was the Jeep swerving a lot?

 

Going to go pass out now. I'll finish logging and posting photos tomorrow.

Edited by JMBella
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And this Red jeep, NY plates, an obvious cache fanatic, (I could tell by the license plate and "GEO/Euro"), passes me on the way home.

 

LOL

Me? I must have been sleeping. Was the Jeep swerving a lot?

 

Going to go pass out now. I'll finish logging and posting photos tomorrow.

Straight as an arrow.

Um how did you get behind me? ;)

Can"t wait for the rest of the logs.

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It was a great time. I usually log my caches the second I get home, but I passed out on the couch before I got to page 2 of the day's newspaper. Climbing the face of the quarry for the 2nd cache was fun and the hike up Mt Taurus wasn't too difficult (about half of us took the long and easy route, while half took the short, but difficult route), but it did seem to take forever. At one point someone said "does this trail ever stop climbing, or does it keep going to heaven". I'm sure everyone will agree that once we got to the top, heaven might just be the way to describe the views. The trip turned out to be a great mix of terrain and sights. Rocky slopes, challenging rock scrambles, open ledges, dense forest, old carriage roads, historic ruins and even an long abandoned paved driveway. Thanks to Planet for the grub and Planet, Ttepee and Jonboy for being our guides for the day. Planet and Tepee previously found all but one of the caches on the hike and Jonboy found them all, so they were just out there for the hike and fun. Special thanks to Jonboy for putting the idea of coming here into our heads.

 

Here is a list of all who where there (I hope I got everyone):

 

Barefoot

JMBella

Planet

Ttebee

Jonboy

KBer

Quoddy

BrianSnat

Skigir43

Batonka

Team DEMP

FosterBass

Skully & Mulder et. al.

Squealy

Serg312

Hartclimbs

AsileRD

Kar of Team Shibby

Lunaruby

Bella

Autumn

The real Quoddy

 

I would have posted the group shot here, but out of 40 photos I took, it was the only one that was out of focus. Go figure.

Edited by briansnat
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I had a good time meeting and hiking with everybody. I particularily want to thank Brian for his leadership in getting this thing rolling. Planet's wraps were enjoyed by all. I told myself I wasn't going to eat any, I had my own lunch, and ended up eating four, they were good! I also was glad for the company in the bushwack-rock scrambles. Helmut's girls really impressed me climbing up the funnel and scaling the wall on the side of the quarry. We were worried how their dog, August would make it up, and she came scampering up ahead of them all.

 

I was pleased that Barefoot, Batonka and KBer went along with my direct ascent to Detritus from Wheres The Trail. Batonka, it might be some consolation for you to know that my quads were blown out on that descent down Breakneck, and I had to force myself to hobble out for a hike today.

 

So Brian, how about another hiking-caching marathon on the other side of the river. You could bag a whole bunch of caches around and to the south of Bear Mountain, and never have to get in a car. Thanks Again!

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I think the thanks should go to Ttepee, Jonboy and Eagleflyby. Without those people placing these caches, I know I probably would have never visited this great area and this trip would have never happened. Great cache! Thanks!

 

JMBella, think you can e-mail me a copy of the group photo?

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I think I'm finished uploading pictures. I thought it might be easier to follow along the day visually with a link to the galleries of each cache.. so here you go.

 

Jr's Point

The Funnel

Gates of the Hudson

Mt Taurus

Bull Hill Junction

The Old Cornish Farm

Cornish Mystery House

 

Where's the Trail

Detritus the troll @ Breakneck Ridge

 

The optional caches that alot of us didn't do didn't have any new photos uploaded but the pics there are impressive just the same so I'll add them in here too. It seems that cachers have other things on their mind then taking photos while enjoying these cliffs... hmm wonder what it could be.

 

What a fun day it was! Thanks to everyone.

Edited by Ttepee
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JMBella, think you can e-mail me a copy of the group photo?

 

No problem Brian.

$5 for the first copy and 2.50 for every copy after that. B)

 

So Brian, how about another hiking-caching marathon on the other side of the river. You could bag a whole bunch of caches around and to the south of Bear Mountain, and never have to get in a car. Thanks Again!

 

I'm ready! B)

 

Thanks again to all who gave us a reason to get out there especially Jonboy, Ttepee & Eagleflyby for hiding the caches.

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Thanks again to BrianSnat for suggesting this series, and to jonboy, eagle flyby, and ttepee for placing the caches.

 

GWHO was asking about the abandoned buildings and I found some information at GORP, so I figured I'd share it here:

 

Chairman of the board of the National Lead Company, [Edward G.] Cornish could afford the best. His early 1900 estate was large. Walk up the road, past his farm. The barn ruin has some of the fanciest stone- and brickwork I've ever seen devoted to cows. I have never known cows to need fires to keep warm, yet this barn has a chimney, and the barn was partially heated. There are abandoned barns, sheds, garages, a pasteurizing house, coops, lofts, and, at the concrete dam and pond, a ruined two-story wood-frame tenant house. Notice how the dam (Mr. Cornish's last project) is in perfect condition.

 

Return back down Dairy Road, where it becomes the red trail. You'll pass a round concrete cistern large enough to be a swimming pool. The tall wooden tube inside still contains some of the charcoal used to filter the drinking water from Breakneck Brook. Pass the shell of the greenhouse, the large swimming pool, the formal gardens, and, lastly, the ruins of the mansion. Built from rocks hewn from Breakneck Mountain, the house contained the luxury of indoor plumbing.

 

The red trail becomes a concrete road with hardly a pothole or a crack. How many new paved or concrete roads do you know that look so good? Mildred Eaton Carr, daughter of builder James W. Eaton, recalled how the very best of materials was used in building the estate, which is why things have lasted. The elder Cornishes died during the 1930s. Pending property settlement, the farm was boarded up and left vacant. The house burned in 1956, probably from careless campers.

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Another outstanding event NY/NJ event. This was a great combination of meeting new and old area geocachers, great hikes, nice weather, and well placed caches.

 

The only thing missing was the keg that HARTCLIMBS said he was going to lug up the mountain.

 

Some personal highlights for me was as follows:

 

(1) Finally meeting Skully, his girls and Autumn. We have emailed for a long time, done each other caches, helped each other out, exchanged advice, etc. It is people like Skully that make this sport so enjoyable in the Northern NJ area. I continue to be impressed with the enthusiasm that his girls embrace the difficult hikes and caches. I wish I could spread some of that to my own kids.

 

(2) Seeing the trimmed downed HARTCLIMBS, he looks great, nice and trim. The rest of us could take some lessons from him.

 

(3) Meeting Skigirl43, she is very nice and has big smiles. Her love for the outdoors is contagious.

 

(4) BrianSnat walking down the trail away from the group telling me this sage wisdom, "The outdoors is my outhouse."

 

(5) Planet's wrap sandwiches.

 

(6) Jonboy told me what the "stars" on a topographical map are for. He told me that he has visited everyone in the area.

 

A special thanks goes out BrianSnat for planning the event and the outstanding routing and cache selection, Planet for the great food that she generously shared with the entire group, and Jonboy for acting as our resident guide and expert.

 

It was pleasure meeting and talking with all of you, and swapping geocache adventures. Thanks again.

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Hello all. Thanks to everyone who made this event possible. I had a great time meeting everyone and taking in the greats views. Everything I was going to say has been said so I'll save it. Thats what I get for posting so late. I'll be posting my pics shortly. Thanks again and nice meeting everyone.

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:)Hello every one.

I wanted to thank you all for the great feed back and say that i am really really glad you had so much fun at the Goup Hunt.

I wish I could have been there but It just didn't work out. I want to thank Ttpee and Planet in particular for theyr great support of this event with Wraps, picture taking and guidance on this hunt as they are experts in this area.

Also thanks to BrianSnat and JohnBoy for their expertise, you guys are also a great asset to the GeoCommunity here. :)

I was going to list every one individually here but Brian has done that already so no need to repeat that, I hope I will be able to meet you all at the CITO Event at Harriman later this month.

Again thanks for the great turnout and posts, I am so glad I set out some of the caches you found, this hunt made it all worthwhile.

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Well I was late arriving to the jaunt, I was the last one to almost every cache so why be any different? I figure Ill just keep on with my tardy tradition and post my words here last!! LOL

 

I should start off by saying that I am still extremely SORE! Ouch! Its not every day I get to go hike over 8 miles of rugged terrain, but I loved every minute of it and I can't wait to do it again :-)

 

Having only met a handful of cachers over the last two years it was a great pleasure to finally meet so many great people and go caching with the few who were there that I had met previously!

 

Many, Many thanks go out to BrianSnat for getting this together and bringing us all together. Also to Jonboy for leading the pack to all the best views the Hudson Highlands has to offer, Planet for those tasty wraps and Ttepee for those most excellent homemade cookies!! Oh...and thanks to KBer for finding my FRS radio that I lost somewhere along the trail!! LOL

 

We had excellent weather for this as well. It did rain a bit in the morining, but other than that it was an awsome day out. Not too hot, not too cold, but perfect weather for a good long hike! As a matter of fact, I only saw one bug, and that was on JMBellas hand while we were at the Mt. Taurus cache!! (and yes...it was a tick) The only thing that would have closed the day better would to have gone out with everyone for beer & wings afterwards, but I had something to take care of. Next time!!

 

I look forward to getting together with you all again real soon!! Thanks again to everyone who was there and rang in #100 w/ me at Bull Junction :D

 

Kar of TS!! :D

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I keep reading the postings and finally realized that I hadn't posted since the event. Thanks to all who were involved in the event. If it hadn't been for BrianStant's last minute encouragement to come and bring the REAL Quoddy we both would have missed a tremendous day. Some of the cachers may not have realized that this was the first time Quoddy had been off his leash. What a day he had! I'm sure he would like to thank Autumn and especially Bella for the comraderie. They had to have run over 20 miles. Special thanks to JonBoy, EagleFlyBy, Planet, and Ttepee for their major contributions to the success of the day. I enjoyed meeting each and every one of the cachers there, I had only met KBer the week before. I didn't meet one person there that I wouldn't want to spend the day with again, that's rare in today's age.

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I didn't meet one person there that I wouldn't want to spend the day with again, that's rare in today's age.

You know that I was thinking the same thing. It's amazing how it seems everyone gets along, at least for the day, though I've met some folks before. Maybe it's just everyone has the same good attitude when they are out geocaching but I have to agree that I haven't met another geocacher "in the wild" that wasn't pleasant and friendly.

 

Nice meeting you too Quoddy! And your dog and the other two were absolutely a blast to watch.

Edited by Team DEMP
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