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A trip to NH with forum member Antlerpeak was postponed, so Joanne and I decided to add our third Catskill peak in 20 years! In spite of being so close to these mountains, we've always gravitated toward the Adirondacks, which we know much better than the Catskills. I really don't know why. They are both so beautiful in so many different ways. In any case, down we went. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day: sunny, temps in the 40's. We were apparently the only hikers there that day. At least no one else parked there or signed in at that trailhead. We had the entire mountain to ourselves! How often does that happen?
Two stone arch pillars (minus the arch) served as our gateway at the Becker Hollow trailhead. The trail was gentle, as it wandered through an old farm area, and crossed the stream on a well-built bridge. After a few stream crossings (all were flowing, but easy), the trail started to go up. And up. And up some more. Essentially the trail was one large set of switchbacks up to a ridge. The woods are incredibly open, not the claustrophobic constraint of so much of the Adirondacks (also beautiful, just different). No snow at all at these lower levels. Only an occasional downed limb or two. The fact that leaves were not yet on the trees afforded us rear views as we gained altitude. Almost no birds or wind, just a wonderfully eerie calm, with occasional creaking of trees, though we heard the wind above us - a portent of things to come!
As we climbed higher, we saw occasional patches of snow in the woods. Eventually this gave way to occasional patches of snow on the trail - slushy to hard-packed, easily skirted or walked on. Finally, several hundred feet from the summit, winter set in. The trail became all snow (c. 4-5") and we encountered the wind we had heard below. Certainly not much snow compared to what's left in some of the Adirondacks, but winter nevertheless. We followed faint tracks of past hikers, though on some of the sections the snow had blown over. We were armed with crampons (overkill) and Yak-traks (fairly useless), but we intentionally did not bring our snowshoes with us. In retrospect, that was a big mistake, but we were expecting conditions similar to Windham High Peak, which we had climbed a few weeks ago, which had no snow. Snowshoes would have been helpful, but barebooting was OK. We went slowly and we were fine.
At the junction we encountered two signs near a log. One was the "yellow" trail to the summit (which we followed), and the other was the blue trail to a lookout area, I think the location of the earlier fire tower. The two signs were confusing (the blue trail indicated .3 miles to Hunter Mt. (site of the former tower), and the yellow trail indicated .35 mi. to the tower, which I understand is the true summit. From the signs only, one could surmise that the ultimate summit was straight ahead, and that both areas are connected.
Moving toward the tower on the Yellow trail, the going was mercifully level (more or less), and after some confusing pink flagging (should be removed?), eventually the trail goes into a "tunnel" of firs and balsam, finally reaching the summit. The summit is a flat circle containing a ranger's cabin, a firetower, a privvy (a solid '7' on Joanne ADK rating scale!), and a horse thingy (that's a technical term, known and understood by only a few informed outdoor scholars). Signs indicated there were several ways to get to this mountaintop, one of which is by horse.
Absolutely no views at ground level, due to a ring of fir and balsam trees surrounding the summit. From the tower, INCREDIBLE 360-degree views were seen! However, the knock-you-down wind up there was so fierce that I could only stay for a few seconds, and didn't want to attempt loosing the camera, or my life, so Joanne's pictures at the second landing will have to suffice.
Descending was uneventful, save for a few fun butt-slides (planned and otherwise). A DEC website suggested that this trail was "arguably the most difficult hike in the Catskills - climbing nearly 2,000 feet in two miles." Our take was that it was more or less comparable to Cascade Mt. in the Adirondacks - one of the easier of the high peaks - minus the summit rock cone. Do seasoned Catskill hikers have that impression? It was a nice little workout, but not really a big deal compared to other challenges in the Adirondacks. Is that really the hardest of the trails that the Catskills has to offer?
So...we're Catskill 3'ers! We're certainly enchanted enough with the area to return to do other hikes. Whether we do them all remains to be seen. So many peaks (and other places), so little time!
Dick
Two stone arch pillars (minus the arch) served as our gateway at the Becker Hollow trailhead. The trail was gentle, as it wandered through an old farm area, and crossed the stream on a well-built bridge. After a few stream crossings (all were flowing, but easy), the trail started to go up. And up. And up some more. Essentially the trail was one large set of switchbacks up to a ridge. The woods are incredibly open, not the claustrophobic constraint of so much of the Adirondacks (also beautiful, just different). No snow at all at these lower levels. Only an occasional downed limb or two. The fact that leaves were not yet on the trees afforded us rear views as we gained altitude. Almost no birds or wind, just a wonderfully eerie calm, with occasional creaking of trees, though we heard the wind above us - a portent of things to come!
As we climbed higher, we saw occasional patches of snow in the woods. Eventually this gave way to occasional patches of snow on the trail - slushy to hard-packed, easily skirted or walked on. Finally, several hundred feet from the summit, winter set in. The trail became all snow (c. 4-5") and we encountered the wind we had heard below. Certainly not much snow compared to what's left in some of the Adirondacks, but winter nevertheless. We followed faint tracks of past hikers, though on some of the sections the snow had blown over. We were armed with crampons (overkill) and Yak-traks (fairly useless), but we intentionally did not bring our snowshoes with us. In retrospect, that was a big mistake, but we were expecting conditions similar to Windham High Peak, which we had climbed a few weeks ago, which had no snow. Snowshoes would have been helpful, but barebooting was OK. We went slowly and we were fine.
At the junction we encountered two signs near a log. One was the "yellow" trail to the summit (which we followed), and the other was the blue trail to a lookout area, I think the location of the earlier fire tower. The two signs were confusing (the blue trail indicated .3 miles to Hunter Mt. (site of the former tower), and the yellow trail indicated .35 mi. to the tower, which I understand is the true summit. From the signs only, one could surmise that the ultimate summit was straight ahead, and that both areas are connected.
Moving toward the tower on the Yellow trail, the going was mercifully level (more or less), and after some confusing pink flagging (should be removed?), eventually the trail goes into a "tunnel" of firs and balsam, finally reaching the summit. The summit is a flat circle containing a ranger's cabin, a firetower, a privvy (a solid '7' on Joanne ADK rating scale!), and a horse thingy (that's a technical term, known and understood by only a few informed outdoor scholars). Signs indicated there were several ways to get to this mountaintop, one of which is by horse.
Absolutely no views at ground level, due to a ring of fir and balsam trees surrounding the summit. From the tower, INCREDIBLE 360-degree views were seen! However, the knock-you-down wind up there was so fierce that I could only stay for a few seconds, and didn't want to attempt loosing the camera, or my life, so Joanne's pictures at the second landing will have to suffice.
Descending was uneventful, save for a few fun butt-slides (planned and otherwise). A DEC website suggested that this trail was "arguably the most difficult hike in the Catskills - climbing nearly 2,000 feet in two miles." Our take was that it was more or less comparable to Cascade Mt. in the Adirondacks - one of the easier of the high peaks - minus the summit rock cone. Do seasoned Catskill hikers have that impression? It was a nice little workout, but not really a big deal compared to other challenges in the Adirondacks. Is that really the hardest of the trails that the Catskills has to offer?
So...we're Catskill 3'ers! We're certainly enchanted enough with the area to return to do other hikes. Whether we do them all remains to be seen. So many peaks (and other places), so little time!
Dick
.
), even in the slums of Harlem I saw beauty... quit getting me all Zen'd up Zac! 
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