Access to Doubletop from Pine Hill West Branch

[Aesop74]

So a friend of mine and I tackled Balsam Lake Mountain and Graham Mt. (See Trail Conditions Section) but were turned back by the steep cliffs on the side of Doubletop and lack of time. We wound up bushwacking 240 degrees from the col downstream along the Beaver Kill until we hit the Neversink Hardenburg Trail. A Long hike.

Is there easier access from the Pine Hill West Branch Trail? Is the Property Line obvious to the left along the trail and is there more of a herd path from this direction than from Graham? There was almost no herd path.

 

[imarchant]

So a friend of mine and I tackled Balsam Lake Mountain and Graham Mt. (See Trail Conditions Section) but were turned back by the steep cliffs on the side of Doubletop and lack of time. We wound up bushwacking 240 degrees from the col downstream along the Beaver Kill until we hit the Neversink Hardenburg Trail. A Long hike.

Is there easier access from the Pine Hill West Branch Trail? Is the Property Line obvious to the left along the trail and is there more of a herd path from this direction than from Graham? There was almost no herd path.

The route to Double top from The Pine Hill - West Barnch follows the DEC- Gould property line. There is somewhat of a herd path, but it fades in and out. The property line is well marked every couple hundred feet. The DEC yellow spray paint and White No Trespassing signs. When I lost the herd path I would walk in a zig-zag pattern untill I say another marker. The start of the herd path is fairly obvious since the PH-WB trail actually cuts across the corner of the Gould Property.

Combining Big Indian into this hike makes sense since it add only about a mile to your trip.

 

[Aesop74]

Dt

Well that sounds a lot better then falling down the side of Graham again. THere are some really steep ledges and a ton of blowdowns all the way to the col between Graham and Doubletop making it really hard to go that route. It took two of us about an hour to get down Graham approx. 850'. It was thick.

I will look to tackle Doubletop using the boundary line then. Thanks.

 

[Tom Rankin]

I will look to tackle Doubletop using the boundary line then. Thanks.

You can also climb Doubletop via Seager. This is Gould's private propertyas well, but if you call and ask permission, 99.9% of the time, there is no objection, just a warning that 'you hike at your own risk'. (Sorry, # not handy right now, but easily google-able). The hike from this side is generally a bushwhack with once in a while a faint herd path, but you just go up! Just be careful going down, that you end up where you started. At the top, there are lots of confusing herd paths, but generally speaking, the 'left' most side of the summit area is where the canister is located. Good luck! I've managed to find it 3 times out of 3, it can't be *THAT* difficult!

 

[Jay H]

Hiking Doubletop from Seager is a quick 3 hour hike, not only do you hike to the north peak (where the canister is) it's only a short hike from the flat trail (pretty trail BTW!) to flat iron brook at which you simply take your bearing and hike up.

I've hiked down to the Neversink Hardenburg from Graham before, you may run into small private property patchs down there...

There may be steep parts between Doubletop and Graham but its certainly doable. Try skirting around and you'll more than likely find a good path up. Bushwacking in the catskills is a joy because there are hardly any dead ends that you can't skirt. Even the famous cliffs on Friday Mt are avoidable and they're even climbable in the right conditions. Not recommended though, unless you are comfortable with that kind of stuff.

Now if we can do something about those nettles...

Jay

 

[Aesop74]

Private Property

We did go through some private property areas even finding some yellow blazes painted on the trees that around 2973' that could be confused with the Neversink-Hardenburg if you do not have a good sense of direction and a GPS.