This Big Fall Trip marked the third year that  a group of eager Princetonians have headed north to the Catskills to enjoy a weekend of hiking, camping, and revelry! This year the trip was generously sponsored by the Graduate Student Government’s Events Board, which allowed the PUMC to supply group food and gas reimbursements at no charge to the attendees. The Big Fall Trip is always geared towards first year graduate students (although all are welcome – even undergrads!) to give them an opportunity to socialize outside of campus and to see the beauty of fall in the mountains in the Northeast. With the support from the GSG, we were able to make this the largest PUMC Big Fall Trip ever!

Leading up to the weekend of the trip (October 3rd-5th), we held a planning meeting and got everyone psyched and organized. We were able to organize a carpool signup, a tent availability signup, and a sign up for the different day hikes for Saturday. We had all 40 slots filled plus a long waiting list, however as the weekend drew closer and the weather forecast calling for rain, people started to drop out. In the end we had as awesome group of 32 people and 2 dogs.

Each car left Princeton at the time that was convenient for the driver and passengers, some stopping for dinner on the way. As each car arrived we established our tent sites and got everyone settled in. To minimize the impact of having 32 people camping in the wilderness, we established four tent sites in different areas of a field near the trail entrance and did all our socializing in the trail parking lot. We choose an area near Colgate Lake which has worked well for us in the past, and was again perfect for us this time. We went to sleep knowing the rain would hit sometime in the night and we woke up knowing that it would be a long day of hiking in the rain.

After devouring several packages of bagels and cream cheese in the morning, we set off in five groups led by our 9 trip leaders to conquer the Catskills: one group did 12 miles on the eastern portion of Devil’s Path (the full path is regarded as one of the toughest hikes on the east coast), another group did a 10 mile hike that included Hunter Mountain (the second highest peak in the Catskills) and Diamond Notch Falls, the third group left along the trail by our campsite and followed 12 miles along the Escarpment Trail, the fourth group hiked past the beautiful Buttermilk Falls to the Kaaterskill High Peak area, and the last group did a shorter hike around the North/South Lake area.

Everyone made it back to camp safe, but exhausted and thoroughly soaked. Some groups even stopped for fresh-made doughnuts at a shop in a nearby town on the way back to camp. The rain miraculously let up in the late afternoon and we were able cook without the wetness getting in the way. Everyone munched on apples and carrots and hummus while most people pitched in preparing dinner.  On the menu was sausages (chicken, garlic, and spicy) and portobello mushrooms (fresh from Davidson’s Exotic Mushrooms
 at the Princeton Farmers’ Market) with beans and rice. Those not helping with dinner, dealt with the aftermath of the rain caused by leaking tents. The day in the rain definitely discouraged some people, so a couple of cars of people decided to depart after dinner instead of waiting until the morning. As for Sunday, it ended up being a beautiful day to do some hiking, so some groups went back to Hunter Mountain to take in the beautiful view of the Catskills that was missed the day before.