Return to Island Pond

Return to Island Pond

Last September, 4 of us camped close to Island Pond in Harriman State Park.  On Friday Fr. Jim Mulloy and I returned, along with candidate John Taylor, who is, like Fr. Jim, a member of the SDB community at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J.

The Prep had an early dismissal on Friday, thanks to a career day, so the 3 of us got on our way at 1:00 p.m.  We parked along Rte. 106 and hiked about half an hour north Island Pond Rd., an old woods road, about a mile and a half, generally uphill.

It was a cloudless spring day, and it would have been pleasantly warm but for a vigorous north wind blowing consistently all day, stopping only around sunset.

We realized our plan to "seize" the ruins of an old park ranger cabin--outer stone walls with a fireplace and chimney in the middle, roughly dividing the ruins into 2 rooms. 

The building overlooks the pond on one side and is just 100 feet or so from the end of the trail and the open water of the pond.  The walls didn't provide as much shelter from the wind as we expected, but something, anyway.

Fr. Jim procured water, and John and I hunted up firewood.  Beavers had taken down a pine sapling nearby, and there was plenty to be found a little farther away.  John did good service with my Sven folding saw, which still (as they say) cuts thru wood like a knife thru butter.  We amassed plenty of wood for cooking, heating, and camp atmosphere, and even left a good stash behind us in the morning.

Besides that, we enjoyed the fresh air, did some exploring, prayed the Liturgy of the Hours, and grilled hot dogs on a very fine fire in the fireplace.  Even after recent rain, the wood was mostly tinder-dry, and I didn't need anything but some newspaper and 1 match to get it started--no firestarters (Fr. Jim makes some dandy ones with old candles and dryer lint inside egg carton sections).

To the dogs and buns we added cheese, trail mix, oatmeal cookies, and dried apricots, according to our individual tastes.  We had plenty of time just to sit by the fire and talk.

Fr. Jim decided to sleep outdoors and felt quite cozy inside his sleeping bag--which he had to save from blowing into the pond well before bedtime.  A couple of our logs weighted it down safely.  John and I were tented within the walls, he in one "room," I in the other.  (My tent was downwind from the fire and smelled of smoke when I unpacked it at home; airing it out helped a little.)

A nearly full moon added to the atmosphere, well before sunset.  Geese on the pond honked all nite long, and we also heard crickets and a whip-or-will.  After the wind let up, we heard the steady whirrr of traffic on the N.Y. Thruway.  

Unlike the outing Fr. Jim and I had to Big Hill a few weeks earlier, we had no critter visits.  I had a hard time getting our bear bag up into a tree (found out the hard way that pines aren't a good choice because there are too many little branches that snag the line, and in fact my mesh ditty bag for my mess kit was destroyed).  But eventually I accomplished the task in a birch (?) sapling, the bag about 15' above the ground.  It passed the nite in safety.

Fr. Jim and John said they slept very well.  Not I (no surprise).  We all got up between 6:15 and 6:25 a.m., and made the Eucharist our 1st order of business (other than visiting Mother Nature).  I had a solid breakfast of PB & J, coffee, and apricots.  John also indulged in coffee, but otherwise my companions went light on breakfast.  Both broke down and packed their gear rapidly.  As usual, I was slower (and very methodical, as they remarked).

Fr. Jim doused what little was left of our fire, we checked to make sure we hadn't left anything behind (in fact, we picked up a little of others' trash--there wasn't really much), and we were on the homeward trail before 8:00 a.m.

On our way out we met a couple of guys going in.  On Friday there'd been a few day hikers up to the cabin ruins, including 1 with a very friendly dog.  No doubt, plenty more hikers came down the trail later on Saturday; as we drove home, we noted that all the parking lots were full to overflowing (and there were also many dozens of bicyclists on the roads).  It was a delightful spring day, so much that when I got home my confreres asked why I hadn't stayed out another nite.  Well, they hadn't paid attention to the forecast (an abundance of rain after midnite on Sunday morning), and of course there were parish Masses to be celebrated.  In fact, I had one at 5:00 p.m. Saturday.  1st things 1st!