Favorite Views of the Catskills......

[funkyfreddy]

Looks like the Catskill part of this site needs some help........ Does anyone here hike in the Catskills? If so what are some of your favorite views? Here are some of mine -
1. the view from Hurricane Ledge on Kaaterskilll HP
2. the view from Lone on the ledge near the summit
3. Wittenberg
4. 2 places on Overlook Mt.
5. Balsam Lake

Let's get this party started right! By the way, the AT doesn't go through the Catskills...........

[Mashmann]

Fred -

I thought it went over the Bear Mountain Bridge. Bear Mountain isn't in the Catskills?

Ed

(I guess I'll have to look at a map - I'm always looking north from Albany, not south.)

[Head]

Ive done some hiking there...My favorite view so far is from Giant Ledge on the way to Panther Peak. No views of civilization per se...

____________________

BirdHead Studios

[AlphaDog]

...

I was just in Pine Bush for work....had to drive right through the Catskills....some impressive scenery for sure.

[mink319]

Dont forget the view of the Devils Path from Blackdome. I bushwacked up there last spring and the views were spectacular.

[Night Dog]

There is a pretty good view off Sugarloaf looking towards the Burroughs range.It is located just off the trail before you descend to the Plateau Mtn. col.We hung out there a couple weeks ago enjoying the sights.

[strat]

Sugarloaf offers some nice views. On the pecoy notch trail, when you get to the 'ruins' you can get a very nicely framed view of Kaaterskill High Peak. The second view point on Twin Mountain is very good as well.

A very remarkable scene is one not often seen by peak baggers. It is on a less grandiose scale but very worthwhile.

To enjoy this view, take platte clove road until the parking area for Kaaterskill High Peak. Walk back up platte clove road until you hit the trail access for Platte Clove Preserve. Follow a path into a waterfall, walk down stream for 5 minutes until you get to the top of another waterfall. From the top of this waterfall, angle right and find a way to the bottom of the waterfall. At the base of this second waterfall you get a view down stream to the Hudson with the steep walls of Platte Clove on either side of you, then, to you left, you get a view up into a chasm which is currently referred to as The Hell Hole. This time of year, the chasm is full of very dramatic icicles and frozen water curtains. On a blue sky day, it is a very very remarkable view.

[Mark Schaefer]

I apologize for the length of this post. I will keep future posts more terse.

Catskill views can be a difficult subject. Compared to the cliffs, slides, and wide open views in the Adirondacks the Catskills suffer a bit. Many of the of the better views are southern exposures, or views into the Hudson Valley that tend to haze up on many days. On most summits you are treed in, but the Catskills still have some nice views.

My favorite:
Ashokan High Point's view of the Burroughs Range. I call AHP the Noonmark of the Catskills because of this view. There are also nice views on Little Ashokan High Point, a short bushwhack east of the main summit. That is especially nice when the red/pink laurel blooms in late June and when the blueberry bushes turn crimson in early October.

Of the 3500 peaks:

• the lower (southeast) summit of Twin
• rock overhang on the eastern brow of Indian Head Mountain. To me this is more of a "Devil's pulpit" than the rock of that name in the Stony Clove.
• Hurricane Ledge on Kaaterskill High Peak
• the two views at the west end of Plateau
• Buck Ridge lookouts on Westkill
• Bearpen at the top of the old ski trails
• fire towers on Hunter and Balsam Lake Mountains
• Hunter also has three nice views: near the John Robb lean-to, opposite the top of the Becker Hollow trail, and Geiger Point on the Devil's Path at the top of the long climb from the Diamond Notch trail.
• "Camp Steel" (not a legal campsite) a short distance south of the summit of Blackhead on the Escarpment Trail
• Windham High Peak's great northeastern view. There are also nice views on nearby Burnt Knob and Acra Point.
• Wittenberg, Cornell, and Slide

Some relative unknowns:

• Huntersfield (three nice views on the summit loop, one at the lean-to very near the summit (a summit you can camp on!)
• Red Hill fire tower (view rivals Overlook's tower view, and one of the shortest and easiest hikes in the Catskills)

Some lower views:

• Giant Ledge
• Belleayre's Ridge Trail at the top of several of the ski slopes
• Overlook fire tower and the unmarked cliff path
• North Point, Newmans Ledge, Sunset Rock, Artists Rock north of North Lake
• Inspiration Point and Sunset Rock, and the top of the upper and lower Kaaterskill Falls in the Kaaterskill Cove
• Palenville Overlook and the nearby Indian Head rock (aka Profile Rock, or Point of Rocks). Can be reached on the horse trails from Sleepy Hollow or from the Long Path. The most direct route is up an unmarked, but easily followed old road through the Forge Quarry. This old road is shown on a map on page 108 of Roland Van Zandt's book, "The Catskill Mountain House".
• Poet's Ledge on the Long Path south of Palenville
• Dibble's Quarry on the Pecoy Notch Trail
• Cod Fish Point (on the Overlook Trail on the east face of Plattekill)
• Huckleberry Point

A future view?:
I sure wish the DEC would reopen the overgrown view (rumors but no action) at Prospect Rock which was the famous 19th century view of the Kaaterskill Falls. It is an easy 0.3 mile hike from the Laurel House Rd parking lot, mostly on the old railroad bed. There are two railroad beds, you want the one closer to the clove. Initially you are in the woods then near the lip of the clove. After a small embankment forms on the left, hang a short bushwhack to the left. See the maps, paintings, and drawings in Roland Van Zandt's book "The Catskill Mountain House". Best viewed when the leaves are off the trees (otherwise not much of a view currently).