Platte Clove - March 2012
Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 7:30 pm
On 2 separate days I explored the all too familiar Devil's Kitchen. I didn't hike the whole thing (don't listen to the naysayers- it's not really that crazy). I didn't see the middle 2 gargantuan falls, or the top Plattekil waterfall, or Black Chasm but I was happy, as my trip down Hell's Hole now allows me to claim that I have seen every waterfall in the Plaaterzkillz. If anyone wants to know how to get down there from the bottom or top and safely and efficiently navigate the clove, message me and ask. I plan on hiking the whole thing this May, and I have hiked every section of it in bits and pieces of it throughout my entire life, but honestly that's not a very long time. My favorite part is still Black Chasm. I would love to go up Black Chasm to Indian Head, then over to Plattekil falls and Hell's Hole to hike back down.
Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 844&type=3
Some select pictures that radiate awesomeness.... if anyone has other names, go ahead and regurgitate them:
"Honolulu", lower section of the clove
The other side of "Honolulu"
"The Icebox", lower section of the clove
"That-Place-We-Went-To-On-Your-Fourtysomethinth-Birthday-And-I-Still-Have-A-Piece-Of-Red-Shale-I-Painted-Myself-With-Hole", lower clove
"That-Place-We-Went-To-On-Your-Fourtysomethinth-Birthday-And-I-Still-Have-A-Piece-Of-Red-Shale-I-Painted-Myself-With-Hole", lower clove
"Grandma's Hole", lower clove
AND NOW FOR THE UPPER CLOVE!!
WELCOME TO HELL'S HOLE
At the bottom of Hell's Hole... big boulder jam-dam. straight down from below me. I had to skirt around this waterfall, on top of it. It was actually wide for platte clove standards, dry, flat, and stable. If I fell to my left it would not have ended well, but it was by no means a risk to take this walk. It is a safe route. Hell, it's the only route!!!
And upstream from there... Bridal Veil Falls!!! Wooooooo!!!....woo.....oooo...o?
Turn around from that view of Bridal Veil, and the Hudson River! Imagine standing on a boat, centuries ago, first sailing up, and seeing this.. somehow... Personally, I'd rather be standing here!
Lots of effects on this photo, but it was so blurry and crappy that I consider this a salvage job.
more bridal veil
Ok, so that stable waterfall escarpment I mentioned earlier only got me to the top of the Hell Hole waterfall confluence, below Bridal Veil. To get to the actual bottom of hell hole and that waterfall, I had to get to the bottom of Bridal Veil, up above it on a slope, and down said slope, making one multi-elevation not-exactly-closed circle to the bottom of the boulder jam-dam. I call the slope I went down the "slopes of insanity" Here is a view looking back into Hell's Hole from the Slopes of Insanity. They were not deadly. Just... fast.
The last stretch of the Slopes of Insanity. Looking at the boulder jam-dam and HellHole Confluence falls. I really need a name for this one.
Ok, so this is the waterfall downstream from the hell hole confluence waterfall. At the bottom of this gully, there is a formidable drop. To get around this one, take the southern bank. No deadly cliffs, just bushwhack up steepness. Follow the blue markers. Downstream from that waterfall that you cannot see in this picture, there is another large waterfall. I'll post pictures of them eventually. That one has a very deep and wide swimming hole. Tall fall. Awesome. The next one downstream from that is "The Icebox". Get it??
Turned around as I went back up Hell Hole
Lower section of Hell's Hole Falls
Top part of Hell's hole falls coming out of the gully beneath the bridge
Upstream, below the bridge. Is this Schalk's Falls?
And on my drive down Platte Clove road back to Wittenberg Valley, I stopped to take this awful, overexposed picture of Black Chasm Falls. I love this waterfall. I have a post for it in the Indian Head Wilderness section of this website.
WELL, there you go! Another trip report that features my pictures and incoherent ramblings!!! I'll post pictures of the rest of Devil's Kitchen eventually, so ya'll can see what I didn't go to in this excursion. Questionz? Commentz?
Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 844&type=3
Some select pictures that radiate awesomeness.... if anyone has other names, go ahead and regurgitate them:
"Honolulu", lower section of the clove
The other side of "Honolulu"
"The Icebox", lower section of the clove
"That-Place-We-Went-To-On-Your-Fourtysomethinth-Birthday-And-I-Still-Have-A-Piece-Of-Red-Shale-I-Painted-Myself-With-Hole", lower clove
"That-Place-We-Went-To-On-Your-Fourtysomethinth-Birthday-And-I-Still-Have-A-Piece-Of-Red-Shale-I-Painted-Myself-With-Hole", lower clove
"Grandma's Hole", lower clove
AND NOW FOR THE UPPER CLOVE!!
WELCOME TO HELL'S HOLE
At the bottom of Hell's Hole... big boulder jam-dam. straight down from below me. I had to skirt around this waterfall, on top of it. It was actually wide for platte clove standards, dry, flat, and stable. If I fell to my left it would not have ended well, but it was by no means a risk to take this walk. It is a safe route. Hell, it's the only route!!!
And upstream from there... Bridal Veil Falls!!! Wooooooo!!!....woo.....oooo...o?
Turn around from that view of Bridal Veil, and the Hudson River! Imagine standing on a boat, centuries ago, first sailing up, and seeing this.. somehow... Personally, I'd rather be standing here!
Lots of effects on this photo, but it was so blurry and crappy that I consider this a salvage job.
more bridal veil
Ok, so that stable waterfall escarpment I mentioned earlier only got me to the top of the Hell Hole waterfall confluence, below Bridal Veil. To get to the actual bottom of hell hole and that waterfall, I had to get to the bottom of Bridal Veil, up above it on a slope, and down said slope, making one multi-elevation not-exactly-closed circle to the bottom of the boulder jam-dam. I call the slope I went down the "slopes of insanity" Here is a view looking back into Hell's Hole from the Slopes of Insanity. They were not deadly. Just... fast.
The last stretch of the Slopes of Insanity. Looking at the boulder jam-dam and HellHole Confluence falls. I really need a name for this one.
Ok, so this is the waterfall downstream from the hell hole confluence waterfall. At the bottom of this gully, there is a formidable drop. To get around this one, take the southern bank. No deadly cliffs, just bushwhack up steepness. Follow the blue markers. Downstream from that waterfall that you cannot see in this picture, there is another large waterfall. I'll post pictures of them eventually. That one has a very deep and wide swimming hole. Tall fall. Awesome. The next one downstream from that is "The Icebox". Get it??
Turned around as I went back up Hell Hole
Lower section of Hell's Hole Falls
Top part of Hell's hole falls coming out of the gully beneath the bridge
Upstream, below the bridge. Is this Schalk's Falls?
And on my drive down Platte Clove road back to Wittenberg Valley, I stopped to take this awful, overexposed picture of Black Chasm Falls. I love this waterfall. I have a post for it in the Indian Head Wilderness section of this website.
WELL, there you go! Another trip report that features my pictures and incoherent ramblings!!! I'll post pictures of the rest of Devil's Kitchen eventually, so ya'll can see what I didn't go to in this excursion. Questionz? Commentz?