Mt. Sherrill and North Dome Mt

[BillyM]

On 8/29/16 I hiked Mt Sherrill and North Dome Mountain from Peck Hollow in Shandaken. I figured Id share this experience because I think these mountains are usually approached from West Kill.
The NYNJTC Maps mark it as a parking area. Its right along a driveway to private property, you would have to park the cars in line to the left of the driveway and you would be blocked in. No room to park on the road, its pretty tight. I would ask the land owner if its ok to park by his driveway. Along the Peck Hollow stream is an old quarry/logging road. Its a slow elevation gain along the stream for about a mile to a mile and a half.
You can pretty much see Mt. Sherrill a good part of the way. And let me tell you, theres a ton of stinging nettles, like Ive never seen before, waist high. I spent a lot of time wacking them with my hiking pole as I went along. The col in between North Dome and Mt Sherrill is really neat, saw some views of Panther Mt and a glimpse of Halcott I believe. I wonder if anyone has seen these views before. Im sure it looks great in the winter. It was about 3,000ft here and only Beech and Birch were in the way. I hit Mt. Sherrill first, signed in at the canister. My first canister/bushwhack. There was a faint herd path and then once I hit the rock bands the route was pretty obvious to the top of Sherrill.
Headed down the back of Sherrill to stay on the ridge and down to North Dome. I thought there would definitely be a herd path over here once headed up North Dome but its very overgrown, a few bands of rocks to go around but nothing major like Ive heard coming from the West Kill side. North Dome is a very large mountain and I was wondering the top for a while for the canister. Many herd paths at the top leading all different directions. Finally found the canister and signed in. I went searching for the view point for a while, took about 45 mins to find. I was about to give up, but after finding it Im glad I kept searching for it. Heading down North Dome is pretty rough, only hit three cliff bands. Luckily found a very wide dry stream bed and I took a chance and followed it which lead down really close to the car, probably saved an extra mile. Looks like it formed from a heavy washout, possible from Hurricane Irene?
The plan originally was to keep the mileage minimal to about 6.50-7 miles this way versus coming from West Kill which is about 9.50-10 miles supposedly. But I drifted off a few times which threw me off course. I would still like to try it from the West Kill side. But overall it was a very neat experience which has put me at 21 of 35 Catskill High Peaks. By far I think this was the toughest hike I have done. My mileage app said 8.50 miles, my friends app said 10 miles. Give or take. Im sure I forgot some stuff, any questions just ask.
A quick breakdown, Times are approx(since I looked shortly after I arrived):
Departing the car: 10am
Col between Sherrill and North Dome: 12pm
Sherrill Canister: 12:30pm
North Dome Canister: 2:00pm
View on North Dome: 2:40pm
Back at the car: 5:10pm
Youtube clip from View on North Dome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgPcRwsyGjY
Thanks for reading

[mike]

Sounds like you had a real nice hike. Both mtns are difficult. But, much easier from the north or south. Years ago, there was a road that ran between Sherrill and North Dome. On both sides there is now private property. But, I think the waist high neddles would scare most people away. For other people considering this hike, the legal routes are from Shaft Road parking lot off Rt 42 and from the first Spruceton Road DEC PA.

But, you got both of them done, and you had a great time. From the pictures, it looks like you had clear views.

Sometimes the canister on ND can be difficult to find. You are not the first person who has had problems finding it. It is poorly placed.

My guess is that the mileage is around 10 miles for both mtns.

Thanks for posting!

[BillyM]

Thanks Mike.
I forgot to specify that I got permission to cross the owners property/park by his driveway. I just realized I made it sound like I was trespassing.

[kennykb]

Sounds like you had a real nice hike. Both mtns are difficult. But, much easier from the north or south. Years ago, there was a road that ran between Sherrill and North Dome. On both sides there is now private property. But, I think the waist high neddles would scare most people away. For other people considering this hike, the legal routes are from Shaft Road parking lot off Rt 42 and from the first Spruceton Road DEC PA.

One of my friends once got permission to start from Camp Timberlake in the off season. That's the royal road up North Dome - it's gradual all the way up, and has two viewpoints. Not like the way I went from West Kill.

[BillyM]

Can I contact them about using the trail through the Timber Lake website? Because the only contact Im seeing is the contact form on the website.
Thanks

[kennykb]

I believe they wrote a paper letter to the Glen Cove address, asking whether permission is ever granted (obviously at a time when campers are not in residence) to cross the land for the purpose of accessing the mountain from the south. They may have enclosed a DEC permission card (http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/ask.pdf) while offering to use any other paperwork the landowner would prefer. (One advantage of the permission card is that it looks legal enough that "insurance" is less of a handy excuse.)

[BillyM]

Great info, thanks Kenny!

[maphiker]

Thanks for that great report. Can you provide a little more info on your route up to the North Dome-Sherrill col? It looks like a very steep climb.
Thanks.

[BillyM]

There is a small stream to the left of Peck Hollow that splits off. Im not sure if this is still Peck Hollow that just splits in two different directions. But Im pretty sure I was shooting to stay to the stream on the left and some downed trees and some other brush pushed me to the right more and more, until I realized I was going down and I had to basically turn left and shoot straight up an unbearable steep incline. I was pulling myself uphill holding onto beech saplings, tree roots, and rocks for about 20 mins. I had energy up until that point.
The nynjtc topo maps definitely don't define the incline of these mountains well enough. The col in between the two mountains is very thick. I thought I would have definitely seen a herd path by now. This is probably the least used route to get to these mountains. I was really pushing to be done at a certain time, otherwise I would have taken more notes and pictures. This way avoids the cliff bands from coming the west kill side. I would still like to try to do this from the West Kill side.
When you get between the col, where to go up Mt Sherrill is pretty obvious after a flat spot between the two mountains. Mt Sherrill is almost viewable the whole way. Heading down North Dome is thick on the east side, but I stayed right on the ridge, stay a good distance from Jay Hand Hollow, sometimes I got too close and had to go back uphill. I was about halfway down and there was a long stretch of a wide stream bed about 20-25ft wide with not much debris besides old dried leaves (no downed trees) It isn't listed on any maps so it had to be made from Irene or a heavy snow melt not long ago. I decided to follow it and it cut my time in half and hit right back on the owners property and we followed the old road back to the car. But I forgot to mention there is an old quarry road and/or logging road going through the owners property by Peck Hollow. I saw evidence of quarrying going on in the past. Not much regrowth of brush on the road and not much downed trees in the way. I hope I was clear answering your question, anything else I would be glad to answer.

[maphiker]

Sounds like a hard core bushwhack. Good job.