Overlook, Evening of 7/17/08

[imarchant]

I met-up with 7summits, who happened to be attending a retreat at the monastery across the road from the trail head. She was with a companion from retreat. We started up the trail at about 7:10. 7summits companion turned back after about 15 minutes. We reached the "1/2-way rock" in about 20 minutes. There was still almost still an hour until the sunset. We rested a few minutes and continued at a slower pace. We turned of the marked trail and took the road towards the radio tower. We soon came to a fork in the road. I couldn't remember if that was the turn or it was later so we continued straight. All along the road the blueberries were ripening. They were plentiful and 50% were blue. Unfortunately 7summits could not eat any due to her fast as part of the retreat. after several minutes we spotted the radio tower and I knew we should have taken the turn, so we back tracked to the fork. We followed the overgrown road to a clearing. There used to be some nice views, but they are now quite overgrown. Here the road takes a left turn and heads northerly. The views I remembered along this road were also grown in. We almost stepped on a small garter snake.

Before long we returned to the marked road and continued the short trek to the old Ruins. 7summits was interested in the site and took lots of pictures. We continued past the ruins and took the herd path along the escarpment and enjoyed the increasingly impressive views out across the Hudson Valley. We left the last viewpoint on the herd path and followed a rabbit headed towards the tower. We reached the tower just as the sun was setting. The sunset was less than spectacular and the east was too hazy to see the moon appear above the horizon. I took some time to point out the recognizable Catskill 3500 peaks to 7summits. When we looked down we spotted a deer.

I though this deer did not know we were above him. It turned out that this animal was very tame, It would later approach us within 10' of us. I wonder if it was a deer that escaped from the Catskill Game Farm? By this time the moon had risen far enough to be fully visible

Shortly after 9:00 We started the hike down. We contemplated using head lamps, but the twilight was light enough to see and the moon soon was high enough to even cause faint shadows. The trip down was fairly uneventful, except for a few noises in the woods and a man sitting quietly along the road, who startled the **** out of 7summits. We reached the trail head at 9:44.

I really enjoyed this hike on this pleasant evening. It was a pleasure meeting and conversing with 7summits. She took lots of pictures and I hope she will share them. Congratulation on completing your 1st Catskill HH peak!


complete album

 

[HuiYeng]

Hey Ian, it was very nice to meet you and a a fun hike with you!

That guy really startled the heck of me. Didn't we run into him near the summit, and he was on his way down at the time. Why was he sitting there in the dark anyway

Anyway, Overlook is a fun little peak, I really enjoyed the ruin and the climbed up to the watch tower. Very cool! Thanks again for the hike. I was thinking about doing it the day I arrived at the monastery, but only went as far as the trailhead and was turned around by a full-color brochure that was pinned on the bulletinboard illustrating all the snakes that can be found around there .

Here are my share of the pictures. Thanks for the TR! 1 down, 99 to go!!

 

[Mark Schaefer]

7summits, welcome to the Catskills. Very nice photos.

I and a few others already wrote some comments on Ian's post at ADK high peaks forums.

Concerning rattlesnakes. I have climbed Overlook over 50 times and have only seen the snakes a few times. They will usually slither away at their first sense that humans are approaching. Occasionally on a cool sunny day they will bask in the sun to warm up. At such times they will rattle loudly to announce their presence. They have no interest in attacking humans unless they have been provoked recently. During very warm times they stay in their dens to keep cool. You just need to keep an eye out for them. Here is an article on the Overlook rattlesnakes.

The hotel ruins are interesting. It is often thought and written in guidebooks that the Stock Market crash or the Depression caused the demise of this third hotel building. However, that is not quite accurate. An article in the May-June 1976 issue of DEC magazine The Conservationist, "My Grandfather and the Mountain", written by Bill Newgold contains quite a bit of history that I have not seen written elsewhere. Bill was the grandson of Morris Newgold who built the ill fated third hotel building we see in ruins today. Morris Newgold was the owner of the Times Square Hotel in NYC. He purchased the second Overlook Hotel in 1917 and restored it to profitability. In 1924 it burned down, as had an earlier hotel. Morris Newgold sold the Times Square Hotel and used the proceeds to fund the new concrete hotel on Overlook. Work began in 1927. He was not invested in the stock markets, and so was unaffected by the stock market crash. Construction work continued on the hotel through the depression until Morris Newgold became ill in 1939. The exterior was essentially done. A central wooden tower rose 4 stories above the current roof line, shown here.

The main hotel building never opened for business. It was boarded up in 1940, but was quickly vandalized. It is often said that many houses built near the mountain in the subsequent years were equipped with plumbing taken from the hotel. World War II and the changing tastes in American travel were the final blows that kept the hotel from completion. Additional info and photos are on the Hudson Valley Ruins website.

The "1928 House" behind the hotel was completed and opened. It housed a few guests, although it primarily housed the staff overseeing the work on the hotel construction. As late as the 1970s much of the wood interior of the 1928 House remained, and several times I walked through the rooms. Eventually the building was gutted for safety reasons. For the same reason the DEC has discussed fencing off or demolishing the concrete remains of both buildings, but for now they are considered stable enough to leave as they are.

 

[Tom Rankin]

Thanks for the TR! 1 down, 99 to go!!

Well, make that 101!

Nice TR and photos, both of you!

Ian, we'll be up at BLM, 8/15-17, with a full moon, not to mention Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Mars and Jupiter in the sky!