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December 3, 2001 |
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Slide Mountain
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I am sure that everyone reading this column has probably been up Slide Mountain, the Catskills highest at nearly 4,200'. Because of its fame as the tallest peak, it receives a tremendous amount of traffic. The shortest route to the top resembles a carriage road nearly the entire route. Due to its popularity, we recommend visiting this summit during the week or early mornings on weekends. We chose the latter - braving the cold, sucking it up, and getting out early on a mid-November Saturday morning. We embarked with our good friend Keith VanEtten (who was returning to Montana later that day) from the trailhead on County Route 47 before 9 AM.
After signing in, we crossed the headwaters of the West Branch Neversink River, where a memorial kiosk was recently erected honoring the young boy scout who tragically drown there last winter during a flood. This yellow-blazed Phoenicia-East Branch Trail begins to ascend steadily for 0.4 miles until reaching an old woods road and turns right. The natural spring was still running despite the lack of rain for weeks. After another 0.3 miles, you reach a junction with the red-blazed Wittenberg-Cornell-Slide Trail. This is the route we took, heading east. For a less popular, a bit longer, but more rewarding hike, continue south until reaching the Curtis-Ormsbee Trail, which also leads to the summit.
In about 1.5 miles and at 3,900', the red-blazed trail joins up with that blue-blazed Curtis Ormsbee Trail. Just below 3,500', a footpath (indicated by a yellow campsite marker) leads off to the right to a designated camping site. Shortly thereafter, we began to see the balsam fir, red spruce, and mountain ash trees mix with yellow birch; typical at this elevation. The geology also changes near the summit. Pebbles and small particles of granite begin to blanket the trail instead of the red and gray sandstones like before.
As you near the summit, an area of downed and dead spruce/fir appears off to the right. This area allows for some interesting exploring and offers partial views of Table Mtn. What caused this devastation? We do not know for sure, but it could be a number of things; most likely a blowdown or ice storm damage as a result of weakened trees from disease, or even acid precipitation. Slide receives close to 80" of precipitation annually. Less than 0.25 miles from the top, a spectacular viewpoint gives us a peak to the north of Panther, Balsam, North Dome, Tremper, the Devil's Path, and the Blackheads. From here you can get a sense of just how steep Slide's northern face is, a shear 1,200' drop. In the 1820s, a large rockslide (hence its name) occurred here.
Upon reaching the summit at 10:15 AM, the air was so brisk (mean average temperature on the summit is 37°F) and clear that we could see further than we had lower down. The Hudson River, as it flows through the Hudson Highlands near Cornwall was visible as the Ashokan Reservoir filled the foreground. In this day and age, being on Slide with no one else around is extremely rare, but if the opportunity presents itself to get up there at 'off-peak' hours, be sure not to pass it up.
- Chris and Aaron
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