Catskillmountaineer.com Forum

Hello All. Today a few friends and I hiked poet's ledge along with wildcat and buttermilk falls. Afterwards we swung by Plattekill Falls for a nice dip. I originally posted my upcoming hike under future hikes along with my concerns of bears. Throughout the whole hike I did not see any bear scat, dig holes, marked up trees, or any evidence of a large mammal. I did however see some very cool wildlife, amazing views, and what may have been a poisonous spider. i originally thought this hike would be secluded and that my friends and i would not see anyone but today the trail was very popular. The trail head was a bit difficult to find but all in all a few locals pointed us very nicely to the correct direction. It dosent seem to be maintanaced as much because after Poet's Ledge, there were a few fallen trees. I have reported them to NY NJ Trail confrence. Let me know what you think of the pictures and if anyone knows that type of spider that is, let me know! I also got a very cool shot of a snake eating a toad. Enjoy.

I did a little bit of research and found that the spider I saw was a beautiful black and yellow garden spider. Has anyone seen these. The one I saw was a female because of the size. It was huge!!!



I have many more pics of it if anyone is interested.

What type of snake is that, anyone know?

I'd be interested in more pictures, and ones that aren't cut off on the side lol, nice pics though.

Also, is there a way to hike to Poet's ledge from Twilight Park, with more guaranteed (not to get towed) parking? I have heard some people were towed from the "legal" parking areas where residents have spray-painted illegal "no parking" signs, but you still have to pay the towing fees to get your car out? Can anyone confirm of deny?

the access to Poet's Ledge via twilight requires you to park in Twilight - which is private. They don't really need no parking signs around there - it's private, and you shouldn't be in there unless you are the guest of a resident, in which case, you can park wherever you want!

AppalachianNature wrote:What type of snake is that, anyone know?

If I had to guess, I'd say it's just an Eastern garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) with an unusual color pattern. You sometimes see ones in the Catskills where the three stripes aren't well defined at all, but those alternating dark spots seem to have one column of unspotted scales between them, which is where the stripe would be. It has the seven scales along the upper jaw. Very few other snakes prey on toads, which are poisonous.

Looks like a garter snake to me too.