Thursday, October 9, 2014

Western Catskills, NY - Palmer Hill Trail


ABOUT THE PARK:
Department of Environmental Protection and Catskill Mountain Club to Open Hiking Trail at Palmer Hill - NYC Environmental Protection

The trail register asks if you have an access permit.  It is not required for hiking but the DEP is interested in knowing if trail users have one.  You can apply online and print the permit right away, throw it in your backpack and you have it if you ever do need it.

DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 42.195327, -74.743428

View Larger Map
Parking is at the scenic overlook.

TRAIL MAP:
Palmer Hill Trail Map - Catskill Mountain Club


HIKE DISTANCE:  3.6 miles
Hiked together with the Shavertown Trail - 5.4 miles about a 10 mile drive away.

THE HIKE:
This hike starts off with a bang at the Catskill High Peaks overlook.
Catskill High Peaks
The trail starts to the right of the sign on the mowed path.
Heading towards the power cut.
Don't forget to sign in at the trail register.
Farmstead Intersection
Taking the red Upper Meadow Loop first.  There are old stone walls in amazingly good condition.
Old growth trees really stand out among the younger trees.
This one must have been young when the wire fence was installed.
Views across the meadows when the trail exits the woods and if you look very closely a little to the left...
... you can check on your car in the parking lot!
A nice break spot with beautiful scenery.
Other visitors to the scenic overlook and there were actually several while I was watching from our break spot.
A few insects where still fluttering around.
Continuing on through the fields ...
... back to the Farmstead Intersection and ...
... on to the blue-blazed Lower Meadow Loop.
Awesome hike and awesome day.
Somebody had a great time.

8 comments:

  1. Wow...that is a fantastically pretty hike!

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    1. It was! I was so bummed driving in because there was so much leaf drop already and I thought I missed the foliage but everything turned out great after all! There was just enough left to make it very pretty.

      Daniela

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  2. Very nice pictures! I love your dog Shawnee! She's a trooper. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Love your blog, it is a great resource for day hikes in the mid-atlantic region, but what happened to all the listed hikes by states that was on the right hand side of the screen they're a great resource!, anyway you can bring them back or is there a link to them somewhere on the site?. thanks!

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    1. Thanks! The list on the right side is still there it just took forever to load when I tried so Blogger must be having an issue right now. Wait until your page fully loads before you scroll down.

      Daniela

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  4. your right its there, i just wasn't patient enough!, again just want to say enjoy your site I've started day hiking again about a year ago and its great to have a site dedicated only to day hikes,in this region, i live in the lehigh valley area of PA and have been to some of the places you posted can't wait to try others ,up next will be the leigh gap nature center for the first time ,hopefully this week before the leaves are almost gone

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    1. Great, glad you can still see it. I wasn't being good about updating the page by state so I started using labels and that updates itself so it is much easier for me. This is a great time to hike at Lehigh Gap Nature Center. There is a lot of full exposure so the cooler weather will make for very pleasant hiking. Enjoy!

      Daniela

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