lumberzac
New member
The Basshole Creek Boys hike the Devil’s Path
Pictures
The 4 of us met up at the New Baltimore rest area on the thruway on a rainy Friday afternoon. After eating a dinner of nasty hamburgers we were on our way to the Catskills. We spotted a car at Spruceton Road and then drove over to the Prediger Road trailhead. We arrived at about 8:30PM and it was good and dark, but at least the rain had stopped. We donned out headlamps and hiked the 2.1 miles to the Devil’s Kitchen lean-to. The trail was soggy, but easy to follow in the dark and we made pretty good time. As we neared the lean-to the smell of wood smoke filled the air. Disappointed that the lean-to was occupied we continued towards it anyway. When we arrived we were surprised to find it vacant. The wood smoke must have gotten channeled through the notch from someone’s house miles away. We quickly set up camp and BSed for an hour or so before going to sleep.
Some time during the night the weather changed. The wind picked up and the temperatures started to drop. It took us a bit longer than we wanted the next morning, but we managed to get on the trail some time between 8:30 and 9:00. The wind was still blowing and when we looked up we could see the clouds dart across the sky. It didn’t take us long to hike down the old colonial road and soon we were at the trail junction back to the Devil’s Path. Friday night’s hike went along the base of Indian Head Mountain, now it was time to start climbing. The trail wasn’t in too bad of shape down low, but we weren’t making very good time. Just below Sherman’s Lookout we hit the first icy patch of the day. The ice wasn’t enough to make it worth putting one crampons (we would have just had to take them back off 30’ up the trail) but slowed our progress all the more. All of the ice we encountered was the same way, never enough to make it worth using crampons on. Sherpaman and myself made it to the lookout first. After a few minutes of waiting we had to retreat into the tree cover as we were getting cold fast. My hands went numb and I was regretting leaving the legs to my zip off pants at the bottom of my pack. Fortunately I was smart enough to put my leggings on that morning. By the time the others got there, Sherpaman and myself had to get moving to warm up. By the time we reached the summit, we pretty much just kept walking to keep warm. The descent was slower the ascent. Patches of ice and over all steep trails slowed us down. When we finally made it down to Jimmy Dolan Notch, we found it to be even colder than the mountain summit. The notch consisted of all open hardwoods and since not of the leaves were out, the wind just cut through us. At least on the summit the conifers blocked some of the wind. It was at this point that two of the members of our group had had enough and decided to take the Jimmy Dolan Notch trail back to the trailhead. Sherpaman and myself decided to push on. It was 11 am and we still had a long ways to go.
The climb up Indian Head foreshadowed what the rest of the hike was like for the rest of the day. The ascents went faster than the descents. Part way up Plateau, we were exhausted and had to take a long break. We ate some trail snacks while we caught our breath. The thought started to occur to us that we may end up hiking in the dark again. We slowly made it to the summit ridge. The ridge is almost completely flat and covered with dense hemlocks. It felt more like a valley trail than a summit ridge. The only indication that we were at any kind of elevation was the slabs of ice that we encountered. At the end of the ridge there was a nice view to the west towards Hunter Mountain. The valley below disappeared at our feet, and soon we made the descent from hell into Stony Clove Notch. The descent provided a steady pounding on our knees as loose cobblestones slide under our feet. My legs felt like rubber when I finally made it to Notch Lake where we took another long break.
We only had a little over 2 miles left for the day, but over 1500’ of elevation to climb and most of it (about 1400’) were in the first mile. About halfway up the shoulder of Hunter, the sun finally made its appearance. Unfortunately it came up late enough in the day that it never really warmed things up. Finally the trail leveled off and we had about a mile’s hike on flat trail to the lean-to at Devil’s Acre. We arrived at the lean-to with about a half-hour’s worth of daylight left. We quickly changed our cloths as the temperatures began to drop. It was 30*F just before the sun set. We were going to be in for a cold night.
Saturday night got down right cold; my best estimate is the temperatures were in the mid teens. When we awoke the next morning all of our water was frozen. By the time we got everything thawed it was 10AM. We decided to scrape the original plan to take the spur trail up Hunter and just head towards Diamond Notch and Westkill Mountain. The trail from the lean-to down to Diamond Notch showed signs of little (or at least less) use. The trail was narrower and less eroded.
There was a small waterfall and small pool in the notch where we took a short breakfast break. The water was crystal clear and both of us wished we had brought our pack rods to do a little trout fishing (maybe next time). It was yet another steep ascent from the notch to the top of the mountain. We met two groups of people that were on there way down. The second set had a chocolate lab with them that tried slipping Sherpaman some tongue; I hope his wife doesn’t find out, she might get mad. As we gained elevation we started hitting more and more patches of ice; Westkill by far had more ice than any of the other mountains we climbed. Still we never needed our crampons, so they ended up being just an extra pound of weight in our packs, although I’d rather have them and not need them, than need them and not have them. After some steady climbing we reached the summit ridge and hiked across it to the Buck Ridge lookout. This was by far the best view we got on the entire trip. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the suns rays warmed up as we looked out towards the southeast. Visibility was excellent and we could see all the way to what I believe were the Taconic Mountains east of the Hudson River. We sat there for a good 20 minutes until the wind once again started up and we were on our way. Most of the descended off of Westkill into Mink Hollow was in a hardwood forest and we would catch occasional views as the hardwoods opened up. Just before we got off of the ridgeline someone put a speed bump in our way. The trail steeply goes over a 200’ high hill that added insult to injury. The ledges on the side of the hill were interesting to look at. You could see the different sediment layers that must have taken millions of years to form. After the "bump" it was all down hill back to the car, where we arrived just before 5PM tired but in good spirits. We unloaded our packs and made the 2.5 hour drive home.
Pictures
Pictures
The 4 of us met up at the New Baltimore rest area on the thruway on a rainy Friday afternoon. After eating a dinner of nasty hamburgers we were on our way to the Catskills. We spotted a car at Spruceton Road and then drove over to the Prediger Road trailhead. We arrived at about 8:30PM and it was good and dark, but at least the rain had stopped. We donned out headlamps and hiked the 2.1 miles to the Devil’s Kitchen lean-to. The trail was soggy, but easy to follow in the dark and we made pretty good time. As we neared the lean-to the smell of wood smoke filled the air. Disappointed that the lean-to was occupied we continued towards it anyway. When we arrived we were surprised to find it vacant. The wood smoke must have gotten channeled through the notch from someone’s house miles away. We quickly set up camp and BSed for an hour or so before going to sleep.
Some time during the night the weather changed. The wind picked up and the temperatures started to drop. It took us a bit longer than we wanted the next morning, but we managed to get on the trail some time between 8:30 and 9:00. The wind was still blowing and when we looked up we could see the clouds dart across the sky. It didn’t take us long to hike down the old colonial road and soon we were at the trail junction back to the Devil’s Path. Friday night’s hike went along the base of Indian Head Mountain, now it was time to start climbing. The trail wasn’t in too bad of shape down low, but we weren’t making very good time. Just below Sherman’s Lookout we hit the first icy patch of the day. The ice wasn’t enough to make it worth putting one crampons (we would have just had to take them back off 30’ up the trail) but slowed our progress all the more. All of the ice we encountered was the same way, never enough to make it worth using crampons on. Sherpaman and myself made it to the lookout first. After a few minutes of waiting we had to retreat into the tree cover as we were getting cold fast. My hands went numb and I was regretting leaving the legs to my zip off pants at the bottom of my pack. Fortunately I was smart enough to put my leggings on that morning. By the time the others got there, Sherpaman and myself had to get moving to warm up. By the time we reached the summit, we pretty much just kept walking to keep warm. The descent was slower the ascent. Patches of ice and over all steep trails slowed us down. When we finally made it down to Jimmy Dolan Notch, we found it to be even colder than the mountain summit. The notch consisted of all open hardwoods and since not of the leaves were out, the wind just cut through us. At least on the summit the conifers blocked some of the wind. It was at this point that two of the members of our group had had enough and decided to take the Jimmy Dolan Notch trail back to the trailhead. Sherpaman and myself decided to push on. It was 11 am and we still had a long ways to go.
The climb up Indian Head foreshadowed what the rest of the hike was like for the rest of the day. The ascents went faster than the descents. Part way up Plateau, we were exhausted and had to take a long break. We ate some trail snacks while we caught our breath. The thought started to occur to us that we may end up hiking in the dark again. We slowly made it to the summit ridge. The ridge is almost completely flat and covered with dense hemlocks. It felt more like a valley trail than a summit ridge. The only indication that we were at any kind of elevation was the slabs of ice that we encountered. At the end of the ridge there was a nice view to the west towards Hunter Mountain. The valley below disappeared at our feet, and soon we made the descent from hell into Stony Clove Notch. The descent provided a steady pounding on our knees as loose cobblestones slide under our feet. My legs felt like rubber when I finally made it to Notch Lake where we took another long break.
We only had a little over 2 miles left for the day, but over 1500’ of elevation to climb and most of it (about 1400’) were in the first mile. About halfway up the shoulder of Hunter, the sun finally made its appearance. Unfortunately it came up late enough in the day that it never really warmed things up. Finally the trail leveled off and we had about a mile’s hike on flat trail to the lean-to at Devil’s Acre. We arrived at the lean-to with about a half-hour’s worth of daylight left. We quickly changed our cloths as the temperatures began to drop. It was 30*F just before the sun set. We were going to be in for a cold night.
Saturday night got down right cold; my best estimate is the temperatures were in the mid teens. When we awoke the next morning all of our water was frozen. By the time we got everything thawed it was 10AM. We decided to scrape the original plan to take the spur trail up Hunter and just head towards Diamond Notch and Westkill Mountain. The trail from the lean-to down to Diamond Notch showed signs of little (or at least less) use. The trail was narrower and less eroded.
There was a small waterfall and small pool in the notch where we took a short breakfast break. The water was crystal clear and both of us wished we had brought our pack rods to do a little trout fishing (maybe next time). It was yet another steep ascent from the notch to the top of the mountain. We met two groups of people that were on there way down. The second set had a chocolate lab with them that tried slipping Sherpaman some tongue; I hope his wife doesn’t find out, she might get mad. As we gained elevation we started hitting more and more patches of ice; Westkill by far had more ice than any of the other mountains we climbed. Still we never needed our crampons, so they ended up being just an extra pound of weight in our packs, although I’d rather have them and not need them, than need them and not have them. After some steady climbing we reached the summit ridge and hiked across it to the Buck Ridge lookout. This was by far the best view we got on the entire trip. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the suns rays warmed up as we looked out towards the southeast. Visibility was excellent and we could see all the way to what I believe were the Taconic Mountains east of the Hudson River. We sat there for a good 20 minutes until the wind once again started up and we were on our way. Most of the descended off of Westkill into Mink Hollow was in a hardwood forest and we would catch occasional views as the hardwoods opened up. Just before we got off of the ridgeline someone put a speed bump in our way. The trail steeply goes over a 200’ high hill that added insult to injury. The ledges on the side of the hill were interesting to look at. You could see the different sediment layers that must have taken millions of years to form. After the "bump" it was all down hill back to the car, where we arrived just before 5PM tired but in good spirits. We unloaded our packs and made the 2.5 hour drive home.
Pictures
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