Herding The Cats

Swimming across Reddit, my eye caught a post about a user who had just completed climbed all the 3500 foot the peaks in the Catskills High Peaks list. I sat up in my chair, stunned. What list was that?!

Being a peak bagger, I was instantly curious and dived down the rabbit hole. I’ve been hiking in New England for years, And although I had considered casting the net further, I had only considered New York’s Adirondacks. Now there was a less daunting new target that was within reach.

I began researching the Catskill 3500 and found these peaks in upstate New York could satisfy my winter hiking needs very nicely.

The Catskills were particularly interesting to me. They were perfect mountains to hike during the doldrums of winter. In New Hampshire, many of the lesser peaks and bushwhacks I’ve been chasing are not as heavily traveled during the winter months.  The distances can be long,  between 8 and 10 miles. It can be difficult to accomplish long hikes on these shorter winter days and I prefer not to come out of the mountains in the dark.

Some of the Catskills on the other hand, are shorter distances. They can run anywhere from five to seven miles.  They also appear to be heavily hiked during the winter months by local clubs.  This would mean I would rarely have to break new trail, and with more traffic there’s safety In numbers should something go wrong.

I would approach the Catskills the same way that I had approached New Hampshire’s famous 52 With A View list. Being of similar height and a similar distance, I’d work on bagging them two at a time on a weekend, maybe once a month. Very often the peaks are close to one another.  Possibly, when achieving the ridge line elevation, I’d be able to bag two on a single day, returning home the following day. This would justify  the  3- 4 hour trip each way.

If you’re interested in hiking these pics I’d recommend you join the Catskills hiking Club in New York. Joining a local clubs it’s a good way to support hiking in general and the trails that need constant upkeep by those volunteers in those local organizations.  The Catskill Club also features quite a bit of information on their website.