Catskill loops with bicycle returns

I live near the Catskills and have hiked the 35 peaks many times over (as a recovering peakbagger I no longer keep track). To keep things fresh, I look to combine mountains and trails by spotting a bicycle somewhere, hiking to it and biking back to the car.

I've done this a few times on the Devil's Path with a bike spot on 214, the Wittenberg-Cornell-Slide loop with a spot on Slide Mountain Rd, and in the Blackhead range. Anyone have favorite Catskill hike-bike loop suggestions? Ideal routes would involve 2500+ vertical gain and no more than 25 miles of biking. - Al

Alder Lake to Balsam Lake Mountain via Mill Brook Ridge, you even have time to do Graham if you don't mind a possible dark ride back. However, beaverkill road is pretty quiet...

What may be pretty cool but past your 2.5 mile would be to do the KHP traverse and bike from the LP parking lot back to palenville by going down Platte Cove road and up Mountain.. Or perhaps a south to north and then going up Platte Clove road... bwahahahaha... Anybody?


Jay

This is pretty basic, but my favorite bike spot loop was :

Spot bike at Roaring Kill TH, drive to Prediger. Indian Head -Twin -Sugarloaf. Bike to car.

Bike part is only about 3.5 miles.

I think a KILLER hill ride would combine Peekamoose and Table. Spot bike at Denning. Hike Peekamoose/Table to Denning. Return over Red Hill Rd to Cty Rd 42.



(the challenge has been set )

Other than one ride from home to the Ashokan Reservoir, I have yet to ride in the Catskills, so I can't speak from experience. As an idea though, how about the Panther traverse? Drive to the hairpin turn parking lot and ride downhill back to Big Indian and then to the Fox Hollow trailhead.

Jay, I don't think I'm ready yet to mention Platte Clove Rd. and bikes in the same sentence. Una Dogger's suggestion would also be a tough one. The ride might be tougher than the hike.

One that would involve a not too bad ride, but a really big hike would be to ride from Meads to the southern Mink Hollow trailhead, hike in, over Sugarloaf, Twin and Indian Head, back past Plattekill and Echo Lake and over Overlook back out to Meads.

Man, writing about this stuff is easy!

Matt

Another nice loop would be Peck Road to Big Hollow, do Windham HP and Burnt Knob, and then back down to Big Hollow Road, and ride back to Peck Rd... (Peck rd has a minor hill, so if you are hill-averse, do this the other way).

Also, Diamond Notch road to Notch Inn road is another nice loop, you can do Hunter and/or Leavitt Peak this way. Hill Averse folks may want to ride from Notch Lake to Diamond Notch road as there is a hillclimb on 214 as you go to Notch lake.


Another good loop is Prediger to Roaring Kill and you can do Indian Head and Twin without a single trail reuse.... Or how about Plateau via Notch Lake and the north side of Mink Hollow Road..

The possibilities are endless!!!

Jay

I'm not familiar with any bike routes in the Catskills but I'm wondering if anyone here has ever rode through Deep Notch on 42. On my way back from the Cats on Tuesday, I drove through Deep Notch and I had my car in neutral, cruising all the way down to Route 28 at a steady 45 MPH. The whole time I thought how cool it would be to ride down it.

Nope, have never ridden through Deep Notch before but you could probably glide down off a lot of the notchs in the catskills.

Jay

Lots of good suggestions here. On Sunday, I hiked Plateau and Sugarloaf from Notch Inn Rd. (the new LP trail has some spectacular views) with a bike spot at Roaring Kill. The climb up 214 to Stony Clove wasn't too bad; the grade is fairly moderate. Rt. 42 to Deep Notch is longer but the grade is probably about the same.

I especially like una dogger's Peekamoose - Table - Denning suggestion and might try it this weekend. - Al

MattC said:

One that would involve a not too bad ride, but a really big hike would be to ride from Meads to the southern Mink Hollow trailhead, hike in, over Sugarloaf, Twin and Indian Head, back past Plattekill and Echo Lake and over Overlook back out to Meads.

Matt

Click to expand...

Did this one today. The ride is great! All down hill from Meads to 212. One hill on 212 and then a fairly flat ride to the Mink Hollow trailhead. Just under 7 road miles. Thanks for the idea, Matt.