Trail Maintenance, Peekamoose and Table Mountains, Catskills

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
10/1/2017	9.4 miles	7 hours

Map: NYNJTC Catskills Map 143
Parking: Route 42
Directions: Take Peekamoose-Table trail to Peekamoose and then continue to Table. Return the same way


Glen and I have been interested in doing some trail maintenance. We went on a trip last year right around the time my hip pain was starting, and it was after that trip that I stopped hiking for a long time. I've been gradually hiking more this year, so we've been looking for an opportunity to sign up again. The Catskill 3500 Club maintains the Peekamoose-Table trail and had an outing this weekend, so we signed up. Glen was taking his job very seriously and even went to Home Depot to look for a saw before the trip. I just gave him advice to not buy something heavy.

They divided us into 2 groups - 1 group hiked southbound and 1 group hiked northbound. We met in the middle. We had 6 people in our northbound group. We carried various tools - hoes, rakes, loppers, saws, and some tool I can't remember the name of, but was the equivalent of a man powered weed whacker. I got the hoe. We cleared out water bars, weed whacked, clipped branches, and pulled down some smaller dead trees. Glen was so excited to use his new saw. I fell in love with the weed whacker. I think it would be so satisfying to use that on stinging nettles. Pay back!

The group consisted of experienced hikers, so the pace was pretty fast. They did give us rest breaks though. I was the slowest person going back down the mountains. Ugh. I wanted trekking pole tips on the end of the rake I carried down. This was pretty strenuous hike for me, so not having trekking poles was hard. And I was definitely not the oldest one!

Glen and I had never done the .8 mile stretch between Peekamoose and Table, which we need for the Catskills All Trails Challenge. We were able to do that piece today, which was a bonus. We had fun, got to meet new people, talk about hiking, and give back at the same time. We'll definitely do this again.