6/13/9 Westbrookville/Wurtsboro/Basha Kill with Kyle Zalinsky, Paige Foley, and Rich Pace
Sadly, the original journal entry to this hike was lost in the fire of Aug 2010. If anyone has a copy please let me know!
The Summer was off to a start in just the way I intended it to be. With Jillane off to Utah, I needed to keep my mind occupied. I didn't want to be home, I couldn't sleep hardly at all, and so this meant finding things to do regardless of how stupid. Even though I was going to do a hike the next day, Paige invited me over and we stayed up all night singing stupid karaoke songs that were on her digital cable, drinking disgusting carmelized twenty year old wine, and making fake mocking labels for the bottles. I don't know how I was even able to drive to the beginning of the hike, but I managed somehow.
P Fo and Kyle
This hike would be a repeat of the recent Basha Kill Wetlands hike between Westbrookville and Wurtsboro NY. Joining me would be Kyle Zalinsky, Rich Pace, and Paige Foley. Kyle requested specifically that I redo this hike because it was the only Shawangunk Ridge Trail hike he'd missed, so I agreed. This time we would go backwards from the way we did it before, starting with the abandoned Delaware and Hudson Canal rather than the New York, Ontario, and Western's Kingston Line, now the O&W Rail Trail. From the parking area on the Basha Kill in Westbrookville we crossed the Basha Kill itself on the road bridge (1) and descended to the riverside.
We found a spot where we could cross, and the area all around the creek was washed out pretty badly. We were able to to wander to the north a little bit and get to the remains of the Delaware and Hudson Canal. The previous time I was up here we did this hike backwards. The old towpath was in rough shape at first and it was purged in places, but soon we were able to get onto it totally clearly, and it was an official trail through Basha Kill Wildlife Management Area.
The towpath led us a long ways out to a driveway section. Along the way Paige picked up a turtle and carried it around for a while. Once we reached the road section at the end of the trail we came out to Haven Road. We crossed and the canal went through what's now a parking lot and then entered the woods. It turned away from Rt 209, parallel with us, for a bit and went close to an abandoned house we just had to go inside.
The abandoned house along D&H Canal south of Wurtsboro NY
There was also an old ruined car sitting along the canal as well. We took a break here and drank some of the old wine from the Amwell Winery (from 1988) that Jaybird from work had given to me. It was so old that it had carmelized (I drank some on the previous beach hike, and that's what Commando Tom had told me happened) and so it was now a dessert wine. It was barely potable but we managed to drink it. In fact, Paige and I stayed up the entire night before drinking this crap, laughing, and making new fake stupid labels for them. At the car, we had Kyle chug the remainder of the drink as we laughed.
The canal soon led us out to and across Rt 209. This section took us close to some houses, but none of them impeded on the former canal.
We came out by Moss Rock Lane and crossed back over Rt 209. We went through another really nice secluded section of the former canal. There was even an old turn lagoon as I recall. There was stone work in place where when the canal was abandoned made it crossable. Since the entire canal was abandoned in the 19th century even the abandonment changes made were historic.
Soon, the canal came out to NY Rt 17. Paige, Kyle and I dashed across while Rich went up to cross over using the Rt 209 bridge. We waited for him on the other side, then headed onto the canal towpath heading northward. I recall the towpath to this canal was unusually wide compared to other canals. We soon came out at a driveway, then followed the canal as a path out toward a little school. This took us onto Pennsylvania Ave. We turned left onto it into the middle of Wurtsboro, then went left looking for somewhere to get some food. We all stopped at a nice little place on the corner of Sullivan Street and Rt 209 for lunch. After we'd eaten we moved on back down the street toward the Long Path which followed part of Sullivan Street and Pennsylvania Ave. We went into a church along the way to have a look around I think, maybe now it was a store or something, and then we checked out a double store where half of it was a toy store and the other side was liquor! We continued to Pennsylvania Ave and turned right. Along this stretch of road were the abandoned houses we'd seen on the previous trip up here. We went through them again to have a look around. Kyle joined me in all of them. I tried to play the piano left in the one of them but it was badly out of key. It was sad to think everything in these houses were be lost when they were demolished, which I'm sure has happened by now.
We continued to the end of the Basha Kill Rail Trail, the route of the Long Path, and followed it southbound back toward the end. This section seemed to go by really fast this time. It was easy walking and always scenic along the Basha Kill. This time, we heard music for a while along the pathway. We could see it was coming from a building when we reached the boat launch area and realized it was the Basha Kill Winery. There was a wine tasting event going on so Paige stayed behind while Rich, Kyle, and I went to check it out. For five dollars we each got plenty of wine and a glass that said "Basha Kill Winery". We were permitted a taste of everything, and there was one in particular Kyle and I each loved, so we kept getting refills of it. We drank definitely a generous amount and chatted with the owner.
I was all sorts of loopy by the time we left. We walked the trail onward from there. Paige waited for us at the boat launch where we'd come back to pick her up. I think we only had like two miles left. We got back to the cars, and the last thing we found right by the parking lot was a HUGE waterfall just off the road. I'd heard a loud gushing sound and said we had to pull over. We all got out and went into the woods, even though it said it was posted, to see an incredible falls. It was a great way to close out the day.
I tried driving a little bit but I was far too tired having stayed up all night and was clearly drunk. Fortunitely Rich was willing to drive my car back to Washington.
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