DSettahr
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Pictures Here
This is a continuation of the report of the weekend trip in the catskills where we hiked Kaaterskill High Peak and Huckleberry Point. I decided to start a new trip report for this portion as Halcott Mountain is significantly far away from Kaaterskill High Peak. This will make it easier for people looking for information on Halcott Mountain to find it.
After refueling both the car and our stomachs in Hunter, we continued east to the Halcott Mountain trailhead. We arrived to find it empty. There is an obvious herd path to the top of the waterfall, and an old campsite (with a DEC sign reminding users that it is illegal as it is within 150 feet of a water body) just to the south.
I decided to try a direct approach up the mountain rather than following the standard route up to the col. We crossed the stream above the waterfall, and headed for the second stream to the south, intending to cross it as well. When we arrived at the second stream, which took very little time, we found that the embankment was quite steep- not so steep as to be completely un-navigable, but enough to make us decide to head up the left (north) side of the stream instead.
The going along the north side was pretty easy, and it appeared that there was a faint herd path for much of the way. Most of the forest was mixed beech and hemlock, and quite open in the understory. I saw what I’m pretty sure was the biggest hemlock I’ve ever seen in my life, at least 5 feet across at the base. Along the way, we found a large pile of scat. I first though it might be bear, but it didn’t look like any bear scat I’ve ever seen. I then considered moose, but it also didn’t look like any moose droppings I’ve ever seen either (are there any moose in the Catskills?). The pile was huge, about a foot tall, and just as wide. There were large tracks nearby, but unfortunately, we couldn’t make out the specific shape of the foot.
About halfway up the mountain, we realized that the stream was angling to the north, so we decided to cross it and head straight up the mountain. The going from here on was pretty slow- the direct approach takes you up some fairly steep talus slopes. When you weren’t sliding back down 1 foot for every 2 feet you ascend, you were twisting your ankle on the loose cobbles, rocks, and fallen branches.
Eventually, we broke out of the talus slopes and reached the leveled off summit. We found a bump we thought might be the summit, and it had some flagging nearby, but not canister. A few hundred feet to the southwest we found the true summit. A bunch of people had signed in on the register the day before, but I’m pretty sure we made the lone ascent on Sunday. The temperatures were quite cold, definitely below freezing, and we saw some sleet and maybe a little bit of snow. There were patches here and there of windblown snow on the summit.
On the descent, we elected to track north along the slope, not staying on the ridgeline but angling downhill, in attempt to avoid most of the steep drops. We were fairly successful at this, and soon reached gentler slopes which we could drop straight down. Before long, we hit the faint herd path again on the north side of the southernmost of the two streams, and were following it back down. I made a mistake, however, in deciding to angle away from this herd path and head straight back to the car- in doing so, we ran into the blowdown mentioned in several previous reports. It’s pretty bad, with large trees tossed down like matchsticks in spots.
As we approached the parking area, we started to see more of the same kinds of piles of rocks we encountered earlier in the weekend along the Huckleberry Point trail- hundreds of piles, about knee to thigh height, some higher, all containing rocks that were 6 inches to 2 feet across, and serving no visible purpose. What were these piles for?
If I were to climb this mountain again, I would take the same approach, following the herd path along the southern stream, but not cross the stream like we did. I’d continue up to the ridgeline, and start to angle slightly left (south) as I approached it. In doing so, I think you’d avoid both the steep slopes and the blowdown.
This is a continuation of the report of the weekend trip in the catskills where we hiked Kaaterskill High Peak and Huckleberry Point. I decided to start a new trip report for this portion as Halcott Mountain is significantly far away from Kaaterskill High Peak. This will make it easier for people looking for information on Halcott Mountain to find it.
After refueling both the car and our stomachs in Hunter, we continued east to the Halcott Mountain trailhead. We arrived to find it empty. There is an obvious herd path to the top of the waterfall, and an old campsite (with a DEC sign reminding users that it is illegal as it is within 150 feet of a water body) just to the south.
I decided to try a direct approach up the mountain rather than following the standard route up to the col. We crossed the stream above the waterfall, and headed for the second stream to the south, intending to cross it as well. When we arrived at the second stream, which took very little time, we found that the embankment was quite steep- not so steep as to be completely un-navigable, but enough to make us decide to head up the left (north) side of the stream instead.
The going along the north side was pretty easy, and it appeared that there was a faint herd path for much of the way. Most of the forest was mixed beech and hemlock, and quite open in the understory. I saw what I’m pretty sure was the biggest hemlock I’ve ever seen in my life, at least 5 feet across at the base. Along the way, we found a large pile of scat. I first though it might be bear, but it didn’t look like any bear scat I’ve ever seen. I then considered moose, but it also didn’t look like any moose droppings I’ve ever seen either (are there any moose in the Catskills?). The pile was huge, about a foot tall, and just as wide. There were large tracks nearby, but unfortunately, we couldn’t make out the specific shape of the foot.
About halfway up the mountain, we realized that the stream was angling to the north, so we decided to cross it and head straight up the mountain. The going from here on was pretty slow- the direct approach takes you up some fairly steep talus slopes. When you weren’t sliding back down 1 foot for every 2 feet you ascend, you were twisting your ankle on the loose cobbles, rocks, and fallen branches.
Eventually, we broke out of the talus slopes and reached the leveled off summit. We found a bump we thought might be the summit, and it had some flagging nearby, but not canister. A few hundred feet to the southwest we found the true summit. A bunch of people had signed in on the register the day before, but I’m pretty sure we made the lone ascent on Sunday. The temperatures were quite cold, definitely below freezing, and we saw some sleet and maybe a little bit of snow. There were patches here and there of windblown snow on the summit.
On the descent, we elected to track north along the slope, not staying on the ridgeline but angling downhill, in attempt to avoid most of the steep drops. We were fairly successful at this, and soon reached gentler slopes which we could drop straight down. Before long, we hit the faint herd path again on the north side of the southernmost of the two streams, and were following it back down. I made a mistake, however, in deciding to angle away from this herd path and head straight back to the car- in doing so, we ran into the blowdown mentioned in several previous reports. It’s pretty bad, with large trees tossed down like matchsticks in spots.
As we approached the parking area, we started to see more of the same kinds of piles of rocks we encountered earlier in the weekend along the Huckleberry Point trail- hundreds of piles, about knee to thigh height, some higher, all containing rocks that were 6 inches to 2 feet across, and serving no visible purpose. What were these piles for?
If I were to climb this mountain again, I would take the same approach, following the herd path along the southern stream, but not cross the stream like we did. I’d continue up to the ridgeline, and start to angle slightly left (south) as I approached it. In doing so, I think you’d avoid both the steep slopes and the blowdown.
A moose once came down all the way from the ADKs and crossed Main St. in Fishkill, true story!)
