gfxsean
New member
Joe, Alison and myself started out at 10:30am at the Peck Road access in Maplecrest with hopes of bypassing any snow and ice on the trail. My thought in planning the hike this week was that we have been hiking north face trails lately and each time, they end up having snow and ice in the lower altitudes with much deeper, wet snow in the 3000 feet plus altitudes. Well after Westkill Mountain last week we were ready for a change. Windham High Peak (WHP) has two access points. One from Route 23 in East Windham (North Face Ascent) and the other is Peck road (South Face Ascent). We chose Peck road. The weather was cold windy and a fine mist of rain was falling on us in the parking area.
The first part of the trail to WHP from here is on the Yellow Trail to the Elm Ridge Leanto where it intersects with the Blue Escarpment trail. The trail is wide and is made up of many large flat rocks that reminded me of a stream bed. There looked to be some foundation ruins off to the side of this trail, perhaps someone lived here many years ago. Not long after starting out hike on this trail, the fine mist turned into a large flaked snow. It wasnt sticking and it wasnt wet so we considered ourselves lucky. We weren’t getting wet at all. Sure enough by the time we had made it to the Elm Ridge Leanto (1.6 miles in) I was warm and took off my windbreaker and was down to a Tshirt and a Vest.
Not far along along on the Blue trail we found ourselves walking through a very beautiful Evergreen grove filled with tall creaking Balsam firs. The trees seemed like they were talking to us as they creaked down from above. It gave me a wonderful feeling to walk through here as it smelled so fresh and beautiful and the sounds were so peaceful. These trees also shielded us from the wind which was pretty cold and still carrying the snow down. I am assuming that the log walks that we found on the path were put there because this area gets very wet and swampy when it rains alot. We were happy to hop onto them and play on the balance beam while leisurely walking along in this Pine Forest.
Soon after exiting the Pine Forest, we once again resumed climbing up towards WHP summit. As we rose, the trees lost their comforting feeling from below and now became much more twisted and bare as we ascended higher. We believe its because the wind up on WHP can get pretty intense as we found out when we got higher. These trees which many have been here for ages have just naturally twisted and malformed due to the wind conditions leaving it with a very surreal and almost malevolent look to them. As noted earlier, there were a few viewpoints that we passed at this point in our hike, however since the Mountain was completely enveloped in a thick fog we didnt stop at any of them.
I checked my GPS altimeter and we were making great time. Already at 3200 feet, which after what seemed like a never ending journey up Westkill last week was a welcome surprise. The other thing about our hike up Windham High peak is that it seemed so gradual. There was never any really steep sections. The trail seemed to have a few mildly steep sections, then it would level out for awhile, then gradually ease you into another climb. It was really refreshing and we kept on commenting that we couldnt believe how easy this seemed comparably to Westkill and other mountains this time of year. I accredit to the fact that we were climbing a South face and also there was not a drop of snow on the ground although now it was snowing intermittently on us. At about 3400 feet, the trees had a thin layer of Snow stuck to them as if the wind had whipped it into sticking to the sides of the trees and branches. It was quite pretty and funny because none of this snow was sticking to the ground at all. They still had a gnarled quality to them up here, and the gloom of the fog surrounding the mountain was still quite prevalent.
In what seemed like no time at all, we saw the 3500 feet elevation sign and knew we were close to the top. The ground levelled out and the trees were much shorter and twisted. We made it to the summit and congratulated ourselves on another 3500, and what seemed to be a very easy and mild hike through some great terrain. We had made it in about 2 hours total and thought that we should break out the PB&J’s and eat a quick Lunch. As we did the most wonderful thing began to happen. The clouds began to break up before our eyes and through what was once a thick layer of fog we saw Blue skies for the first time all day. Views north of the Cairo Durham area and beyond began to appear before us very far below and we really thought this was due to some sort of Divine intervention. We had passed two hikers on their way down and we commented that they were definitely not as lucky as we were to have this happen before our eyes.
After enjoying our luck and the view for a few more minutes, we packed up and began the descent back down to Peck road. We made it down through the Gnarled forest, and the Pine forest below that in what seemed like a short time. Even with taking a few photo stops, we were back at the car in about an hour and 45 minutes. We didnt feel the least bit fatigued, if anything we were refreshed. We could not believe how beautiful this day that started out so “iffy” turned out to be. Windham High Peak is gorgeous right now, and this is an area that seemed to be not very populated comparably to Westkill and the Platte Clove area. If you are going up the South face, there is no snow or ice on the ground, but there is a bit of mud. All in a all a wonderful Spring hike in the Catskills.
Full Trip Report and Pics here.
The first part of the trail to WHP from here is on the Yellow Trail to the Elm Ridge Leanto where it intersects with the Blue Escarpment trail. The trail is wide and is made up of many large flat rocks that reminded me of a stream bed. There looked to be some foundation ruins off to the side of this trail, perhaps someone lived here many years ago. Not long after starting out hike on this trail, the fine mist turned into a large flaked snow. It wasnt sticking and it wasnt wet so we considered ourselves lucky. We weren’t getting wet at all. Sure enough by the time we had made it to the Elm Ridge Leanto (1.6 miles in) I was warm and took off my windbreaker and was down to a Tshirt and a Vest.
Not far along along on the Blue trail we found ourselves walking through a very beautiful Evergreen grove filled with tall creaking Balsam firs. The trees seemed like they were talking to us as they creaked down from above. It gave me a wonderful feeling to walk through here as it smelled so fresh and beautiful and the sounds were so peaceful. These trees also shielded us from the wind which was pretty cold and still carrying the snow down. I am assuming that the log walks that we found on the path were put there because this area gets very wet and swampy when it rains alot. We were happy to hop onto them and play on the balance beam while leisurely walking along in this Pine Forest.
Soon after exiting the Pine Forest, we once again resumed climbing up towards WHP summit. As we rose, the trees lost their comforting feeling from below and now became much more twisted and bare as we ascended higher. We believe its because the wind up on WHP can get pretty intense as we found out when we got higher. These trees which many have been here for ages have just naturally twisted and malformed due to the wind conditions leaving it with a very surreal and almost malevolent look to them. As noted earlier, there were a few viewpoints that we passed at this point in our hike, however since the Mountain was completely enveloped in a thick fog we didnt stop at any of them.
I checked my GPS altimeter and we were making great time. Already at 3200 feet, which after what seemed like a never ending journey up Westkill last week was a welcome surprise. The other thing about our hike up Windham High peak is that it seemed so gradual. There was never any really steep sections. The trail seemed to have a few mildly steep sections, then it would level out for awhile, then gradually ease you into another climb. It was really refreshing and we kept on commenting that we couldnt believe how easy this seemed comparably to Westkill and other mountains this time of year. I accredit to the fact that we were climbing a South face and also there was not a drop of snow on the ground although now it was snowing intermittently on us. At about 3400 feet, the trees had a thin layer of Snow stuck to them as if the wind had whipped it into sticking to the sides of the trees and branches. It was quite pretty and funny because none of this snow was sticking to the ground at all. They still had a gnarled quality to them up here, and the gloom of the fog surrounding the mountain was still quite prevalent.
In what seemed like no time at all, we saw the 3500 feet elevation sign and knew we were close to the top. The ground levelled out and the trees were much shorter and twisted. We made it to the summit and congratulated ourselves on another 3500, and what seemed to be a very easy and mild hike through some great terrain. We had made it in about 2 hours total and thought that we should break out the PB&J’s and eat a quick Lunch. As we did the most wonderful thing began to happen. The clouds began to break up before our eyes and through what was once a thick layer of fog we saw Blue skies for the first time all day. Views north of the Cairo Durham area and beyond began to appear before us very far below and we really thought this was due to some sort of Divine intervention. We had passed two hikers on their way down and we commented that they were definitely not as lucky as we were to have this happen before our eyes.
After enjoying our luck and the view for a few more minutes, we packed up and began the descent back down to Peck road. We made it down through the Gnarled forest, and the Pine forest below that in what seemed like a short time. Even with taking a few photo stops, we were back at the car in about an hour and 45 minutes. We didnt feel the least bit fatigued, if anything we were refreshed. We could not believe how beautiful this day that started out so “iffy” turned out to be. Windham High Peak is gorgeous right now, and this is an area that seemed to be not very populated comparably to Westkill and the Platte Clove area. If you are going up the South face, there is no snow or ice on the ground, but there is a bit of mud. All in a all a wonderful Spring hike in the Catskills.
Full Trip Report and Pics here.
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