Catskill Camping Suggestions...

Hi all, Quick question, anyone have any thoughts on some primitive camping options this weekend in the Catskills? I am debating about hiking in the Oliverea/Big Indian area... I am sure the Slide/Wittenberg/Cornell/Giant's Ledge area will be mobbed as the Woodland Valley campground is full up and it is a holiday weekend.

I plan to head out from Poughkeepsie Friday night afterwork, could do a little night hiking, it is going to be a full moon this weekend too! Any options are open... Worse comes to worse, I will just hike in a bit and find a place to thrown down my bivy...

Thanks for any ideas!
Kevin

The marked campsites between Cornell and Slide are beautiful, some virgin forests up there. There is also a small tentsite near the intersection to the trail to Giant Ledge/Panther just about 100ft towards Woodland Valley.

Van Wyck would be a nice off-the-beaten path hike/camp Bushwack to a beautiful overlooking the Peekamoose valley and Table/Peekamoose itself. Very nice area. Fern covered but one can probably fit a small tent at the viewpoint itself. Hammock friendly and bivy friendly..

What might be cool to is to camp by Huckleberry Point off the long path/KHP access point from Platte Clove road. A night hike there would not be difficult and there are spots near the viewpoint there one can bivy. Has a good view of the hudson valley...

Jay

You could try the parking area for the herd path up Halcott (It's shown on the TC map). There is a pulloff just past a small waterfall on Rt 42, just before the height of land. If you walk in along side the stream, there is a nice camping area about 150 meters in.
You could also head up Diamond Notch Road off of Rt 214, the last 1/4 mile is a little rough without a high clearance vehicle, but this means it is little used. There are nice spots all up in there.

You could even do the PineHill-West branch to Big Indian and bushwhack to Double top. You can stay at the shelter there too. That is always a nice area and quite.

Jay has a good idea. There's some beautiful spots to camp on the left side of the trail maybe an 8th of a mile before the Huckleberry Point ledges. It has some type of short scrub pines, soft needles for bedding, and fire pits. I've often thought of doing this and getting out early on the ledges for a sunrise...Gotta do it myself.

ROCKYSUMMIT said:

Jay has a good idea. There's some beautiful spots to camp on the left side of the trail maybe an 8th of a mile before the Huckleberry Point ledges. It has some type of short scrub pines, soft needles for bedding, and fire pits. I've often thought of doing this and getting out early on the ledges for a sunrise...Gotta do it myself.

Click to expand...

JayH, Guinness and I tried to catch sunrise from here last year...it was a great thought that didn't work out so well. The view is a little too south-looking...

Oh BUMMER!

Terri, what time of year was that? The sun as it is now going towards winter should be further south in latitude, no? I remember when we got there the sun was mostly in the trees to our far left, but perhaps with the sun a bit south... in Winter, it might be a good spot... Built in chairs there if they are still setup, haven't been there in a while..

Jay