Kaaterskill HP Best Route

[mink319]

Next weekend I am going to bushwack up KHP. I was wondering what the best route up is. I am thinking of parking on Platte Clove Mtn Road and heading up to Round Top then KHP. I was wondering what the best route is, preferably the best views, and least thick spruce. I would also like to see the old plane wreck and the fort. Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[TomEske]

Gee Mink, Your're not joining in the fun with all the others on the Devil's path?
I'm sure Mark will come in here with an answer for you soon on HP. I'm pretty sure he knows it better than most.
If you have a GPS with you could you mark the crash site in lat.long? I have been meaning to spot it on my map, but never got the numbers.
Have fun,
Tom

 

[Jay H]

I did KHP from the other side. Not sure about from Platte Clove over Round Top but the "trails" from the NE side are wet, and with the spring rains, I imagine they would be soaked now. There were a lot of ATV tracks and the ground was either flooded or muddy, at least until you got to the actual little "headpath" that goes to the summit. It's actually informally marked at the turnoff though from the direction I did a few years ago. I remember parking at some B&B and asking permission to park there for a few hours and it poured on the way back.

Jay

 

[Rivet]

There are two plane wrecks on KHP.

The first is on east end of the snow mobile loop trail at the 3000 ft elevation. It is right on the trail and hard to miss.

The second is about 450 feet east of the summit of KHP.

 

[keb]

The hike in from Platte Clove is very nice. The trail is little used and interesting. Great trail to traverse during blue berry season. The through hike to Palenville is exceptional in it's views and variety.

I have not done Roundtop, but in general the summit of KHP is not thick with Spruce like Friday etc.

 

[imarchant]

If you have a GPS with you could you mark the crash site in lat.long? I have been meaning to spot it on my map, but never got the numbers.
Have fun,
Tom

I have not been up this mountain yet but, Information from geocaching.com:

N 42° 09.734 W 074° 04.829 (WGS84)
UTM: 18T E 575959 N 4668198
On top of 3,655' mountain. Very steep trails. Use trailheads at Kaaterskill Clove or Devil's Kitchen. Hike can be challenging both up and down. Be careful. At times the trails are near vertical. Go to the coordinates given above, then project a waypoint to 080 degrees, at 495 feet.

There are great views of the Indian Head Range, Slide Mtn., and the Hudson Valley from the viewpoint 0.16 mile SW of the summit. The crash site gives a fine view of North-South Lake and Mountains, Kaaterskill Clove, and the Hudson Valley.


N 42° 09.512 W 074° 04.255 (WGS84)
UTM: 18T E 576754 N 4667796
Located on the side of the mountain at 3,080 feet about 3 miles from the nearest trailhead if you bushwhack the last quarter mile. This plane was so badly fragmented that the only sign of the cockpit was the flight control mechanisms. The path of flight can be gleaned by examining the debris field. The engine is at one end and small pieces are at the other, further down the trail.

 

[Mark Schaefer]

The most direct route on state land to Kaaterskill High Peak is from the Long Path Trailhead just off the Plate Clove Road near the top of the clove. Take the Long Path to the height of land, about 3000' elevation. Bushwhack following the height of land west to the summit of Kaaterskill High Peak. You should pass both plane wreck sites. As already mentioned, the first is at the snowmobile trail, and the second near the summit. From the summit follow the unmarked path south to the Hurricane Ledge viewpoint which is the only substantial view near the summit. For Roundtop generally follow the height of land to the WNW. It is a wide ridge with a number of ledges that are not difficult to negotiate.

The best description of The Joseph Brant or Tory Fort location is in Michael Kudish's book The Catskill Forest, A History

One famous locality is the Tory Fort south of and below the col between High Peak and Roundtop at 2540' feet. This Revolutionary War camp, also know as the "Joseph Brant Fort," was used by Joseph Brant, a Mohawk chief, for one or two nights while leading prisoners to Canada.

This location is credited to Ed West who wrote an article on the fort in the 3500 newsletter, Autumn 1976. This "fort" is below the snowmobile trail which is at the 2800' contour in this area. I was at the "Tory Fort" on a June 1975 Catskill 3500 club hike led by Ed West. Today this fort is nothing more than a hole in the ground, and to my knowledge nobody is certain of its actual location. I have heard others claim the fort is higher. Ed West also believed Joseph Brant may have used the Hurricane Ledge as a lookout while using the fort.

On your way out you could use the snowmobile trail and bushwhack over to the Long Path on the eastern height of land. You might want to take the side trail to Huckleberry Point. It has a commanding view of the Platte Clove and a close up view of Indian Head Mt - with its distinctive profile.

 

[mink319]

Thanks for all the great advice. I will make a point to head to Hurricane Ledge, and also the fort and plane wrecks. I will leave trail conditions, and post some pictures from this trip and trips from the winter in the Trip Reports section of the forum.

 

[Peakbagr]

Anyone interested in doing Kaaterskill and Roundtop this Spring?

 

[Rob S]

I'm game, unless I save KHP for my finish. Given what I have left, it's probably my best choice.

Btw, whatever happened to TomEske??? Real nice guy, he helped us out with Jay's charity hike on the Devil's Path back in '04. He hasn't posted in a couple of years .....

 

[Jay H]

Speaking of old thread... I was wondering what TomEske was talking about the Devil's Path thing.... then I saw the year..

I haven't heard from Tom is quite some time too, so don't know what is up with him..probably just off the board... He was very helpful with the car shuttling during the DaretoDayhikethe Devil's Path thing. I remember him and his son giving us rides and scaring the bejessus out of his son at the Tombstone campsite with my lighted devil horns!

BTW, nobody but Michael Kudish has claimed to find anything related to the fort on Roundtop/KHP before...

And an interesting way to do those two would include a visit to the Bruderhof!

Jay

 

[mudhook51]

I did these two from Gillespie Rd last summer, the easiest way I have found. There are some nice views on Round Top before the summit coming from this direction. I found no fort.

 

[keb]

Jay, I am familiar with the Bruderhof property off of Platte Clove Rd, but don't know much about it. What is there to visit?

 

[Jay H]

keb, oh it's just this cult of people living in a commune-like setting. They are friendly and will invite you in for a chat. Inside the main building, they have artifacts and pictures of the old place and when it was once the police academy and they have a history of when NY was trying to make it a prison.

After running into a lot of them on KHP and the Devil's Path, it's just interesting to pay them a visit just for fun.

Jay

 

[Rob S]

They used to have a website, but it appears to be down.

http://www.catskillbruderhof.com/

 

[keb]

Thanks Jay. Yeah, I knew they were a german based religous group, but I did not know they were open to visitors. That is good to know. I had forgotten that was where the police academy used to be, thanks for the reminder. I'll have to check it out some time.

I'm in for the spring hike.

 

[Tom Rankin]

They used to have a website, but it appears to be down.

http://www.catskillbruderhof.com/

According to Wikipedia:

"The Bruderhof had an extensive collection of Internet sites until December 2005, when they took them down and replaced them with a few short pages with information on how to contact them offline. These links are now also down."

 

[JeffAndrews]

Anyone interested in doing Kaaterskill and Roundtop this Spring?

I'd be interested!

They are high on my list of hikes I want to do this year.