Catskill beta

I'm looking to do a dayhike in the Catskills this weekend, but I've never been there before. I usually go to the High Peaks, but I'm living much closer to the Catskills at the moment. What are some good dayhikes that'll give me a taste of the region? I've heard Kaaterskill Falls is nice, but it probably will be too short of a hike. Thanks for any input.
Peace

I've done a few my favorites:

Hunter From Lanesville
Wittenberg - Cornell - Slide
Black Dome & Blackhead
Devil's Path East of Hunter (Sugarloaf & Twin or Indian Head)

Top three are ones I've done, the last are the ones I want to do next

Wittenberg - Cornell - Slide is one of my favorites. You'll get some of the best views and some chalenging trails.

But we have no idea what your level of skill is. this your first time, are you up to an 8 miler, rugged hike or are you just doing a stroll in the woods? DO you have maps of the area? Trail guide? taking kids or are you alone?

I agree with all of the above suggestions. Some others are:
The Kaaterskill Falls hike makes a nice stop after a hike of Hunter or on the Devil's Path (Indian Head, Twin, Sugarloaf, or Plateau)

A couple of online references for Catskill Hikes:

• Catskill Guide Click on one of the 7 sections. There are line maps and trail descriptions of almost all of the marked Catskill trails.
• Local Hikes (Albany area) See the section "Hikes outside the metro area...", many of these are in the Catskills. There are topo maps, profiles, pictures of each hike (buttons on the left on the individual hike pages).

The best Catskill Trail maps (with trail descriptions on the back of each tyvek map) are published by the New York / New Jersey Trail Conference. The AMC Catskill Mountain Guide is the most up-to-date guide and also includes a paper trail map. You should be able to find them in many book or outdoor supply stores.

Get the NYNJ Trail Conference maps to begin with.

Then I would say try for two hikes in a day especially if you're an early riser:

From Palenville take the Long Path going south bound (where it crosses Malden Ave. parking will be on RT 23A, a dirt parking lot just past a large white house just after the Catskill park sign you'll have to road walk to the trail head on Malden) up to katerskill high Peak. The poets ledge detour is well worth it. The LP will pass the top of three waterfalls before climbing again to Katterskill High Peak. If you descend the south side of the katerskill HP a bit you'll come to a nice look out. The trail is easy and if you have the time after KHP you can hit katerskill Falls from 23A.

The most difficult part of the route I suggest will be finding the parking spot and the short cut over Katerskill creek (there's a large yellow old building on the south side of 23a just past the cool stone church, an old road feeds out the west side of the lot to a foot bridge that crosses katerskill creek cutting some of the road walking). The walk will give some excellent views and give you a good sense of Katerskill Clove from several directions.

If you do both, you should stop in Tannersville after for a much deserved meal and beer(s) at the The Last Chance.

Sugarloaf & Twin or Indian Head are also well worth it but are rugged trails.

Cool, thanks for the info guys. I have some friends coming to visit me at college and we're looking for something to do. We're all very skilled, but what we decide to do depends on how lazy we're feeling. (how much we drank the night before)

If you want about 5 miler in the vicinity of Kaaterskill falls, try North Point from the North-South Lake campground. I use this as my introduction hike for newbies because of the views, ease of the hike, and history of the area.

If the campground is open, you can do a loop from Artist Rock to Newmans Ledge, to Badman Cave to North point, then return to the campground via Mary's Glenn trail. About 5 miles and 800 ft of elevation. If you start early, go on from North Point to Stoppel Point to the airplane crash site.

After leaving the campground, turn left down Laurel house road to go to the top of Kaaterskill or park off 23a (large parking area there) and hike in the mile from Bastion Falls to get to the bottom.

Enjoy,
Jim