Devil's path traverse this weekend.

[terwilleger]

A couple of us were thinking of doing the devils path this weekend (saturday) If the weather is good. Are there others interested?

http://www.connarch.com/miscellaneous/devils_path_and_burroughs_range.htm

 

[halfmoon]

I will be joining Terwiliger if the weather cooperates with us this weekend.

An east to west traverse seems to be the standard, who agrees/disagrees with this direction? Intuitively it seems like the better way, because you get the hardest part done in the early hours. Plus we could cache a cooler of food and water at the parking lot near Devil's Tombstone.

Any of you DP veterans have suggestions or advice for us?

 

[MattC]

I've never thru-hiked the whole DP in a day, and don't intend to any time soon, but I have hiked on every foot of it on various hikes. Just for laughs though, I can point a couple reasons why you might consider west to east instead. For one, people often complain about St. Annes Peak, the last little bump past West Kill-I think it's kind of demoralizing since you think it's in the bag at that point, and then you still have to climb this little viewless knob.

At least going east, a peak is a peak, you know what to expect. Also, keep in mind, the peaks get progressively smaller from Plateau to Indian Head. And having those great views from the east side of Indian Head are nice at the end of the day, with the sun behind the mountains and shadows falling over the valley.

Lastly, if you're not Devils Path purists, you might use the CCCD Platte Clove Preserve trail instead of the Prediger Rd. access. I think (as do many others) that it's a nicer bit of trail than the first little bit of the east end of the DP.
This could be done regardless which direction you take.

Matt

 

[Jay H]

How did it go??? Hope it all went well, weather was spotty at times in the ADKs...

Jay

 

[Tom Rankin]

I've never thru-hiked the whole DP in a day, and don't intend to any time soon, but I have hiked on every foot of it on various hikes. Just for laughs though, I can point a couple reasons why you might consider west to east instead.

If you go West to East, you will probably have the wind at your back!

 

[pudgy_groundhog]

How did it go??? Hope it all went well, weather was spotty at times in the ADKs...

It went well for them (I was in Raleigh) -- I think they ended up doing more than the DP. Something like 31 miles. I think Steve wants to do the Pemi Loop or Great Range Traverse now.

 

[halfmoon]

Hello,

Brad and I started at the Overlook Trailhead outside of Woodstock. We left at 4:45 AM on Saturday. We got poured on at the summit of Indian Head, maybe for about 45 minutes. After that, things cleared up nicely, and the day was near perfect by the time we got to Westkill.

So we started at Overlook, then connected to the Devil's Path at the Lean-To near the bottom of Indian Head. We then hiked the entire DP to the finish. We added the 3.2 mile round trip hike to the summit of Hunter Mountain. According to the maps from the NY/NJ Trail people we hiked 31 miles in all. I do not know how many feet of evelvation we hiked. I was hoping it was around 10,000, but I am way too lazy to perform those types of calculations.

Afterwards I started getting curious about the Pemi Loop. I hear this is a nice hike to do in one day, and I am betting it will be easier that the hike we did this past Saturday. Apparently though, you can make the Pemi Loop 36 miles if you add on all the bells and whistles.

 

[Mark Schaefer]

Brad and I started at the Overlook Trailhead outside of Woodstock. ... We added the 3.2 mile round trip hike to the summit of Hunter Mountain.

Very cool hike. Your epic hike route reminded me of Bill Leavitt, Catskill 3500 member #1, who hiked a similar route many times, often solo and unassisted. Like you he was a real durahiker, and before the term was ever invented. An account of one of his hikes was posted (on the 3500 Club Yahoo discussion board) by his daughter, Ann Leavitt Clapper, a couple of years ago following his passing. You would need to sign up for the discussion group for the following link to work, and instructions are on the Catskill 3500 Club homepage. I will repost the account below because it may be of interest to many. At the time of his hike the Devil's Path west of the Devil's Acre leanto did not yet exist. The DP followed the Hunter Mt and Spruceton Trails and ended at Spruceton. Bill also chose variations on the start and finish, and bushwhacked Plattekill Mt along the way. He may have hiked down the now defunct Shanty Hollow Trail to Hunter, or he may have just hiked down the ski trails.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/3500club/message/6183

Merry Christmas.... I have been going through my father's things (Bill Leavitt #1) and I found a fun record of one of his favorite Catskill hikes. There are several records of it, but I will list just one now for your amusement:

Sunday August 27, 1961

Leave Mead - 6:52am
Overlook - 7:28 - 7:38
Plattekill Mt - 8:40 -
Indian Head - 10:10 - 10:35
Twin - 11:00 - 11:12 -11:30
Sugarloaf - 12:30 - 1:10
Plateau - 2:10 - 2:48 - 3:30
Stony Clove - 3:50 - 4:00
Hunter - 5:13 - 5:40
Colonels Chair - 6:15
Ski Bowl - 6:45

Good hiking all,
Ann Clapper #13​

 

[Jay H]

Overlook would be a nice warmup.. Sounds fun, I'd like to do the Pemi loop too, I'm assuming an outer Pemi loop over Franconia ridge to the Bonds. I've done the inner loop before with Tuco over a few days (Franconia Brook trail to the Bonds) so I hadn't done the Fran. Ridge yet...

Nice report!

Jay