Saturday, July 27, 2019

Catskill Park, NY - Windham High Peak and Elm Ridge Wild Forest


ABOUT THE PARK:
Catskill Forest Preserve - New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Elm Ridge Wild Forest -  New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Elm Ridge Trail System - Windham Area Recreation Foundation

DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 42.312664, -74.190430
Escarpment Trail Trailhead Parking

TRAIL MAP:
Northeastern Catskill Trails Map #141 - NY/NJ Trail Conference
Elm Ridge Wild Forest Trail Map* - New York Department of Environmental Conservation
Elm Ridge Trail System* - Windham Area Recreation Foundation
* There are new trails not currently shown on these maps.
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HIKE DISTANCE: 12 miles

THE HIKE:
The Escarpment Trail starts directly across Route 23 from the parking lot.
I had read where this area can be under 3 feet of water so I assume that is what the construction is all about ...
... this new bridge over ...
Windham Kill
Some more boardwalks over what would probably be swampy.
But today everything was mostly bone dry.
We stopped to sign in at the trail register but the door was very hard to get open.
I decided to divert to the Gold Mine Trail first since I would probably be too hot and tired to do it at the end of the hike.
It's a pretty loop and was a nice warmup before climbing to Windham High Peak.
A very old tree.
Right on the Escarpment Trail leaving the Gold Mine Trail.
There are many more bike trails but we would be hiking more of those later.
First up to Windham High Peak.
At this intersection the Escarpment Trail continues as foot traffic only.  We'd be taking the Elm  Ridge Trail from here on the way back.
Elm Ridge Shelter on the right.
It's like walking through a portal from green into ...
... pines with lots of roots to walk on.
It gets steeper higher up but there are never any scrambles.
Almost at the top, to the right ...
... a view of the Blackhead Range.  (Photobombed by a gnat.)
A short distance farther on the left ...
... views to the north.
A little farther ahead, smack in the middle of the trail, the Windham High Peak benchmark.
But you want to keep going downhill a bit to another overlook on the left ...
... of the Hudson Valley.  I had been at this overlook with Shawnee in 2011 having come from the opposite direction.
The obligatory snack at the overlook.
The Hudson was barely visible in the distance on this hazy day.
Heading back down the Escarpment Trail the way we came.  It's all downhill now.
Back at that intersection, we turned left on the yellow Elm Ridge Trail for a short distance...
... then right on the red Mid Mountain Trail.
It was very peaceful here.  Where the Escarpment Trail was getting crowded with groups of people heading up to the overlooks, I ran into just a few bikers the whole time we were on these biking trails.
Definitely for mountain biking.
Coming off of Mid Mountain and turning left on blue Black Bear Hideout.
Black Bear Hideout apparently turns into Big T which is also blue.
Levitate is the trail I wanted so we stayed right on blue but we would be seeing this intersection again in a bit.
This is where things got confusing.  There were trails here that were not on the map.  The sign said Big T was left but blue continued right.  Turns out I should have turned right but I turned left to stay on Big T thinking that would be the way.  It was not.
Sign says Big T but I didn't know until I got all the way down to the bottom that I had been on a new trail called Uphill. (Or maybe I just misinterpreted the signs?)
Down at the bottom is where I saw I was not on Big T after all but I recalled seeing a sign for Berm Out previously so instead of retracing, uphill on Berm Out it was.
Back to that intersection where I had been previously at the top ...
... and back on the blue Big T Trail.
Now back at the intersection where I went wrong we stayed right on blue regardless of what the signs said.
Yay, a sign for Levitate.  We were definitely back on track.
It was the red Levitate Trail on a very gradual downhill all the way back to the Escarpment Trail.
Left on the Escarpment Trail.
Passing by the trail register which I now could not get open at all, it was completely jammed shut, so I never signed out.
Back across Route 23 ...
... to the parking lot.