Catskills Winter Camping Suggestions...

[Desalad]

Hi All,

I'm looking for some winter camping trip advice. Last year 5 of us slept two nights at the Diamond Notch Lean-to on MLK weeekend, climbing West Kill Mtn on the first day, Hunter Mtn on the second day, and hiking out on the third day.

Our ideal trip will have a short hike/shoe to a lean to where we can set up camp, and then have two day hikes from camp. We were thinking about starting at the Woodland Valley trailhead hiking to and setting up at Terrace Mtn Lean-to. Then south and west on the Wittenburg Cornel Slide Trail to the Slide summit across Wittenburg and Cornell Mtns, and then back to the Terrace Mtn Lean-to.

Has anyone here done this trip in the winter, and is it realistic to go from the terrace mtn lean-to to the summit of Slide Mtn, and back to the terrace mtn lean-to in less than a short winter day?

Any suggestions on good three day winter camping treks through the catskills with lean-to's in close proximity to the trailheads?

Thanks in advance.

Happy Holidays

Scott

 

[Jay H]

Terrace Mtn leanto to Slide would require you go over wittenberg and cornell. Plus, the steep climb to Witt is right after the leanto. Might be kind of a long day.

Another leanto you might consider though is the Batavia Kill leanto by the Escarpment trail. It's really close to the road (Big Hollow Rd) and you can do day trips to Blackhead or Black Dome and Thomas Cole or to Acra Point and Burnt Knob. The leanto at Batavia Kill is kind of old and weathered.. but it has a huge firepit if I remember.

One thing about the catskills, lots of leantos that are close to the road, shouldn't have a problem finding one with many daytrips possible.

Oh, do you enjoy winter bushwacking? Another option would be to hike from Denning to the leanto on Table and then you can do a bunch of bushwacks as well as Peekamoose. You could bushwack to Lone or go to Van Wyck.

Jay

 

[Warren]

The walk is doable depending upon your groups speed and if the trai is broken out the whole way through, though I doubt the terrace mnt lean to trail will be broken out. I maintain that lean to and it is very underused, it is not often visited, even by me, embarrassingly so.

The walk up from Woodland Valley to Terrace is much longer than you think taking me more than two hours (I think) partly in the dark. That said, I think terrace would be a nice winter spot.

Mink hollow lean to (tween Platue and Sugarloaf), Pigeon Brook lean-to (doubletop- indian and Fir), Balsam Lake Mnt (note major uphill) all offer possibilities of the sort you're looking for. I'm sure there are others that aren't coming to mind right now.

 

[Halite]

Sounds like a fun trip, but much more ambitious than your Diamond Notch, Westkill, Hunter trip last year for two reasons:

1. Greater elevation gain to your base camp.

2. Much more technical hiking going over Wittenburg, Cornell and Slide.

The trail over Wittenburg and Cornell includes some of the toughest scrambling and "technical" hiking in the Catskills, requiring hands as well as feet. It's not exposed rock climbing, but it sure isn't simple hiking either. I did the trip from Woodland Valley to the summit of Cornell with a group as a day hike last year. There wasn't much snow, but enough ice to make crampons essential above 3,000 feet. Even with crampons, some of our group took a few nasty tumbles.

This is not to talk you out of your trip plan. This is one of the prettiest hikes in the Catskills in any season. Just plan on slow going and make sure your group is up for the challenge.

 

[charlos]

i would like to recommend the devils kitchen leanto, nice shelter & water source.
you could do some devils path one day and overlook/ruins/ monastary the other.

 

[JimB]

I was just up there on Friday, did Wittenberg and Cornell from WV, patchy ice right now. All good advice here. It's 2.6 to the Terrace trail then almost a mile over to the leanto from there. It's some pretty steady climbing especially at the start. If you got a real early start the next day it would probably be doable because you could take your time. Halite's description is right, just before Cornell's summit is a very steep scramble like a chimney that I had to friction climb. I thought it would be very interesting in the winter. . If your group was in pretty good shape and had good gear and skills it could be a great time. Let us know when you do it so we can follow your broken trail . I think a nice trip would be to backpack into Mink Hollow leanto and do day trips each way on the Devil's Path. The peaks there are pretty tough but real close to the leanto as the climbing starts immediately both ways and the leanto is a lot easier to reach elevation wise. Good luck.

 

[JoeCedar]

A good spot that appears to meet your requirements is Biscuit Brook lean-to, off Slide Mt Road. From there you can climb Doubletop, Big Indian and/or Fir mountains. Of these only BI has a marked trail most of the way. This is one of my favorite areas, and is not nearly as busy as the Slide-Cornell-Wittenberg range.

Joe

 

[MattC]

All these guys have given great advice, as usual. If you stick w/ your Woodland Valley plan, one nice thing will be the simple fact that you can always "settle" for just doing Wittenberg and Cornell. Witt is the best view of the three anyhow (one of the best in the Catskills), and Cornell has a lovely forest and fine view of Slide. As was pointed out, you should be able to do 'em all w/ a good early start, but if time grows short or something happens, you won't be disappointed having "only" done Witt and Cornell.

The suggestion about Biscuit Brook lean-to is an excellent idea as well.
The Big Indian Wilderness Area hasn't the views of other parts of the Catskills, but if you love a more remote, less traveled wilderness, you won't be disappointed here. There's also a lean-to on the Seager-Big Indian Trail, by the Shandaken Brook. It's about 2 miles in from the road. You can bushwhack Doubletop and/or Graham from this trail or go on to Eagle, Big Indian, Fir or whatever combination. D-Top and Graham have views, the others don't. Graham also has a ruin of an old weather (?)station, or something. Lastly, there are two more lean-tos in this wilderness area, at either end of the Oliverea-Mapledale Trail, which goes up and over the col between Haynes and Balsam mountains. Balsam is an interesting summit in that it has a lot of wind-ravaged blowdown and gnarly stuff, and also a small lookout just below the summit. Once you deal w/ the steepness of the O-M trail, it's pretty easy going back and forth between Haynes, Eagle and Balsam. Whatever you do, enjoy.

Matt



Matt

 

[Desalad]

Thanks...

Thanks for all the feedback. It sounds like the Slide trip is a good option, and that our first day would wisely be spent only getting to the Terrace Mtn lean-to (in that we will need a full day to summit slide and return to camp.)

I have the AMC Catskills Guide, I'll check out the other recommendations tonight. As for charlos recommendation of the Devils Kitchen Lean-to, I was not able to find that in the AMC guide, is there another name for it? Is it possible that it was left out of my guide book?

I'll let you know where we go, and when, it looks like the end of January.

Thanks

 

[Jay H]

The Devil's Kitchen leanto is on just off the Devil's Path but closer to Prediger Road, on the eastern side of the path. It is marked on the NYNJTC maps.

Jay

 

[smh444]

Maybe the Echo Lake lean-to would be a fun winter outing. Perhaps you could even ski-in and set up camp. Overlook Mtn. could be a desination as wll as Indian. It would be more than a "short hike" to get there but may be worth the effort.