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

Catskills 3500: Eagle Mountain

Got a text from my friend, Alex, the other day with an invitation to go hiking up in the Catskills. She told there is a program called the 3500 Club. The 3500 Club is an organization that people can join where they can summit all of the peaks in the Catskill Park that are over 3,500 ft. For someone who loves to summit mountains and pose...this seemed like a great activity for me to get involved in. You can read more about this program here.

The 3500 Club: There are about 39 peaks in the Catskill Park that are over 3,500 feet. Many have actual trails that lead to them, however, there are a few that you have to bushwhack to summit. So, you have to start somewhere: so my first mountain was Eagle Mountain.

We parked at the Seager parking lot and trailhead. The conditions were super snowy up here. We needed to wear winter boots and microspikes to get up to the summit. The hike was about 8.2-miles round trip. This hike also included a water crossing...however, you'd think in the winter, you can cross on ice. Well, this brook was flowing and it was not at all covered in ice. So we had to hike a mile up the brook just to find some trees and some available ice to help us cross!

We ate lunch at the Shandaken lean-to. The lean-tos in the Catskill Park are pretty nice. They come equipped with a pot, knife, a shovel, and an axe! At least that is what this one had in it. The port-a-john definitely looked updated, however, the door was OFF when we arrived. So whoever used it, was completely exposed and had a great view out into the forest.

Shandaken Lean-To

Missing a Door to the Potty!

Narnia

As we ascended more up to Eagle Mountain, the snow got more clumpy on the trees! It looked like Narnia up there! After about a mile of tredging through snow, we got to a huge cairn that was the summit of Eagle Mountain. There was no view like most summits I have done, a lot of the forest has grown in and over. So the cairn was a great sign of us accomplishing our goal.

I had a great time hiking with Alex and her friend, Mel. It is always nice when you hike with friends - you catch up, talk about everything and anything, and support each other along the journey! Super excited to add more mountains to my 3500 list!

Eagle Mountain is in the Books!

Summit Pose!
Eagle Mountain: 3,600-feet
Catskill Park, New York 

Kaaterskill Falls - Pt. II

This morning Marc and I travelled back to Kaaterskill Falls. It is sooooo different from when we went back in April. Bastion Falls (the falls at the base of the trailhead and off the road) was completely dried up with no pool and the two tiers were barely trickling. Below are some pics from back in April to now. It's really amazing and very scary to see how much can change when we have not gotten a lot of rain and had very little snow from the winter to create enough snowmelt for the falls to feed and flourish. Very scary! I really hope that since this winter is not an El Nino year, we get a snowier winter and that we can get enough precip to get these falls flowing again.

TheChristyBel

Bastion Falls (April)

Bastion Falls (October)

Tier 1 & 2 of Kaaterskills Falls (April)

Tier 1 of Kaaterskill Falls (October)

Tier 2 of Kaaterskill Falls (October)

A Million Dollar View

This evening, we hosted a small volunteer appreciation picnic for our Phenology Project volunteers. It was super fun and a great time. The volunteers arrived to participate in an informal field session along the Table Rocks Trail at Spring Farm. When we were finished examining plants, we headed on over to the Pavillion for a small pot luck dinner. Everyone was awesome, there was so much food to shared around! Not to mention this group is just phenomenal - so supportive of each other, positive, and loving of one another. I could not have asked for a better volunteer group to work with. After the dinner, I stayed a smidge later to clean up and make sure the pavillion was put back in the same state as we found it. As I was driving back to the trailhead entrance, I had to stop at the Million Dollar View and just appreciate a spectacular sunset. This spot at Spring Farm is just phenomenal - it is this open area that viewscapes to the Catskills to the north of us. It's no surprise how this spot got its name. Enjoy!

TheChristyBel

No Wonder It Is Called the Million Dollar View!

Just Beautiful.

Kaaterskill Falls

A Castkill Attraction!

On a day off, we decided to trek about under two hours to the Catskills and check out Kaaterskill Falls. A few of my friends had posted pictures of these falls on Instagram and since we are so close to the Catskills, we should go check it out. We traveled north and got there relatively early (plus it was early spring, so the summer tourists' season was not quite upon us. Getting there is kinda tricky as you have to park on this pull off on the road going up the mountain, they hike along the windy mountain highway to the trailhead. The website stated that the trail was a STRENUOUS quick hike to the falls. Knowing Marc and I who have hiked STRENUOUS trails everywhere, we anticipated a hard hike. But to our hiking level, this hike was NOTHING TO US. We got there, unphased by the hike, and the sight was a beautiful site.

Side Profile of Bastion Falls

Bastion Falls

Kaaterskill Falls is the tallest two-tiered waterfall in New York. The strenuous, but not so strenuous trail for us was about 2.0 miles. There is a set of waterfalls that you see when you first get to the trailhead. Do not be fooled, this is NOT Kaaterskill Falls, this is Bastion Falls. Very great primary falls to see on this hike!

As you continue on the terrain, you hike up and down uneven rooted trails, a series of wooden stairs, and more rooted trails until you get to the double-decker falls!

The Kaaterskill Falls are 260-feet of water falling action. You can check out the lower falls and pool from the large boulders. There is a non-official social trail that can get you from the bottom tier to the second tier. However, it is eroded and really dangerous. So we just admired from the bottom.

Some old hash tags! Haha

After taking lots of photos and snacking on the large boulders at the base, we discovered you could travel up more up the mountain and park at this parking lot at the end of a backroad to get to a viewing platform of the upper falls. So we got into the car and decided to check it out too! It was really cool. The trail to the platform was definitely new and renovated and it was super cool to check out. There was also a trail that traveled to the mouth of the upper falls. This was really neat because there were many stone engavings of people from as early as the 1920s and 30s!

It was a pretty cool day trip up in the Catskills! I definitely recommend going to check out. I also heard that you can swim/wade in the pools, but I hear it is definitely a tourist attraction and gets pretty crowded come summer.

TheChristyBel

From the viewing platform!

Upper Falls

Kaaterskill Falls
1,946 ft above sea level