Is this the right road, Rick?

Current Elevation: 2,818 Feet above sea level

Current Location: 42*41.524(n) / 073*17.153(w)

Well, today's Berlin Mountain hike got off to a rocky start. I had planned to awaken my comrade, Ben at 8:00 AM sharp and start on our way to the mountain. Due to a lack of sleep the night before, I did not make it to his house until some time after 9:00 AM. Although the lack of sleep made me less likely to wake up on time, I decided that based on the eventful evening prior to this morning, the common party activities would have rendered Ben asleep until someone came to wake him up anyway. I did not eat much breakfast, and as a result, I was quite sluggish on my way out the door. To top everything off, I had emails that needed to be answered before lunchtime.

When I arrived to Ben's house, he was still sound asleep. I gave him a quick shake, and he woke right up and was ready to head out the door some 5 minutes later. He neglected to grab coffee on his way out so we stopped at the Coffee Bean on Route 9 in Schodack. After we stopped there, we quick ran to Cumberland Farms just up the road and got some quick drinks for the ride up. Once we were on the road, the journey began.

When we got to the road that was supposed to take us to the trailhead, Ben happened to notice that the road got really narrow and had posted signs all over. "Is this the right road, Rick?" He asked in his famous "Oh Shit!" tone. I pulled out the map, and sure enough... We were indeed in the right place. The car could not fit down this path, so we decided to park the car a few hundred yards from the sketchy dirt path and walk through the array of posted signs. We both were a little afraid that we were on someone's private property, and that we would get in some level of trouble. About 1/2 a kilometer up that road (Stupid USGS Quad was all metric, which kind of screwed me up a bit), we saw a guy driving a work shovel and doing some work on the narrow dirt road we were skeptically walking down. With compass and map in hand, I spoke to the man working the shovel. He turned out to be an Encon worker and seemed rather delighted to see people in an otherwise deserted area. We chatted for a moment and he informed me that we were indeed on the right road, and that it was state owned, not private like the posted signs suggested. I said thanks and he wished us "Happy Hiking Fellows!" as we carried on our journey.

Shortly after running into the Encon guy, Ben informed me that nature was calling, and that it was calling collect! So, we stopped so he could take a quick bathroom break in the woods. I checked the map and plotted our course.

Once we started making our way up the mountain, it was evident that I was a bit out of shape. Ben was hauling the mail up to the top with me huffing and puffing behind. We made it about half way and had some granola bars and some water before we made the next push for the top. I stashed my trash and moved on to the summit.

I took notice that no one really hikes this trail very much for some reason or another. There were many places where we might as well have been bush-whacking our way through the rather primitive trails. I have hiked a decent of mountains, and rarely had to go through so much brush to get to another part of a trail. I managed to pick up a tick during this process, to which I discovered when we reached the summit.

There were also points during our ascent that there was a number of errors on the USGS Quad we were using as a general guide. For some reason, I expected that there would be differences between reality and the map, but there were some spots where the map said there was trail (and there was not) or a few of the direction changes were wrong. Thankfully, I had brought a really good military grade compass with me, which helped keep us lined up with our objective while we were on the move. (Thanks Benny Fox, you rock!)

Around 1:30ish, we made it to the top! Ben and I sat down and chowed down on some more granola bars and looked around a bit. The summit was beautiful. The lower circumference of the view was dominated by pine trees with the surrounding mountains lazily rolling in and out of the tree line.

When we finished eating, Ben got up and instantly began exploring the entire summit. He was rather disappointed by the fact that our view was obstructed by trees and the like. In an effort to gain a better view, Ben decided to climb the best tree he could find.

Ben and his Ninja skills

After playing around with my camera for a while, I started to pack up my gear and get ready for our descent back to the car. Ben magically reappeared from checking out all the various features of the Berlin Mountain summit, and we made our way back down.

On our way down, we were making good time and hauling some serious rear. We were talking to each other and not paying attention and managed to completely miss our turn to the trail we came up on. As a result of neither of us paying attention, we had to backtrack a good solid .5 km. It was frustrating, but at least we were on fairly level ground, so the mistake cost very little in climbing energy, but made us both feel like complete fools.

After taking our unscheduled detour, we started the steeper part of our descent. I was trying to brace myself and take it easy, as to keep my knee or ankles from getting any more damaged than they are. Ben, on the other hand, was running down the trail, and quickly disappeared from my view. I stopped for a second, shook my head and listened for any sounds associated with breaking bones or hitting a tree at full speed. The only sound I heard was not unlike the sound of a little child running through a leaf pile... I don't know how he managed to keep from tripping, I was having trouble dodging tree roots and other debris scattered about the trail, and I was going rather slow. I finally ran into Ben at the end of the steeper part of the trail, and just before our next junction. He could have ran the entire mountain right down to the bottom, had he been hiking alone, but he had to wait for me while I was maneuvering through the debris as if I were crawling through barbed wire.

After we met back up, Ben and I began a more controlled descent back to the car. We made it the rest of the way back without getting lost or hurt, and we still had some energy left to the point where we were not very grumpy at the end of the hike. We took that saved energy and set a course for the nearest fast food joint for some tasty, greasy burgers. Unfortunately, we would have to wait until we got back to Schodack before we could indulge in some beefy burger goodness.

Overall, I had a great time on this hike. With only a few minor hitches, I was happy to have hiked this mountain. I can look upon it with a sense of satisfaction every time me and my brethren drive out to the falls. Berlin Mountain is clearly visible from our usual route to the falls, so I will make it a point to gloat whenever it comes into view. Above the brag factor, I had a great time hiking with Ben and look forward to many more in the future.

Next adventure: T.B.A.

-Rick