As you may know, I have spent a considerable amount of time hiking, hunting and fishing in the Adirondack Mountains over the years. It has been my love and life. I’ve always had a mystical attraction to those ancient peaks. As I’ve said once before, I can turn left or right out of my driveway. Left takes me north and it has always been the stronger pull. Yet just down the road, a piece in the other direction is another mountain range that needs a lot more consideration. The Catskills are far closer to home and seem to offer so many great things.
A couple of years ago, my wife and I took a day to climb Slide Mountain. At 4,180 feet into the sky, it’s the highest peak in the Catskills. Compared to some of the Adirondack’s 46 High Peaks, which are above 4,000 feet, it was a relatively easy climb and was only a couple of hours away. Not far from there is North South Lake State Park near Haines Falls. This area is the starting point of one of the best hiking trails in the Catskills, according to some of my friends. The Escarpment Trail wanders from just outside the park gates all the way to Route 23 for a total of about 24 miles. This, obviously, would make a wonderful two- or three-day trip. For the day hiker, the initial 5 miles or so of the trail offers some of the very best views in the Catskill Mountains. Sure there are some steep sections, but any hike in the mountains is going to have its ups and downs.
At one point, the trail works its way along the edge of a cliff. They tell me it’s rather scary, but the views from Inspiration Point and Sunset Rock make the whole ascent worthwhile. From there, you have spectacular views of the Hudson Valley off to the east and North South Lake and the beautiful Catskill Mountain Range to the southwest. There are places called Split Rock and Boulder Rock. These are huge pieces of rock that have fallen from the cliffs above and dangle next to the trail. You also can climb to the site of the old Catskill Mountain House, which is quite amazing even though the buildings are long since gone. For the ambitious soul who got an early start, you can find the wreckage of a plane that crashed into the side of North Mountain.
The pilot, John Grace, lost his life there in 1983. Remnants of the plane are still next to the trail. In the next few weeks _ when the weather is good _ I’ll hike the trail. I might find something in the Catskills that will make me want to return. You never know. What’s happening? The Davenport Center VFW will hold a trapper training course from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. May 17. The class is limited to 30 students. For more information or to register, call Gary at 607-432-9266 evenings. Rick Brockway writes a weekly outdoors column for The Daily Star. E-mail him at robrockway@hotmail.com.
link to article is here: http://www.thedailystar.com/localsports/local_story_107041535.html
