Rt 23a parking congestion in the Kaaterskill Clove
Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:21 pm
Over the past 10 years, the number of tourist and local people parking on Rt 23a from Palenville to Haines Falls has grown dramatically. Sometimes in the summer available parking spaces become almost impossible to find. Some visitors have resorted to abandoning their cars in the middle of the road, or leave part of their cars hanging out into the driving lane.
This has led the Town of Hunter to move towards making the entire section marked as No Parking. The Town of Hunter has been meeting with NYS DOT, NYS DEC, and law enforcement to obtain a viable solution. The primary problem are kids who swim at Fawn's Leap and Dog's Hole. The kids have been leaving garbage in the clove and create enough problems that law enforcement and the DEC needs to dedicate large resources to handling the problems. Town of Hunter Supervior Daryl Legg is determined to find a solution.
Part of the problem is that the kids have been driven away from other swimming holes in the Catskill Mountains. With a hot summer, the problem has gotten much worse. One swimming hole is the one in Devil's Kitchen. The access from the top of Devil's Kitchen is extremely dangerous and has resulted in two deaths two years ago. There is no place for the kids to park on the lower part of Devil's Kitchen. If there was a parking lot for the kids, this would alleviate the problem in Kaaterskill Clove. But, to achieve this goal, would require the DEC to put in a parking lot and path. This is unlikely to happen.
There is also another problem by Bastion Falls. Many tourist come here to hike up the short path to Kaaterskill Falls. Right now there are too few parking spaces for the number of tourist visiting Kaaterskill Falls. Additionally, tourist resort to walking directly in the roadway from the parking lot to the trail head to Kaaterskill Falls. About 10 years ago when this section was rebuilt, the DOT wanted to put in a walkway for hikers, but the DEC refused to allow them to do this. This resulted in people walking in the roadway. It is only a matter of time before someone is killed.
There are a number of groups who are use the Kaaterskill Clove:
Hikers: They use the Kaaterskill Clove from a number of access points. Very few hikers use the lower sections of the Kaaterskill Clove. They tend to be very experienced hikers. The other group are tourist visiting Kaaterskill Falls. They cause problems from walking in the roadway. On this web site we have asked people to walk behind the guard rail, and this is helping, but not fixing the problem.
Hunters: Hunters use the lower Kaaterskill Clove to hunt during hunting season.
Kayakers: They use the Kaaterskill Creek during high water. They rarely cause problems.
Ice Climbers: They use the Kaaterskill Clove on both the north and south rim. They use the clove mainly in January and February. They don't cause too many problems, and they are generally responsible group.
Swimmers: They use the Kaaterskill Clove from June to August. They come in massive numbers. They cause a wide variety of problems. This is the group that is prompting changes to the roadway.
For years it has been proposed that the DOT and DEC put in a parking lot on the old Rip Van Winkle Roadway that runs along the Kaaterskill Creek from Moore's Bridge to Haines Falls. Between Lake Creek and Moore's Bridge it could hold several hundred cars. This would be the best long-term solution. It would cause a longer hike to Kaaterskill Clove and reduce the number of visitors. It would get all the cars off the road. It would also make it better for ice climber to access the many ravines for ice climbing. This solution would be expensive and would take a long time to implement.
This has led the Town of Hunter to move towards making the entire section marked as No Parking. The Town of Hunter has been meeting with NYS DOT, NYS DEC, and law enforcement to obtain a viable solution. The primary problem are kids who swim at Fawn's Leap and Dog's Hole. The kids have been leaving garbage in the clove and create enough problems that law enforcement and the DEC needs to dedicate large resources to handling the problems. Town of Hunter Supervior Daryl Legg is determined to find a solution.
Part of the problem is that the kids have been driven away from other swimming holes in the Catskill Mountains. With a hot summer, the problem has gotten much worse. One swimming hole is the one in Devil's Kitchen. The access from the top of Devil's Kitchen is extremely dangerous and has resulted in two deaths two years ago. There is no place for the kids to park on the lower part of Devil's Kitchen. If there was a parking lot for the kids, this would alleviate the problem in Kaaterskill Clove. But, to achieve this goal, would require the DEC to put in a parking lot and path. This is unlikely to happen.
There is also another problem by Bastion Falls. Many tourist come here to hike up the short path to Kaaterskill Falls. Right now there are too few parking spaces for the number of tourist visiting Kaaterskill Falls. Additionally, tourist resort to walking directly in the roadway from the parking lot to the trail head to Kaaterskill Falls. About 10 years ago when this section was rebuilt, the DOT wanted to put in a walkway for hikers, but the DEC refused to allow them to do this. This resulted in people walking in the roadway. It is only a matter of time before someone is killed.
There are a number of groups who are use the Kaaterskill Clove:
Hikers: They use the Kaaterskill Clove from a number of access points. Very few hikers use the lower sections of the Kaaterskill Clove. They tend to be very experienced hikers. The other group are tourist visiting Kaaterskill Falls. They cause problems from walking in the roadway. On this web site we have asked people to walk behind the guard rail, and this is helping, but not fixing the problem.
Hunters: Hunters use the lower Kaaterskill Clove to hunt during hunting season.
Kayakers: They use the Kaaterskill Creek during high water. They rarely cause problems.
Ice Climbers: They use the Kaaterskill Clove on both the north and south rim. They use the clove mainly in January and February. They don't cause too many problems, and they are generally responsible group.
Swimmers: They use the Kaaterskill Clove from June to August. They come in massive numbers. They cause a wide variety of problems. This is the group that is prompting changes to the roadway.
For years it has been proposed that the DOT and DEC put in a parking lot on the old Rip Van Winkle Roadway that runs along the Kaaterskill Creek from Moore's Bridge to Haines Falls. Between Lake Creek and Moore's Bridge it could hold several hundred cars. This would be the best long-term solution. It would cause a longer hike to Kaaterskill Clove and reduce the number of visitors. It would get all the cars off the road. It would also make it better for ice climber to access the many ravines for ice climbing. This solution would be expensive and would take a long time to implement.