With the scourge of the mountains in the past, it was time to get back on the trails. Yes, the infamous blackfly season is just a memory, so a couple of weeks ago I was once again hiking in the Catskills. I love those mountains because there are so many great, uncrowded trails to wander. One of my favorite hikes is Balsam Mountain. It’s not an overly difficult hike, and the view of the Esopus Valley from the summit is one of my favorites.
As I headed out of the parking lot at the end of the Rider Hollow, I found large patches of stinging nettles crowding the edges of the trail. Now this was not unusual. The mountain soil is right for that particular plant, but they seemed extra thick this year.
Nettles are not harmful, but they are annoying. You brush your bare leg against the fussy edges of the dark green leaves, and you get a burning sensation. Now most people make the mistake of scratching those reddening spots. But if you itch them, a burning, stinging rash develops that lasts for a considerable amount of time. The key — don’t scratch. It goes away rather rapidly if you just leave it alone.
Now, most hikers don’t know the possible benefits of this unique plant. For centuries, people have used nettles as a staple in medicines. Stinging nettles, also known as burn nettles, were used by the ancient Egyptians to treat arthritis and lower back pain. They boiled the leaves in water, making a tea to ease aches and pains. The Romans, while journeying to distant lands, rubbed the leaves on their skin to give warmth to their skin in colder climates. The medicine men of early cultures experimented with many wild plants and cured many health problems of the time. Probably through trial and error, they experimented and learned the benefits of wild plants. Today, many people buy nettles in health food stores, while others grow their own or gather the plant out in the wild.
Nettles contain many healthful nutrients. The plant is high in vitamins A, C and K as well as several of the B vitamins. It is rich in calcium, iron and magnesium as well as being loaded with antioxidants. It was used to fight cancer, arthritis and other harmful diseases. Men used the plant to reduce prostate size and other urinary problems. A paste of nettle leaves will reduce excessive bleeding. It’s a natural diuretic. Early doctors made a cream of it to help heal wounds and burns.
Now, I’m not suggesting you head out onto the trails and pick some of the plants. You just can’t go home and eat the leaves in your salad. It fact you should avoid eating the fresh leaves.
It is suggested that you use vinyl or rubber gloves when harvesting these plants. Cut off about six inches of the plant’s top and the first row of leaves with a pair of shears. To prepare the plant, wash and blanch the leaves. Boil the plants to deactivate the sting. Then they are edible and highly nutritious.
I’m not one who likes green vegetables like spinach or even cabbage once it is cooked, so I will avoid the nettles as well. I might go to a health food store and buy some that is processed and dried to sprinkle on my salad, but that’s the extent of it.
But my suggestion — unless you’re far more adventurous than me, just avoid the nettles and enjoy the hike.
Recently on Facebook, there were pictures and an article about a giant brook trout that was caught in the Adirondacks on July 5. It was 22 inches long and beat the previous six-pound record by three ounces.
Now, before you ask, where it was caught, let me tell you. You’re wasting your breath. Guys who fish for record book trout will never reveal the name of the pond they were fishing. Look at it this way. If they told you where it was caught, you would tell a friend who would tell his friends and the next time the fisherman went back to that particular pond, there would be two dozen others fishing that water.
When I moved to the Adirondacks back in 1969, I asked an old timer and guide who lived across the road from me where I could catch big brookies.
“Oh, there’s plenty of places to go if you don’t mind hiking a few miles in, but right out there about three miles is a good place to start,” he said, as he raised his hand and pointed. The trouble was, he cut his index finger halfway through on a chain saw, and it pointed at a 45 degree angle from the second joint, So was he pointing straight with his hand or off to the left with that crooked finger. Well, it took me about three years to find that particular pond, and by then it was pretty well fished out.
So, Benjamin Ferguson and his buddy will never tell anyone where they were fishing. Heck, there are easily a couple thousand back-country ponds in the Adirondacks. Sixteen of them are named Mud Pond or Mud Lake.
They fish where no man in his right mind will go. Using 20-pound Hornbeck carbon fiber one-man canoes, they hike in eight to 10 miles. Sometimes they fish all day and never get a bite. That happened the day Ben caught the record fish. It wasn’t until late in the afternoon that the monster hit his bait. Being too late to hike out to have the fish weighed on a certified scale, they filled the canoe with water and floated it out in the lake so nothing would eat the fish.
Now, most guys who catch big brook trout use a lure that was made right here in Gilbertsville by Art Freer. He was the postmaster there for many years. The lure was called the Lake Clear Wobbler. It is a shiny silver spoon, pointed on each end, that attracts the fish to a nightcrawler on a hook that is trailed a foot or so behind the lure. It is the go-to lure for most brook trout fishermen. It’s trolled slowly behind their canoes. I caught most of my brook trout over the years on that same lure while slowly trolling in the cold, clear mountain water.
The previous record brook trout was supposedly caught in Silver Lake, north of Benson along the Northville–Placid Trail about 12 years ago. I doubt it though. Fishermen lie. I fished that pond years ago and never caught a thing.
There was a time when you couldn’t find a brook trout. Acid rain killed the lakes and most of the fish. The coal-powered power plants of the midwest polluted much of the water, but ways of producing electricity have changed. Today the lakes and ponds are alive with fish. But as you can see, it takes a bit of effort to find them.