Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Laurie and I sat down last night and looked at the maps for a medium hike that would get us a Catskill Hundred Highest. We picked Stoppel Point. We drove up to North/South Lake State Park, (via Platt Clove Road) and parked just before the Park entrance on Scutt Road. This is the Eastern end of the Escarpment Trail. But we had decided to take the more direct route to Stoppel Point, so we walked across the County highway and headed into the woods just in front of the Park gate at about 8:30 AM.
It was in the upper 40's when we started hiking and the wind was blowing pretty well at times. It never was completely sunny when we were on the trail, but it stayed dry and gradually cleared up. We could see clouds covering the highest catskill peaks when we got views in the morning.
The trail was very wet. A small stream was flowing down the trail. This continued for quite some time. Eventually, when we neared North Point, it started to dry out pretty well.
There were leaves covering the trail in many spots. I originally thought this was due to caterpillers, but I only saw 1 caterpiller all day, and all the leaves that I looked at closely were not chewed on. So, we decided it must be wind damage.
North Point was the first of the spectacular views that we got. You can see all the way to whatever mountains are 'behind' Albany, (Vermont?) and all the way down to the gap that the Hudson flows thru between Mount Beacon and Storm King. There was also a great view of Blackhead brooding in the fog. Near here, there were wild azalea's in bloom, that smelled really good!
From just before North Point to the end of the day, we were on the Escarpment Trail. It's a very nice trail, well maintained, and usually fairly gentle. There are of course the usual slabs you have to climb up in the Catskills.
We reached Stoppel Point after about 2 hours. There was a woman and her son who were doing some backpacking, just getting ready to leave as we arrived. It was a little foggy here, but we could still see down into the Hudson Valley. We turned around here and decided to take the long way back.
This was a really great decision. We walked along the eastern edge of the Catskills, with steep dropoffs of at least 200' straight down in places like Sherman's lookout, and Artist's Rock. We passed little swamps, and several overhangs/small caves. (There is a cave marked on the map on a side trail, but we didn't go there).
We passed by the Lakes on the edge of the park and had lunch at a picnic table. It was starting to get sunny out but it was still windy. We continued on past the ruins of the Catskill Mountain House, and then followed the trail past Boulder Rock (a little redundant!
), and Split Rock, which was split!
Eventually we started bending into the Kaaterskill clove. The clove is spectacular, especially from Inspiration Point and Sunset point. You can hear the water roaring way down below, and look over to Kaaterskill High Peak and Roundtop. Eventually we came to Kaaterskill Falls. The water level was not really high, but the falls were still pretty impressive.
This was pretty much the end of the hiking. We went back to the car and headed off to really great ice cream cones at the little store just before 23A.
The total trip was about 13 miles, over 7 hours, with at least 2000' of elevation gain, and probably a lot more. It was a great day!
I took over 100 pictures, but I'll have to post some later.....
It was in the upper 40's when we started hiking and the wind was blowing pretty well at times. It never was completely sunny when we were on the trail, but it stayed dry and gradually cleared up. We could see clouds covering the highest catskill peaks when we got views in the morning.
The trail was very wet. A small stream was flowing down the trail. This continued for quite some time. Eventually, when we neared North Point, it started to dry out pretty well.
There were leaves covering the trail in many spots. I originally thought this was due to caterpillers, but I only saw 1 caterpiller all day, and all the leaves that I looked at closely were not chewed on. So, we decided it must be wind damage.
North Point was the first of the spectacular views that we got. You can see all the way to whatever mountains are 'behind' Albany, (Vermont?) and all the way down to the gap that the Hudson flows thru between Mount Beacon and Storm King. There was also a great view of Blackhead brooding in the fog. Near here, there were wild azalea's in bloom, that smelled really good!
From just before North Point to the end of the day, we were on the Escarpment Trail. It's a very nice trail, well maintained, and usually fairly gentle. There are of course the usual slabs you have to climb up in the Catskills.
We reached Stoppel Point after about 2 hours. There was a woman and her son who were doing some backpacking, just getting ready to leave as we arrived. It was a little foggy here, but we could still see down into the Hudson Valley. We turned around here and decided to take the long way back.
This was a really great decision. We walked along the eastern edge of the Catskills, with steep dropoffs of at least 200' straight down in places like Sherman's lookout, and Artist's Rock. We passed little swamps, and several overhangs/small caves. (There is a cave marked on the map on a side trail, but we didn't go there).
We passed by the Lakes on the edge of the park and had lunch at a picnic table. It was starting to get sunny out but it was still windy. We continued on past the ruins of the Catskill Mountain House, and then followed the trail past Boulder Rock (a little redundant!
), and Split Rock, which was split! Eventually we started bending into the Kaaterskill clove. The clove is spectacular, especially from Inspiration Point and Sunset point. You can hear the water roaring way down below, and look over to Kaaterskill High Peak and Roundtop. Eventually we came to Kaaterskill Falls. The water level was not really high, but the falls were still pretty impressive.
This was pretty much the end of the hiking. We went back to the car and headed off to really great ice cream cones at the little store just before 23A.
The total trip was about 13 miles, over 7 hours, with at least 2000' of elevation gain, and probably a lot more. It was a great day!
I took over 100 pictures, but I'll have to post some later.....
