Poet's Ledge

This was a hike in the Catskills I had wanted to do for some time. Considering its close proximity, I don't know why I didn't hike this sooner. The view afforded wonderful views of the Kaaterskill Creek. I made the hike up from Route 23A, but I will not do it again from there. Next time I'll log the extra miles from the top of Platte Clove Road. The parking was aweful as there were a lot of people swimming on this hot and humid day and the walk in was littered with trash and glass. First half of the hike was anything but a walk in the wilderness.

A Taste of the Devil's Path

Considered one of America's toughest day hikes, the Devil's Path lives up to its reputation. At just over 24 miles it has approximately 18,000 feet of elevation change. Half of it is on descent, but in many cases, descending is far more difficult and time consuming than ascending.

This was a spur of the moment type of thing. I decided around 10am since it was such a beautiful day out that I should tackle part of the Devils's Path. Originally, I had planned on doing Sugarloaf and possibly Twin. But, I parked in the wrong lot and without checking out the mileage I decided to do Indianhead, Twin and Sugarloaf. Thinking this would only be 8 or 9 miles I headed out with nothing except my clothes and my cup of coffee.

Starting from the eastern terminus of the DP on Prediger Road, the DP makes a few stream crossings, which would be the only ones of the day. Due to the rain we have received this spring, the trail was quite muddy in spots. These first few miles were fairly quick and easy going, not at all like what lies ahead.

About 2 1/2 miles in the trail starts to ascend Indian Head, which at 3573 ft, is part of the Catskill 3500 Club summit list. Twin and Sugarloaf are also part of this list. For the most part, the climb up Indian Head is straight forward. It is not until you reach the first overlook that the trail starts to require the use of your hands. At this first overlook you can see the Hudson River north. Also, views into platte clove are visible. Part of platte clove road can be seen as can the Hutterian Brethren. Occasionally I have seen families hiking in this area with the women wearing dresses and the men wearing dress pants and shirts.

After this pretty overlook, we do some climbing that requires some use of your hands. It's quite a steep little section, but once your a top you are rewarded with some of the greatest views in the Catskills. The Hudson River and most of the Ashokan Resevoir are visible from here. The Fire Tower and Radio Tower on Overlook are clearly visible. And there are views of the Central Catskills where Slide is located. When looking in that direction, it appears the mountains are never ending.

After a quick rest and some fotos, The trail ascended to the summit with a couple more tricky spots. There wasn't too much mud at the top, but enough to be careful where to place your foot. The descent down Indian Head into Jimmy Dolan Notch was a fairly quick down climb. This would be the only quick descent, as the others would be steep and close to 1,000 feet.

I took a bit of a rest at Jimmy Dolan Notch. This is where I realized the hike I planned was almost 13 miles as opposed to the 8 or 9. The stubborn side of me won out, I just had to make it to Sugarloaf. The ascent up Twin did not take too long. This may be my favorite mountain in the Catskills. The climbs on both sides are rough and rocky with cliffs. It has two summits (hence the name) and both have excellent views. The walk from the south summit to the North is covered in a Balsam Fir forest with a wonderful smell. There are also flag trees (one-sided trees, common near timberline) that were noticeable on the South summit. The views from here are similar to those found on Indian Head. But from here, the next two summits on the DP, Sugarloaf and Plateau are visible, as is the fire tower on Hunter Mountain.

The greatest stretch of trail in the Catskills (in my opinion) is the descent down Twin into Pecoy Notch. Close to a 1,000 foot drop, there are many steep sections requiring the use of roots as handholds to descend. There is also a mini cave, which was great as it provided a cooling spot on this hot and humid day. While looking at it, I'm amazed at how it does not just tip over. It seems as though there is far too much weight hanging. And one of these days gravity will do its thing!

After finally making it down into Pecoy Notch, I looked at the map a bit discouraged as it showed a climb of about 1,000 feet. This is not just visible on the map, it was clearly visible from Sam's Point last week. The Devil's Path is rightly named and marked (it's in red of course!). The ascent was a bit of a struggle, especially after 20 minutes of climbing, I could see by looking at Twin, there was still quite a bit of climbing left. But, after passing a couple groups of people, I made it to the summit, where it afforded some great views of the Ashokan Resevoir, the Gunks and the Central Catskills. It looked so quiet in the valleys below.

After almost 3 1/2 hours of hiking I reached the turn around point. Basically, what i found out when I turned around, was that it was slower descending than it was ascending, which I had not planned on. Also, I will make sure I carry water next time. There was a rock on Twin that was dripping water that I was able to hang my head under and get a very minute amount of fluid in me.

This was a great learning experience as I have not hiked in this area in a few years. I now have a much better idea on what to expect when I try tackling all 24 plus miles of this beast of a hike.

The Legendary Ice Caves

My friends have raved about this place for years. For some odd reason this place has eluded me. No longer. The VPo man, a veteran of the region navigated the way expertly.

Starting at Berme Road, we took the Smiley Carriage Way to Shingle Gully. At Shingle Gully the hike became a bushwack, but there were plenty of herd paths. We more or less followed the gully until we reached a canyon. The climate change (not due to global warming) was impressive. There were areas where it had to have been around 20 degrees. At the bottom of the canyon there was snow and ice. It was quite amazing to see, considering it was fairly hot (high 70s) and humid out.

While inside this canyon, there was a huge black raven that was flying around and squaking. It did not seem he liked our company. The VPo man was able to pick up a few of its feathers. It was quite interesting walking inside this mini-canyon. The sides went up a little over a hundred feet on each side. The rocks were all covered with moss. Not a whole hell of a lot of vegetation down here. But, some vegetation is quite resilient. There were trees that would grow out of some these walls, a hundred feet above the bottom. It was truly a cool sight. We then headed out of this canyon up a steep dirt section. I'm glad it didn't rain a lot recently. This may have been a difficult section otherwise.

The views from the top of this canyon were amazing. It was just such a gorgeous day out. From here you could see big bad Slide and the central Catskills. Looking north you could see the deep cols of the Devil's Path. The DP is no Fn joke and from here you can clearly see why. The Vpo man spotted a honeysuckle in full bloom, but no nector. It did have a nice smell though.

We struggled a bit to find the next and larger canyon, but thanks to the GPS, we came upon it. Again, great views from here. A nice spot to have lunch and chill for a bit. A little rock scrambling got us down inside this. This one was narrower than the previous one. There were some interesting features here, too. There were these giant overhanging rocks from above. We then proceeded to what was starting to feel like a cave. Inside there were huge rocks above that seemed loose. When hiking a general rule is to not look down. Here it's do not look up.

After not finding the route out, we had to back track a bit a find another route. From above you can get a visual of how deep some of the slots go. It's insane. I wish my camera could have taken some good shots.

We then headed over to a popular cave. There was a ton of snow leading to the entrance. We climbed down a ladder and then turned our headlamps off. It was about as close to complete darkness as it gets. There was only a hint of sunlight above, which you had to look for. We then headed out and grabbed some snacks and followed mostly herd paths back to the parking lot.

I definately felt like I was in the Gunks, with its distinctive rock and plant features. But, the caves and canyons make it a truly unique experience. There is much risk. When working our way over to the second canyon, we were very cautious of where we stepped. what appears to be solid ground may not. The VPo man experienced the ground disappearing from underneath him and almost fell 200 feet to his death on a previous hike to this area. When in this area, make sure you proceed with caution.