Agile Trekker: Little Pond Loop, Catskills

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
7/27/2019	9 miles	5 hours 36 minutes	2,150'		294.9

Map: NYNJTC Western Catskill Trails, Map 144
Parking: Beech Hill Road
Directions: Take Touch Me Not trail on the same side as the parking area. Turn right on Little Pond Trail. Hike around Little Pond 1 1/2 times. Take the blue blazed Campground Trail. Turn left on the Touch Me Not trail and return to the parking area.

Today's hike was to work on training with elevation gain, and also to help us work on the Catskills All Trails Challenge. It was a warm day, but cooler in the Catskills than in Harriman. The Catskills are a great place to work on training with more elevation. We brought Trek and Krummholz along. At first Krummholz was pissed, because I had him on leash, and Trek off leash. Eventually I had Krummholz in front, Trek walking right behind me, and Glen in the rear - everyone was happy with the order. Our dogs have always had "rules" about which order we hike in. Although the western Catskills are generally considered "gentler", today's hike was strenuous. The climbs were steep and rocky, though not really much in the way of rock scrambling. We hiked to the summit of Cabot Mountain, and continued on to a view just beyond it. We decided to do a counter clockwise loop after that - deciding that this would allow for a less steep descent and a more steep ascent. The descent to Little Pond wasn't bad at all. Once we got to the lake there were tons of people there. The lake has campsites, a beach, staff, etc. It was crowded and noisy. We took a break at the boat launch to let the dogs go swimming. Trek loves to swim. Krummholz had some swimming lessons in a pool over the winter. He wasn't a fan. He watched with disbelief while Trek ran into the water. Then he was pissed again, lol. Trek retrieved sticks and Krummholz was very frustrated on the shore. Then all of a sudden he ran into the shallow water, did some frantic dog paddling, and catapulted off a canoe that was there. He then hung out on the shore for a while watching Trek. Once more he did the same thing. And back to hanging out on the shore. If I had had crocs with me, I would have waded in with him. Hopefully he learns to love swimming as much as Trek does. Trek didn't want to leave the pond. We walked 1.5 times around the pond - because we need to do all of the trails. There were signs about no dogs on the beach / day use areas / etc. Glen asked the staff there to make sure it was okay for us to walk on the paved path next to the beach. It was. We found the blue trail behind some bathrooms next to the beach. We left the crowds behind. And hiked uphill. Steeply. I had to take several breaks during the climb. Hot and tired. Once we got to the Touch Me Not trail, the trail mostly leveled out except for a short steep climb back up to Cabot Mountain. This was a nice overall - I was so happy to have a lake half way through for the dogs to swim in.