Catskillmountaineer.com Forum

On Saturday, we decided to hike Blackhead Mtn from the west side. We arrived at the Trailhead later then normal. There were already 10 cars at the snowplow turnaround. We parked and headed up the trail. We were wearing snowshoes, but some people were bare booting it to the top. Some post holing, but not terrible.

On the bottom it was hot and no wind. I had to take off some clothing to keep from overheating. The views of Batavia Kill Creek were great. The snow around the water running looked great. I stopped and took some pictures.

We then headed up the trail to the col. Along the way we saw a number of Snow Flies. They look like spiders. Pretty cool watching them walk across the snow. When we got up near col it got colder and the wind picked up. Typical Blackhead weather.

We then headed up blackhead. The snow was good. Grippy with the snowshoes. The steep section was a little challenging, but not terrible. Once we got up to the rock ledge with the view, it was quite a bit colder. We then walked the 1/4 mile to the summit. The conifer trees were loaded with snow and there were drift up to 4' high in places. Very beautify. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the walk.

We stayed on the summit for a few minutes and headed down. Once we got off the steep section we cruised down at a fairly good clip. It was a nice day in the woods.

Here are some pictures:


Batavia Kill Creek at the first bridge


Batavia Kill Creek at the first bridge


Batavia Kill Creek at the first bridge


Batavia Kill Creek at the first bridge


The view by the rock ledge


Summit of Blackhead

nice pics. Especially the Kill not being frozen in contrast with the snow

Wow, you got perfect light for those! I really like the way the reflections overlay the view through the crystal clear water. That's a hard effect to get: use a polarizer, kill the reflections; don't use one, see nothing but them. Those are great shots.

The sky and the light in the overlook shot and the "we made it" pic are also great. Did you tonemap those, or was Mother Nature putting on that spectacular a show all by herself?

I have to get me some snowshoes! (I have family business on Long Island on Tuesday, maybe I can make it in to REI in Carle Place.)

I was shooting towards the sun, so the reflections were actually there. After I started to process them, I then wished I had used a polarizing filter. I wanted to feature the red rocks. The reflection interfered with this. I did use some tonemapping, but only for the tree bark. The rest looked that way natural.

The snow has been melting, but there is still snow up there. It is going to cool off, so it should turn hard again. We need another snowstorm.

Thanks for your comments.

The red rocks came out perfect. I love the red-beds in pictures and with the snow it looks surreal.

mike wrote: We need another snowstorm.

I'll second that!

Really like the third and fifth pictures!