A Complete Guide to Hiking in the Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains make up about 700,000 acres of land, in the southeast region of New York, 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.
Hiking in the Catskills is a great weekend trip, for all you Long Island and NYC folks. The Catskill mountains from NYC are only about 2-3 hours (driving) north of the city and most places in Long Island, depending on how far out you live. The Catskills offer great leaf popping trails, great elevation gains, and most importantly, great views. So, let’s get started on everything you need to know about hiking in the Catskills.
In this article you will learn more about the Catskill Mountains, 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:
Catskill Mountain Hiking
Some great mountains/peaks to hike in the Catskill Mountains are Slide Mountain, Panther Mountain, Twin Mountain, Mount Tremper, Artist’s Rock, Escarpment Loop, Table Mountain and Peekamoose Mountain, and Kaaterskill Falls. 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 what not.
Most of the Catskills are shorter and not as steep as the High Peaks, thus they are a great way to get in shape for hiking more difficult terrain in the Adirondack High Peaks. Also, the Catskills are home to many different fire tower hikes, which are all apart of the Fire Tower Challenge. Balsam Lake Mountain, Hunter Mountain, Overlook Mountain, Red Hill, and Mount Tremper, are the Catskill Mountains apart of this challenge, the rest of the 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, and here you can find more information about these trails, their locations, and how to register/complete this challenge.
{Related Post : Indian Head and Twin Mountain}
Catskill Mountains Hiking Challenges
Some other hiking challenges within the Catskills are, the 3,500 Peak Challenge, The All Trails Hiking Challenge: Redlining the Catskills, and much more can be found, here. There are a total of 7 different hiking challenges, specifically, located in the Catskills Mountains, all offering 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, because the road to get to these peaks, is VERY narrow and windy to the top. 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.
Where to Stay in the Catskills
Now, you probably are wondering where should I stay if I want to hike all these trails? Well, I would suggest staying in Woodstock, NY. Most of the trails are within a 30 minute radius of Woodstock, but there are some that are an hour to hour and a half away.
However, Woodstock is a great little town, with great restaurants and little shops. Which is why I suggest staying here. You can find some great Catskill mountain airbnbs, here. In addition, if you are not much of a hiker, there are plenty of other outdoor activities you can do here as well.
Some other great resorts to stay at in the Catskills are Catskill Mountain Lodge, and many different Catskill mountain cabins. You can always stay in the above linked Airbnbs as well.
Catskill Mountains Things to Do & Catskill Mountain Skiing
There are TONS of ski mountains located in the Catskills. You can ski/snowboard at, Hunter Mountain, Windham Mountain, Belleayre Mountain (I recommend), Plattekill Mountain, Catamount Mountain, Holiday Mountain, and the Mountain Trails Cross Country (cross-country skiing trails).
You can also, snowshoe, cross-country ski, ice-skate, tube, and sled. In the summer, 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.
{Related Posts : New York Ski Resorts}
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!
In this article, you learned, about the Catskill Mountains, Catskill mountain skiing, Catskill mountain hiking, Catskill mountains things to do, and much more.
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