Camping at Bald Rocks and Island Pond

Camping at Bald Rocks & Island Pond

During Easter Week, I customarily do some hiking and camping.  In past years, my confrere Fr. Jim, who teaches, would have the week off, so that worked for both of us.  This year, tho, several people I invited to join me weren’t able to because of health or other plans.  I’ve gotten rather used to hiking solo; my Guardian Angel is good company.

I’d decided to leave New Rochelle after Mass with the Christian Brothers and then lunch on Tuesday, April 22, and stay out till Thursday the 24th.  A confrere kindly agreed to cover my Thursday Mass with the Brothers.  It was my 1st campout since Thanksgiving weekend.

God blessed us with beautiful spring weather on the 3 days I’d planned (weeks earlier).

After a visit to REI to pick up an extra can of propane, I reached the parking lot on Kanawauke Road where the Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail crosses, around 3:15 p.m.  There were about 3 other cars in the lot, but I didn’t meet anyone until well after I’d arrived at the Bald Rocks shelter.

I figure my pack weighed about 40 pounds: tent, sleeping bag, food, 3 liters of water, water filter, sleeping pads (my back likes 2 of them), fuel, “pocket rocket” backpacking stove, cooking gear, soap, clothes, folding saw, camp chair (a luxury item, I admit), Mass kit, copies of the Divine Office, first aid kit, poncho (I was happy not to have to use either of those 2 items), medications, tinder, matches, insect repellant (a little was needed), and sunscreen.  I carried my phone, a pocketknife, camera, map, compass, canteen (another quart of water), and emergency whistle.  Trekking poles are a practical necessity on any kind of uneven ground, crossing streams on rocks, and ascending and descending heights.

Starting the ascent of Black Rock Mt.

My notes in my Harriman Trail Guide tell me that I last hiked from Kanawauke to Bald Rocks in 2018.  It’s a strenuous climb up to the ridge of Black Rock Mt., which eventually becomes the highest point in the entire park, altho the RDT passes a little to the east of that highest point.  Still…  I reached the point on the ridge where the Nurian Trail ends at the RDT by 3:50 and took a breather.  It was perfectly clear and rather windy up there, and in fact the wind gusted all the rest of the day.

Rest stop on top of Black Rock Mt.

I reached the Bald Rocks shelter about 5:00 p.m., 1.35 miles from the road and altitude of a bit more than 1,300 feet.  I scouted around for a campsite but finally decided to use the shelter, mainly to avoid setting up and then taking down my tent. 

After settling in, I prayed midday prayer, then made supper: Ramen noodles with a tin of chicken and some peas mixed in, with Crystal Lite to drink and freeze-dried peach cobbler for dessert.  While I was eating, a day hiker passed by on the trail without looking my way or waving.  I prayed again (evening prayer), then cleaned my cookware and gathered firewood.

At that point, 3 young men showed up.  They seemed disappointed that the shelter was already taken.  Bald Rocks has only a half platform inside, the other half being bare rock.  So it would be crowded with 3 people, let alone 4.  Three questions they asked suggested to me that they rather green at hiking and camping. So the 3 finally picked out a nice spot about 50 yards north of the shelter, pitched their tent, made a fire, etc., and were quiet enuf all nite (and slept well, I guess, because they were still asleep in their tent (without a fly over it) when I left at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

View from the shelter, with bear bag hanging

It’s a blessing to have bear bag cables rigged near every shelter; sure saves the energy of tossing a rope and a bag over a suitably high tree limb.  I presume they’re the work of New York-New Jersey Conference volunteers, who do tremendous work maintaining trails and occasionally rebuilding shelters.  Thank you, guys and gals!

After hanging my bag of food and trash, I made a fire in the fireplace.  Bald Rocks is the only shelter with one fireplace in the center of the front of the shelter; the others with fireplaces, such at Big Hill, Tom Jones, Stockbridge, and Fingerboard have them at the front corners.  I sat by the fire and read an issue of America for a while; also went up the ridge and took pictures of the sunset.  

The wind was still blowing in gusts, and that was chilly.  But it was cozy inside.  The only sounds were a few birds, one of which was loud and close by (maybe inside the shelter?) for much of the nite.  I let the fire subside and hit the sack around 10:00 p.m.

I slept better than usual on a wood floor, helped of course by the 2 Thermarest sleeping pads.  I got up at 2:10 to visit Mother Nature and checked the temperature: 51º.  I seem to have rousted out that noisy bird, who moved far enuf off not to annoy.

The sun was up when I roused myself out of the sack at 6:10.  It was 46º, and I needed to put on a few layers of shirts.  I took a sunrise photo, then prepared to celebrate Mass.  I started outside on a rock, but it was too chilly, and I retreated to the shelter.  Breakfast followed: a granola mix with freeze-dried berries added, coffee, and nuts.  Then the Divine Office and packing up.  There wasn’t much litter around the site; what little I found (except for a proliferation of discarded tissues that I didn’t want to handle, even to burn) I added to my trash bag.

At 8:55 a.m. I headed north on the RDT, .15 mile to the Dunning Trail.  That runs west, descending, a little steeply in some places, goes thru a vale devastated by storms (dozens of big trees downed), 

and after .6 mile junctions with the White Bar Trail (at 9:17 a.m.), and ascends a bit.  The double trail crosses a pretty little brook, which probably dries up in the summer.  

After a quarter mile, the WBT goes its own way south to Kanawauke Road, while the Dunning continues westward .65 mile to Island Pond Road, passing the Boston Mine just before that junction.  That mine was last worked in 1880, Harriman Trails informs me; its iron ore was sent to Clove Furnace, which one passes on the Thruway, and the ore has left an orange tint to some of the granite and the water in the shaft.

Island Pond Road runs north from Kanawauke Road 1.2 miles to Island Pond (and continues beyond the pond); it was once stone paved to carry traffic.  From the Dunning Trail, it’s about .6 mile to the pond.  The ruins of a ranger cabin are there and make a good spot to camp.  I opted for the seclusion of a large open area about 100 feet thru the mountain laurels, with 2 paths leading to it.  Fr. Jim and I have used it several times.  

It has a well-used fire pit.  Unfortunately, the trees around the spot hadn’t leafed out and there wasn’t much shade—just the little from the pines (hemlocks?).  I kept shifting my chair to shady spots while trying to read.

Before it came to that, I pitched my tent and gathered firewood; there was plenty of that, the result of all the wind we’ve had recently.  It didn’t look like anyone had camped there for a while.  I went to the pond to fetch water.  

A couple was there with a dog, and we greeted each other; they didn’t stay very long.  The pond was as high as I’ve seen it, and terribly lovely in the sunshine.  All day, only 2 kayakers took advantage of that (from a ramp area at the north end)—one in the afternoon, and one in the evening who was fishing and came close enuf for us to wave to each other.

While I was pumping water thru my filter, it broke, leaving me with less than a liter of clean water.  I filled my coffee pot with more water and put in a purifying tablet from a small bottle I had for such emergencies.  With what was still back at my camp, that gave me enuf for the rest of my cooking and cleaning.

During the afternoon and evening I read and prayed at various times.  No naps, believe it or not!  Lunch was a tin of sardines on saltines, trail mix, and water.  It was warm in the sun but chilly when the wind kicked up.  I heard 2 small parties of hikers on the road going to the pond, neither of whom tarried.  Strange that people would hike 45 minutes or more from the main road just to look at the pond for a few minutes.  Of course, in warmer weather people will jump in.  I wasn’t tempted to do that, but did soak my feet for a few minutes after supper.

Supper: freeze-dried chicken teriyaki, Crystal Lite, and trail mix.  I hung my bear bag the old-fashioned way, throwing it over a fallen tree trunk.  As it got dark, I lit a fire and read till about 9:00 p.m.  

After banking the fire, to bed in the tent, snug enuf.  I’d shut off my phone and didn’t do any temperature checks.

Dawn woke me, and I got up a bit before 6:00 a.m.  After nature’s business, I offered Mass on one of the sort-of-flat rocks.  Breakfast was oatmeal with the rest of the freeze-dried berries mixed in nicely, coffee, and nuts.  Then the Divine Office before cleaning the pots and packing up.  That took longer than yesterday because I had to take down and pack the tent—trying not to take a lot of forest debris along with it.

At 8:35 I headed out, southbound on Island Pond Road, which rises and falls a little but is easy hiking.  After about .75 mile the Nurian Trail crosses the road, running south “across a pretty region with laurels and evergreens” (Harriman Trails).  After .55 mile, it meets the White Bar Trail, which it follows .1 mile overlooking a ravine just east of the trails.  

Looking down into the ravine

I took a snack and water break there.  Then the Nurian breaks eastward into the ravine, crosses a creek, and begins a steep, switch-backed climb up Black Rock Mountain.  This .45-mile stretch climbs 300 or more feet up to the ridge and the Nurian’s end at the RDT, attained around 10:00 a.m. 

Not for the faint of heart!  Thank God for the trekking poles.  Another snack and water break.

Then the half-mile descent of the RDT toward Kanawauke Road.  About halfway down, I met an older couple (my guess is older than I am) hiking up with day packs.  They told me they’d been hiking regularly for years and used to sleep out, as well, “but we’ve stopped doing that.”  They were heading to Bald Rocks.  The descents are always harder than the ascents, more dangerous even.  Whenever possible, I looked for easier ways to clamber down the steep spots, always using the poles to help with balance.  This half mile took me 40 minutes; car reached at 10:50.  There were 5 other cars in the lot, and 2 backpackers with a dog were starting up Tom Jones Mountain on the other side of the road—another steep climb on the RDT.  I was ready for home but grateful for 3 fine days in God’s woodlands and waters.

I traversed only 6 miles spread over 3 days—vigorous enuf for someone not in top shape.  39 pictures are posted: https://link.shutterfly.com/JPStvepYRSb.  When you open a photo, its title appears in the data at the right.