winter slide and hunter routes

[kmac]

Suggestions for winter approach of Slide and Hunter Mountain in the Catskills? .
Thanks, kmac

 

[the_swede]

Hunter is pretty easy from the end of Spruceton Road. If you take the trail up towards the Devil's Acre lean-to, it's not steep at all, since I believe it follows a former railbed.

 

[kmac]

thanks
kmac

 

[Mark Schaefer]

Slide options (the first two are the easiest options and start from County Route 47 south of Winnisook Lake):

• East Branch and Wittenberg-Cornell-Slide Trail: 5.6 mile round trip on the shortest and most direct route to the summit. There is a good north view just before the summit and an eastern view at the summit which is becoming increasing overgrown. There is a stream crossing near the start of the trail which can be quite dicey during snow melt or after a heavy rain storm. At other times the stream crossing is not much trouble.
• Same as the above, but using the Curtis-Ormsbee Trail on either the way up or down: 6.8 miles round trip. There are a couple of additional views on short unmarked side paths along the Curtis-Ormsbee Trail. I prefer coming down the Curtis-Ormsbee Trail as it is not as steep as the initial section of the W-C-S trail.
• Denning Trailhead using East Branch, Curtis-Ormsbee and Wittenberg-Cornell-Slide Trail: 10.8 miles round trip. Coming from New England this would involve a longer drive to the trailhead.

Hunter options:

• Spruceton Trail: 6.8 miles round trip on a relatively easy old road trail. There is a nice western view at the Robb lean-to site (burned down from a camping accident). The view from the Hunter fire tower is among the best in the Catskills. This is probably the easiest route.
• Loop on the Spruceton, Hunter, Devil's Path, and Diamond Notch Trails: 8.7 mile loop.
• Diamond Notch, Devil's Path, Hunter Trails from the end of Spruceton Road: 9.8 miles round trip. The trails are mostly old roads and railroad beds. Note that the loop would be shorter.
• Becker Hollow Trail: 5.8 mile round trip on the shortest and steepest route to Hunter.
• Devil's Path and Hunter Trail from Notch Lake trailhead: 7.5 mile round trip. The climb up the Devil's Path is steep, but not as steep as Becker Hollow.

If you use any of the last 4 options above - be sure to include the viewpoint opposite the top of the Becker Hollow Trail. This is where the Hunter and Spruceton Trails meet 0.3 miles south of the fire tower. There are a few yellow trail markers to this excellent viewpoint over the Spruceton Valley, but otherwise the viewpoint is unsigned.

 

[kmac]

Thank you, much appreciated
kmac