A Complete Guide to Hiking in the Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains are a great escape from the busy city of New York. Some of the hikes are only a 2 hour drive from the city and Long Island. It makes for a great weekend trip if you live in this area and want a quick road trip getaway into nature. The Catskill mountains from NYC and Long Island (depending on how far east you live) are only about 2-3 hours (driving) north. The Catskills offer great introductions to hiking, great leaf popping trails, and most importantly, beautiful views. So, let’s get started on everything you need to know about hiking in the Catskills.
The Catskill Mountains make up about 700,000 acres of land, in the southeast region of New York. They are located between New York City and Albany. It is a mix of public and private land, with a total of 98 peaks to hike. If you want to learn more about the history of the land, you can find out, more here.
In this article you will learn more about the Catskill Mountains, Catskill Mountain Railroad, Catskill Mountain Polar Express, Catskill Mountains ski resort, Catskill Mountains snow tubing, Catskill Mountains cabins, Catskill Mountains AirBnB & hotels, Catskill Mountains NY, Catskill Mountains scenic byway, Catskills resorts, Catskill Mountains highest peak, Catskill mountain skiing, Catskill mountain hiking, Catskill mountains things to do, and much more.
This article is all about the Catskill Mountains.
The Catskill Mountains:
Where to Stay in the Catskills
Now, you probably are wondering where should I stay if I want to visit this region. Well, I would suggest staying in Woodstock, NY. Most of the hiking trails are within a 30 minute radius of Woodstock. However, there are some that are an hour to an hour and a half away. Woodstock is a great, artsy, little town, with great restaurants and little shops. Which is why I suggest staying here. You can find some great Woodstock AirBnBs here and great Catskill mountain Airbnbs, here.
Now that being said, if you want more of an all-inclusive resort, some great Catskill resorts are Plattekill Mountain Resort (also fun glamping and camping offered here), Shandaken Inn, Xenia Lodge, Chatwal Lodge (very expensive), Mohonk Mountain House (New Paltz, NY, about 30 minutes away from Woodstock), The Roxbury, Winter Clove Inn, Hotel Mountain Brook, AutoCamp Catskills, Diamond Hills Resort, Windham Mountain, and Hunter Lodge.
Some other great resorts to stay at in the Catskills are Catskill Mountain Lodge, Catskill Mountain House, and many different Catskill mountain cabins. Lastly, if you want to find a hotel in the Woodstock area, you can find some here, as well as hotels within the Catskill Mountain region here.
Catskill Mountain Hiking
Alright, let’s get right into it. One of the best things you can do in the Catskills is hike. The Catskills offers a lot of great hiking that are nice introductions to the sport. Now, that being said, you can find harder trails with the 35 High Peak Challenge, but everything else will be relatively tame. I hike a lot in the Adirondacks and they are much MORE difficult and impressive. However, they are about 2-3 hours more of a drive. Thus, if you want to take a trip to the Adirondacks, I would plan at least a week there. In addition, I would save any Adirondack hikes for when you are more experienced.
That being said, I have hiked in the Catskills and they are definitely still worth the trip. They will give you that needed outdoors and fresh air. Some nice beginner hikes are Artist’s Rock, Kaaterskill Falls, Frick Pond Loop, Bramley Mountain Trail, North Point, Red Hill Fire Tower, Diamond Notch Falls, Inspiration Point, and Boulder Rock.
Furthermore, here are some great/difficult mountains to hike in the Catskills; Slide Mountain (highest peak in the Catskills), Panther Mountain, Giant’s Ledge, Sam’s Point, Twin Mountain,Mount Tremper, Escarpment Loop,Table Mountain and Peekamoose Mountain. These are a couple popular ones, but as always, there are much more trails, that you can find, here. There is a Catskill mountain club too, that you can join to go on group hikes and different events throughout the year.
Also, the Catskills are home to many different fire tower hikes, which are all apart of the Fire Tower Challenge. Some of the fire towers apart of this challenge include Balsam Lake Mountain, Hunter Mountain, Overlook Mountain, Red Hill, and Mount Tremper. The rest of the fire tower mountains can be found, here. However, you can just hike the 5 Fire Towers in the Catskills and get a patch. They include all the hikes listed above. Here you can find more information about these trails, their locations, and how to register/complete this challenge.
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Catskill Mountains Hiking Challenges
Some other hiking challenges within the Catskills are, the 3,500 Peak Challenge and The All Trails Hiking Challenge: Redlining the Catskills. You can find more hiking challenges, here. There are a total of 7 different hiking challenges, located in the Catskills Mountains. They all offer amazing views and scenery of the Catskills, and nature in general.
I’ve hiked Mount Tremper Fire Tower, and I really liked it. It is a steeper hike, but short, thus, very doable for seasoned hikers, and intermediate hikers. In addition, Twin Mountain and Indian Head are two great peaks to hike for intermediate to advanced hikers as well. You can do these hikes either via Devil’s Path, or the Jimmy Dolan Notch Trail.
However, I recommend only doing these trails in the summer. The road to get to these peaks, is VERY narrow and windy. Thus, in the snow, it’s not the best. In addition, Slide Mountain (the tallest in the Catskills) is beautiful, along with Panther Mountain. I recommend hiking these trails as well for experienced hikers.
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Catskill Mountains Things to Do in the Summer & Winter
Now, if you are not much of a hiker, there are plenty of other outdoor activities that you can still do here. Such as, kayaking, bird watching, horse back riding, bike riding (along the Catskill Scenic Trail and many others that you can find here ), fly fishing, and mountain biking (Windham Mountain bike park, Plattekill Mountain, and more places that you can find here). Also, there are tons of white water rafting places, swimming spots/waterfalls, outdoor museums (Storm King Art Center), and cities to see, like, Woodstock and Beacon.
Great winter past times to do in the Catskills are skiing, snowboarding, snow tubing (either at Windham or Hunter ski mountains), snow-shoeing and cross-country skiing. In addition, the Catskill Mountain Railroad and the Catskill Mountain Polar Express in the wintertime, and Catskill Mountain scenic byway, are all fun, unique ways to see the Catskills.
Some great ski mountains in the Catskills are Hunter Mountain, Windham Mountain, Belleayre Mountain (I recommend), Plattekill Mountain, Catamount Mountain, Holiday Mountain, and theMountain Trails Cross Country (cross-country skiing trails).
That wraps up our guide to hiking in the Catskills, I hope you found some new activities and trails you can hike if and when you visit the Catskills. They make a great weekend getaway for people who live near the New York City area, and anyone wanting to explore a new area. Thank you for reading, and take care!
