Plattekill Mountain Race 2023

Three days afterwards, despite plenty of foam rolling and stretching, my quads were still sore.

With no Whiteface Sky Race this year, my focus turned to the Plattekill Mountain Race. Yes, that Plattekill, beloved mountain for so many readers of this blog. Saturday night after closing the wine store, I hopped into the Fortunate Son, my new used shooting brake, and lit out for Platty.

Plattekill Mountain

I’ve never been to that part of the Catskills. Driving west of Phoenicia on Route 28, I entered terra incognita. In the pitch dark, I began questioning the wisdom of my plan: leave work at 8:45, drive straight to the mountain, and flop in the parking lot. Maybe I should have done dawn patrol.

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Bald Mountain in Old Forge NY

With the recent bout of dry weather, mud season is officially over in the Adirondacks. The weekend was looking prime and the cooler weather on Friday looked especially conducive for going on a hike. Unsure of our fitness level, Farah and I decided we would take it easy and do one of the shorter hikes around Old Forge.

exposed rock on Bald Mountain

Bald Mountain — officially Rondaxe and home of the Rondaxe Firetower — is one of the most popular hikes in the area. It’s fairly easy out and back with some more moderate sections that takes about an hour. From Utica, it’s a short drive on the Central Adirondack trail.

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Stephens State Park Route Finding

Searching for new trails not too far from home, I pointed the shooting brake west last week. Stephens State Park is in Mount Olive. Since the one time I’d been there many years ago, parties unknown — possibly the Jersey Off Road Bike Association — have put in an extensive new trail network.

Green Trail meadow
Along the Green Trail

All this new singletrack augments the old hiking trails, but it comes at a price. The only printed map that I’m aware of is published by New York New Jersey Trail Conference, and it is so old as to be obsolete. At the urging of my physical therapist, who rides there regularly, I downloaded an app called Trail Forks onto my surveillance device mobile phone.

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