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.