Catskill Park State Land Master Plan

location of Catskill ParkCatskill Park spans 700,000 acres inside the “blue line” in Delaware, Greene, Sullivan, and Ulster counties in New York State. Over 40 percent of the land within the blue line is Forest Preserve owned by the state and managed by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Another 5% is owned by New York City to protect four reservoirs that are within the park.

The park boundary stretches from near the Hudson River just west of Kingston NY to the East Branch of the Delaware River. Its northern extreme is at Windham and its southernmost point is near the Rondout Reservoir. In contrast to the Adirondack Park, the Catskill Park doesn’t include every peak of the Catskill Range. Only 33 of the 35 highest peaks are inside the Catskill Blue Line.

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The Other Side of Hunter Mountain

For me, summer has become the ski season “of the mind” — going on exploratory missions, trimming brush, and researching deals for the next year. But something happened a few years ago and I actually began to enjoy the summer, and the mountains, for being what they are.

View from Hunter Mountain Firetower
Hunter Mountain Ski Area from Firetower

I can trace the origin of this feeling to a specific camping trip to Mt. Greylock many summers ago. Although I went to the mountain with an ulterior motive — scouting out the legendary Thunderbolt — the trip was far more memorable for everything else that happened.

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