AOC-1
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- Jan 27, 2005
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The Devil’s Path, a roller coaster ride over six peaks in the Catskills Mountains is, depending on your source, 23.6 miles long, 25 miles, or 25.85 miles. No two sources seem to agree. The most internally inconsistent has got to be the “Goofus and Gallant” trailhead sign on Spruceton Road, the western terminus of this long distance trail. The old wood sign ominously announces that the summit of Hunter Mountain, one peak and in reality some 11 miles east, stands a whopping 24.2 miles away. If this measurement were correct, the complete Devil’s Path would stretch over 50 miles, and would be unthinkable as a day hike for a middle-aged punter like me. Luckily, my hiking partner Ralph (Hermit) observed that the flip side of the same sign cuts the total distance in half. “See, on this side it works out to be only 25 miles.” As Ralph Kramden would say, “A mere bag of shells!”
Encouraged by at least 50% of the trailhead sign, I parked my Toyota, and Hermit and I optimistically drove off in the pre-dawn to meet Jerry and Kim at the Devil’s Tombstone parking area on Rt. 214. After spotting a car and caching supplies at this half-way point, we drove to the start on Prediger Road and were on the trail by 5:45 a.m. The trail heads east and wraps around the northern side of Indian Head Mountain on easy rolling terrain. Sort of like the start of the Coney Island Cyclone – a warm-up for the up and down thrill-ride that lay ahead.
As the sun rose we gained our first views over the Hudson Valley, and our first good looks at each other (only Jerry and Kim had previously hiked together). We made a good team. Jerry had recently backpacked the entire Wonderland Trail around Mt. Rainier. Hermit helped CaveDog smash the Catskill 35 speed record. A hiking machine, he is working on something called the Catskill 35 X 12 (35 peaks in each of the calendar months). I had just completed a one-day Presidential Traverse. Seeing as I hadn’t required hospitalization afterwards I figured I was more or less ready. Kim confessed she hadn’t done much recent hiking, and kept apologizing for “holding us up.” This was curious because Kim hiked at least ¼ mile in front of us all morning. (I think she was just trying not to bruise our middle-aged egos too much.)
The Devil’s Path was familiar terrain for us, all Catskill veterans, and we made sure to take in the many viewpoints along the way, especially after the clouds dissipated later in the morning, and a cooling breeze blew at higher elevations. We knocked off the first “half” of the hike: up Indian Head, down 400 feet to Jimmy Dolan Notch; up Twin, down 800 feet to Pecoy Notch; up Sugarloaf, down 1100 feet to Mink Hollow; up Plateau, down 1200 feet to Stony Clove, by 1:45 p.m. At this point, Kim, having nothing more to prove concerning the superiority of youth, bid us goodbye at Rt. 214. We settled in for lunch.
The picnic table at Stony Clove is seductive, as it provides a horizontal surface for the butt. Siren-like, it can lure the long-distance hiker to a miserable, cramp-legged doom. Must . . .get. . . up . . . from . . . this . . . bench!
But the second half of the hike is noticeably easier, as it rises over the shoulder of Hunter Mountain, levels off through pretty hardwoods, and then drops to Spruceton Valley and the start of the 7 mile traverse of Westkill Mountain. The familiar trail was enlivened by Hermit’s eagle-eyed spotting of animal prints (especially bear), and detailed conversation about gear and mountains (the kind of talk my non-hiking wife secretly hates). Early in the evening , we alit on Buck Ridge Lookout, the finest viewpoint on the Devil’s Path, with an unbroken panorama stretching northeast from the Blackhead Range to the Burroughs Range to the south. We drank it in for a long while.
At this point we had ascended about 7000 feet. After one more climb of 200 feet up a “speed bump” (awkwardly called West Westkill) it was all downhill. We flipped on our headlamps for a few minutes, just to add symmetry to the day’s hiking experience, and to avoid breaking our necks in the dark. By 8 p.m., a little over 14 hours from the start, we reached the end of the Devil’s Path. And the end of a fine day on the trail with great partners.
Encouraged by at least 50% of the trailhead sign, I parked my Toyota, and Hermit and I optimistically drove off in the pre-dawn to meet Jerry and Kim at the Devil’s Tombstone parking area on Rt. 214. After spotting a car and caching supplies at this half-way point, we drove to the start on Prediger Road and were on the trail by 5:45 a.m. The trail heads east and wraps around the northern side of Indian Head Mountain on easy rolling terrain. Sort of like the start of the Coney Island Cyclone – a warm-up for the up and down thrill-ride that lay ahead.
As the sun rose we gained our first views over the Hudson Valley, and our first good looks at each other (only Jerry and Kim had previously hiked together). We made a good team. Jerry had recently backpacked the entire Wonderland Trail around Mt. Rainier. Hermit helped CaveDog smash the Catskill 35 speed record. A hiking machine, he is working on something called the Catskill 35 X 12 (35 peaks in each of the calendar months). I had just completed a one-day Presidential Traverse. Seeing as I hadn’t required hospitalization afterwards I figured I was more or less ready. Kim confessed she hadn’t done much recent hiking, and kept apologizing for “holding us up.” This was curious because Kim hiked at least ¼ mile in front of us all morning. (I think she was just trying not to bruise our middle-aged egos too much.)
The Devil’s Path was familiar terrain for us, all Catskill veterans, and we made sure to take in the many viewpoints along the way, especially after the clouds dissipated later in the morning, and a cooling breeze blew at higher elevations. We knocked off the first “half” of the hike: up Indian Head, down 400 feet to Jimmy Dolan Notch; up Twin, down 800 feet to Pecoy Notch; up Sugarloaf, down 1100 feet to Mink Hollow; up Plateau, down 1200 feet to Stony Clove, by 1:45 p.m. At this point, Kim, having nothing more to prove concerning the superiority of youth, bid us goodbye at Rt. 214. We settled in for lunch.
The picnic table at Stony Clove is seductive, as it provides a horizontal surface for the butt. Siren-like, it can lure the long-distance hiker to a miserable, cramp-legged doom. Must . . .get. . . up . . . from . . . this . . . bench!
But the second half of the hike is noticeably easier, as it rises over the shoulder of Hunter Mountain, levels off through pretty hardwoods, and then drops to Spruceton Valley and the start of the 7 mile traverse of Westkill Mountain. The familiar trail was enlivened by Hermit’s eagle-eyed spotting of animal prints (especially bear), and detailed conversation about gear and mountains (the kind of talk my non-hiking wife secretly hates). Early in the evening , we alit on Buck Ridge Lookout, the finest viewpoint on the Devil’s Path, with an unbroken panorama stretching northeast from the Blackhead Range to the Burroughs Range to the south. We drank it in for a long while.
At this point we had ascended about 7000 feet. After one more climb of 200 feet up a “speed bump” (awkwardly called West Westkill) it was all downhill. We flipped on our headlamps for a few minutes, just to add symmetry to the day’s hiking experience, and to avoid breaking our necks in the dark. By 8 p.m., a little over 14 hours from the start, we reached the end of the Devil’s Path. And the end of a fine day on the trail with great partners.
