Having Thanksgiving week off I decided to visit the Catskills before I went off to family celebrations. Looking at the map I realized that over the years I had hiked all but a short (about 3 mile) segment of the Devil's Path, the section between Stony Clove and Plateau summit. So on Tuesday I hiked that.
It wasn't too cold for November, about freezing up high but with little wind. There were patches of snow at the trailhead, transitioning to a cover of about an inch high up. I barebooted down low and wore microspikes up high.
The Devil's Path from Stony Clove to Plateau gets all of its elevation gain done right off the bat. It's about 1500 feet in the first mile. Then it gets easier a little before what turned out to be probably the best outlook in the entire DP. Just before that outlook, however, is the crux of the hike, a ledge about as tall as me which was not at all easy to get over. I put my poles where I could grab them from the top and I took off my mittens so I could get better hand holds. I eventually, after some false starts, figured out how to get up on top. When I got there, however, my mittens were sitting on a little ledge three of four feet below where I was standing. I was able to use my poles as chopsticks and bring each mitten up to me, though.
After the outlook it's an easy couple miles to Plateau summit. On the way back, I went down a side trail a little ways. This was steep, but not like the start of the hike. The map says there's an outlook there near the spring, but I didn't find it. Then I went back up to the DP, and back down to Stony Clove.
Here are the pictures.
--
Cumulus
NE111 in my 50s: 115/115 (67/67, 46/46, 2/2)
NE111 in my 60s: 84/115 (59/67, 23/46, 2/2)
NEFF: 50/50; Cat35: 39/39; WNH4K: 41/48; NEHH 89/100
LT NB 2009; CT NB 2017
"I don't much care where [I get to] --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll
It wasn't too cold for November, about freezing up high but with little wind. There were patches of snow at the trailhead, transitioning to a cover of about an inch high up. I barebooted down low and wore microspikes up high.
The Devil's Path from Stony Clove to Plateau gets all of its elevation gain done right off the bat. It's about 1500 feet in the first mile. Then it gets easier a little before what turned out to be probably the best outlook in the entire DP. Just before that outlook, however, is the crux of the hike, a ledge about as tall as me which was not at all easy to get over. I put my poles where I could grab them from the top and I took off my mittens so I could get better hand holds. I eventually, after some false starts, figured out how to get up on top. When I got there, however, my mittens were sitting on a little ledge three of four feet below where I was standing. I was able to use my poles as chopsticks and bring each mitten up to me, though.
After the outlook it's an easy couple miles to Plateau summit. On the way back, I went down a side trail a little ways. This was steep, but not like the start of the hike. The map says there's an outlook there near the spring, but I didn't find it. Then I went back up to the DP, and back down to Stony Clove.
Here are the pictures.
--
Cumulus
NE111 in my 50s: 115/115 (67/67, 46/46, 2/2)
NE111 in my 60s: 84/115 (59/67, 23/46, 2/2)
NEFF: 50/50; Cat35: 39/39; WNH4K: 41/48; NEHH 89/100
LT NB 2009; CT NB 2017
"I don't much care where [I get to] --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll
