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September 22, 2003 |
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Ramble to Echo Lake & Huckleberry Point
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Once again the two of us led concurrent hikes from the Platte Clove to Huckleberry Point and Echo Lake for the 4th Annual Hudson River Ramble. This year the Ramble offered 113-guided hikes and other outdoor activities throughout the Hudson Valley. Many of these outings are thematic and educational. The hikes we led for The Catskill Center were on a nice cool day for hiking, with a few breaks of sun and a light breeze. The trails were a bit wet from recent rain brought to us by the remnants of Hurricane Isabel.
At 9am Aaron departed from the DEC parking area off Platte Clove Road (1,900’ elevation) with three other hikers on the 7.6-mile round-trip hike to Echo Lake. This hike begins by going south through The Catskill Center's Platte Clove Wilderness Preserve on the green trail. The trail traverses the Preserve for nearly a mile before connecting with State Forest Preserve. Along the way, we enjoyed new interpretive signs that The Catskill Center installed to educate visitors about the history of the area and common trees of the forest. At the junction with the Devil's Path, the group continued south, following the blue-blazed Overlook Trail past the Devil's Kitchen Lean-to. A stream thundered below as we crossed a primitive bridge upstream of Black Chasm, a popular ice-climbing location.
Approximately a mile beyond the lean-to a short side trail led to an east-facing vista called Codfish Point (elevation 2,500’), at an old quarry on the edge of Plattekill Mountain. This was a nice spot to rest and peer at the low-lying fog in the Hudson Valley. The Overlook Trail continued a mile further, through the oak-laurel forest, before coming to the junction of the yellow-blazed Echo Lake Trail. We descended for 0.6 mile to a bowl in the mountains where the beautiful natural lake is found. This is a marvelous place to picnic, fish for brook trout, or camp in the lean-to.
The 2.3-mile hike (one way) to Huckleberry Point also departed from the same trailhead at the head of Platte Clove. Eighteen people joined Chris for the hike. The blue-blazed trail, which is also part of the Long Path and a marked snowmobile trail leading to Kaaterskill High Peak, initially follows Steenburg Road, which is a rough dirt road. After 1.2 miles we turned east onto the yellow-blazed Huckleberry Point Trail, which dead-ends at the scenic Huckleberry Point lookout. This trail is a more natural footpath and the most enjoyable part of the hike. Along this trail is a small square stone foundation with a hole in the front, and is most likely an old bear pen. ‘Bear pens’ were traps used by farmers and hunters in the 1800’s to trap black bears. The stone foundation would have logs over the top, and a dead sheep or other bait would be put in the pen to lure a bear, along with lots of sticks and leaves. A bear would enter through the small hole, dig around for the bait and inadvertently plug up the hole with the sticks and leaves, and perhaps fall asleep. Every couple of days the hunter would come around to see if there was a bear in the trap and shoot it. Back then the meat, oil, and fur of a black bear could be worth more money than a month or two’s salary.
Some of the group got their feet wet jumping across Mossy Brook, but everyone remained in good spirits. The trail continued over a hill (elevation 2,500’), then descended to Huckleberry Point at elevation 2,250’, with the forest completely changing from northern hardwoods to a drier pitch pine-oak-mountain laurel forest. The rocky ledges of Huckleberry Point sit high on the slope above Platte Clove, looking southeast over West Saugerties and Hudson Valley, and southwest over the Clove and the Indian Head Range. It is certainly a magical place. On this day there was some haze, but the Hudson River was still visible in the distance, and Plattekill, Indian Head, Twin, and Sugarloaf Mountains were all clear. Only Overlook Mountain, straight to the south, was crowned with clouds. Turkey vultures teetered in the air as they flew out below us.
After the hikes, several people met back at the Platte Clove Preserve to visit the beautiful Plattekill Falls, and listen to artist Susan Mayr talk about the Hudson River School of landscape painters. Once again we enjoyed another great Ramble. Hats off to its organizers and sponsors.
- Chris and Aaron
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