Catskills 3500: Devil's Path (Classic Route)

Today, Marc, Alex, and I hiked up four Catskill Peaks (Indian Head, Twin, Sugarloaf (Mink), and Plateau). When hikers attempt to summit all four in a hike, they travel along the trail called Devil's Path. Devil's Path extends beyond these four mountains to three additional mountains and 23-miles. For today's hike, we only did the "Classic Route" of about 12.4-miles. I can see why they call this "Devil's Path." It is supposedly the most difficult hiking trail in the East - there is little water, difficult scrambles, and sheer cliffs. And if done in the winter, there is ice, steep ascents and descents, and lots of scary moments.

Our ascent going up Indian Head (looking back)

Lots of Climbing Up & Down Things

So many up and down-hill climbs

Alex Crushin' It!

This hike really challenged me...hard, and pretty much hurt me to almost breaking me. Actually, it did break me. There was a lot of pain - physically and emotionally with this one. I had taped my knees, used trekking poles, and took pain killers. But these four peaks still broke me.

We started at the Steenburgh Road parking lot trailhead. After hiking and ascending 2.2 miles, we summitted Indian Head (3,573 ft). When we were ascending up to Indian Head, there was this one part where the trail literally went straight up, like 90 degrees. I wish I brought some mountaineering crampons instead of just my microspikes. Even a harness with some rope should have been brought. It was scary trying to climb my way up smooth, slippery ice. But we made it and my knees were just getting tired, but not in pain (yikes, and this was the first peak). 

After summitting, you descend down into Jimmy Nolan Notch, but only for a short moment, as you begin to ascend again up to Twin Peak (3,640-ft). There were a lot more intense ups and downs getting on and off this mountain. Before getting down, we run into our car switch team (my colleague, David, and his brother). When you hike this trail, it is best to involve two cars, so you do not have to hike back to your car to get home. We switched keys, told each other which car it was, and where we would meet up when we all finished to switch our cars back. 

You then descend into Pecoy Notch and then here comes Sugarloaf Mountain. I think we had lunch before or slightly after this mountain. Sugarloaf is about 3,800-ft. The decline from this mountain really started to trigger some pain in my left knee. I was not quite sure how I was going to finish this last mountain. We descended into Mink Hollow and then began our last ascent. The last ascent was the steepest ascent of them all. That is when Devil's Path broke me. I was trying to climb over a huge boulder thing and my knees just about had it. I literally cried from so much pain. I felt such defeat and embarrassment for my weakness. After a little bit of rest, I conjured the rest of the strength I had and got to the top of Plateau Mountain (3,840-ft). The other part about Plateau that also pushed my patience, its length. Hence its name, Plateau's top is long. When we finally got to the descent, our daylight was dwindling (we were already pushing 9+ hours of hiking) and had maybe 1-2 more hours of hiking to go. The descent was painful for my knees and I think the last mile I was pretty much sledding down the trail on my behind. But around 6 and 7pm, we finally made it to the other car (after starting around 8am). 

This was a hard hike for me and I definitely pushed myself to it. I am proud that I did the most challenging hike in the East and to do it in the winter. I am definitely not discouraged of continuing my trek to accomplish all the Catskill peaks. I think that I may not try and do four-peaks in a row again.

TheChristyBel