Earlier this year, I decided that I wanted to go camping as often as I could. Should be simple, right? That’s what I thought too. Well as I found out, it is indeed simple, however, not quite THAT simple. I think I will start this story at the beginning. It all started the day I was born…… What?? Not that far back? OK, OK, I’ll spare you the life story.
So in years past, I typically would plan a couple night camping trip and while they were great, I only got to go out a 2-3 times each year. So this year, I decided I wanted to get out more, so single night trips would allow that to happen. And that’s what I did, I looked at the calendar and picked what looked like the best possible weekend each month from May to October.
As we approached the month of May, I had to decide where I wanted to go camping at. I knew I wanted to somewhere in the Catskills Region in New York State, but where was the question. After much debate and research, Echo Lake via the Overlook Mountain Trail was settled up. And so begins my adventure and story.
Overlook Mt Trail was said to be and easy trail by all my research, so that was to be my approach to Echo Lake. Well the trail is in fact “easy” in the regards that it is wide and flat, there are no real obstacles to negotiate. However, do not let that fool you. It’s difficulty lies in it’s steady incline, an estimated 25 degrees or more. As I have never been to this trail before, I was unaware and fooled by it’s “Easy” description by most of the reviews I read.
I joyfully packed my chosen pack for the weekend, the Camelbak Motherload. I knew I set a goal this year to get the weight of my gear down as low as possible, so I knew my using a smaller pack than normal, I would have to think out what gear I took and consider every aspect. The closer my camping weekend got, the more excited I was. I had my plan, hike 4 miles to Echo Lake, camp for the night, hike back. In addition, since I knew I was going it alone, I put a few extra safety measures in place. I had 2 people that knew my itinerary, and email to the ranger out lining my itinerary, and a zip lock bag with ID, emergency contact info, and a scent item.
The morning of 22 May 2021 arrived and off I go. getting to the trailhead was easy enough, though by 11AM, parking was hard to come by. Mental note, get there earlier next time. With the pack affixed to my back and walking stick in hand, it was now time to gleefully set out on the trail towards my destination. And this is where things go down hill in excitement fast.
The Overlook Mt Trail itself is not scenic until about 1.5 mile mark when near the summit you’re greeted with the ruins of the old Overlook Mt House. If you continue to the summit, which I did not on this trip, you be granted scenic views of the Hudson valley and even more spectacular views if you venture the climb to the top of the fire tower that is perched on the summit.
Just beyond the ruins, a small narrow trail goes off into the forest. This trail is said to slightly more difficult than the Overlook Mt Trail. From this junction, it’s apx. 1.5 miles to the next junction on a rocky yet gently down hill slope till the last 1/2 mile where there’s a much steeper but manageable decent to Echo Lake.
Once at Echo Lake, you have 7 designated DEC camping sites spread around the lake to pick from or if available, there’s a lean-to as well. What’s that you say? What if you get there and all the sites and lean-to are taken?? What can you do then? That’s easy… Follow the DEC’s guidelines for Backcountry camping and you’re good to go.
The lake is home to Brook Trout, which while I planned on fishing for, I was too exhausted to by the time I reached camp. I enjoyed a nice Mountain House freeze dried dinner, filtered water from the nearby creek, and just relaxed trying to catch my breath and recover from the hike.
Setting up camp and eating dinner took longer than usual due to my extreme exhaustion. It’s been a very very long time since I’ve been that mentally and physically exhausted. By the grace of God, if you’re a believer, I made it there in ONLY 6 hours instead of the 2-3 hours I predicted it would take me. Yes, 4 miles in 6 hours, that’s less moving less than 1 MPH. I do believe I was passed by at least 1 snail and he called me a slow poke. But as in the old fable about the Tortoise and the Hare, “Slow and steady wins the race.” And while I’d didn’t feel like a winner at the time, looking back I did win. I completed my goal, I made it to my finish line and I beat the voices in my head telling me to quit and go back.
The next morning it didn’t take me long to pack up and get ready to hit the trail. Though I wasn’t looking forward to it, I knew it had to be done. The first half mile was brutal for me with a steep rocky incline to traverse. However once I reached the trail junction the Echo Lake Trail seemingly flattened out for most of the hike back to the Overlook Mt Trail. There were a few spots to remind me I was going up in elevation but they were manageable. Once on the Overlook Mt Trail, what I thought was going to be easy, reminded how wrong I was. It was not much easier going down as it was going up. I did however take less breaks on my way down hill. There was noticably less people on the trail on my way back than the previous day. As I entered the final mile of my journey, I was in so much pain and so exhausted that I was praying for a bear to come eat me with promise to not fight back. My prayers went unanswered and I made it back to the trailhead.
What did I learn from this trip? I learned that I am willing to not give up to to meet my goal, no matter what the hardship or cost. I learned that my choice of pack might not be ideal, but with a few more tweaks, it could work almost perfectly. I also learned that I am NOT in as good of shape as I gave myself credit for. I need to better condition myself before I attempt another camping trip like this one again. Even though I thinned down my pack compared to last year, I found more ways to lighten the load even further.
I will in future writings I will touch on my pack and the gear I take with me. Thank you for reading if you made it this far.
The Wandering Leatherneck 
1 Comment