E.Wildcat 4-7-12

[nietzschescat]

We've been hiking the "other" mountains in the Catskills for awhile now, but I was so excited to get my signed copy of The Other 67 at the dinner. Alan Via wrote a wonderful book.
We decided on E.Wildcat because we had a late night Friday and wouldn't be getting an early start. We got the last spot in the Slide Mt. parking lot at 11:00 and started up the trail to the Curtis-Ormsbee monument and headed up the rocky ridge with a nice view back towards Table and Peekamoose. We had a variety of compass bearings from all the little high points on the ridge, but we basically stayed on the south side of the ridge..........no wildflowers yet, but the woods were all green with ground pine and it's just such a pretty place up there. We found a bird nest in a beech sapling about knee high and all exposed and I couldn't figure it out until I realized that it was hidden by ferns in the summer. We found places where the deer sleep. Then there was a little evergreen grove just before the final little climb to the summit.
The summit has a cairn. We hung out there for a long time................happy to be alive and all..........and then headed down.
I had read that there was an illegal cut trail and flagging, but had no idea how extensive it was, but we found out on the hike back. There are several miles of cut trail with cutting done over several years and probably most recently last fall along the north side of the ridge. It's kind of hard to understand someone's motivation since this isn't a difficult hike as a bushwhack.........a ridge walk though very open hardwoods and easy to navigate with a general idea of which direction you are heading in.
So we were kind of bummed out over the cut trail, followed for awhile out of morbid curiosity and turned east to hit the "official" trail when it started heading north.
We found a nice campsite just before we crossed the stream and were walking uphill towards the trail when we stopped to take our maps out to see if we could figure out where we were when 2 guys came walking down the trail about 20 yards from us and walked right by without seeing us.
Then we had a short walk back down the trail.....really nice hike and one of our favorites. We saw one little spring beauty at the summit, but in a few weeks the wildflowers will be amazing.
So I don't know if anyone knows what the deal is with the illegal trail??? If someone out there has a lot of time on their hands, we hiked to the Pelnor Hollow Lean-to from Holiday Brook Road last September and the entire trail was obscured by 6 foot pricker canes. (That was a nice place to spend the night, old foundations, old beaver meadow,
hidden spring with a cool rock cistern.....don't think anyone had slept there in years).
Glenda

 

[Peakbagr]

We came across a flagged and cut route along E. Wildcat a few years ago. It was reported to the rangers and they collected tape and brushed in as much of it as possible.
The people responsible have been at it, and we came across a cut trail from the Neversink to near and around the summit of W Wildcat a couple of springs ago. We collected gallons of flagging as we walked the entire route that had been cut, up, and around the summit. In looking at the 5-6' wide swatch, thousands of small trees and branches had been cut. With evidence of older and newer cuts and flagging. DEC then walked the route again and assessed the potential fine in the 'huge' range on a per-tree basis when the perpetrators are caught and fined in a DEC administrative hearing. DEC has been watching the route and so are hiker volunteers. The trail cutting is amateurish, and in long stretches it passes over sections with large boulders and many of the cuts are knee high, almost suggesting a winter or ski route.

There were some initial guesses that whoever has been doing this has been trying to push a wooded, alternative route for a proposed trail that would avoid a long road walk. The dotted 'proposed trail' has appeared on previous editions of the NYNJ Trail Conference maps until it was removed by request when the 9th edition was published in 2010. If anyone happens along people with cutting tools or flagging, DEC requests any information, including license plate tags. The Wildcat ridgetop has one of the largest sections of virgin forest in the Catskills.

I was pleased to get a chance to sign your copy at the dinner.

 

[nietzschescat]

Thanks for the information. We thought it looked like the cutting had been going on for years and also noticed that it wasn't really a great trail to walk on. We'll be heading up there again soon, so we'll keep our eyes open.