keb
New member
It was a spectacular weekend in the Catskills. I was camping at North Lake with my non-camping friend and his twin 10-year old boys. After the last shower moved through around 4:30 pm Friday it cleared and turned into beautiful crisp clear autumn weather. We hiked to North Point Sat morning and the views were as good as you get in mid winter, with clear view of Albany, the Berkshires, the Rip Van Winkle Bridge etc. After lunch we enjoyed a great afternoon at the lake and up at the site of the former Catskill Mountain House.
They had to leave early Sunday so we broke camp after breakfast and they hit the road. I had to decided to take advantage of the good weather and go for a solo hike. I had spent some time with the maps looking for a good day hike in the area. I have been around the Devils Path area a fair bit, and I had done KHP earlier this summer, so I looked around the Blackheads. I have been there quite a bit as well, but almost exclusively from the Black Dome Valley, so I zeroed in on the Rt. 78 valley. I think the only time I was down there was about 10 years ago when we dropped down to camp in a meadow east of Lake Capra, while doing the a thru hike of the Escarpment trail.
One advantage of having hiked the Catskills for about 15 years is that I have 3 different editions of the TC maps. I notice that the 89 edition has a woods road marked, going off of the Colgate Lake trail, up to the north, paralleling the stream that feeds into Lake Capra. The 98 edition shows a shorter woods road, and there is no road shown at all on the latest edition.
I decided to check out this area. If I could find the old woods road and use it to get up to the Escarpment trail, it would make a nice loop trip to Blackhead and also cut a couple of miles off of what would otherwise be a long up and back day trip. If I couldn’t find it, I figured I would explore the area a bit, and maybe head up to the Escarpment trail at least to the first view point.
While driving east on 78 I stopped at the first parking area. I had read an earlier post by Mark Shaefer that referred to camping spots here. Sure enough I found several lovely sites in the meadow and up along the tree line. Similar to Sundown, but larger sites and further apart. Nice view over the sloping meadow, across the valley.
I continued up the road. They are doing construction on the dam at Colgate Lake, so the second parking area is closed. I parked at the third and started off on the Colgate Lake trail, which proceeds across another beautiful meadow before entering the forest.
There was only a quick shower on Friday, and I don’t think they got much rain earlier as everything was very dry. So, I was careful to keep an eye out for my landmark stream, after which I wanted to find the woods road. I came to a small, but distinct stream bed, which was dry, at what seemed to be about the right distance. And, right beyond, an obvious woods road splitting off to the north. So, I left the trail and followed the road. It was old and overgrown, but clear to follow for several hundred yards. Then it became tough, and it didn’t seem to be heading straight north. For a bit, I was “following” it only by looking for the area without mature trees, that was approximately the width of a road. Needless to say it completely petered out. I wandered around a bit, trying to find sign of it further along, without success. Because I was by myself and not game for serious bushwacking, I found the last trace of the road and headed back down to the Colgate Lake trail. I turned east on it, and sure enough, went about 50 yds and came to a real stream with a bridge across it, and a very prominent woods road just beyond. So, while I had wasted some time and energy, I was glad I had made the right decision on turning back.
I headed up the right woods road. While a bit overgrown and with the occasional blowdown to navigate, it was a very pleasant walk through beautiful second growth deciduous forest. This trail also headed straight north and began climbing up the slope. With the slope and the drainage to my side, there was never any doubt of my location and route. Down at the beginning, the road even had occasional markers made of coffee can lids painted white. The road disappeared as the slope got steeper, but the drainage was still prominent and I just stayed on its shoulder. Once it was gone I could see the blue sky through the trees on the ridge confirming that I was not far from the top.
While steep at times, the going was relatively easy and I only had thick fir to deal with in the last 10 yds. Sure enough, I pushed through the fir trees and popped out on the Escarpment trail right where expected, about a mile east of the Blackhead summit. It was nice to be on the trail and I headed up to the view points up top. After a little exploring and a quick bite and drink I began the trip back down on the trail. It is a great (if not a bit long) trip out. Nice mix of steep and nicely graded sections of the Escarpment trail, down to the intersection at Dutcher Notch, with occasional views through the trees. While focusing on route finding etc, I really didn’t notice the vertical going up, but man there was a lot to go down! It was approaching 3 pm and I was still about 0.5 mile above Dutcher Notch, when I saw the first people of the day. I had just looked at the time and figured it was too late for people to be heading up and that I likely wouldn’t run into anyone at all. Well 3 women were working their way up. While they had medium packs on, it was far from clear that they had gear to spend the night, but there was no way they were going to make it up and out in daylight. They seemed to be well enough equipped that I didn’t get nosey and just said hello.
The Dutch Notch trail descends into the valley and into the meadow I camped in about 10 years ago. Lovely this time of year in late afternoon sunlight. The trail crosses two streams over nice bridges before coming to the third bridge, which is where I had left the trail and headed up the woods road. The trail raps around the private land around Lake Capra and then heads back south and through the meadows to the trailhead. It was a terrific hike, through very varied terrain, on a day that is hard to top. Sorry for the long report, but it was just one of those days that was so good I feel I had to share it.
They had to leave early Sunday so we broke camp after breakfast and they hit the road. I had to decided to take advantage of the good weather and go for a solo hike. I had spent some time with the maps looking for a good day hike in the area. I have been around the Devils Path area a fair bit, and I had done KHP earlier this summer, so I looked around the Blackheads. I have been there quite a bit as well, but almost exclusively from the Black Dome Valley, so I zeroed in on the Rt. 78 valley. I think the only time I was down there was about 10 years ago when we dropped down to camp in a meadow east of Lake Capra, while doing the a thru hike of the Escarpment trail.
One advantage of having hiked the Catskills for about 15 years is that I have 3 different editions of the TC maps. I notice that the 89 edition has a woods road marked, going off of the Colgate Lake trail, up to the north, paralleling the stream that feeds into Lake Capra. The 98 edition shows a shorter woods road, and there is no road shown at all on the latest edition.
I decided to check out this area. If I could find the old woods road and use it to get up to the Escarpment trail, it would make a nice loop trip to Blackhead and also cut a couple of miles off of what would otherwise be a long up and back day trip. If I couldn’t find it, I figured I would explore the area a bit, and maybe head up to the Escarpment trail at least to the first view point.
While driving east on 78 I stopped at the first parking area. I had read an earlier post by Mark Shaefer that referred to camping spots here. Sure enough I found several lovely sites in the meadow and up along the tree line. Similar to Sundown, but larger sites and further apart. Nice view over the sloping meadow, across the valley.
I continued up the road. They are doing construction on the dam at Colgate Lake, so the second parking area is closed. I parked at the third and started off on the Colgate Lake trail, which proceeds across another beautiful meadow before entering the forest.
There was only a quick shower on Friday, and I don’t think they got much rain earlier as everything was very dry. So, I was careful to keep an eye out for my landmark stream, after which I wanted to find the woods road. I came to a small, but distinct stream bed, which was dry, at what seemed to be about the right distance. And, right beyond, an obvious woods road splitting off to the north. So, I left the trail and followed the road. It was old and overgrown, but clear to follow for several hundred yards. Then it became tough, and it didn’t seem to be heading straight north. For a bit, I was “following” it only by looking for the area without mature trees, that was approximately the width of a road. Needless to say it completely petered out. I wandered around a bit, trying to find sign of it further along, without success. Because I was by myself and not game for serious bushwacking, I found the last trace of the road and headed back down to the Colgate Lake trail. I turned east on it, and sure enough, went about 50 yds and came to a real stream with a bridge across it, and a very prominent woods road just beyond. So, while I had wasted some time and energy, I was glad I had made the right decision on turning back.
I headed up the right woods road. While a bit overgrown and with the occasional blowdown to navigate, it was a very pleasant walk through beautiful second growth deciduous forest. This trail also headed straight north and began climbing up the slope. With the slope and the drainage to my side, there was never any doubt of my location and route. Down at the beginning, the road even had occasional markers made of coffee can lids painted white. The road disappeared as the slope got steeper, but the drainage was still prominent and I just stayed on its shoulder. Once it was gone I could see the blue sky through the trees on the ridge confirming that I was not far from the top.
While steep at times, the going was relatively easy and I only had thick fir to deal with in the last 10 yds. Sure enough, I pushed through the fir trees and popped out on the Escarpment trail right where expected, about a mile east of the Blackhead summit. It was nice to be on the trail and I headed up to the view points up top. After a little exploring and a quick bite and drink I began the trip back down on the trail. It is a great (if not a bit long) trip out. Nice mix of steep and nicely graded sections of the Escarpment trail, down to the intersection at Dutcher Notch, with occasional views through the trees. While focusing on route finding etc, I really didn’t notice the vertical going up, but man there was a lot to go down! It was approaching 3 pm and I was still about 0.5 mile above Dutcher Notch, when I saw the first people of the day. I had just looked at the time and figured it was too late for people to be heading up and that I likely wouldn’t run into anyone at all. Well 3 women were working their way up. While they had medium packs on, it was far from clear that they had gear to spend the night, but there was no way they were going to make it up and out in daylight. They seemed to be well enough equipped that I didn’t get nosey and just said hello.
The Dutch Notch trail descends into the valley and into the meadow I camped in about 10 years ago. Lovely this time of year in late afternoon sunlight. The trail crosses two streams over nice bridges before coming to the third bridge, which is where I had left the trail and headed up the woods road. The trail raps around the private land around Lake Capra and then heads back south and through the meadows to the trailhead. It was a terrific hike, through very varied terrain, on a day that is hard to top. Sorry for the long report, but it was just one of those days that was so good I feel I had to share it.
