Derek Dellinger - 50 Hikes in the Catskills

OTHER BOOKS IN THE 50 HIKES SERIES

50 Hikes Around Anchorage

50 Hikes in Washington

50 Hikes in Oregon

50 Hikes in the Sierra Nevada

50 Hikes in Northern New Mexico

50 Hikes in Utah

50 Hikes in Orange County

50 Hikes in the Ozarks

50 Hikes in Michigan

50 Hikes in Michigans Upper Peninsula

50 Hikes on Michigan & Wisconsins North Country Trail

50 Hikes in Ohio

50 Hikes in West Virginia

50 Hikes in the North Georgia Mountains

50 Hikes in South Carolina

50 Hikes in Northern Virginia

50 Hikes in Eastern Pennsylvania

50 Hikes in New Jersey

50 Hikes in the Lower Hudson Valley

50 Hikes in the Berkshire Hills

50 Hikes in the White Mountains

50 Hikes in Vermont

50 Hikes in Coastal & Inland Maine

This book is dedicated to everyone who works to maintain and protect our nations great wild lands. D. D.

To Kimberly, Jon, and Matt, who taught me that not all geese fly south for the winter. M. C.

Map data provided by The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

An Invitation To The Reader

Over time, trails can be rerouted and signs and landmarks can be altered. If you find that changes have occurred on the routes described in this book, please let us know, so that corrections may be made in future editions. The author and publisher also welcome other comments and suggestions. Address all correspondence to:

50 Hikes Editor

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Contents

W hen I was a sophomore in high school, my father and I were turned on to hiking by a family friend who took us on a short autumn day hike near the Adirondacks. In the splendor of the fall foliage, with the Adirondack high peaks in the distance and endless forest enveloping us, its no wonder we got hooked: The mountain ranges of New York State offer an altogether different sort of beauty than the western Finger Lakes region, where we lived. Both my dad and I were in pretty good shapeI played soccer and ran track, while my father coached soccer at my high school and played in a couple of local rec leagues. We found the effort of the hike exhilarating, rather than challenging. In retrospect, perhaps, that easy day trip with our friend might have inspired a somewhat overconfident assessment of what a manageable day hike actually looked like. Well, wed learn soon enough.

Both my father and I were eager to attempt a more serious hike, and soon. Finding the outdoor activities around our home in Syracuse to be walks more than hikes, we had a craving to tackle peakseven if we didnt quite yet understand what that might entail. From Syracuse, most of the Adirondack region was a four-hour drive away, at least. A drive to the Catskills shaved an hour off that, and given the limited daylight that time of year, the choice was easy. One cold, snowy December weekend, we set out early in the morning and made the drive into the heart of the Catskill Park. Our plan was to hike Giant Ledge, Panther Mountain, and Slide Mountainall in one day.

We arrived at the trailhead midmorning and made our way up the icy trail to Giant Ledge and Panther, the enchanting winter forest scenery capturing our thoughts and steering our conversations. I dont remember too much about the trail itself other than that there was an awful lot more snow on the ground the higher we climbed. Syracuse is of course no slouch when it comes to winter snow accumulation, but Id never had to fight my way through it like this before. The other details of the hikethe cold, the wind, the difficulty of the trailall vanished in the intervals between the colorful little trail markers that we followed up the shoulder of the mountain. Eventually we reached Giant Ledge, where we received our first peek at the Catskill landscape, an image that left a profound impression on my adolescent mind. I recall a surge of excitement and awe looking out from that vista, and more than a little trepidation as I realized that we were actually going to attempt to climb Slide, the behemoth jumble of rocky forest commanding our line of sight.

After summiting Panther and returning to the car, we drove up the road to the Slide Mountain parking area and made ready to start the second leg of our hike. At this point it was early afternoon, and most other hikers would soon be heading downhill to return home and warm up. Just before leaving the parking area, distracted by a busy mind already wandering up the trail, I stupidly locked our keys in the car. We had a bulky prepaid cell phonehigh technology for the timeso we might have even counted ourselves lucky there except we were deep in the mountains. There was not a trace of service, of course, so we didnt have much of a choice but to wait for someone to visit the parking area and bail us out. Thankfully, a small group of hikers left the trail shortly after my blunder and offered to drive into town and call a garage for us while we stayed behind at the trailhead. We waited in the cold for over an hour before a tow truck arrived and unlocked our vehicle.

By then it was nearly four oclock, and the frigid December darkness was already starting to set in. We probably should have taken the incident as a warning, packed up the car, and headed home, content to have enjoyed our previous jaunt through the wilderness. But as my dad and I sat in our idling car, chatting and shivering, waiting for our fingers and toes to warm, it became clear that neither of us was willing to hit the road until we had made it as far up Slide as we could before darkness, wind, cold, hunger, bears, or whatever else might be out there forced us to turn around. Apparently something had affected us on Giant Ledge and Panther, and we were enthralled by these mountains. Or possibly slightly delirious with hypothermia.