Doing the Carlton.

Thursday I had a doctor's appointment, and upon my release I was left to my own devices with a nice slice of afternoon all to myself.  To top it off, I had a zero day - so the caching world was my oyster.  My plan of action was to head to Carlton Hill State Forest in the northeast corner of Wyoming County, New York.  This 2,580 acre plot of land is a multiple use area that can be used for birdwatching, camping, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, hunting, fishing and trapping.  It's also the only state forest within the boundaries of Wyoming County!

The cache I planned on chasing after was The Forgotten Side of Carlton Hill by Brogan.  According to Mr. Brogan, this was a .40 mile hike into the woods.  Maybe it's me, but Carlton Hill has always had a weird stigma about it.  Maybe because when I first visited here in 2007 I was indirectly shot at while doing this cache.  I suppose that's something that will stick with you.  Haha.

Anyway, I figured this would be the perfect cache for me to do today.  The benefit of having a couple unexpected free hours on my hands, meant I could travel farther to hike without the burden of darkness or being out too dang late.  During this deluge of good fortune, I did manage to send Brogan a quick text letting him know of my plans - and after being inundated by his usual staple of harassing comments - he decided to meet me there.

I arrived at what I thought were the parking coords.  I packed up and started down the trail, only to learn the cache was actually .80 away.  I was a little confused, but then realized that I had to park at the next road over, which would slice the distance in half.  I think we all know by now that I approach caching with a "trial by fire" mentality.  Haha.  So, down the road I went to the appropriate parking.  As I made my approach, I noticed another car there and the closer I got, the more of a weird "something is going down" vibe I got.  There, looking suspicious, were a couple of kids giving off the impression that some kind of unsavory deal was going down.  Seriously though, who wears gangsta-wear when they go for a hike in the woods?  I equate it to seeing a line of penguins waddling through the sands of Death Valley.  You instantly know something is utterly out of whack.

Recognizing that this wasn't a normal (or legitimate) phenomenon in the boondock wilds of Wyoming County, I pulled a U-turn and decided I would try my luck at accessing the cache from the other side of Carlton Hill.  Of course, enroute I ran into Brogan and his mon amie, Easygoer.  In doing so, I was convinced to return to the parking spot from whence I had come.  Hesitantly I returned down the road again only to find the parking lot now empty.  WTF universe, why do screw with me?!?

Now that Brogan and Easygoer were sufficiently amused by things I claim to have witnessed but that clearly fail to exist, we hit the trail towards the cache.  I've found that if you do a cache with Brogan, you just pick a direction.  After a dozen steps or so, if you realize he's not behind you - you can be assured that you are going the wrong way.  I like to employ this strategy whenever possible...however I have to do it more consistently.  I say that because half way into our hike, I chose to head down into the gully and approach the cache that way (knowing based on topo maps that in the end I'd end up there anyhow).  That folks - was a bad idea.  The bright side though was I had company!  Poor Easygoer, who is not versed in my reckless and asinine use of the "trial by fire" mantra, followed me down in the pint-sized-ravine that was full of water, mud, bugs and other assorted goo's.  Brogan laughed at us, and continued on down the trail alongside the gully.

After dodging a few bowling ball-sized rocks that serendipitously came flying down from the trail above (from Brogan....with love), we arrived near our zero.  The hiding spot was pretty easy to spot - although a little uphill climbing was required to retrieve the cache.  I did my best mountain goat impersonation while Brogan and Easygoer relaxed below checking out the Jack in the Pulpits that lined the creek.  I snagged the cache, signed us in, and rehid it, before climbing back down from my lofty perch.

Once reunited with the rest of the crew, Brogan hatched a scheme to continue our hike in order to explore additional spots inside Carlton Hill.  This idea was met with mild enthusiasm.  Unfortunately mild enthusiasm (or even a complete lack of) isn't enough to deter Brogan, so off we went to places unknown!  While I do like exploring, I don't think I was in the right frame of mind this afternoon - but I faithfully followed.  We saw some pretty cool stuff, including another nearby ravine that I got to "monster hill butt slide" into.  Yes kiddies...it really is as awesome as it sounds!  The results are always pretty funny and usually involve soggy wet asses.  Hahaha.

So down the shale hill I went and when I got to the creek bed my ars was caked in mud and my legs were a little nicked up by shale (which FYI is an inherent risk of the monster hill butt slide).  From there we hiked up the creek, encountering a ton of little waterfalls and other beautiful sights.  The one downfall to this came when...well...I fell down.  :-)  I was trying to get underneath a blow down over the creek and ended up falling onto some shale that cut my arm and hand.  So needless to say, by this time I was wet, muddy, cut, bleeding and tired.  Did I also mention the part about the bugs flying into my face one after another?  I'm sure I must have! 

It wasn't that bad, I swear...I was just pretty beat up by the time we had to scramble up the last hill to return to the trail.  From there we took a long hike back to the cars.  When it was all said and done I was pretty tired and glad to be back out after enduring quite a beating.  We spent a while chatting at the parking lot, imbibing in a couple tasty and refreshing beverages before heading our separate ways.

Carlton Hill kicked me around a little, but I had fun and did so with good company.  My only regret is that I didn't perform this catchy number after finding the cache.  What the heck was I thinking?!?!?!?!?!?!  Haha.