Catskills this weekend

[hikethe115]

Yes, I know it's hunting season, but a few of us are planning on doing some hiking in the Catskills this weekend. The plan is to do Peekamoose and Table on Saturday and Halcott on Sunday. We will meet at the Kingston park and ride (get off the thruway at Kingston, enter the traffic circle, get off on Rt. 587 and the park and ride is right there) at 7:30 AM Saturday morning in case anyone wants to join us. We haven't established time and place yet for Sunday.

 

[MattC]

Count me in

I'll be there Saturday, Dawn. I just checked weather.com and they're saying 0% chance of precipitation all weekend. That got me thinking how much I wanted to hike this weekend, hunting season or not. I'll bring my safety vest just in case. See you in the AM...

Matt

 

[hikethe115]

Okay Matt, great...see you there!

 

[HVDave]

How were your hikes?

My wife and I did Windham on Saturday and it was very nice...a little icy an wet, but not too bad, and it was very clear at the top. It was our 2nd Catskill summit...

 

[hikethe115]

Great! It was a great weekend for hiking...especially for early December. A few of us hiked Peekamoose and some went on to get Table on Saturday. There were a few icy patches, but overall the trail was in good shape. Today, Harryk and I went up Halcott. There was enough snow to cover the ground once we got up to about 3000', but no need for crampons or snowshoes.

I'm glad to hear you're working on the Catskills. Feel free to contact me about any of them. I lead hikes for the 3500 club and can get you in touch with information and/or people who can help if you need it.

 

[Tom Rankin]

How were your hikes?

My wife and I did Windham on Saturday and it was very nice...a little icy an wet, but not too bad, and it was very clear at the top. It was our 2nd Catskill summit...

Saturday was great for views!

If you're not too hung over and you're up for doing Windham again, I'll be leading a hike to Windham on January 1st. It's a beautiful hike, one of my favorites in the Catskills.

I also live in Poughkeepsie, BTW...

 

[HVDave]

Wow - glad to hear your hike(s) went well, and I make take you guys up on those offers.

We're gonna try and get out again on Sunday - any recommendations? We're pretty much randomly picking them off the list, and Peekamoose (& Table) were jumping out at us yesterday, but we're open to suggestions.

I just checked your profiles - I'm an IBM'er, too...haha!

 

[MattC]

Hey everyone. Glad to hear the hikes went well. I was planning on doing Peek and Table w/ Dawn and co., but at the last minute Friday night I heard from a friend who has been dying to get back on the trail after a long hiatus. He wouldn't have been able to make the 7:30 meeting time, so I offered to do Ashokan High Point w/ him instead.

This we did, and it was a blast. The trail was real wet at the lower elevations, and then a thin layer of snow from the point where you see the slope of Mombacus to the point where it gets steep. Very little snow at the summit, no ice anywhere. It was warm, sunny and not even windy except at the summit. Just a superb day to be out. I really enjoyed the views, as I missed out on them due to clouds and fog when I did High Point last summer.

We were at the lot getting ready to leave about 4 when my friend said he saw someone wave from a passing car. Dawn, was that you coming back from Peek? We topped off the day by walking about a mile out on the Ashokan Reservoir Dam just as it was getting dark. Awesome view, and we saw about 20 deer on the other side of the dam. Spent Sunday in the 'Gunks doing Bonticou Crag and Table Rock, looking back over at the Catskills.

HVDave, if you're looking to do more Catskills hiking, I'm also up for quite a bit. My current priorities are the 3500 Club winter requirements (Balsam, Slide, Panther and Blackhead), but I'm up for almost anything in the Catskills or 'Gunks. I live in New Paltz and can usually make early starts.Tom, I may be up for New Years Day on Windham as well. I did Windham in October after doing all three Blackheads, and was so fatigued I could barely even acknowledge the view, which was getting pretty misted over anyhow. I'd love to see the summit view again, and also the norway spruce when they're covered in snow.

Matt

P.S. Dawn and Tom-I realized the other day that I've already done one hike on the Views and Brews list, since I happen to live right down the Rail Trail from the Gilded Otter.:

 

[Jay H]

Hey Dawn and Tom, if you haven't already, you should check out the viewpoint/campsite on Van Wyck.. It has an awesome view of Peekamoose and Table, being very close to it and an easy bushwack, either from Table or simply from Peekamoose road.

I haven't been to the catskills since before Halloween since my mom is in failing health and I've had to take care of her on my free time. Glad you had a good hike!

I just have the 4 bushwacks to do (lone/rocky/BC/friday) but I'm not in any hurry, perhaps this winter, I'll try to get out to do some of them.

Jay

 

[HVDave]

I was looking at the Peekamoose map last night - what's the best way to do it?

Ideally, we'd only like to use one car, so is it realistic to do Peek then Table, and turn around and go back? Also, haha, how would one get to the trailhead on Peekamoose Rd.?

mcorsar - We have every intention of getting the 4 winters done this winter...we're ambitious!

 

[Rivet]

I was looking at the Peekamoose map last night - what's the best way to do it?

Ideally, we'd only like to use one car, so is it realistic to do Peek then Table, and turn around and go back? Also, haha, how would one get to the trailhead on Peekamoose Rd.?

Starting on Peekamoose Rd (CR42) is the harder way as there is more elevation gain. But, it is less driving and it's the way I did both Peek and Table.

Take NY 28 to Boiceville. Turn left on NY 28A. After 3.0 miles, turn right onto Peekamoose Rd (CR 42) in West Shokan. Continue for about 8-9 miles to trailhead. (You will pass 2 or 3 other parking areas before the Peekamoose trailhead - one is for Buttermilk Falls, a nice place to stop).

 

[Jay H]

For some reason, the town of Olive doesn't have a sign warning of Peekamoose Road (CR42) coming ahead on Rt 28A. However in the town of Olive at the intersection with Rt 28A and Peekamoose Road, you'll see a wooden post and a bunch of signs pointing right for the town hall and stuff like that. And if you look down the road, you'll see a blue road sign marking "42" that is peekamoose road. The first time I went there, I took the long way around the Ashoken Res. on Rt 28A and passed Peek. Road and wound up back on Rt 28. It's generally faster to take 28 to Boiceville to get to Rt 28A but it is a nice drive the long way around the Ashoken if you have the time.

And it's even nicer to avoid Rt28 completely sometimes and take the exit on the throughway for New Paltz and then go up the local roads to Rt 28A...

Jay

 

[hikethe115]

You can go in from the Table side, but that means crossing the Neversink. I have a tendancy to avoid that crossing. That log is not one of my favorites!

 

[MattC]

"We have every intention of getting the 4 winters done this winter...we're ambitious!"

HVDave,

I like the sound of that. If you want to hike any of 'em together, PM me when you have plans and watch this board for my posts. I might hike on X-mas and/or New Years Eve, since I have both days off from work. I'm playing a gig in the town of Fleishmanns on X-Mas Eve, and I may hike Balsam that day, since it is near-by. Slide and Panther are also possibilities, as they are also pretty close.

Matt