Blackhead Range 8/8/04

[Tuco]

Woke up at three am for a day run to the Catskills and a hike across the Blackhead Forest Wilderness. Hit the trailhead sleepy at 645. Went up the Black Dome Trail relatively easy ascent. Nice cool weather, but unfortunaltely a bit cloudy for picture taking. After hitting 3500, Thomas Cole came into view, partially obscured by clouds. At this point in the trail it was overgrown, with bushes from both sides growing over the trail. BEcuase of the rain the day before and dew from the morning, my pants were soaked in a few minutes and stayed that way the whole day. Headed over Cole and Blackdome . Almost seemed like cheating bagging two 3500's so close apart. Headed down into the notch between "Dome" and Blackhead and took the Blackhead Mt trail up for 3500#3 for the day. Went south on the Escarpement trail- very steep for a short period sliding dowm on rocks and hanging on to roots. Headed back across the Batavia Kill trail to the Black Dome Range trail and headed back up towards Black Dome. This was a long and pretty steep climb that took a bit out of me. From there it was covering my steps back to the car. After all the ups and downs my qauds were burning and sore- and thank goodness I had slothes to change into for the 4 hour ride home. Some beautiful views , but too many clouds.

A few pix if interested here


Blackhead Pix

 

[smh444]

Nice to see your post. I was thinking of doing a loop backpack (1 overnight) starting at Windham Peak then Escarpment, BlackHead, Blackdome, Thomas Cole then back to car via road. Maybe overnignt at Batavia Kill lean-to.

Based on your hike, do you think this is doable with full pack?

 

[Warren]

My memory of climbing Blackhead from the Escarpment trail is of one very steep trail. Did it with a full pack but it's steep

 

[Mark Schaefer]

smh444, The Windham/Blackhead Range loop is quite doable with a full pack as an overnight. The climb of Blackhead from the north would be the toughest part, but would be early on day 2 so you should be rested. I have done the loop a couple of times as day hikes, once in each direction. Starting from Peck Rd would be my recommendation. The road walk up Peck Rd to return to your car is not too bad, but the walk back up to the Barnum Rd trailhead is much steeper and a real pain at the end of a long hike.

 

[Tuco]

Agree with both Warren and Mark that it can be done and shouldn't be too bad as an overnighter. I didn't have a full pack, and went down Escarpment rather than up but it was a steep downhill. The terrain going up on Black Dome trail was easier than Escarpment, although also steep.

Sounds like a good trip, enjoy.

 

[Jay H]

Shawn and Shawn's friend Matt and I did that, stayed at the Batavia Kill leanto for one night. We did it from Thomas Cole up to WHP to Peck Rd. It's a nice hike, good views from WHP, if it's sunny. It wasn't on our backpack but that is OK.

Had a GREAT winter snowshoe up blackhead this past winter. One of those occurances where the weather was just getting warm, the snow was deep but was so packed, we simply used crampons and not snowshoes and made excellent time to the summit, enough so that we hung out at the summit for a bit before heading back.

Jay

 

[Rob S]

Eric, nice report and pics. The last time I hiked that range, it rained very heavy all day. The last section of the Black Dome Trail heading towards Barnum Road was a virtual river. Almost could have paddled it. And of course, no views whatsoever all day. We had two cars so we spotted one at Barnum Road and started the hike at the end of Black Dome Valley Road. We took the Blackhead Trail past the leanto, then it turns into the Escarpment Trail. Your description of it being steep brings back memories because I remember lots of "little waterfalls" that we had to literally immerse ourselves in to climb the trail. We didn't even attempt to stay dry after that. From there we went across the ridge hiking up and over all 3 summits and then down to Barnum Rd. Thankfully we all had dry clothes in the car to change into for the 3 hour drive home.

I need to repeat that hike on a nicer day.

 

[hikethe115]

It's also fun to do the whole Escarpment Trail. To do the whole thing is 23 miles and 6000 feet of ascent. There are lots of nice spots along the way.