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Morgan Outdoors

5th Annual Five FireTower Climb

2013

Laurie Rankin shows how the alidade in the tower's cab was used to determine the location of a "smoke" (fire)

Laurie and Tom Rankin are Volunteer Coordinators at Balsam Lake Mountain Fire Tower (elevation 3,723').

Consider joining the Five Fire Tower Climb 2013:

Hike  to one or more of the 5 beautifully renovated Catskill Fire Towers May 11-Oct. 14th. 

Enter hike details on a Morgan Outdoors Five Fire Tower PASSPORT!

Turn in your Passport at Morgan Outdoors by 6:00pm, Monday, October 14th

and earn a shot a winning the Grand Prize !

(last year it was a Mountain Hardwear sleeping bag)

If you'd like to know more about Catskill Fire Towers, here are a few websites to get you started:

      www.catskillcenter.org/towers/

      www.facebook.com/pages/Catskill-Fire-Tower

      www.catskill-3500-club.org/catskill-peaks

We have signed copies of Marty Podskock's "Firetowers of the Catskills" 2nd edition

  which the author delivered to us at Balsam Lake Fire Tower

and we carried back to Morgan Outdoors in our pack!

 

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Some favorite sources for local hike information:

                            TrailKeeper        Catskill Mountain Club          NY/NJ TC      3500 Club 

Click on icons below to learn more:

3500

 

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Get Your Rear in Gear!

at

 morgan outdoors

  

WEEKLY  CLASS  SCHEDULE

-Monday & Thursday   6:30-8:00pm

  Stretch & Tone with Mindy Wegener. $10 per class. No pre-registration required.

  You’ll feel Relaxed and Great all over!

- Thursday  4:00-5:00 pm                     

  Zumba with Stacy, $10 per class, register for 4 of 5 in a row and save $.

  Wear sneakers, bring water. Ditch the workout and join the party.Calorie-burning fun.

- Friday   4:15-5:45 pm   No Class 5/17.  New 5-Pack starts May24th!

  Kripalu Yoga with Miriam Hernandez. Beginners welcome!

  Single class $15. Bring a mat or borrow ours.

 

- Saturday   9:00-10 am                        

  Mat Pilates with Sophia, Only $10 per class, Wear loose clothes.

  Bring mat or borrow one of ours. Kick start your day!

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MORGAN OUTDOORS RENTALS

PACKS - CHILD CARRIERS - TENTS

Morgan Outdoors Rentals offers GREAT brands:

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Would you like to take this class?

If so,

call (845 439 5507) or email us   info@morgan-outdoors.com

We'd like to schedule more classes if folks are interested!

BASIC MAP & COMPASS

for grown ups

     

WHAT:        Reconnect with a skill set that is rapidly disappearing.  In a one-hour session, you’ll be introduced to elements of interpreting a topo map to understand lay of the land, and use of a compass for navigation.

 

WHERE:  Morgan Outdoors, 46 Main Street, Livingston Manor, NY

                   

WHY:          These simple, increasingly forgotten skills are practical to know and help us reconnect with a world often overlooked in busy lives.

 

HOW:          Register at Morgan Outdoors, 845 439 5507. Class size limited to 10. First come, first served.

 

COST:          $12 for one-hour class, with field adventure suggestions

           

 

         Give us 59 minutes . . .

we’ll give you a useful skill!

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We loved the 7th annual show

"The Great Outdoors - Celebrating Nature with Quilts"

 

Each quilter adds a paragraph describing their inspiration!

     

         " Jumping Rainbows" and  "On the Rise" by flyfisher and quilter, Susan Balch, Reading VT.

 

"Waya" by Katharina Litchman, Youngsville, NY   

   

               Many of the talented quilters gathered at April 7th's Opening Reception for a group shot, then relaxed!

Shown are Linda Horak, Susan Koenig, curator Sally Abrams, Katharina Litchman, Cindy Babcock and Trish Hewston.

:  

 

A canine admirer. Pilates instructor Sophia Hartell is energized. Rachel photographs a quilt made in her honor.  

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We hosted a fabulous

Earth Day 2013 Event

Sunday    April 21   7:00 PM

Free screening – 42-minute film & discussion

Co-sponsors: Livingston Manor Library and Morgan Outdoors

Details about the film at 350.0rg

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Morgan Outdoors

Voted 2012 Reader's Choice

"Best Sporting Goods Store"

by River Reporter Readers      Thanks for the thumbs up everyone!

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Have you gone hiking or mountain biking at

Walnut Mountain, Liberty NY lately?

Don't delay. Get out there!

This hidden gem in Liberty NY is home to carriage trails, wooded glens, rocky overlooks,

a growing network of mountain biking trails, views of the surrounding countryside

and animal tracks in the snow. Plus, Walnut Mountain is also the second highest mountain in Sullivan County. The Walnut Mountain Park is 265 acres and has two entrances.

DRIVING DIRECTIONS: In winter, we use the Lake Street entrance (intersection of West Lake Street and Eagle Drive) There’s a large trailhead parking lot.

Driving directions and park map at: http://www.townofliberty.org/walnut_park.pdf

 

HOORAY for Walnut Mountain!

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Want to know what's happening in our area?

Pick up a copy of the 2013

Livingston Manor-Roscoe Visitor's Guide

That's our friend Susan's quilt on cover www.fishnquilt.com

(printed on recycled paper!)

Updates all year long at www.livingstonmanor.org

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Looking for a trail to hike in Sullivan County?!

TrailKeeper.org is here!

 

A one-source outlet for hiking trails and public lands in Sullivan County, NY

with easy-to-read, easy-to-access maps and facilities information

and guides to hiking safety.

www.TrailKeeper.org connects you with it all.

Trailkeeper.org is the result of a partnership between

the Delaware Highlands Conservancy, Catskill Mountainkeeper,

the Sullivan County Division of Planning and Environmental Management,

the Sullivan County Visitors Association,

and Morgan Outdoors!     

with support from the Upper Delaware Council, Sullivan Renaissance, the New York New Jersey Trail Conference,

the National Park Service, Sullivan County Community College Hiking Class, and many volunteers.

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Be part of a Catskills Trail Crew!

Morgan Outdoors partners with Jeff Senterman and the NY/NJ Trail Conference

to clear and repair trails in our area.

If you'd like to know about future outings, let us know.

Help us keep these trails clear for year round fun!

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We loved Maple Weekend 2013!

Thanks to the Garigliano family for hosting our walk through the sugar bush

and tour of their sugaring operation.

Catskill Mountain Sugar House, an 800-acre farm above Grahamsville, NY

Organic certification by USDA & NOFA.

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Thanks Iditarod Musher Kim Darst and sled dog Cotton :-)

It was great to have you visit Livingston Manor!

, a     

Kim and Cotton (now 12d) pose with young enthusias.     Co-sponsors Peggy Johansen and Lisa Lyons with Kim (arms around Cotton).  

Kim Darst trained for 10 years to compete in the 2009 Iditarod.

 Cotton was part of her dog team! 

Autographed copies of the book, “Cotton's Tale.” available at Morgan Outdoors.

     

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  New Book Sees the Ice Age

All around Us

 

 Copies in STOCK!

 

THANKS Robert and Johanna Titus

for taking us on a tour of the Hudson River Valley

and environs with your program

at Morgan Outdoors!

 

The book takes you through the Catskills, the Shawangunks, the Taconics, along the banks of the Hudson River,

to Bash Bish Falls and Lake Taghkanic—demonstrating how the beauty we see every day rose phoenix-like

from devastation caused by the slow advance of a half-mile-thick bulldozer of ice and raging flood that followed.

The result is the landscape that inspired the Hudson River School painters and

America’s pioneer landscape architects—gifts of the Ice Age.

  

About the Authors

Robert Titus, PhD, is a paleontologist by training who has done considerable professional research on the fossils of upstate New York. He teaches in the Geology Department at Hartwick College. His previous books—The Catskills: A Geological Guide (3rd edition, 2004), The Catskills in the Ice Age (revised edition, 2003), The Other Side of Time: Essays by “The Catskill Geologist” (2007)—were published by Purple Mountain Press.

Johanna Titus, MS, has a degree in molecular biology. She teaches in the Allied Health and Biological Sciences Department at SUNY Dutchess. Robert and Johanna write regular columns for Kaatskill Life magazine, the Register Star newspaper chain and the Woodstock Times.

   

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Thanks LaVerne Black!

We loved hosting the exhibition MANESCAPES!

Your black and white photographs are stunningly beautiful.

 Many of LaVerne Black’s photographs can be seen on her websites:

www.LaVerneBlack.com and www.laverneblack.WordPress.com

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 Pix from  Trail Crew at Frick Pond

 

  

Ditch digging along trail to Frick Pond.          Revived crew after lunch break - ready to dig more ditches!

 

Morgan Outdoors and the NY-NJ Trail Conference hosted their first

Trail Crew day at Frick Pond (in Mongaup State Park) near

Livingston Manor, NY in 2011. Won't you join us next time?

These trails have just been adopted by the Trail Conference

so that volunteers - like YOU! - can sign up to maintain them throughout the year.

Contact Jeff Senterman (jsenterman@nynjtc.org) if you would like to know more

about adopting a trail. More details at http://www.nynjtc.org/ catskills

 

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Thanks Charlie!

for your Flat Fix Clinic at Morgan Outdoors

If you have a flat over the Summer, come to the

INFLATION STATION at Morgan Outdoors. It's stocked with

tire tubes and pumps, courtesy of Cinder Track Bicycles.

 

 

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Thanks Lance for leading the

 

              Waterfowl Walk

 in the Bashakill Wetland

If you have a chance, head to the Bashakill this Spring!

Early migrating birds included Great Blue Heron and Eastern Phoebe . . .all depending on weather!

LANCE VERDERAME is the Sullivan County Audubon field trip coordinator for the New York State

Young Birders Club, with a passion for birding and sharing his knowledge.

 

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Thanks Whitney Hill and CRISP

for a terrific workshop about the Emerald Ash Borer

 

This pretty beetle, the emerald ash borer, is responsible for the death of over 70 million ash trees nationwide.

(Image Source: David Cappaert, Michigan State University, Bugwood.org)

 

The Catskill Regional Invasive Species Partnership (CRISP)

did a wonderful presentation to help us prepare for the arrival of the emerald ash borer.

This invasive beetle that has the potential to infest and kill every ash tree in the state of New York. 

Emerald ash borer populations have been identified locally in Orange, Ulster, Greene and Albany counties, and

have the potential to spread very quickly. If you want to identify signs and symptoms of the emerald ash borer and discover options for treatment and management of their ash resources as well as statewide efforts to deal with this invasive forest pest,

Contact Whitney Hill (email: whill@catskillcenter.org or visit catskillinvasives.com.

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USGS topographic maps of the Catskills

A great gift for map lovers, new homeowners,

hikers, snowmobilers, hunters . . .!

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Thanks Diane!

Diane Galusha (left) and Maria Grimaldi (right) celebrating the cauliflower.

We loved your program

When Cauliflower Was King

by Diane Galusha (published by Purple Mountain Press)

Signed copies of Galusha's book are in stock..

A great gift for anyone with their heart in the Catskills!

Thanks Maria Grimaldi and Main Street Farm

We LOVED collaborating with you on this NY Locavore Challenge event.

the Pure Catskills logo - also painted as a mural

on the side of Main Street Farm, Livingston Manor NY.

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THANKS Mike Kudish

We loved your program

“Where Did the Tracks Go in the Catskills?”

We sold out of copies of your new book, just published by Purple Mountain Press,

with its amazing array of hand-drawn maps.

SIGNED COPIES are back IN STOCK!

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Thanks Jeff Senterman!

NYNJ Trail Conference's Catskill Regional Program Coordinator

We loved learning about the Trail Conference's work in the Catskills

and hiking with you to Hodge Pond on the Flynn Trail.

Since 1920, the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference has partnered with parks

to create, protect, and promote a network of more than 1,700 milesof public trails

in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan region.  The Trail Conference organizes

volunteer service projects that keep thesetrails open, safe, and enjoyable for the public.

It is a volunteer-driven nonprofit organization with a membership of 10,000.

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We were Proud Sponsors of

MazFest

in early August.

Pioneered by friends and local band MazMyth

www.mazmyth.com

Thanks for Stopping by our BOOTH! Rock On!

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Thanks Scott Graber

for your downtown bird walk on the closing day of

"Birds of Sullivan County - A Photographic Exhibition "

Many won't believe we saw or heard 20 species of birds

at high noon in downtown Livingston Manor on a warm Summer Day!

American Robin, Rock Dove, Mourning Dove, Song Sparrow, House Sparrow, Green Heron,

Cedar Waxwing, Common Grackle, Blue Jay, Canada Goose, Cardinal, Tree Swallow,

Chimney Swift, Catbird, Red-Winged Blackbird, Crow, Downy Woodpecker, Mallard,

Red-Throated Hummingbird, and a Belted Kingfisher!

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*Pix from the Children's Bird Walk* 
with Lance Verderame in  Livingston Manor's Renaissance Park!  

    

"Is that a Cedar Waxwing?"                                       " Yes, catching insects for lunch!"

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Thanks John Morgan!

for leading a hike to Hodge Pond & site of the former Beech Mountain Scout Camp.

Hikers enjoying a picnic lunch at the site of the Beech Mountain camp mess hall.

Eagle Scout John Morgan was a youth staff member at the camp in the early 1960"s.

Except for a few tumbled-down cabins, all that remain of the camp is the beautiful scenery.

The entire camp property is now part of the Willowemoc Wild Forest. 

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Thanks Photographers !

The Birds of Sullivan County - A Photographic Exhibition was a great success.

Here's a look at who flew in for the exhibition!!

Barred Owl - Photo by Barbara Ward-Blank

Northern Parula - Photo by Stephen Davis

Local nature photographer and birding enthusiast, Scott Graber, was the exhibition curator.

The show was an engaging look into the diversity of species and habitat that exist in the region.

with guided bird walks during the exhibition period.

Pick up a copy of Sullivan County Audubon’s list of bird species

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Feel the wind in your hair . . .get lost in the pines . . .

hear the birds sing . . .

!

Black and White Warbler - Photo by Stephen Davis

You'll feel renewed!