Kaaterskill High Peak (South Access) |
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OVERVIEW |
| | Distance: | 7.32 miles round trip from DEC parking lot to Hurricane Ledge to Kaaterskill High Peak and back.
It is approximately 7.82 miles round trip if you continue to the top of KHP. |
| | Notes: | Taking the South access is harder, and 1/4 mile longer then taking the north access |
| | Time: | Average 5 hours round trip |
| | Elevation Gain: | 1,750’ feet from parking lot to highest point in hike. |
| | Best Time to Hike: | Anytime except the Winter. |
| | Difficulty: | Very Difficult and very dangerous |
| | Catskill Highest: | #22 |
| | Peak Elevation: | 3,655' |
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| | | USGS Official Names: | High Peak (ID: 952749) |
| | USGS Summit-Elevation: | 3,645' (USGS) |
| | USGS KHP-Summit-WGS84: | 42.162033, -74.080138 (DEC-WGS84) |
| | USGS KHP-Summit-GPS: | N 42 09.722, W 74 04.808 (GPS) |
| | USGS KHP-Summit-UTM: | 18N 575988 4668176 (UTM) |
| | USGS KHP-Summit-Deg, Min, Sec: | N42 09 43, W74 04 48 (Degree, Min, Sec) |
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| | | USGS Official Map: | Kaaterskill Topographical Map (free) |
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| | | DEC Trail Map: | DEC Kaaterskill Wild Forest Map (free) |
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Topo
Terrain
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| | | Access Methods: | Foot and snowmobile (part way). |
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| | DIRECTIONS TO TRAIL HEAD |
| | DEC Parking Lot WGS84 (DEC): 42.133667, -74.0827 - Elevation is approximately 1,872 feet |
| | DEC Parking Lot Deg/Min/Sec: N42 08 01, W74 04 57 - Elevation is approximately 1,872 feet |
| | DEC Parking Lot GPS: N 42 08.020, W 74 04.962 - Elevation is approximately 1,872 feet |
| | DEC Parking Lot UTM: 18N 575810 4665024 - Elevation is approximately 1,872 feet |
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| | Take New York State Thruway to Exit 21 (Catskill). |
| | Take a left out of the NYS Thruway entrance road. |
| | Go approximately 1/2 mile |
| | Take a right onto Route 23 West |
| | Go approximately 5 miles on Route 23. |
| | Take a left onto Rt 32 (McDonalds on corner). |
| | Go approximately 7-8 miles on Route 32. |
| | Take right onto Rt 23A. |
| | Go approximately 7-8 miles on Rt 23A . |
| | When you come into Tannersville, take LEFT at the red light onto RailRoad Ave (Rt 16), which will turn into Spruce Street, which will turn into Platt Clove Road. Follow this road approximately 7-8 miles |
| | The DEC parking lot is on the LEFT side of the road. |
| | It is approximately 1/2 mile past Josh Road (on left side of the road). |
| | If you start to go down the hill to the valley, then you have gone too far. The downhill section of the road is closed in the winter. |
| | Do NOT block the gate entrance - there is a house at the end of this road. |
| | Do NOT drive up the dirt entrance road to the trail head - this is PRIVATE property - AND there is NO place to park or turn around once you get to the trail head. |
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SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES ABOUT THIS HIKE |
| | The trailhead starts at the road on the left of the DEC Parking Area. The RIGHT side of the road is privately owned. The private land starts at the DEC Parking Area and extended up the hill to the level area. As you get further up the road, the trail will exit off the road. Any land AFTER the exit on the right side of the road is private land. |
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MILEAGE CHART |
| | Mile Point | Altitude | Notes |
| | 0.00 | 1,872’ | DEC Parking Lot. N42 08.020 W74 04.962 |
| | 0.87 | 2,366’ | Road & Trail Junction - On Right side of road - easy to miss this junction - N42 08.553 W74 04.467. |
| | 1.00 | 2,412' | Trail Junction - Left goes to Kaaterskill High Peak - Right goes to Huckleberry Point - N42 08.544 W74 04.325 |
| | 2.31 | 2,977' | Trail Junction - This is a short cut trail (NON-DEC trail) to the Snowmobile Loop Trail. It will save you about 2 miles. As soon as you stop climbing in elevation, start looking for a faint trail on the left. It will have a small rock cairn next to it. N42 09.502 W74 04.006 After passing the old Mohawk Indian camp by about 500 feet, you will come to the Loop trail near the plane crash. You will have to bushwack from the Indian camp to the Loop trail (about 500'). |
| | 3.34 | 3,040’ | Trail Junction - Right up the steep south ascent to Hurricane Ledge on KHP. Look for a very large rock cairn by the entrance. |
| | 3.66 | 3,460’ | Hurricane Ledge. You can continue on further to the top of the mountain, but there is NO view. If the ascent scared you, you can descend down the north side which is much easier. |
| | 3.91 | 3,655’ | Kaaterskill High Peak. |
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Hike to Kaaterskill High Peak (South Access) |
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The image on the LEFT is the DEC Parking Lot with off-road parking. You want to walk thru this metal gate and up the Road. If the gate is closed, you can walk around it. Do NOT drive up the road if the gate is open.
The image on the RIGHT shows the road you will be walking up. As you go up the hill, the land on the RIGHT is PRIVATE property. When you get to the top of the hill, you will see markers showing public land on both side of the road. |
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The Picture on the LEFT shows a 'Y' in the road. Stay on the main road and go RIGHT. The path on the left will take you to private property.
The picture on the RIGHT shows the little sign that signals that you need to leave the road for the Trail Head. It is easy to miss, so look for the sign on the RIGHT side of the road. If you follow the road up further, you will see signs telling you to turn around. Look for the sign on the RIGHT side of the road. |
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The picture on the LEFT show a picture of the trail after leaving the road.
The picture on the RIGHT shows the next Trail Junction. It is only a short distance from the Trail Head. If you go LEFT, you will go to Kaaterskill High Peak, the Snowmobile Loop Trail, Indian Camp, Ampetheater Lookout, Poet's Ledge, Twilight Park, Long Path. If you go RIGHT, you will head to Huckleberry Point. |
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The beginning of the trail is flat. The picture on the LEFT show what the trail looks like.
You will walk over two small streams. There is also a small section that is very wet. |
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As the trail starts to turn slightly west, the trail will start to ascend upward.
Once the trail starts to level off, start looking for an ancient faint trail used by the Mohawk Indians. This is a non-DEC trail. The access to the trail will be on your LEFT. |
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After several hundred feet, you will encounter an old Mohawk Indian Camp.
From the Indian camp you need to walk of the hill. Continue towards Kaaterskill High Peak until you reach the Snowmobile Trail. Once you get to the Snowmobile Trail, take a LEFT to take the South Access route. Right will take you to the North Access Route. |
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The snowmobile loop trail is muddy! It has a reputation to be muddy even during the driest summers. Expect to walk thru lots of thick and deep mud. The south-east side seems to have slightly less mud.
Shortly after you start walking down the snowmobile loop trail, you will come upon the first plane wreak on Kaaterskill High Peak. This plane crash occured on June 25, 1987. It was a cargo plane. Like most plane crashes in the Catskills, the pilot was flying VFR on a dark cloudy night. Two passengers were on board, and both were killed. GPS N42 9.512 W74 4.255 . On Geocashing.com use "Air Crash 1". DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING FROM THE WREAK! |
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Not only is the snowmobile trail muddy, but it has a lot of vegetation as you can see in the LEFT picture.
The trail junction for the South Access to Kaaterskill High Peak is marked with a very large Cairn. |
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This is what the beginning of the South Access Trail looks like. It is a non-DEC trail that has existed for hundreds of years. The further up the trail you go, the more dangerous it becomes. It continued to get steeper-and-steeper.
The picture on the RIGHT shows what the trail looks like just below Hurricane Ledge. It is very steep and dangerous. If you fall here, you will be injured and possibly killed. You need to hang onto the roots to climb up. It is NOT recommended for children or animals. You should be an experienced hiker to climb this route. We also recommend that you climb here with a partner. |
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This is Hurricane Ledge. There are several places on Hurricane Ledge (south access side) you can get spectacular view. The trail is on the left side of this picture. This ledge was caused by a storm on or about November 28, 1950, which had winds in excess of 100 mph. Ironically, there was another Hurricane Ledge created on the north eastern side of the peak at the beginning of the 1900's. It may have been created by one of the storms on November 8-10, 1913 or October 22-25, 1923. |
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This is another part of Hurricane Ledge. On this ledge is several places you can get spectacular view. This picture is of the Hudson Valley. |
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This is Hurricane Ledge. On this ledge is several places you can get spectacular view. This picture is of the Indian Head Mountain Range. |
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After Hurricane Ledge the trail has an easy ascent towards the summit.
The picture on the RIGHT shows the summit. There is no longer a view from the summit. If you look around, you can see that there was a building at the summit. The building was a 2-story building that was built in the late 1800's. It was taken down in the 1920's. About an acre of land was cleared for the building. There is a faint trail that goes east. About 100 feet you will see the crankshaft of a plane crash. The rest of the plane is 495 feet east of the peak. The GPS of the plane crash is N 42 9.734 W 74 4.829. On geocashing.com it is "Air Crash 3". The plane crash occured on May 26, 1983. It killed a Watertown man named Rex Miller. He flew his Piper-28-140 into the mountain at about 3,400 feet in bad weather while attempting to return home from Poughkeepsie. Again, he was flying NVR. There is also a faint trail that heads west of the peak. This trail will take you down a gentle slope on the North side of Round Top Mountain, and will come out near the Snowmobile trail near Cortina Ski Center. This trail was used for hundreds of years as the primary path to the top of Kaaterskill High Peak. It is actually the easiest path to the top, but is rarely used. We believe that the trail fell out a favor when the DEC built the snowmobile trail. Now that the DEP has put in parking on Gillipsie Road, this trail might become the most popular in years to come. |
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The picture on the LEFT is USGS marker #1. It is about 30 feet south of the peak on the path to Hurricane Ledge.
The picture on the RIGHT is USGS marker #2. It is about 30 feet east (and slightly south) of the peak. It is location on top of a dome shaped rock. When you approach the peak from the north access route, take a left. Then take a right. The marker is about 10-15 feet inside the trees. |
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