Take Cover, The Aussies Are Coming!

[+Lt. Sniper]

Hi Guys,

 

I will be visiting NY state in June and will be staying for 2 months to help out at a Summer camp. My name is Alex and currently live in hot and sunny Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

 

The camp is near the Catskill Mountains and I will be running a GPS treasurehunt like activity for the camp as well as a few other things.

 

I acctually have a few questions so here goes

 

Whats the area like?

What animals/plants do I have to watch out for? (we have A LOT of snakes and they are nearly all deadly!)

Are there any local cachers/groups in that area that I can drop in and say hello to?

Any really recommended caches in that area?

 

This is more for the Magellan GPS users, what software would suit my need in that area, I am going to be there for 2-2.5 months so I will be buying the Topo or S&T Mapsend software.

 

Sorry for all the questions, I hope someone can help me out

 

I look forward to visiting NY State,

 

Cheers,

 

Alex

aka Lt. Sniper

[+Polgara]

(jealous)...I wanna go to Australia...

 

You'll want to read about deer ticks and Lyme disease. THere aren't nearly as many dangerous animals where you will be going, in comparison to Australia. We have black bears, but they just run away when they see you, unless its a mom with cubs. You'll want to stay away from a mom with cubs, she will be very protective of her babies. If you get to see a bear, you're lucky. I've been wanting to see one in the wild since i started caching, and its over 2 years now, and still, no bear.

 

As far as I know, there are only 3 poisonous snakes... copperheads, rattlers & eastern massaguea (sp). That last snake is highly endangered, very doubtful you'll ever see it. The other two, as far as I know, don't have enough power in their venom to kill anyone, it might make you ill. There are rattlers in the US that can cause damage, but the ones in the NE aren't bad.

 

Everything else will run away from you, not much to worry about.

 

You'll want to look at pictures of poison ivy and poison oak, and stinging nettle as well. There is a plant that releieves stinging nettle, it usually grows right next to it, its called Jewell weed.

 

You may want to pick up a New York Gazeteer when you get here, its about 20 bucks, in most book stores. It will have NY state completely mapped out in topographical form.

 

I've never cached in the catskills, one of the other NE cachers could give you a better idea of the caches there.

 

Have fun at camp!

 

-Pol

Edited February 11, 2005 by Polgara

[+Mopar]

I'll second what Polgara said.

Deer ticks and Lyme disease are actually probably the most dangerous thing you will encounter there. It's probably made more dangerous if you and the doctors back home are not familiar with deer ticks and Lyme. It's mostly a regional problem, and doctors outside the area usually aren't experienced at diagnosing or treating Lyme. It's almost 100% cure-able if treated immediately, but can be very debilitating if left untreated. Read up on it, in this part of the US, it's often not even a matter of "if" you find a deer tick on you after caching, it's a matter of how many.

 

Everything else is stuff you should already know from caching over there. Never place a body part where you cant see where it's going (no hands in holes or crevises, or up on ledges. No blindly stepping over logs or rocks). No sneaking around. You'll be fine.

[+briansnat]

Whats the area like?

What animals/plants do I have to watch out for? (we have A LOT of snakes and they are nearly all deadly!)

Are there any local cachers/groups in that area that I can drop in and say hello to?

Any really recommended caches in that area?

 

The Catskills are a beautiful area. One of my favorites in the US. It's a relatively wild area by northeast standards, with mountains that top off a little over 4,000 ft. (1219 meters) Most are in the 2,500 to 3,500 ft. (762 - 1066 meters) range. Though the peaks are not very tall, there is some pretty rugged hiking there as the valleys are about 1,000 ft. (304 meters) above sea level so you're climbing 2,000 - 3,000 feet over a few miles.

 

Nearly all development is in the valleys along the route of the major rivers (which by the way provide excellent trout fishing and some outfitters run tubing trips along them in the summer...a fun way to spend the afternoon) and highways .

 

As far as dangerous animals, its nothing like Austrailia. There are some rattlesnakes in a few areas and copperheads, but you should consider yourself lucky if you encounter any. There are also black bear, which are generally harmless, but have been known to kill humans in rare cases and some bobcat, which you will probably never see.

 

You may encounter some poision ivy, but I've never seen a lot of it in the Catskills and as Polgara mentioned, that nasty stinging nettle, which lines many sections of trail, making walking in shorts painful.

 

As far as geocaching, there aren't many caches in the area. The NY state Department of Environmental Conservation, which oversees the forest preserve had a long standing ban on geocaches there, which was recently lifted. Despite the ban there were several caches that had been placed and are worth the effort to find. Aircrash 3 is a virtual, but involves an awesome hike to an incredibly beautiful peak. It is one of my all time favorites and I really don't care for virtuals. The Rocky Lounge is also a great one to seek out. I've visited the area where its hidden several times (before I started geocaching) and its definitely worthwhile (note this is one of the few places in the Catskills where rattlesnakes are fairly common).

Maltby Hollow is another gorgeous area. Its another place I've visited before I started geocaching and its is worth seeking out. Kaaterskill Falls is a virtual at NY's highest waterfall. A very scenic spot (look at the photos on the page).

 

I advise you to save yourslf the money on the mapping software and just buy the Catskill Trails map set from the NY/NJ Trail Conference. The maps cover most of the hikeable areas in the Catskills. If you decide you must buy mapping sofware for your GPS, I recommend Topo over anything else for the region.

 

Some good books to consider buying are Catskill Trails: A Ranger's Guide to the High Peaks book one and book two, Catskill Mountain Guide and Guide to Catskill Trails.

 

Some of these books touch on the history of the Catskills, which is interesting. They were a major tourist destination in the 1800's and a number of grand hotels (a.ka. mountain houses) were built on the peaks in that century. All are gone now, but the remains of one can still be found on Overlook Mountian. Trails in areas around these old mountain houses were designed for Victorian era women and are pretty easy to negotiate and take you to breathtaking views. With the coming of the automobile the popularity of these hotels waned and they fell into disrepair and were eventually demolished.

 

There are no geocaching groups in the Catskills that I'm aware of and because of the dearth of geocaches, no thriving geocaching community. But a 2 hour drive to the southeast is the NY/NJ/CT geocaching area which has a thriving community, as you can see in this forum since the vast majority of Northeast forums posts are from residents of this region. The Albany area, which is about an hour (or two depending on where you are in the Catskills) to the northeast also has a thriving geocaching community and I think they even have a Albany area group.

 

When you get here let us know and if you can get away for a day or two I'm sure someone here can show you around NYC and the surrounding area.

 

Hope this helps and if you have any more questions you can post here or feel free to e-mail me.

Edited February 11, 2005 by briansnat

[+Natureboy44]

As far as geocaching, there aren't many caches in the area. The NY state Department of Environmental Conservation, which oversees the forest preserve had a long standing ban on geocaches there, which was recently lifted.

I was going to add a reply but you all have provided the most important info.

 

Brian, where did you hear that the ban was lifted? I camp in these forests every year and have found some great caching locations, but have not hidden any because of the ban.

 

FYI, for those of you who have had a nasty run in with nettles, I'm happy to inform you that they are very edible so you can get your revenge. If you pick the young leafs (while wearing gloves) especially early in spring, wash and then cook them as you would raw spinach. They are a tasty green, and a nice addition to a camp meal!!!

[+Lt. Sniper]

'Thread Bump' for my self so I dont forget to update whats happening!

[shanni-bugbait-wren]

As far as geocaching, there aren't many caches in the area. The NY state Department of Environmental Conservation, which oversees the forest preserve had a long standing ban on geocaches there, which was recently lifted.

I was going to add a reply but you all have provided the most important info.

 

Brian, where did you hear that the ban was lifted? I camp in these forests every year and have found some great caching locations, but have not hidden any because of the ban.

 

FYI, for those of you who have had a nasty run in with nettles, I'm happy to inform you that they are very edible so you can get your revenge. If you pick the young leafs (while wearing gloves) especially early in spring, wash and then cook them as you would raw spinach. They are a tasty green, and a nice addition to a camp meal!!!

Good to know. I had my first run in with it last year and IT SUCKED! So, I;m gonna eat the S*@# out of it then. LMAO! Thanx for the tip.