6/30/2019 – Long Trail – Spruce Ledge Camp to Babcock Trail Loop
Three of us left Essex at 8:00am for the one hour drive to Eden. Arriving at about 9:00, parked in the LT trailhead parking we were joined by one other hiker. The weather threatened rain and thunderstorms, but it mostly failed to carry through on the threat, though we did get a brief shower just before reaching Devil’s Gulch. This of course made the Gulch slippery and a bit treacherous, but we passed through without major incident. We arrived at Spruce Ledge Camp a little after 11:00 and had a nice lunch. We took the Long Trail on the way in and the Babcock Trail on the way out, which makes for a nice loop. One of our hikers is rather new to hiking and at times felt a little out of his element, but he kept up the pace and made it through the hike just fine, though he does have a couple of skinned knees as souvenirs of the hike. In all we had a very good hike, especially given the dire weather forecasts. Participants: Dana Baron (leader), Peter Saile, Barbara Mackay, Andrew Stevens

6/23/2019 – Tongue Mountain Loop, ADKs
Phil and I meet at Shaw’s at 6:00 a.m. and met Jim at the Clay Meadow Trailhead about 7:45. We were on the trail by 8:00. Our first stop was about 3 miles in at Fifth Peak and the lean to for our first views of Lake George. We continued on over some bumps gaining and losing elevation until we made it to French Pt. Mountain and what I consider one of the best views of Lake George. We stopped her for a longer break before making our way over First Peak and then the descent to Montcalm Point where we took another longer break on the lake shore and filtered some water for the trip out.The weather was perfect and the black flies seem to be gone in the area so it was hard to get moving again . We made it back to the car at little before 6 p.m. Wildlife sightings for the day included numerous osprey on the trip down and on the hike, a couple of turkey vultures soaring over the ridge line and a couple young deer. Total distance was 13 miles. Participants: Jim Schneider, Phil Hazen, Mark McLane (substitute leader).

6/22/2019 – Dogwood Bakery Ride (Wadhams, NY)
Our party of five
on the ferry to New York
Dogwood Bakery.
Trip leader & poet Mary Lou Recor

6/16/2019 – Camels Hump via Bamforth Ridge
We met at the Richmond park & ride around 8:30, spotted a couple cars at the Couching Lion Farm Site trailhead, and took two more down to the trailhead on Duxbury Rd. It was cool (around 60 F) and overcast as we started up Bamforth Ridge around 9:30. The black flies were abundant, but abated a little when we got to breezier outcrops along the ridge. One of the caretakers had removed a particularly obstructive blowdown just below the hut clearing with a handsaw, but there are a number of others that need to be dealt with. We had snacks along the way and the rest of lunch when we reached the hut clearing around 2:30. We reached the summit around 2:45. The sun had come out and it was very windy (as usual) but mercifully devoid of black flies. We continued along the Long Trail South as the clouds moved back in, reaching the Dean Trail junction around 4:30. We opted not to take a side trip to Montclair Glen Lodge, and reached the Monroe Trail junction around 5:10 and the cars around 5:30. Our timing was perfect, as the first real rain of the day started just as we were loading the cars. Participants: Mark McLane, Phil Hazen, Robynn Albert, Dave Watson, Kristen Watson, and David Hathaway (leader).