A Different kind of Day at the GunKs

The Saturday after my Birthday, Marissa and I went for a hike at the Gunks, which is something that we’d never done the in the 2 years that we’ve been making the trek to the Mohonk Preserve. Our usual activity is rock climbing, but the Covid shutdowns, led to summer and we never got out for a climbing trip before the weather got hot.  Between the heat, which I don’t like and the pregnancy, which limits us to single pitch, climbing at the Gunks has been out since the Preserve opened.

Still, it’s been a while since we’ve gone more than 50 minutes from the house, and those Preserve memberships have to be used somehow, so we set the early alarms for a 6 am departure leaving enough time to get some bagels on the way, and hopefully still find parking in the West Trapps Parking Lot.

The goal was to walk around the overcliff trail till it meets up with the undercliff trail and then see how things were going.  Maybe we’d explore farther north, or maybe we would circle back, eat some lunch and then hike out to Millbrook.

It was the usual drive from Groton to New Paltz, but it seemed a bit longer than usual.  I guess I’d forgotten how long it takes, as I was thinking 2.5 hrs instead of the almost 3 that it took.  Marissa slept most of the drive as per usual, but was up and ready for the bagel shop.

The New Paltz Bagel Cafe is a small place in a strip mall on the outskirts of New Paltz. Its a big favorite for us, and we were looking forward to a good bagel after quite awhile without.  The line was out the door when we got there, mostly due to the Coronavirus restrictions in place.  Things moved along quickly though and we soon had orders in.  A toasted cinnamon raisin with butter for me, and a super bagel, with bacon egg and cheese and jalapeno cream cheese for Marissa.  Quick turnaround on that, and we were on our way through town and up to the ridge where we grabbed a spot in the West Trapps lot.

After the usual parking lot preparations, we had shoes and packs on and were ready to go.  Marissa found the outhouse to particularly unsettling, perhaps due to her extra smell sensitivity from pregnancy, perhaps due to the condition of the outhouse.  There were a fair number of cars in the lot, with a lot of smaller groups, and some larger ones with masks on.  Seemed like a fairly even split between climbers, hikers and bikers, but its always hard to tell.  One thing that we did note was that the guide services seemed to have had to mix things up a bit due to the member’s only parking from 0700 to 0900.  It seemed like clients were meeting them at 0900, as most would not be members.  Overall, it seemed fairly quiet.

Marissa found the going tougher than she remembered, and it would become a common theme through the day.  While I have long felt that the West Trapps lot was not the best option for parking, Marissa did not find the hills on the path to be a problem compared to the Stairmaster at the Visitors Center.  We quickly realized that we had probably brought too much stuff, and were less into hiking than we may have thought.  Marissa kept on trucking at an easy pace, and I wondered if I would actually drink all the water, and use all of the camera gear that I had brought.  I would also soon find that my new Yashica TLR would be a pretty heavy object to have around my neck all day.

Once we made it too the welcome boulder, we took a left to the Overcliff trail, which was new territory for us.  Its a pretty flat and easy going trail, like most of the carriage roads, but still seemed a bit tougher than preferred.  Marissa’s back pack did not fit very well around the belly, so the weight was on her shoulders.  We tried a couple of different options and eventually found something that kind of worked.  First up on the trail was an overlook looking towards the Lost City crag.

Marissa generally kept on moving while I stopped and took the odd photo. The Overcliff trail didn’t seem to have a lot of appeal with limited views, and pretty unvaried terrain.  No sweeping cliffs to keep you entertained, just trees, the occasional outcropping and occasional person passing by on a bike or running.  It seemed to be Preserve policy to wear a mask when near people, but keeping it on in the heat was not fun, so there was lots of mask on/ mask off as people drew near.  Sometimes, it was more of an unspirited show of starting to put the mask on before they were past and you could keep on moving.  Seems like a different mask, or a buff type cover would be more comfortable and easier to wear and raise and lower as we went along.  

The Overcliff part of the journey was not well loved by my lovely wife.  It seemed like more of a slog, that seemed like it might never end.  The pace was slow at the beginning; between a slow start, and the occasional pregnant pee break, we were averaging over 30 minutes per mile.  It seemed like we might never make it to the intersection between the Overcliff and Undercliff trails, but eventually the trail turned and began to work down hill.  We passed a couple going the other way that we had seen in the parking lot, so we didn’t seem to be too far behind on progress.  

As we started working our way back towards the car, we were able to take a break or two on the rocks that line the path.  Marissa found a large outcropping that looked like a huge cairn, so of course we stopped for a photo.  

Right around the corner from the cairn rock was the cliff. And there were climbers on it.  I’m not quite sure where we were, but we were definitely at the far end of the cliff where I had never ventured.  It was good to see climbers again and bring back to more familiar side of the Gunks. 

Soon enough we were spotting the boulders wandering along with their crashpads.  It is our opinion that they look somewhat ridiculous, and strongly resemble Spongebobs.  It is normal to break out in song when I see them go by. Luckily for the boulderers no good photos were to be had for sharing.  

As we continued our walk Marissa noticed that her hands were getting a bit swollen from all of the effort, so we took a break by the Andrew boulder to eat some snacks, and rest a bit.  We were entertained by some boulderers trying to climb some routes, but they didn’t seem to be having to much luck in the heat.  Thankfully there was a decent amount of shade along the Undercliff road, so we were baking.  

After a bit of a rest, we were able to continue on our way.  We were in familiar terrain now, and could make it back to the car in under 30 minutes on a normal climbing day.  We took it a bit easier and wandered in and out of the various groups out enjoying the hot summer day.  It could be a bit of a challenge to keep some distance, but overall, it wasn’t too bad.  I kept track of which area we were nearby as we went and tried to see how busy things were on the climbing side of things.  Overall it didn’t look too busy, which was to be expected for the dead of summer, but it was sometimes difficult to keep walking. 

It was probably a good idea to leave the climbing gear in the car as it prevented any thoughts of getting on open routes.  Betty was busy as usual, but lots of routes seemed to be open.  Horseman was open with no parties on the route, and hardly anyone around.  It was a dream day if you were climbing and could get past the heat.  There also seemed to be a lot of guides doing anchor clinics and similar courses instead of climbing, which is something I don’t think I see that much in the Gunks.  

The last obstacle was the gradual hill from the Uberfall area to the Welcome Boulder.  I have long complained about the hill at the end of the day, but many people do not find it to be a problem.  On this day, I found a new ally against the hill as Marissa finally realized that it is a fairly serious thing, and getting up the hill at the end of the day can be a struggle.  

No matter, we soon made it to the car where any thoughts I had of another loop were put to bed.  It was not going to be a long day at the Gunks, but I did get agreement to see if we could track down the swimming hole at the Split Rock trailhead before we left.  Unfortunately, the lot was full, so we didn’t get to make it to the pond.  I guess we’ll wait til another day, or hike it from the West Trapps next time.  The decision was made to turn for home (after a stop at the Visitor Center to use the bathrooms) so we hit the road.  6 hours of driving for 4 hours of exploring isn’t quite the ratio that we try to hit, but any little bit counts when you are in the midst of a pandemic summer with a pregnant wife.  I think it was an okay day when it was all said and done, and we got home early enough for me to develop the film that I shot.  

A little about the Camera

Part of the motivation for the trip was to take some photos with birthday present.  I was very excited to get a Yashica Mat 124-G, TLR camera so that I could take some 120, medium format pictures.  I shot most of two rolls of Tri-X 400 black and white film and seemed to have some success.  

I found focusing and framing to be not the easiest things, but at least shooting outside, I was able to stop down a bit to help capture more focus, or shoot distant objects at infinity focus.  I look forward to continue trying to get better and taking photos with the new camera.