Two guys backpacking in the cold from Redhook, Brooklyn to Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Using only a map of toxic sites to navigate their way, they follow the East River shoreline, and the Statue of Liberty…
Deadpan funny, and informative to boot.
Backpacking the East River
Friday, June 27th, 2008
Catskills Summer Solstice
Thursday, June 26th, 2008
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We camped along Rondout Creek in the Catskills.
The weather was ideal, an unsettled combination of sun and rain.
Though I ran out of dry clothes after Sunday night’s impressive thunderstorm,
the anticipated rain cleared out the campground and left this entire paradise empty for us on Sunday and Monday.
The video features several waterfalls and a close encounter with a deer.
Catskills Camping
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007
A stuffed pickup encountered on our camping trip to the Catskills. It was small-game season while we were there, but I didn’t hear any shots. It is illegal to hunt near camping areas, but it would have been wise for me to wear one of those stupid orange hats on hikes.
Flowing water: one of the best parts.
Mushrooms and lichen growing on a fallen tree trunk.
Fungus eating another fallen tree trunk.
Someone created several beautiful, if precarious cairns near one of the falls on Buttermilk Falls Brook.
My friend Chris leading the way.
I see the face of an ape or one of the Geico cavemen.
Another face, Charles Laughton in the Hunchback of Notre Dame?
Moss was everywhere in the forest. This is a very close macro shot. It’s amazing how bug- free the forest is. It was nearly bug-free when we were there in the Spring, as well. A local said this was because how cool and shady the area is, and that moving water doesn’t allow mosquitoes to breed. Some areas are so shady that ice-caves form. Road crews keep their six-packs icy there all through the summer. At least that’s the story we got from this same 4th generation local, encountered on one of our hikes.
Artistically eaten leaves.
These mushrooms look like they should have stunk, but I didn’t notice a smell.
Tree roots on Rondout Creek
More Catskills camping:
August 2005
June 2007
Catskill Forest Preserve
Friday, June 29th, 2007
A hike into the hills near where we were camped in the Catskills. The bird at the beginning of the video is a Scarlet Tanager. These red birds were my totem animal on the trip. As the car entered the preserve, I saw one very close, magically hovering over a branch. And this one, maybe the same one, came to our camp inviting me to enter the forest. It reminded me of the fairy/insect in Pan’s Labyrinth, only with a much less dramatic outcome.
Tioga State Forest Camping
Thursday, June 30th, 2005
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Looking down on Pennsylvania’s Grand Canyon. To the left is a bike path.
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Our campsite. We called it Camp Firefly. There were hundreds, maybe thousands, of them blinking in unison around us. The first couple of nights we stayed here it was remarkably free of mosquitoes, blackflies, deerflies etc. But on the last night the mosquitoes found us. Here’s an account of our Adirondacks trip where the insects were not quite
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"Four Mile Vista." Very near our campsite. |
