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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 18, 2014 - 09:52pm PT
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I've a little trail run I do up and down the crag, so I've been up there a once or twice a week this summer and fall. Rather than the contempt that is supposed to come with familiarity, I find the crag and the fields of Spring Farm beneath it more and more inspiring the more I'm up there. Here are a few iPhone shots, some of which have appeared in other threads, but together they begin to transmit a feeling of the place.
One of the things I've come to appreciate about trail-running is that even though I'm there for a workout, the surroundings are beautiful and it is "ok" to just stop and take a picture---screw the stopwatch, the pace (which in my case is barely perceptible anyway), and all those other measures of progress and achievement.
The young woman in shot #6 is my daughter.
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MH2
climber
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Oct 18, 2014 - 10:00pm PT
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Good.
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perswig
climber
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Oct 19, 2014 - 03:33am PT
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^^Agree!
First thought was "pastoral".
Viel' dank' und mehr, bitte.
Dale
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DanaB
climber
CT
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Oct 19, 2014 - 06:33am PT
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it's a nice place to take non-climbing friends for a sample of the 'Gunks. There is a fun 2nd/3rd class way to the top, great view and it can seem a bit exciting for them.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Oct 19, 2014 - 07:21am PT
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How's the noggin now, you trail-running young fool?
Of course you REMEMBER that accident, right?
Nice little excursion, BTW, and thanks.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 19, 2014 - 08:48am PT
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Ha! I decided to leave the blood smear shot out, Mouse. Didn't seem in keeping with the "pastoral" theme noted by Perswig. The wound was small but kinda deep and took a while to heal, but all is well, which is to say I'm no more addled than I was previously.
I'm already not running fast, but did slow down a bit on the level and downhill sections in the hope of not overlooking a toe-hooker again. Now that the leaves are down it is even harder to see roots and rocks, and the dappled light doesn't help...
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 20, 2014 - 05:29am PT
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I'll bump it once, just to give it a little weekday exposure. It isn't very consequential and isn't even about climbing, just a few nice pictures really, so its fate is surely a rapid descent through the pages to an obscurity somewhat like the crag itself, and perhaps that's a good thing...
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wilbeer
Mountain climber
Terence Wilson greeneck alleghenys,ny,
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Oct 20, 2014 - 05:58am PT
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Very Nice.Looks as if all is very well.
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TradEddie
Trad climber
Philadelphia, PA
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Oct 20, 2014 - 07:30am PT
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Great pictures, they remind me that I haven't been there in a while and need to go back soon.
On my first trip up there I was completely confused by the guide description that said to turn left off the carriage road and go downhill. With 0.1 miles left before the summit, that seemed extremely improbable...
TE
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Oct 20, 2014 - 08:48am PT
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at the Oakdale Climbers Festival Elaine Matthews, Cherry Schacher and Rosie Andrews all had stories about their time in the 'Gunks, sort of made me "home sick" for the place...
and certainly a huge part of that is being there in the Autumn, for reasons you can see yourself in rgold's Ode,
and rgold himself showed up in a number of presentations scattered throughout the weekend.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Oct 20, 2014 - 09:25am PT
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No climbing There.
I defer to the
G.O.D.'s of rock....
Pourquoi????
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Seth
Trad climber
New York, NY
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Oct 20, 2014 - 10:02am PT
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Nice post Rich! I love Bonticou, have never sampled the rock climbing but I've done the scramble twice with my kids. It is a beautiful white cliff, and even more so around Memorial Day when the flowering bushes are in bloom.
Here is a photo of my son on Bonticou on a hazy day.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Oct 20, 2014 - 10:55am PT
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hey there say, rgold... wow, SO GLAD you DID bump this up... i had not seen it...
so busy, these days, as, "my aspirational vision from the ol' eyes of the things that i see 'artwise'"--ARE:
LARGER than my time frame, of days and evenings, :)
i really enjoy the pastoral affect that you mentioned here and seeing your daughter, too, and hearing the bits of 'write up' ... hope your doing well, after the head-hit situation, for sure... oh my...
very sweet soft, lovely share, here...
thank you so much...
and say, ed, as to this quote:
Oct 20, 2014 - 08:48am PT
at the Oakdale Climbers Festival Elaine Matthews, Cherry Schacher and Rosie Andrews all had stories about their time in the 'Gunks, sort of made me "home sick" for the place...
and certainly a huge part of that is being there in the Autumn, for reasons you can see yourself in rgold's Ode,
and rgold himself showed up in a number of presentations scattered throughout the weekend.
very nice share... i enjoyed this, too :)
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richross
Trad climber
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Oct 20, 2014 - 06:25pm PT
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From todays hike.
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wilbeer
Mountain climber
Terence Wilson greeneck alleghenys,ny,
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Oct 20, 2014 - 06:38pm PT
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Great look at it ,Richross. Thanks.
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The Lisa
Trad climber
Da Bronx, NY
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Oct 20, 2014 - 06:46pm PT
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I was running all over the Preserve on Sunday although I did not get out to Bonticou. It is beautiful and I never tire of the scenery.
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richross
Trad climber
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Oct 20, 2014 - 07:04pm PT
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Some from 10/11.
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phylp
Trad climber
Millbrae, CA
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Oct 20, 2014 - 10:43pm PT
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Wow, those are all just beautiful - except maybe the one that looks like it could be poison oak.
Thanks for the self-bump. It's so easy to miss the quality content amidst the dreck clutter that sometimes overtakes page one..
Phyl
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Curt
climber
Gold Canyon, AZ
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Oct 20, 2014 - 10:54pm PT
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Nice pics, Rich. I really need to get back there.
Curt
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richross
Trad climber
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Dec 27, 2014 - 03:45pm PT
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Some pics from today.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 27, 2014 - 04:15pm PT
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Nice to see this come 'round again.
Here's a shot from the late summer; homeward bound at Spring Farm after a day on the hill.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 16, 2015 - 05:13pm PT
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Bonticuo today with the wind howling over the ridge. Icy!
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
extraordinaire
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Jan 16, 2015 - 09:55pm PT
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... just a few nice pictures really, so its fate is surely a rapid descent through the pages to an obscurity somewhat like the crag itself, and perhaps that's a good thing... Nicely put. I really appreciate your slant on the place.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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Jan 17, 2015 - 08:58am PT
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Richie, what camera/device are you using? there is a distinct visual signature in all your images, please advise.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 17, 2015 - 09:30am PT
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Peter, I have a few camera/devices, from (now old so not so) fancy Nikon to point-and-shoot to iPhone, but I think all the shots I posted are from an iPhone. I do very minimal post-processing. I almost always crop a little since (a) I don't find the iPhone frame convivial to most scenes and (b) I find it hard to see clearly on the iPhone screen, in daylight, what I'm framing, so usually try for a bit more than I want. (Then there's the sad fact that I get my finger in front of a cell phone lens a inordinate amount of the time.)
Moreover, I find that cropping often takes a very ordinary scene and invests it with some kind of tension or symmetry or asymmetry or I don't really know what, but something that makes it more visually compelling to me. Then I pull a little shadow detail and tamp down the highlights if I can, add a touch of saturation and sharpening and that's about it. It's a five or max ten minute process, but I think it is fair to say that I very rarely show anyone in any context a unprocessed photo straight from the camera. In this regard I categorically reject the notion that the original image is in any sense a more objective rendition of reality than an image altered by a few sliders in a processing program. If those alterations help to approximate my memories, then that's my reality.
I also try to be selective about what I impose on anyone else's eyeballs. We're beyond saturated with images as it is.
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Happiegrrrl2
Trad climber
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Jan 17, 2015 - 11:32am PT
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Brrr! That last shot is beautiful, but makes me glad to be out west! Will be back when the Lady Slippers, some of which can be found at Bonticou, start to come up.
Also, last September, I did a walk around the crag, just following Clearwater Road out. Lucas alerted me(silently, thankfully) to a mama bear and her twins, browsing maybe 25 yards away. Yes, I was scared, and praying Lucas didn't bark, but they seemed to not cae I was there, and eventually I just continued on, telling myself "Whatever you do, don't look back." The hike was fantastic - I love the old wood roads, imagining what life was like BITD when they were being used by those who lived near and travelled through.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 17, 2015 - 05:26pm PT
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Not on the winter theme, but still a little different: Dave's Dong at Bonticuo:
An here's a bit o' the ridgetop on a kinder gentler day:
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Apr 23, 2015 - 11:09am PT
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Just about my almost all time favorite place!
DMT, I am some what of an acquired taste,
I am sorry that I had no idea of your visit,
but please if your here in the east let me know.
( I mean, I Know some, about them there woodz n' rocks)
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 23, 2015 - 12:07pm PT
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I was there in January this year when Rgold snapped that picture of the golden light at the top of Bonticuo. What a cool (cold!) place. We ice climbed with ice creepers that day, lol. It was epic!
An epic ice-creeper-shod moment from the day: Lady Scarlett balances precariously on Microspikes with the frigid maw of the Bonticuo boulderfield waiting to devour the results of even a momentary loss of adhesion.
To paraphrase Whymper,
“Climb Bonticuo if you will, but remember that courage and strength are nought without prudence, and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste; look well to each step; and from the beginning think what may be the end.”
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Jones in LA
Mountain climber
Tarzana, California
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Apr 24, 2015 - 07:33am PT
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Looks like a magically beautiful place. Thanks to all for revealing some Eastern wonderment to a provincial Westerner like me.
Rich Jones
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 10, 2015 - 06:59pm PT
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Well Spring is back. Yours truly on the home stretch of my third Bonticuo trail run of the season, and the first time this Spring I managed (ever so barely) to actually "run" the whole rig. Even though just a still, I think the stumbling gait of a fully-pooped runner is detectable.
I'm running with poles by the way, not crutches. Steve Molis came along, tolerated my pedestrian pace, and took the picture.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 10, 2015 - 07:24pm PT
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I can't edit my post of Lady Scarlett braving the icy Bonticuo boulder field, but here for contrast is my daughter Sarah in a kindler gentler season.
This is part of the trail run as well.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Jun 10, 2015 - 09:03pm PT
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The part of the trail your daughter is on looks tricky to do with poles.
I note that the wounded alien has gone that way, too. Just like when DMT visited Grouse resort here in Vancouver. X-Files territory.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 10, 2015 - 09:10pm PT
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The part of the trail your daughter is on looks tricky to do with poles.
I fold 'em up and stick them in a little running vest/pack that I wear. (It also carries water, snacks, and when the heat subsides, a light jacket.)
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Maeday
Trad climber
San Francisco
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Jun 10, 2015 - 09:25pm PT
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Great pics!!!! Looks far far Away from me
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 10, 2015 - 09:57pm PT
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Yup, other side of the country.
C'mon over sometime!
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Jun 11, 2015 - 07:43am PT
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Sweet! That last photo looks like a landscape by a 19th Century Master. New York may have a high population density but you can still experience a feel of wildness there.
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Todd Eastman
climber
Bellingham, WA
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Jun 11, 2015 - 07:58am PT
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you can still experience a feel of wildness there.
The folks in Tupper Lake never had much trouble creating wildness...
... now Dannemora, that's a different story.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Jun 11, 2015 - 08:23am PT
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Plastic pullers be ware the climbing off the grid in and around the Gunks is not at all like climbing to an anchor. You will ledge out, need to build an anchor and often climb
un protectable 'cap'rock to get off the cliff to reach flat ground.
And that 'Dave's Dong' is short and stiff with ground fall potential,into the rocks ,
Is an, every other move, reality. A true Gunks 5.9!
Rgold,
That girl on the other site? I know it is not done but I fear for her, she seems genuine.
The rock she mentions, and says she frequents is okay to teach movement, but is not good for teaching gear, leading safe actions as one raps, or any of the things that the Gunks offers in spades. I sung your praises,to her I an email , I hope you don't mind.
See you in the outback maybe?
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 11, 2015 - 08:34am PT
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The Gunks (as opposed to, say, the Daks) is wildness on a miniature scale. Ship-in-a-bottle wildness. Model railroad wildness. The place is rich in detail even while being constrained in scope. The Trapps and now Lost City are overrun on weekends, victims of the immense surrounding urban pressures and the burgeoning popularity of the sport. But it isn't hard to step off the beaten track either, and enjoy a taste of the kind of solitude that is, in many cases, vanishing from the popular western venues as well.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 11, 2015 - 08:38am PT
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Gnome, after giving out all kinds of advice, I did offer to take her out for a day if she wanted. She's younger than my daughter and I would have hoped someone would have done something analogous for my daughter.
Whether she takes me up on it is, of course, up to her.
As for Dave's Dong, it is unique in having a few feet of offwidth climbing on it, one of only a handful of places in the Gunks where it is nice to have something bigger than a blue camalot.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Jun 11, 2015 - 08:45am PT
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I only bring a Blue Camalot to the Gunks for belay anchors.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Jun 11, 2015 - 09:13am PT
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One size fits all!?
From chimney to seam to the face climbing I mentioned.
Then without going into specifics there are other off width chimney climbs
Where the green #5 or two of them is nice.
One that gets me is the down climb by Andrew now called
Erogenous zone, I called it egregiously devoid of integrity to claim a FA in the traps where pins and remnants of my stuck cord must still be in that dank slot!
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Todd Eastman
climber
Bellingham, WA
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Jun 11, 2015 - 10:05am PT
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RGold, you are correct about the scale of wildness found north and south of Albany. I always thought the best function of the Adirondack Park was for giving people a glimpse of somewhere wilder than they were accustomed to and then, upon arriving back home with heightened awareness, seek and create the sense of wildness near home.
The big vast wild areas are like undergrad studies, big and clear to all; the gems like you are showing, and gems even closer to the city cores, are where a full set of trained eyes and senses deliver the goods, more of a post-grad level experience.
I used to marvel at the wildness of Bonticuo coming from Baltimore as a young climber. Keep posting!
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ladyscarlett
Trad climber
SF Bay Area, California
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Jun 11, 2015 - 11:59am PT
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Beautiful!! This kind of green is a dream here, haven't seen it since February ;)
Thank hike was so awesome and I'm sure it's an awesome run now that ice has cleared out :)
Beautiful pic of your daughter!
Love this place and can't wait to get more of it, especially the signature Rgold-style routes.
Thanks for sharing and glad to see that trail running season is in full swing. Watch out for those rocks dude!
Cheers!
LS
ps - as for that girl who hasn't taken you up on your offer yet...she's crazy. If she doesn't, I will, hands down, every time... Silly girl!
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 5, 2015 - 10:45pm PT
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LS, not a peep from the young woman in question. Who knows what Gnome told her... ; )
Anyway, here's a late afternoon summit shot from today's run. Beautiful day, temps in the low 80's, a steady cool breeze at the top, and no one around.
In my old age, I've turned off the watch for trail runs. It has had several beneficial effects, all of which have to do with an increased willingness to stop now that there's no time to beat to certify that I'm "improving."
1. I'm much more likely to stop mid-run and stretch if things are getting tight.
2. If there is something interesting or beautiful to look at, I'm much more likely to stop to take it in, maybe take a shot with my iPhone.
On this particular run, I reached the top feeling pretty good---I could have just tagged the summit and blasted on down. (You'd have to see me "running" to realize just how wrong "blasted" is...) But without the watch ticking, I had time to savor a gorgeous day, watch the turkey vultures circling on the thermals, and snap a nice shot or two before getting back to the business at hand.
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The Lisa
Trad climber
Da Bronx, NY
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Gorgeous photo, Rich!
I climbed at Bonticou for the first time this weekend, trying to stay ahead of the sun by climbing the shaded parts.
I had my trusty #4 Camalot with me but did not need it. It is not as pretty as Donini's blue one but it has its uses.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 6, 2015 - 02:28pm PT
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When it is hot out, you can climb in the shade at Bonticuo in the morning and then head over to the Trapps/Near Trapps in the afternoon when they get shade for an all-shady day!
But Bonticuo is supposed, by Preserve policy, to be undocumented as a climbing locale, so no climbing photos will be forthcoming.
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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Nice photo's Rich!
Brought back very old recollections of doing a 1st ascent out there with Dave Craft. I climbed thru this big overhang but if you asked me where it went I wouldn't have a clue. Never got recorded either.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Oct 15, 2015 - 12:52pm PT
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as this time rolls past each year
miss Bonticuo ,
the chasms of Lost city just make me miss it more
sun bowl every body . . .
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