The Pecoy Notch Trail - Part 3

I'd been hiking the Pecoy Notch Trail in the Catskill Mountains with four of my dogs. All along the trail there had been flat rocks by the billions. Most of them apparently were naturally occurring and just about the right size for building homes or patios. What did not seem to be naturally occurring was the great piles of them along the way. I guessed that at one time, this forest had supported a slate industry. Indeed, one sees occasional homes or walls built of such slate throughout the Catskills:

Another view of a great pile of slate:

Clover knew what these slate piles were for. In her opinion, they were put there for her to run and play on:

And then I came upon a second kill site, where some gray bird had met its death. It seemed odd to me that two birds of the same species had died so closely in time and place. But this time I snapped a picture:

And on we hiked, through the emerald forest over the slate covered trails. It was truly beautiful and peaceful:

The trail leveled out and eventually began going downhill. I thought this was odd also, since I had thought we were going to climb high up into the Catskill Mountains to a scenic overlook:

But there are plenty of diversions in such magnificent territory, and especially with four active dogs as company:

Well, I should have sad THREE active dogs plus placid Seamus:

Clover is a live wire and investigates everything. Every place and every rock is to her a playground:

Seamus and Fergus pose for a portrait:

The trail continued to descend and I decided that I must have misread the trail guide. Perhaps, I thought, this is why it is called Pecoy "Notch," because it's a low valley between mountains. Then I arrived at another trail intersection with directional signs. This seemed even more odd, and when I read the signs I realized that I'd gotten myself turned around up at the scenic overlook and had been retracing my steps. We'd arrived back where we'd begun. The trail head parking area was only about 50 yards away. Well, this explained the odd coincidence of the two piles of gray feathers. I'd passed the same pile twice and hadn't recognized it:

But my feet hurt and I was secretly relieved to have accidentally cut several hours and miles off of our hike. We walked back to the car and got ourselves comfortable:

This was one mistake which, I think, ended well. I was tired anyway and happy to be driving home. On the way, I passed this old abandoned Catskills resort. Once upon a time, these resorts entertained the rich and famous. There's still a few left and I saw some which seemed to be attempting restorations. But their parking lots looked decidedly empty to me This abandoned resort seemed to tell the story. At any rate, our hike and adventure was over, and we were headed home:

The Pecoy Notch Trail - Part 2

I was hiking the Pecoy Notch Trail in the Catskill Mountains with four of my dogs and had been gradually climbing uphill since we'd left the trail head. We encountered no other hikers except one young couple who fell absolutely in love with the Papillon puppies. The woman picked Clover up and I could tell she wanted one of these for her own. But once they'd hiked on ahead, the dogs and I were again alone in the forest:

The trail eventually brought us to a sharp drop-off. This indeed seemed interesting, so I walked over to take a closer look:

The cliff was steep and the terrain heavily forested, but it allowed a spectacular view out over the Catskill Mountains which were beginning to take on their autumn colors:

The most distant mountain ranges barely show in these photos, but they were there and I could see out over the Catskill Mountains for many miles:

This scenic overlook wasn't even listed on the trail map, so apparently the vantage points on ahead would be even more beautiful. But I was enjoying the moment - the lovely views, the autumn colors, the aromas of the wilderness. And I was keeping an eye on the puppies to keep them away from the edge of the cliff:

If the Catskills were already this colorful, I imagine the Adirondacks will be even more spectacular the next time I drive up to the farm:

On the ledge below the drop-off were piles of flat stones. These stones had been littered along the forest floor and trail since we left the trail head. But in this spot, someone had spent a lot of time building what appeared to be a foundation and square pillars:

But it was time for me to get back to hiking. So after a bit of silly play with Fergus, I resumed my journey:

I passed a spot where some predator had killed and eaten a bird, leaving only gray feathers on the flat stones of the trail. I didn't take a picture but wondered what the predator might be and what the gray bird might be. We continued onward through the Catskill forest:

Blue Cohosh was abundant and full of berries:

Seamus stopped for a breather:

But Fergus and the puppies never ran out of energy. I mostly insisted that Fergus walk at heel, but every so often I'd allow him to run ahead and play:

And at one point, I took a video of the silly puppy play which was occurring in the forest:

The Pecoy Notch Trail - Part 1

It was a Sunday morning and the weather was beautiful. I figured that I really should take the dogs out hiking somewhere. I examined my Catskills map and trail book and found a relatively short hike called Pecoy Notch which promised several possible scenic overlooks. So after my morning chores were finished, I packed Seamus, Fergus, Daphne and Clover into the car and headed towards the Catskills. I had some difficulty finding the trail head as it had apparently been moved since my old trail guide was printed, but find it I did. I parked and let the dogs out and began hiking. But not too very far into the woods I hit an intersection of trails, another new development since my map was printed:

But the sign pointing toward Pecoy Notch was clear, so we took that trail and began climbing steadily uphill:

The dogs were, as usual, all excited and frankly not very well behaved at first. I could only assume they'd calm down as they usually do after expending their surplus energy:

The Catskill forest was spectacular, with many layered sedimentary rocks of all sizes, from paving stone sized chunks to big boulders to whole mountainsides:

This Jack-In-The-Pulpit had formed its berries and was already nodding off for its winter nap:

I began making Fergus and Seamus walk at heel, while allowing the two pups to run ahead. Daphne and Clover have so very much energy that keeping calm is not one of their strong points:

They ran and played and wrestled:

The trail wound gradually uphill, higher and higher. You can see the flat stones here which were abundant wherever I looked:

Every so often I'd release Seamus and Fergus, though tubby Seamus needed an actual push to get him trotting ahead:

Fergus needed no such push. He was fully ready and willing to run with the puppies:

Seamus sat down to rest and sniff the flowers, reminding me of the children's story of "Ferdinand The Bull:"

And since there were flat rocks everywhere, I set my camera to self-timer and set it atop one. Most of the pictures were washed out, but this one looks just like I remember our journey through the forest that day: