Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Sunday, Laurie and I drove over to the Mohonk Mountain House property, near New Paltz. After paying the modest $16.00 per person entry fee ( 
), we parked and started our hike. For our entrance fee, we recieved a very detailed and accurate map of the grounds, (no joke). The trails and dirt roads that we walked on were very well maintained and clearly marked. Some of the trails were 'closed', but since we only encountered the 'closed' sign at the end of the trail, we took them anyway. There was a dusting to an inch of snow on the trails.
Mohonk has 3 grades of trails: Easy, Moderate, and Difficult. The Difficult never rose to the level of Moderate as far as we were concerned, even with a covering of ice in places. Most of the visitors to Mohonk are wealthy tourists (at least they'd better be to stay at the hotel! ) , who are most likely not accustomed to strenuous hiking.
For the most part, the trails and hiking roads are secluded from the 'dangerous auto road' (seen on a sign) and buildings on the grounds. We felt like we were out in the woods most of the time. Every few minutes, we would see other walkers, who were for the most part very friendly. A few even had backpacks!
There are numerous gazebos on the Mohonk property, most of which offer fine views of the surrounding area. Some look West off towards the Catskills, some look East towards the Hudson Valley, and some look South towards the Gunks, etc.
Near the summit is the sprawling Mohonk Mountain House itself. It sort of reminds you of a European chalet, that just kept growing and growing. You are allowed to look at it, but the map warned us to stay away! I didn't bother to inquire how much it would cost to peek in! (Actually, I was inside once, many years ago. It's very opulent, and I remember they have fantastic spring water).
At the last gazebo before the summit, you can look almost straight down 200-300' feet to the lake below. The water was very dark and calm. Most of the other bodies of water we saw were already starting to be frozen over, but the lake was free of ice.
Continuing to the very top of the mountain, you finally see the Mohonk Tower, or Skytop, as it is called. It was actually a firetower in the past, and so it had some pull on us. The tower is made of huge blocks of stone, and is about 70 feet high. It will most likely survive all the other fire towers for many, many years. From the tower, it is asserted that you can see 5 other states (NJ, PA, CT, MA, VT). VT was questionable at best, but we could see the other 4, including High Point Monument in NJ. Not bad for a peak only 1600' high! It was a little hazy in most directions, but the Southern Catskills stood out quite nicely. Using binoculars, we looked for but could not see any other firetowers, although Overlook, Hunter, and Beacon were clearly visible.
Amazingly, we had Skytop to ourself for about 10 minutes before a few other people showed up. We chatted with them about the area, the towers, etc. It was a little windy at the top, but bearable. After some hot tea, and a light lunch, we made our way back down the network of trails, (about a 4.5 mile round trip, with around 500' of elevation gain), back to the car, and off to a warm pub in New Paltz!
), we parked and started our hike. For our entrance fee, we recieved a very detailed and accurate map of the grounds, (no joke). The trails and dirt roads that we walked on were very well maintained and clearly marked. Some of the trails were 'closed', but since we only encountered the 'closed' sign at the end of the trail, we took them anyway. There was a dusting to an inch of snow on the trails.Mohonk has 3 grades of trails: Easy, Moderate, and Difficult. The Difficult never rose to the level of Moderate as far as we were concerned, even with a covering of ice in places. Most of the visitors to Mohonk are wealthy tourists (at least they'd better be to stay at the hotel!
) , who are most likely not accustomed to strenuous hiking. For the most part, the trails and hiking roads are secluded from the 'dangerous auto road' (seen on a sign) and buildings on the grounds. We felt like we were out in the woods most of the time. Every few minutes, we would see other walkers, who were for the most part very friendly. A few even had backpacks!
There are numerous gazebos on the Mohonk property, most of which offer fine views of the surrounding area. Some look West off towards the Catskills, some look East towards the Hudson Valley, and some look South towards the Gunks, etc.
Near the summit is the sprawling Mohonk Mountain House itself. It sort of reminds you of a European chalet, that just kept growing and growing. You are allowed to look at it, but the map warned us to stay away!
I didn't bother to inquire how much it would cost to peek in! (Actually, I was inside once, many years ago. It's very opulent, and I remember they have fantastic spring water). At the last gazebo before the summit, you can look almost straight down 200-300' feet to the lake below. The water was very dark and calm. Most of the other bodies of water we saw were already starting to be frozen over, but the lake was free of ice.
Continuing to the very top of the mountain, you finally see the Mohonk Tower, or Skytop, as it is called. It was actually a firetower in the past, and so it had some pull on us. The tower is made of huge blocks of stone, and is about 70 feet high. It will most likely survive all the other fire towers for many, many years. From the tower, it is asserted that you can see 5 other states (NJ, PA, CT, MA, VT). VT was questionable at best, but we could see the other 4, including High Point Monument in NJ. Not bad for a peak only 1600' high! It was a little hazy in most directions, but the Southern Catskills stood out quite nicely. Using binoculars, we looked for but could not see any other firetowers, although Overlook, Hunter, and Beacon were clearly visible.
Amazingly, we had Skytop to ourself for about 10 minutes before a few other people showed up. We chatted with them about the area, the towers, etc. It was a little windy at the top, but bearable. After some hot tea, and a light lunch, we made our way back down the network of trails, (about a 4.5 mile round trip, with around 500' of elevation gain), back to the car, and off to a warm pub in New Paltz!
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