KHP - Catskills - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

[Tom Rankin]

• The Good:
  
  • Great weather, trails mostly free of ice and snow. No traction devices needed.
    
  • Blowdowns from Irene have been removed. There are a few on the Twilight (herd) Path, the Northern approach.
  • Great views! - One is from the top of a cliff North of Hurricane Ledge that looks more NE than H.L. This one is reached from a trail that starts down off the summit towards the East. This cliff has amazing views of the area looking East. (We were hoping to find the plane wreck, but we never did, in spite of a series of small whacks off this trail). We also discovered a smaller view point that had been cut out South of the awesome one.
    
  • The 3rd view point we found was a few minutes before the summit which faces still more more Northerly than the other 2. It's about a 20' herd path East to a rock. From this one, you can see the Blackheads, North/South Lake, and look down to Rt. 23A to the hair pin turn below Kaaterskill Falls.
    
  • Did the hike in < 4.5 hours of walking time, with .5 break at the top to explore, all that treadmill time is paying off.
• The Bad
  • Illegal trail(s) cut to said viewpoints above. Lots of branches have been cut, the trail is in better shape than the Twilight Trail.
  • Most of the State trail is muddy and wet, as usual.
  • The 2nd bridge is starting to rot away. The stringers are ok, but the cross boards are in rough shape.
  • Someone felt it necessary to write on several rocks, with Arrows and names, as well as to add a large number of small cairns to the Twilight path. If you can't follow this path in the warmer weather, I feel sorry for you!
• The Ugly
  • Fire ring at the summit! It was not there before Irene! I tried to scatter it, but it was pretty frozen.
  • Illegal campsite and 2nd fire ring East of the summit.
  • Why cut a view when there is a natural one only 100 yards away that is better to start with?

 

[Peakbagr]

Tom,

Thanks for the excellent but depressing trip report.
With the ranger inforcement being stretched to the breaking point, the only thing is continued education of the hiking public. But some very public arrests and fines would be an excellent teaching moment.