Catskills Warning

Saturday, 4 January, 2014, We were going to hike up North Dome and Sherril. The starting point is off Rt 42 at a side road called Shaft Road. There is a NY-DEC parking lot there. The lot was unplowed, Shaft Road was plowed and wide enough for cars to parallel park. Adjacent to the road into the DEC lot is a house and driveway and posted "No trespassing". Okay. We were parking the cars when I see the property owner coming from the house towards us. He starts off telling us we are trepassing and to get out. He was walking towards the trip leader with this aggressive attitude. I saw this and thought this guy might start swinging at the TL. After a minute of abuse he walks into his house and watches us from the window. We did manage to get the cars into the DEC lot. He mooned us and we all laughed. A few minutes later a NY state snow plow pulls onto Shaft Road. I speak to the driver, telling what just happened. Also Shaft Road is a town road. So...with that information we took photos of the cars before we left. I wouldn't put it pass this guy to vandalize cars.
When the locals don't like another local you know it's pretty bad.
LavaFalls

Thanks for the posting.

Did anyone have a shovel? Standard equipment in the Catskills in Winter. I realize it would have been a lot of work getting all the way up to the parking lot.

Shaft Road may be a town road, but can you park on it such that the plow can get thru?

We met this man 2 winters ago. He was concerned about the plow and his driveway being blocked and pointed out that we should be parking in the unplowed parking area above the road and we should call the DEC to complain that it isn't plowed. He started out a little aggressive and intimidating, but we just tried to be nice and listened to his concerns,offered to move our vehicle, made a little small talk and he was fine.

This is an interesting post ... for sure ... just happened to spot it. SonnyM and I are planning to do North Dome and Sherill but I've been looking at an approach from CR6 (Sruceton Road), which was my choice years ago as well. Most private land owners are friendly with hikers, but there's always a few like you describe.

As of this morning, Shaft Road parking lot was not plowed out, and I read a report that you are NOT to park on the road itself. Even if Shaft Road does get plowed out soon, I would suspect those 2 peaks are getting less traffic from that direction.

The end of the Devil's Path was plowed last time I drove by. So Cty. Rt. 6 might be a good plan.