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.