kaaterskill

[Adk_dib]

Anyone know the milage and feet of accent from wildcat falls to kaaterskill high peak? My hiking book says it is 1500 feet and 6.7 RT miles to wildcats falls. Does anyone have a GPS file of the hike. Also I herd that the last accent up kaaterskill peak is up ledges and Rockfaces. Is this comparable to sugarloaf? The book also says the climb to poets ledge is up some "slippery" ledges. True, yes/no? Its also says that wildcat falls and buttermilk falls can be herd but not seen very well, and it is dangerous to try and get a view. If this is true, why hasn't a trail been made to make it safer.

 

[AOC-1]

It is difficult to hike down to view the top tiers of Wildcat and Buttermilk Falls. Buttermilk is more difficult. The trail passes very near the top of both waterfalls. If you are careful you can maneuver around the steepest part of the Wildcat ravine to the west and then trend back east. I have done it in the winter and it took about 15 minutes.

There are herd paths leading to both falls from Rt. 23-A. The whole series of tiers (about 5 for both Wildcat and Buttermilk) can be hiked from this direction, with steep side detours to avoid the vertical sections. Again, Buttermilk is the more challenging one.

 

[Mark Schaefer]

My trail report of this hike from last September is here. I started from the Whites Road trailhead which added about 3.5 miles and 350' ascent to the round trip; versus starting the hike from Malden Avenue. Be warned that there is no parking area at the Malden Avenue trailhead. However, many hikers have received permission to park at the Fernwood Restaurant which is just west of the trailhead.

By my calculation the entire round trip hike from the Malden Avenue trailhead is 13.5 miles and 3700' total elevation ascent. That includes a side trip to Poet's Ledge and hiking past the KHP summit to go to the Hurricane Ledge viewpoint. That is based my reading of the USGS topo, NY/NJ maps, and the GPS track for the Poet's Ledge hike on the Local Hikes website. I do not use GPS myself.

From Wildcat Falls the round trip distance to the top of Kaaterskill High Peak would be about 4.5 miles with an ascent of 1600'. Add a little more distance to go the Hurricane Ledge view which is not far south of the summit. There is a sweeping southern view of the Devil's Path mountains, one of the best in the Catskills.

There are no parts of the Long Path nor the Poet's Ledge trail which are particularly difficult when dry. Like all Catskill sandstone the eroded, exposed rock sections can be very slippery when wet. The final north side climb of Kaaterskill High Peak above the snowmobile trail is often a bit wet, but nothing that is particularly dangerous as the west side of Sugarloaf. The south side Kaaterskill ascent just below Hurricane Ledge can be difficult when wet. But you would have no reason to hike down below Hurricane Ledge since you are coming in from the north.

You can get some glimpses of both Wildcat and Buttermilk Falls from the top of each, even some photographs with a wide angle lens. But as AOC-1 points out the Long Path crosses the streams at the top of the falls so the views are limited. If your objective is to climb Kaaterskill High Peak you might not want to spend any time trying to get down the ledges to the base of either falls unless you have time on the way down.

 

[Tom Rankin]

There is a cross near the falls where they go under the road. I assume someone died there once. So, yes, it can be dangerous.