Catskillers; Platte Clove Rd open??

Hi
I'd like to try to use Platte Clove Rd next weekend, has anybody been on it since it opened April 15??
Thanks,
Sabrina

Una, I know a couple of VfTTrs took an old Toyota tercel up it the weekend of the 3500 club dinner, which would be April 8th. It's open and passable!

Jay

Super!

Thanks, Jay!

That was a road?

It felt more like a dangerous amusement park ride. And getting off the ride having to see JayH was a big slap in the face.

una_dogger said:

Hi
I'd like to try to use Platte Clove Rd next weekend, has anybody been on it since it opened April 15??
Thanks,
Sabrina

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Wow did that bring back memories. I used to live in the Bruderhof community at the top of Platte Clove Road, or as we called it "Danger Road". One of my jobs was to drive our old folks to medical appointments down in Kingston, and "Danger Road" was the shortest way by an hour. When it opened in the spring there was often less road there than there was in the autumn. I would drive a 15 passenger van and nobody relished being on the passenger side when I would head down. Sometimes I would relent and take the long way around.

Someday I'm headed up there again for some hiking. I know a dozen interesting ways up Indian Head and High Peak as it seems I hiked one or the other every other weekend.

TheChez said:

When it opened in the spring there was often less road there than there was in the autumn. I.

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Glad I was able to facillitate that little walk down memory lane, fer ya!

The PC Rd has gotten a bit better in years, there was some work done on the guard rail at the mean turn, and a bit of repaving near the bottom, but its still a psycho ride.

You may also like to hear that a loop trail was completed on Dale Lane around Sugarloaf Mntn.



S

Hi TheChez, "Danger Road". I'll have to remember that. I think my name for it would be "Mark's favorite road". I estimate that I have driven it between 500 and 600 times -- about 20 times each year since mid 1974. I can reach all of the interior trailheads in the northern Catskills without seeing a traffic light by using that road. Not that I dislike traffic lights that much -- it is also the shortest route. I know what you mean about less highway each spring, although it has been close to a decade since the last major washout near the hairpin turn. I have also hiked down the road another three times, after hiking up the stream.

I imagine there are some interesting ways up Indian Head and High Peak from the Bruderhof property. I think I know a few of them from before the Bruderhof purchased the old NYC Police Camp. I once hiked out using the original Overlook Rd (not the current Long Path which ends up at the Platte Clove Preserve). I think that old road is now part of the Bruderhof property as I have often seen groups of Bruderhof hikers using it while I drive by. We may have met sometime as I have often encountered hikers from the Bruderhof on the Devil's Path and High Peak.

And thanks Sabrina for enabling this little discussion.

I've been on Platte Clove Road thrice in the past three weeks. The first time was on March 31. The road crews were clearing some slides from the road which had broken off right around the site of the eye (where did that eye come from anyway?). They very nicely moved their dump truck and let us by. The last times the road was in good shape, the lower half with relatively new pavement and the upper half... well. I have to say it's about the only paved road on which I need to downshift into first gear to keep from burning my brakes.

Do they ever really close the road or is it go at your own risk?

As with most seasonally maintained roads it is now drive at your own risk in winter. Back in the 1970s there used be a concrete Jersey barrier that would be placed across the road, but I have not seen that in many years.

There are usually a lot of rockslides and tree blowdowns during the winter. Last winter there was a tree that was down in the spring that somebody nicely chainsawwed enough of it so that one could pass by.

Believe it or not, I think in the 80's the Tour de Trump used to ride up platte clove road. That was a famous bike race they held in the catskills. I'd like to find out the exact route of it, sounds interesting. I think they after going up Platte Clove, went went on 23A to Scribner hollow to head towards Maplecrest,but I don't know the actual route... Time to google...

Jay

P.S. another Spongebob avatar, another improved image!

Mark Schaefer said:

As with most seasonally maintained roads it is now drive at your own risk in winter. Back in the 1970s there used be a concrete Jersey barrier that would be placed across the road, but I have not seen that in many years.

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I don't know about this past winter, but the winter before that, there was a large pile of dirt placed across the road. It was not a snow plow pile. The road was very deliberately closed.

TheChez said:

Wow did that bring back memories. I used to live in the Bruderhof community at the top of Platte Clove Road, or as we called it "Danger Road". One of my jobs was to drive our old folks to medical appointments down in Kingston, and "Danger Road" was the shortest way by an hour. When it opened in the spring there was often less road there than there was in the autumn. I would drive a 15 passenger van and nobody relished being on the passenger side when I would head down. Sometimes I would relent and take the long way around.

Someday I'm headed up there again for some hiking. I know a dozen interesting ways up Indian Head and High Peak as it seems I hiked one or the other every other weekend.

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TheChez, do you know if the Bruderhof members created the thrones, tables, etc., at Dibble's Quarry? Is there any special significance to them, or are they just fanciful creations? Last summer, I tried with several other men to level off one of the tables, but some of those stones are quite heavy!

Fun in the Clove

I recall an April 15th attempt up the Clove Rd, and having to make a very scary three point turn (more like 30 point!) at the hairpin because a person in a FIAT (!) was sliding backwards on ice down the hill into my 4wd.




Tom, I too have always wondered who built the "King's Chairs".

Tom Rankin said:

TheChez, do you know if the Bruderhof members created the thrones, tables, etc., at Dibble's Quarry? Is there any special significance to them, or are they just fanciful creations? Last summer, I tried with several other men to level off one of the tables, but some of those stones are quite heavy!

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I don't think so, though they may have added some to what was there. They had mined a lot of stone out of there in '94 to line the "swimming hole" at their Rifton community.

Tom Rankin said:

I don't know about this past winter, but the winter before that, there was a large pile of dirt placed across the road. It was not a snow plow pile. The road was very deliberately closed.

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I am actually quite glad to hear that. It is not a road you would want to travel in the winter. Even if the snow or blowdowns did not make the road impassable the ice would. Though with mild winters it is probably becoming easier to hedge on the posted dates.

Tom Rankin said:

TheChez, do you know if the Bruderhof members created the thrones, tables, etc., at Dibble's Quarry? Is there any special significance to them, or are they just fanciful creations? Last summer, I tried with several other men to level off one of the tables, but some of those stones are quite heavy!

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It was the Dibble Quarry gnomes, an ancient remnant of new world Druids..... Well, there are also some older constructions at the Palenville Overlook (probably built by the crew of the Halfmoon), and a few newer ones at Cod Fish Point off the Overlook Rd trail at the sharp bend northeast of Plattekill (perhaps by the ghost of Joseph Brant). Actually I have heard the constructions at Dibble Quarry were the work of local residents who visited the site for many years before the trail was rerouted past the quarry.

Jay H said:

Believe it or not, I think in the 80's the Tour de Trump used to ride up platte clove road. That was a famous bike race they held in the catskills. I'd like to find out the exact route of it, sounds interesting. I think they after going up Platte Clove, went on 23A to Scribner hollow to head towards Maplecrest, but I don't know the actual route... Time to google...

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(corrected in a later post) I have not had time to google. The bike race was originally the Tour Dupont, and when that sponsorship ran out the Donald stepped in. The course would vary each year. When run south to north the stage would go up the Devil's Kitchen (they would apply that name to the entire climb) and then up Scribner Hollow, before ending a stage near Albany. When run from north to south it would go up the Devil's Kitchen and down Stony Clove. Then 28, 28A, 213, and over Mt Rest Rd and ending the stage in New Paltz. For several weeks after the race you could still see the encouraging chalk expressions written on the road, like "Go LeMond'. Perhaps if the Tour De Trump was still run today, Donald would show up at the end of each stage and fire the slowest rider.

Mark Schaefer said:

... Actually I have heard the constructions at Dibble Quarry were the work of local residents who visited the site for many years before the trail was rerouted past the quarry.

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Mark, as of last summer, (and every other time I've been there), the marked trail went right thru the thrones.

Tom, Originally both the Mink Hollow trail and the Pecoy Notch trail had separate trailheads on the Mink Hollow Rd and Wase Rd respectively. That is as they were shown up through the 1996 NY/NJ maps. The Wase Rd trailhead had no parking and was on private land. To alleviate that problem both trails were rerouted to the common Roaring Kill trailhead. It also created the loop hike over Sugarloaf. I believe the new trails were scouted out in 1997 and marked by early 1998. They were first shown on the 1998 edition of the NY/NJ maps. That is when the Dibble Quarry first became know to the general hiking public. Prior to that the quarry was off trail but well known to locals. It was a popular spot for family cookouts and picnics - which is the primary reason for the constructions. The new Pecoy Notch trail has become one the more scenic trails in the Catskills. In addition to the quarry there are the beaver ponds and the waterfall downstream from the trail bridge a short distance east of the quarry.

Oh!!!! I had that backwards! Sorry! Doh!

The loop around Sugarloaf is one of my favorite Catskill hikes.

Bike races using the Platte Clove Road

Finally had time to google. FWIW, I had it the order of the bike races backward.

Tour de Trump sponsored by the Donald, 1989-1990. The stages that used the Platte Clove Rd (Devil's Kitchen) were 1989 stage 1 from Albany to New Paltz, and 1990 stage 12 from Catskill to Albany.

Tour DuPont sponsored by DuPont, 1991-1996. I could not find info on the stages. IIRC during most years the race was all in the mid-Atlantic and Appalachian states. But I seem to remember they were back for at least one use of the Platte Clove Rd, or perhaps there was yet another race that used it.