What was supposed to be a weekend backpacking trip in the Catskills turned into a day hike due to forecasted rain and then into a few short hikes due to actual rain. A day outside in $1.25 ponchos is better than a day indoors in any case. The first hike was down to the top of Kaaterskill Falls, the site of the Laurel House hotel in the 1800’s where guests were lowered over the falls via winch and the names of visitors from the 19th century through today have been carved into the rock. During warmer weather some sheltered pools above the falls offer the opportunity for swimming.

Further back from the falls is the Catskill Escarpment: the sharp edge of the mountain range running along the western edge of the Hudson River Valley. The Catskill Mountain House, another of the grand hotels of the 19th century, was once perched here looking out across the valley to the Taconics on the other side. A trail follows the cliff northward past numbers vistas that were almost certainly inspirational to the famed Hudson River School of painters that flocked to this region. The woods are littered with old ruins from the hotel days, they are all gone now replaced by a state campground and a network of hiking trails to replace the railroads that used to be here.

On our way out of the mountains we stopped by the bottom of Kaaterskill Falls, a half mile up a hiking train with sections that had been washed out and were under repair by a very muddy ADK trail crew. Like most of the trails in the Northeast these are primarily maintained by volunteers from non-profit outdoors organizations like the Adirondack Mountain Club and the Appalachian Mountain Club. The trail used to connect the bottom of the falls to the top but after too many injuries it was closed down so now there it no official direct path but that doesn’t stop hikers from scrambling up the scree slope to the pool between the falls’ 2 drops or even sometimes all the way to the top of the falls.

Tags: Catskills, Hiking