“Is this the way to Hunter Mountain?”
Here we f’n go, I thought. We were on the Spruceton Trail, a jeep road leading to Hunter’s summit and fire tower from the west. One of the biggest trails in the Catskills, it’s a veritable highway. How could you not know where you were.
Biting my tongue, I replied, “It’s a mile or so up… do you have a map?”
He pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. Definitely not a NY-NJ Trail Conference map. But it was something.
During our time living in Colorado, my wife and I fell in love with climbing mountains. Soon after moving there in 2011 we learned of the list of 14ers, Colorado’s 58 14,000-foot peaks. We were hooked and spent most summer and fall weekends ticking these peaks off. I always thought it was dumb to focus on climbing peaks on a list, but something about it is addicting.
Back on the east coast we needed a new objective: The Catskill 3500. Having climbed a handful of these peaks during the winter, we were excited to be on the trail now that it’s warm and everything is green. Our most recent goal was Wittenberg and Cornell Mountains.
This winter I traveled to the Catskills, to show my girlfriend one of my prime stomping grounds when I lived in NYC. With two days, I picked Kaaterskill Falls as one of my destinations.
Although I missed most of one day of excellent skiing, driving around the local hills with fresh eyes reminded me of how special these mountains really are, and I wanted to experience them in a new way.
One big hole in my hiking resume has always been getting to the top of Kaaterskill Falls. Anyone that skis Hunter regularly has no doubt seen the throngs clinging to the sides of 23A getting back and forth to the trailhead. I wanted to be one of those people cursing the trail up to this iconic spot.
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