Slide Mountain

Date of Hike: 6/25/15 

Cornell-Wittenberg-Slide Trail: 5.5 miles (1,725 feet elevation gained)

Trip Report:
- On Thursday morning I got up at an ungodly hour to drive from RI over to NY to hike Slide Mountain in the Catskills.  The reason for this early bird gets the worm hike was two fold, One, I wanted to hike it before 9am so I could hop on my laptop and work, and two, I had never hiked Slide Mountain and it was one of five peaks remaining for my Northeast 115 highest mountains.
- There's not much to say about this hike other than the first mile and a half has two rocky spots and muddy spots.  This is followed by a lovely last mile of very easy grades and phenomenal footing over the old fire wardens road that lead to a fire tower, which was dismantled in the mid 1960's.
- There were some ok outlooks near the summit, I could see the ridge that makes up the Devil's Path  but other than that there wasn't too much for views.
- It was a really nice early morning hike and I'm sure I will be back one day years from now.  I now only have four peaks left for the 115 (or 111). These lists have weird numbers, it's still referred to by many as 111 even though there are 115 peaks.  The peaks I have left are in Maine; Saddleback and the Horn plus the two Bigelows.  I should have them done this summer or fall but I'm not in any hurry since I have had over 100 completed on this list since 2011!

 The first mile and a half travels over a rocky section, a nice road section, then back to a rocky section

 After the rocky section the trail becomes a very nice dirt path as it curves around the mountain and gains the ridge

 The nice easy to moderate grade up to the summit

 Slide Mountain summit area

 Looking north to the Devils Path ridge line

 Signs spotted along the way

Route info, click here for more details

"The Devil's Playground"

Date of Hike: 5/22/10

Devil's Path
Prediger Road Trailhead to Stony Clove Notch NY 214: 13.1 miles (4,800 feet elevation gain)
Stoney Clove Notch back to Prediger Road Trailhead: 13.1 miles (4,300 feet elevation gain)
Total Miles: 26.2 (9,100 elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- My original plan was to hike the Devil's Path in one day East to West in June but after last weeks hike in the lingering annoying snow I had had enough so it was time to go on a kick ass endurance hike with my favorite daypack on!  I was going to see if I could find a car spot or try to join in on the huge group doing a one day traverse of the Devil's Path on Sunday until I took a closer look at my maps and guide book.
- The Devil's Path is 24.5 miles with an elevation gain of around 8,250 feet, however I noticed that most of the steep and fun sections are located on the eastern part of the trail and if I did an out and back of that it would be 26.2 miles with a gain of 9,100 feet!  So I figured bring on the hike I will call..."Devil's Playground"
- On trail at 5:30am, Stony Clove Notch 11:00am, Minor hallucinations 4:37pm, finished 5:15pm.  Cloudy with hazy sun, temps in the 60's, light wind above 3500 feet, good views from the many outlooks.
- The best way to describe this hike is "elevation up, elevation down" there would be six times throughout the hike where I would ascend over 850 feet at a time. Along with the gains and losses are about a half dozen vertical scrambles best described as "Chutes or Steeps" which were a blast to go up and pretty easy to find excellent grips.
- The "Steeps/Scrambles" reminded me of the "Chimney" between Osceola East Peak and Mount Osceola except not as high.  As for the "elevation ups" they were equal to the Wildcat Ridge Trail from Route 16 to Wildcat "E" Peak.
- I had trouble getting into a good hiking pace until I finally saw some views below Indian Head Mountain and got to the first and most fun scramble (click here for video clip) followed shortly by another quick scramble where an old tree and its roots are conveniently placed to help you up.
- I hit my first wall of the day coming down Sugarloaf Mountain and up to Plateau Mountain but once on Plateau the grade is flat for a good mile plus and I zoomed along the ridge and then made good time on the steep descent to Stony Clove Notch.
- I refueled and relaxed for about 15 minutes and then it was time to rehike in the opposite direction and a battle through seeing the same terrain again.  Hiking back up to Plateau Mountain I chatted it up with two guys who I met earlier who hiked the Devil's Path to Mink Hollow the day before and where hiking the remaining miles to the end of the Devil's Path at Spruceton Road!
- Hit another wall hiking back up to Sugarloaf Mountain but caught my 5th wind for the hike up to Twin which has the second most fun scramble on the trail, it's wet, steep, and like the other scrambles has great foot and hand-holds making it lots of fun....just wish it were longer!
- Hiking up to Indian Head I knew it would be my last ascent so I was in good spirits especially as I passed two guys, one an old hippie and the other one best described as a pirate, all that was missing was an eye patch and a parrot on the shoulder, they smelled...like weed, as where I smelled like a weed after 20 plus miles...Happy Hiking!
- The last two miles were a battle of the wills (Lincoln Woods/ Wilderness trail style!) as I had run out of water,  my legs were wasted, and I started "sightseeing" hallucinating.
- A pretty kickass hike for endurance hikers, the pros - lots of ups and downs with major elevation changes which will keep pushing you as well as the fun "Steeps". The cons - lack of continous views, when you hit a wall you can't just take a break and take in the views and get a boost of energy as if you were above treeline, instead you're in the woods and just have to suck it up!

Pictures (Click here for all pictures)

Platte Clove and Katterskill High Peak

Devil's Path (Sugarloaf Mountain)

Devil's Path (Twin Mountain)

Notch Lake

Twin Mountain