Slide Mountain Lookout beside summit
Hunter and Slide in a day!
After a 7 hour drive down to the Catskills from home, Deb and I arrived at the Devil's Tombstone State Campground and set up camp for the night. Typical of July, we found ourselves in hot humid weather conditions both during the day as well as at night. The nighttime temperatures barely felt any cooler than the daytime temps, and I tossed and turned all night kicking off my sleeping bag and willing any kind of breeze to blow over me.
Needless to say we were up early around 5:30AM on July 8th, 2024 and after a quick breakfast hopped in the car to drive over to the Slide Mountain trailhead. The drive was made even more interesting as a wheel bearing in my front right wheel had started to buzz on the way down the day before. The hilly and twisty mountain roads made the drive even more daring not knowing if the wheel was going to fall off at any moment. With no garages on the way over, we arrived at the trailhead and started off at 7:55AM. The first 15 minutes of walking on this trail ascends uphill eventually leading to a junction you need to turn right onto a flatter and wider footpath. Continuing on this flatter terrain, you reach a second junction where you need to turn left. The trail marker colour changes from yellow to red here and you begin to ascend again towards the summit. Nearing the summit, the trail flattens out to a beautiful gravel path and the sense of being close to the summit increases. The smell of Balsam Firs and and small views through the trees gives you the feeling that you have almost climbed the 1700+ feet to the summit. Passing by another junction, you soon come across a beautiful lookout as seen above in the photo. Another minute down the trail you come to a concrete block amongst some trees which is the true summit. After some photo ops, we re-traced our steps down to the parking lot in less than 3 hours. We both thoroughly enjoyed this trail and were happy to have completed it before the heat of the day. Peak #1 complete for the day. Continue below for Hunter Mountain.
Distance: 8.63km
Time: 2 hours 49 mins
Ascent: 525m or 1722ft
Temp: 23C plus humidity
Peak count: #89 of the NE 115 list
After a 7 hour drive down to the Catskills from home, Deb and I arrived at the Devil's Tombstone State Campground and set up camp for the night. Typical of July, we found ourselves in hot humid weather conditions both during the day as well as at night. The nighttime temperatures barely felt any cooler than the daytime temps, and I tossed and turned all night kicking off my sleeping bag and willing any kind of breeze to blow over me.
Needless to say we were up early around 5:30AM on July 8th, 2024 and after a quick breakfast hopped in the car to drive over to the Slide Mountain trailhead. The drive was made even more interesting as a wheel bearing in my front right wheel had started to buzz on the way down the day before. The hilly and twisty mountain roads made the drive even more daring not knowing if the wheel was going to fall off at any moment. With no garages on the way over, we arrived at the trailhead and started off at 7:55AM. The first 15 minutes of walking on this trail ascends uphill eventually leading to a junction you need to turn right onto a flatter and wider footpath. Continuing on this flatter terrain, you reach a second junction where you need to turn left. The trail marker colour changes from yellow to red here and you begin to ascend again towards the summit. Nearing the summit, the trail flattens out to a beautiful gravel path and the sense of being close to the summit increases. The smell of Balsam Firs and and small views through the trees gives you the feeling that you have almost climbed the 1700+ feet to the summit. Passing by another junction, you soon come across a beautiful lookout as seen above in the photo. Another minute down the trail you come to a concrete block amongst some trees which is the true summit. After some photo ops, we re-traced our steps down to the parking lot in less than 3 hours. We both thoroughly enjoyed this trail and were happy to have completed it before the heat of the day. Peak #1 complete for the day. Continue below for Hunter Mountain.
Distance: 8.63km
Time: 2 hours 49 mins
Ascent: 525m or 1722ft
Temp: 23C plus humidity
Peak count: #89 of the NE 115 list
After a drive back to Hunter, NY, we stopped a garage to get my wheel bearing checked. Yes, it was making noise, but didn't seem to be dangerous to drive...yet. We still had a 7 hour drive to get home! Being re-assured there was no risk of the wheel falling off in the immediate future, we drove the two minutes from the village to the Becker-Hollow trailhead for Hunter. Now after noon, the temperature had risen to high heat and humidity levels. The Becker-Hollow trail is the shortest way up to the summit, but is also steep gaining 2000 feet in 2 miles. The start of the trail is rather flat with all sorts of stone ruins of old foundations or other relics. it wasn't too far down the trail that it starts to ascend. At first the ascent is manageable and gradual, and then becomes steeper and with looser rock. We stopped to take 3 short breaks on the way up to lower our heart rates and drink some water. Sweat was rolling off our chins and I could see sweat rivers flowing down my legs. It was definitely gross hot. About 0.3 miles before the summit there was a junction that we chose to hike the direct route to the summit. Arriving at the top, we took a summit photo that I now see how soaked in sweat my t-shirt was! We then went over to check out an uninspiring tree covered lookout. We walked on a flat path over to the fire tower and met up with another couple who were also about to walk up the tower. We dropped our packs on the picnic tables adjacent the ranger cabin and welcomed the breeze as we walked up the stairs to the top of the tower. We couldn't access the actual top of the tower as it was locked, but we could get up high enough to enjoy the view. We enjoyed the much welcomed breeze and drank in the view of the Catskills. Being the first time in the Catskills, it is a beautiful area with great hiking. We descended down the same blue marked trail we had come up and upon return. We found 2 low flowing streams that crossed the trail nearing the end with just enough depth to scoop some water from to wash our faces and wet the hair on our heads. We finished the day soaked in sweat and stream water but satisfied with our two peak day.
Distance: 8.33km
Time: 3 hours, 23minutes
Ascent: 684m or 2244ft
Temp: 32C plus humidity
*This brings my total up to 90 of the NE115 list! We did get home with the wheel bearing buzzing!
Distance: 8.33km
Time: 3 hours, 23minutes
Ascent: 684m or 2244ft
Temp: 32C plus humidity
*This brings my total up to 90 of the NE115 list! We did get home with the wheel bearing buzzing!
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